# Carb Refeeds



## MrGRoberts (Dec 30, 2013)

I started my diet on 5th May and i had no reefed day until 21st May.

I wanted to get used to dieting and my bodyfat was around 20% so didn't need a reefed for that long...

My macros are around 250-300g Protein, 80-140g Carbs, 50-70g Fat... 2200 calories

My question is how often should i now carb reefed...

A. Once a week

B. Every 10 Days

C. Every 14 days

Thanks...


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## DC1 (May 5, 2014)

I didn't refeed until i got to around 10 - 11% bodyfat.

i only do it now when i feel depleted which could range from every 1 - 3 weeks.

Eat around maintenance or slightly above. Protein at minimum requirements, carbs increased by 100%. Mostly from clean sources.

Thats how i do it.


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## MrGRoberts (Dec 30, 2013)

DC1 said:


> I didn't refeed until i got to around 10 - 11% bodyfat.
> 
> i only do it now when i feel depleted which could range from every 1 - 3 weeks.
> 
> ...


Thanks...

I definitely feel depleted after a week of low carbs.. i look flat as hell too

Think ill reefed at Maintenance calls once a week see how i get on


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## theonlyjosh (Aug 12, 2013)

Me personally, I find between 10-14 days works better for me than weekly.


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## DC1 (May 5, 2014)

Its an individual thing mate. Everyone is different.

Listen to your body and act accordingly.


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## Jon.B (Mar 8, 2011)

I refeed once a week. You will need a carb up once a week a few more weeks in for sanity if anything lol. I shoot for slightly above maintenance, still seeing good fat loss every week.


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## MrGRoberts (Dec 30, 2013)

yeah decided I'm going to have a carb reefed tomorrow.

the macros are...

Protein - 189g

Carbs - 457g

Fat - 37g

Calories = 2775


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## banzi (Mar 9, 2014)

I find re-feeds can be a hinderance, it also leads to binges if you are not careful.

I also get low blood sugar if I put in a carb meal due to insulin sensitivity, just a few carbs and my body overcompensates and I get hypoglycaemic and then need additional carbs.

I can go zero carbs without having a hypo, its the few carbs that cause it.

Its not a problem being flat on carbs, you are not "losing muscle" its a myth.

If the proteins going in it will spare the muscle.


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## MrGRoberts (Dec 30, 2013)

banzi said:


> I find re-feeds can be a hinderance, it also leads to binges if you are not careful.
> 
> I also get low blood sugar if I put in a carb meal due to insulin sensitivity, just a few carbs and my body overcompensates and I get hypoglycaemic and then need additional carbs.
> 
> ...


i know what you mean... I'm gonna try have a reefed once a week but not let it turn into a binge! a controlled reefed. i think it will help a lot with training and metabolism etc


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## Podge2Pecs (May 28, 2014)

By refeed do you mean just having a day with loads of carbs? Sorry for stupid question but I'm new


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## 1manarmy (Apr 22, 2012)

The lower I'm getting in body fat the more I need a feed. I'm 2 weeks out now at 7% and I'm on a maintenance calorie re feed today but I usually have a larger one Sundays!


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## 3752 (Jan 7, 2005)

this is a snippet of an article i have read on the net, it is very relevant in this thread as the biggest misunderstanding is the difference between refeeds and cheat meals.....

One of the most misunderstood concepts in regards to dieting in my opinion is the difference betweeen refeeds and cheat meals. Often people assign the role of refeed ----an increase in calories to increase metabolism --- during calorie restricted diet to a cheat meal, when cheat meals do not boost metabolism. Cheat meal(s) are exactly what the name says a single meal eaten during the course of a day. Refeeds are a series of meals eaten over a period of 5 hours to 3 days (depending on the 4 points listed next) to boost metabolism by first raising leptins. The duration and frequency of the refeed depend on several factors. NOTE: 5 hours to 3 days isn't a made up number. It has been confirmed by studies

1) How long the person has been dieting --->Its been my experience that the average person will need to go on a refeed after 7 weeks on a diet but it all depend on the bottom two scenarios

2) Body fat levels : The amount of body fat a person is carrying affects the frequency and duration of a refeed. For instance a guy with a body fat of 27 percent or above would refeed every 3.5 weeks or 2.5 weeks this is after being on a diet for at least 8-10 weeks. You should note the lower the amount fat carried the more frequent the refeed. For example, an athlete who's already lean to begin with will have to refeed every 7 days again this is after several weeks of dieting.

3) How severe the deficit is---> that is how big a gap is the total energy expenditure (the amount of calories it takes to maintain their body weight and the amount of calories the have set their calories at for a diet with the purpose of losing body fat. The bigger the deficit (and length of time the diet has been going) the more pronounced the adaptation (listed below) thus the longer the duration of refeeds so it may go as long as the entire 3 days

4) Volume of Activity/ exercise This plays a significant role because it can literally change the condition of the 3 points mentioned above if the person on a diet is doing way too much exercise which depletes glycogen stores and exacerbates the adaptations that is mentioned below.

I feel I must flesh out the difference between a refeed and a cheat meal because both terms are often used interchangeably when they are not the same . Cheat meals can be almost any food the dieter craves because there is no specific requirement on the composition of the food. It comes down to what the person's favorite food is ...so it could be "healthy" or "unhealthy". The main purpose of a cheat meal is psychological in nature which is still important because it gives a mental break to dieting thus ensuring long term adherence to a diet. Studies have shown that people who are not uber strict with their diet tend to stay on it longer.

Refeed's puropse is physiological in nature. The purpose of a refeed is usually to alleviate or prevent a stahl (usually water retention or metabolic adaptation) during a diet. A refeed is different from a cheat meal since there is a specific macronutrientl composition that must be adhered to. for instance, while a cheat meal can be any meal that the dieter craves, a refeed MUST contain carbohydrates as this is the primary macronutrient that causes the syntesis of leptin. Protein does as well but it is not as effective as carbohydrates. Dietary fat does not have any effect on leptin so your metabolism isn't elevated when a refeed is done with meals high in fat but low in carbohydrates during a diet . By the way, this means with carbohydrates levels raised fat levels must go down unless your goal is fat storage. In other words if there was ever a day to obsess over low fat food sources, a refeed day is it---> all depending on the amount of carbohydrates. This is a nice segue to the reason a refeed is so important for some during a diet.


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## MrGRoberts (Dec 30, 2013)

Podge2Pecs said:


> By refeed do you mean just having a day with loads of carbs? Sorry for stupid question but I'm new


see what PsCarb has put above mate


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## MrGRoberts (Dec 30, 2013)

What foods do people use during a reefed?

I'm using cereal and oat cakes... doesn't seem to do anything, the food feels empty if you get me??

might try rice next time


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## Aliking10 (May 17, 2013)

Just had a nice big refeed as I was feeling so sluggish for the past 2 days on my cut :thumb:


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## Matthew5 (Mar 17, 2011)

MrGRoberts said:


> What foods do people use during a reefed?
> 
> I'm using cereal and oat cakes... doesn't seem to do anything, the food feels empty if you get me??
> 
> might try rice next time


Oats oats oats!


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## banzi (Mar 9, 2014)

Aliking10 said:


> Just had a nice big refeed as I was feeling so sluggish for the past 2 days on my cut :thumb:


Refeeding with carbs can make you even more sluggish, if you perceiver past two days on zero carbs you will get a new lease of life and seem to have loads of energy, science says you shouldnt but you do.


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## Aliking10 (May 17, 2013)

banzi said:


> Refeeding with carbs can make you even more sluggish, if you perceiver past two days on zero carbs you will get a new lease of life and seem to have loads of energy, science says you shouldnt but you do.


I don't low carb though, so it's irrelevant. I'm hitting medium carbs but smashing fasted cardio and then afternoon weights drains me. I find that big carb up in the middle of the week keeps the energy levels up and also gives my metabolism a kick up the ****.


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## DC1 (May 5, 2014)

Just had a massive bowl of oats with coconut milk.

Bumped my carbs up a considerable amount for the day.


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## banzi (Mar 9, 2014)

Aliking10 said:


> I don't low carb though, so it's irrelevant. I'm hitting medium carbs but smashing fasted cardio and then afternoon weights drains me. I find that big carb up in the middle of the week keeps the energy levels up and *also gives my metabolism a kick up the *****.


All it does is it replenishes the glycogen stores and you have to go to the trouble of depleting them again to start the fat burning process.

Try not having the carb up meal, most people pussy out after 3 days zero carbs, its surprising how your body adapts if you push through.


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## 1manarmy (Apr 22, 2012)

What ps carb posted is spot on! Single cheat meals as far as I'm concerned mentally make you feel better from increase in leptin but the benefit of a re feed properly is a lot larger! I've re fed today buy adjusting protein down to 1g per pound of body weight and bumped carbs up 3x that! So today I had 45g fat/385g carbs/180g protein for a total of 2800.. Maintence cal refeed there!


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## AlexB18 (Dec 10, 2013)

I currently refeed on a saturday and sunday im 20% bodyfat and my fat loss has been steady every week so i must be doing summat right, always have had refeeds every weekend regardless of my bodyfat % mainly for sanitys sake and its working so far, bearing in mind im following timed carbs so i also have a medium amount of carbs on training days too, like i said it seems to be working for me personally at the moment.


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## banzi (Mar 9, 2014)

AlexB18 said:


> I currently refeed on a saturday and sunday im 20% bodyfat and my fat loss has been steady every week so i must be doing summat right, always have had refeeds every weekend regardless of my bodyfat % mainly for sanitys sake and its working so far, bearing in mind im following timed carbs so i also have a medium amount of carbs on training days too, like i said it seems to be working for me personally at the moment.


How long have you been dieting and whats your stats?


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## AlexB18 (Dec 10, 2013)

banzi said:


> How long have you been dieting and whats your stats?


Been dieting properly since just after the new year id say end of january/start of feb (thats when i pulled my thumb out my a**e)

Stats

Height: 5"10

Start Weight: 277.4lbs

Current Weight: 260.2lbs

Bodyfat: 20% (this was done end of march havent done another recently as havent had chance)

My weight has fluctuated quite a bit recently due to birthdays, bank holidays weekend trips away with the family etc so i havent lost as much as i probably could have done by now, I took pictures of myself and got a BF% estimate on BB.com and plenty of people were saying i was 25-27% at the time. Some weeks i did lose too much at first (3-4lbs) so i adjusted calories when needed and since then its been steady 1.5-2lbs a week coming off, granted some of this may be muscle i dont know, my lifts are still going up and the weight is still dropping so from what ive read thats normally signs im on the right track.


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## banzi (Mar 9, 2014)

AlexB18 said:


> Been dieting properly since just after the new year id say end of january/start of feb (thats when i pulled my thumb out my a**e)
> 
> Stats
> 
> ...


3-4lbs at that weight and BF% isnt too much.

Dont worry about losing muscle, its a myth, your muscles might shrink due to glycogen being depleted but they soon re-fill


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## nellsuk (Dec 18, 2010)

Im 12 weeks in to my 16 week contest prep, up until 5 weeks out I was refeeding once a week, with a dirty blow out over a few hours, with pizza, garlic bread etc. Other days carbs are below 100g per day, so on reefed day just dropped other fats and protein.

Now with 4 weeks to go, still reefed once per week but doing it over the full day, and just adding in 200g of cooked sweet potato with each meal through the day and more oats on a morning.

Works well for me and bodyfat still dropping while non refeed days my cals have been constant for 8 weeks.

Neil


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## AlexB18 (Dec 10, 2013)

banzi said:


> 3-4lbs at that weight and BF% isnt too much.
> 
> Dont worry about losing muscle, its a myth, your muscles might shrink due to glycogen being depleted but they soon re-fill


Thats good to hear then, i thought i would adjust it anyway just to be safe as i dont want to lose weight too aggressively, i just love the fact that i can pig out on 600g of carbs on a saturday and sunday and still steadily lose weight :lol:


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## MrGRoberts (Dec 30, 2013)

nellsuk said:


> Im 12 weeks in to my 16 week contest prep, up until 5 weeks out I was refeeding once a week, with a dirty blow out over a few hours, with pizza, garlic bread etc. Other days carbs are below 100g per day, so on reefed day just dropped other fats and protein.
> 
> Now with 4 weeks to go, still reefed once per week but doing it over the full day, and just adding in 200g of cooked sweet potato with each meal through the day and more oats on a morning.
> 
> ...


cheers mate look a monster in your avi :thumb:


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