Free day vs. Refeeds

[Cuts]

Which do y'all think is better in regards to continous fat loss on a low cal diet... two 12-hour high GI refeeds per week, or 1 balls out free day per week. Please also consider the psychological effects of the two. Thanks.

 

[bm2k]

Which do y'all think is better in regards to continous fat loss on a low cal diet... two 12-hour high GI refeeds per week, or 1 balls out free day per week. Please also consider the psychological effects of the two. Thanks.

Definately the two 12-hour high GI refeeds.

Typically a "balls out free day" tends to result in the consumption of food that has an extreme negative effect on your physique and fat loss. Psychologically, this is bad for most people due to the guilt-factor. Consuming pizza, burgers, chocolate etc. doesn't have the same positive effect that a refeed has. If you're consuming a bunch of fat with a high amount of carbs, you're asking for fat gain.

On the other hand, refeeds are nothing but positive steps towards improved and easier fat loss. These have obviously been covered in great depth in other threads around the board.

 

[Kid Dynamite]

A balls out day will do a nice job of completely negating the previous week of dieting.

 

[barnidge]

What is the difference between "Balls out" and a Refeed?

How should calories be calculated?

Is cereal and fat-free ice cream good refeed foods?

 

[Kid Dynamite]

FF Icecream and cereal are cool for re-feeds.
A re-feed is a quick adjustment to your diet that will help if used right. It is a structured bump up in calories using carbs to jump your metabolism and adjust leptin levels. A "balls to the wall" day is eating complete shit all day and screwing your diet. Most people who do this are not mentally tough enough to go a few weeks without there pizza and burgers. It's funny that alot of people who have days like this quit their diet and claim it didn't work because they lose no weight in 2 weeks. Dieting for 6 days then eating 7000 - 8000 calories will usually do a nice job of fucking your diet, really hard. Basically:
Re-feeds = Still dieting
All Out = Fucking your diet
My opinion, of course...

 

[barnidge]

Thanks KD. So would you say for me(210lbs 17%) that I should eat 3500 on refeeds and less than 2500 calories on normal days?

 

[Bobarell]

What I do if I need something really bad......Chinese or Italian food........I wait until my refeed day and eat one cheat meal.

I don't think that one meal a week is going to set back the diet for the whole week. I crave all kinds of things just because I have a 3 year old that eats all the stuff that I used to eat before dieting.

I would never go all out on any one day because I would feel like shit all week. I see people all the time saying that on their cheat day they ate an ungodly amount of food. I feel like I am setting myself back eating 500g of carbs in one day, but it has been talked about and proven on this board so many times that I feel that I need to do it. I used to have one meal out with the family once a week and I did now worry about what I ate because I knew I was good all week. Also, since I am eating 6 times a day my stomach is a lot smaller so I don't end up eating that much anyway.

 

[Vageta]

The main problem with pure unadultered pigging out is you have no idea of how many calories you're consuming and you're probably getting a shit load of fat which is not what you want on a refeed. When refeeding you should be still be counting calorie and macronutrient intake. You should treat a refeed like a strict diet so you hit your intake goals, but your choice of foods will be much more enjoyable.

Fat free sweets are horrible choices when dieting, but they end up being perfect for refeeds. Breakfast cereals, fat free pastries, fat free ice cream, etc... are all great choices. You should also be getting high GI foods on a refeed day. Insulin release plays a large part in restoring leptin levels so low GI carbs aren't as good for this reason. Stick to low GI carbs while on normal diet days and hit the high GI carbs on refeeds. If you're paranoid about fat gain you can always hit some lower GI foods towards the end of the night, but get as much high GI foods as you can during the day.

You can always eat 1 meal on a refeed day that doesn't fit the perfect refeed meal profile, but keep it to 1. If you want to go out to dinner and put some sour cream and butter on your potato then do it. Just don't eat like that the whole day. I usually don't do this because I get enough enjoyment from the carbs alone, but there are occasions where I go out to dinner with family that I'll indulge myself for one meal.

 

[plornive]

Sorry i didn't read any other responses, but two refeeds is better than one. The body adusts very quicky, and two refeeds would result in better lbm retention. For the same caloric deficit, that means greater fat loss (not to mention a more elevated metabolism).

Anabolic and high-leptin states carry over for a few days (not an entire week) into hypocalorism, then cease. Any muscle loss is prevented immediately when the refeed starts. It's all about the duration of hormonal states.

 

[Bobarell]

OK Plornive.

If I am doing a CKD do I take the carbup/refeed days macronutrients and cut the cals/pro/carbs/fat in half and do one on say Wednesday and Saturday?

I think the refeed time frame according to the CKD is 56 total hours so say a full day on Wed and Sat?