•cheat Days Are For Slobs!

[Buld0g]

Ok I’ll admit, I cheat once a week also. But a lot of us out there tell our selves that we will lose more weight if we incorporate a carb up day or a binge day every week or two. Come on fellas, lets stop kidding our selves. Do you really think that you will lose more if you eat more. The whole lipton level/metabolism repriming thing is some what bullshit. Now I’m not saying that you can’t lose weight while having cheat days. All I’m saying is that you will lose a lot more fat if you can do with out them. The key is to never keep your calorie intake to low because then your metabolism will slow down a little. And keep the protein high so that you don’t lose muscle.

I have always went at least 7-10 days before every cheat meal. Doing that has helped me lose a lot of weight at first. After that it has just kept me lean. But for my show I went 5 and a half weeks without cheating and I got so fuckin RIPPED!. So that proved it to me. If you really wanna get ripped, Sorry fellas, but in less you have an awesome metabolism, you gotta skip the cheat days.

Just My Opinion.

 

[Lift Chief]

makes sense man... everyday is a cheat day for me though-- cutting... what?

 

[Zyglamail]

Well, the body is quite an amazing machine, stating to stay on a strict dient and not cheap to get successfull gains is sort of like saying to stay on the same workout with out change to make good progress. Eating clean 24/7 sounds good on paper but the body will eventually adjust its hormonal system in an effort to adapt to the way we train and eat. Reduced cals will, over time, reduce our metabolism as our body seeks to save itself from perceived starvation. A cheat day in essence prevents(or more accuratly lessens) the adaptation that would take place otherwise.

 

[cbs]

well, i can only speak for myself. I have dropped sigificant weight and fat and one week i have cheated bigtime and still maintained and in some cases, lost weight. For me, my cheat day(Saturday) brings me back to sanity and at the end of the day, I look forward to going back to my regimen Sunday - Friday. FYI- the only supplement I used on my cheat week was ALA, so i have no idea if that had anything to do with it. If i was single, i would definitely cut back on cheat days though.

 

[Buld0g]

Well, of course you can't go all year with out cheating. But lets just say that you had a photo shoot or a show coming up in 5 weeks. Would you honestly cheat week to week and think your gonna lose more weight? All I'm saying is that for those of you who wanna TEMPORARILY take it to the next level, Just try skipping the cheat meals for a couple of weeks. Then maybe kick them back in every week, so you maintain what you've lost while not cheating.

 

[drveejay11]

Well, the body is quite an amazing machine, stating to stay on a strict dient and not cheap to get successfull gains is sort of like saying to stay on the same workout with out change to make good progress. Eating clean 24/7 sounds good on paper but the body will eventually adjust its hormonal system in an effort to adapt to the way we train and eat. Reduced cals will, over time, reduce our metabolism as our body seeks to save itself from perceived starvation. A cheat day in essence prevents(or more accuratly lessens) the adaptation that would take place otherwise.

EXCELLENT POINT ZYG!

 

[naturally anabolic]

i thought that after a certain point the body would slow its metabolism due to the lack of carbohydrates? For instances i am currently on a ketogenic diet, did it with no cheat days for 2 weeks and felt like i wanted to stab myself in the head, and sleep ALL the time. I threw one carb up day in every 5th day and i feel almost normal. If for nothing else it helps to keep me from feeling horrible.

 

[Zyglamail]

Well, of course you can't go all year with out cheating. But lets just say that you had a photo shoot or a show coming up in 5 weeks. Would you honestly cheat week to week and think your gonna lose more weight? All I'm saying is that for those of you who wanna TEMPORARILY take it to the next level, Just try skipping the cheat meals for a couple of weeks. Then maybe kick them back in every week, so you maintain what you've lost while not cheating.

Yea, for short term like 5 weeks your probably fine. I was more talking long term weight loss goals.

 

[NJextreme]

I speak for my self when I say I eat my diet and everything else and stay lean hard and full.....I think it all depends on your genetics

 

[jc21]

in the off season everyday is a cheat day for me too.

 

[naturally anabolic]

jc i still want to see this "i look horrible" shape ur in right now, prolly still 3x better then me rightnow

 

[liftsiron]

Well, of course you can't go all year with out cheating. But lets just say that you had a photo shoot or a show coming up in 5 weeks. Would you honestly cheat week to week and think your gonna lose more weight? All I'm saying is that for those of you who wanna TEMPORARILY take it to the next level, Just try skipping the cheat meals for a couple of weeks. Then maybe kick them back in every week, so you maintain what you've lost while not cheating.

I agree with you 100%, good thread.

 

[Citruscide]

jc i still want to see this "i look horrible" shape ur in right now, prolly still 3x better then me rightnow

Probably 8-12x better. j/k Natty.

C-ditty

 

[da big thinker]

i beleive that once you reach a comfortable level of muscularity,a cheat day is something that needs to be done once weekly (especially in the off-season) for sanity purposes.in addition,muscle maturity and knowing your own body plays a big role...diet manipulation is the key...i know guys who NEVER cheat and have looked the same for years...i choose to use manipulation of diet to succeed...and like the wise LEE PRIEST stated,i would rather die w/ a bucket of KFC by my side,than a mesely chicken breast...LOL

 

[big_bad_buff]

True

 

[naturally anabolic]

Probably 8-12x better. j/k Natty.

C-ditty

nah make it 2-300x bro... i look horrible at 194 right now.

 

[WARBIRDWS6]

i vote cheat day once a week. maybe double the calories on two or three of your diet meals. add like 1K-1.5K cals max for that day. works for me.

 

[CytoMel]

i thought that after a certain point the body would slow its metabolism due to the lack of carbohydrates? For instances i am currently on a ketogenic diet, did it with no cheat days for 2 weeks and felt like i wanted to stab myself in the head, and sleep ALL the time. I threw one carb up day in every 5th day and i feel almost normal. If for nothing else it helps to keep me from feeling horrible.

Good point.

Cheat days are needed for keto diets. Without a carb day and without juice a keto diet will burn up muscle if you are in keto for 2 or more weeks sraight

 

[Buld0g]

Good point.

Cheat days are needed for keto diets. Without a carb day and without juice a keto diet will burn up muscle if you are in keto for 2 or more weeks sraight.

I will agree with the fact that you will lose a little muscle. But that is why we bulk up before hand. So we can afford to loss a little muscle. If you take gear you wont loss to much muscle even with out carb ups. I saved my carb up for the wed-friday prior to my show. The show was on saturday. But besides that I went about 6 weeks without cheating. Fucking was hell.

 

[gsxr1000]

<--------------------7 cheat days a week right now, well maybe 6 cheat 1 strict, hahaha

 

[rottweiler75]

I totally disagree with this posts unless your on AS's. If you want to call them cheat days that is your choice. But cheat actually would mean a weakness. I see carb days on a keto diet, a wise, knowledgable choice. Not only do u have to worry about lowered leptin levels, but also muscle is what drives the metabolism. Just like the stretching of muscle cells during creatine (osmosis) use, the opposite is true with low blood sugar, and less electrolyetes common on a ketogenic diet. Not only that but u have the neurologic problems like no energy, intense cravings for carbs ect. I think you can call them cheat days if your digging into ding dongs and if your camping out at crispy cream, but if your eating clean glucose rich (non fructrose or sucrose foods) it would be a wise decision. Why slow down the furnace and drive yourself crazy if it is counter productive. Carb loads should be watched carefully though. I am sure what one person can get away with another might find to be too many calories, so the rule of thumb would be know your body. Personally I am not a hard core AS user, I have done a couple of very mild cycles. When I bulk I dont want to turn into the poster boy for the candy bar isle at the grocery store and on the other end of it, when i cut I dont want to give up undue muscle due to irrational thinking. I think this is where real discipline comes in ( knowing your body and what foods to eat/at what amounts/at what times). my .02 cents

 

[FatChops]

It's sooo fuckin Hard though.....

 

[juiceheadnyc]

I dont knwo man i was taking winni and clen and eating nothing but protien and almost close to no carbs and went from 220 to 205 in like 2 months and ripped the hell up...i then went on like a 2 week vacation and said fuk it and when i tell u i ate like an animal i mean it...i mean i ate everything from pizza to everything and when i came back went to the gym i weighed myself and had lost another 8 pounds and felt tight as a mofo......Explain that one???????????

 

[Vageta]

When someone doesn't understand something or believe it can be true they simply shun it. That doesn't make it any less true however. Leptin and refeeds aren't some scam made up so that someone can feel better about eating more food. It's a scientificaly sound discovery and from personal experience I can tell you it works. Just because refeeding helps restore leptin levels doesn't give you a free meal ticket to eat everything in the house, I don't think anyone who preached refeeds ever preached this. Refeeds need to be controlled just as normal dieting however your intake of carbs is radically increased. And because fast absorbing carbs are better at restoring leptin levels we end up eating the processed sugary foods that we always crave. As long as it's controlled theres absolutely nothing wrong with that. We know high GI carbs are king post workout yet no one goes around whining that it's an excuse to eat sugar. Same goes for refeeds.

Of course in the very short term refeeds aren't necessary. Unless you drop calories drastically low from the start then your leptin levels won't plummet overnight and you won't suffer from the side effects initially. It takes time for it to kick in, but once it does you will definately know it. So if you want to diet for a few weeks to drop a few pounds of fat you can do it without refeeding. However most people I know don't diet for a that little of a time. Most of us are in it for the long haul and go at least 8 weeks at a time. In this case they are definately necessary. Even if you don't notice the tell tale signs of low leptin levels till the 5th week doesn't mean you shouldn't refeed before that. If you refeed from the beginning then you will keep leptin levels higher than if you waited until you felt you needed to refeed.

Think of it like this. If you refeed for 1 day and shoot for 25% above maintenance calories, then add that to your calorie deficit built up over the week it really doesn't amount to much. That doesn't even take into consideration that a lot of those extra calories are stored as muscle glycogen due to supercompensation and the fact that some are wasted as heat when the body attempts to burn the extra calories.

Then there's the fact that by refeeding your leptin levels stay higher and metabolism is stoked so during the next week you'll have a more successful diet. It's a known fact that each week our body adapts more and more to a diet so it gets less efficient each passing week. However with refeeding we help keep it efficient so that over time we end up actually burning fat more efficiently than if we just went straight through without the refeed.

My most successful dieting plan I've ever undergone is by refeeding twice per week. A 6 hour refeed on Wednesday following my leg workout and then a full 12 hour refeed on Saturday. Not only have I lost more fat during this type of diet than any other one, even a CKD, but I also have retained more strength and size while dieting than before. Not to mention I don't suffer from cravings and uncontrollable hunger during this time and I am only a few days away from being able to indulge in something I want.

I personally don't think refeeding slows down fat loss even in the short term, however even if it did it's so minute that it would take a long time to amount to anything. Would you rather diet hardcore without any free days for 12 weeks, or refeed and make your diet more liveable and give you something to look forward to but maybe diet a week longer? Personally I'd rather diet a week longer if it makes the preceeding 12 weeks more tolerable. Besides as I said I don't think it slows you down at all, in fact I think with a controlled refeed after 12 weeks the refeeding dieter would be the clear winner. Also remember after a long diet without refeeds your leptin levels will be in the dirt and your metabolism will be like that of a sloth. What do you think will happen when you start to eat normally? If you have done your refeeds correctly you will be able to maintain your new physique much easier.

Remember though I don't think any refeed promoter ever said it was a license to gorge. There are rules to follow so if you break them then you aren't refeeding, you are cheating. In this case you can't blame it on the refeed, it's your own fault.

 

[juiceheadnyc]

Well said vageta, I couldnt have said it better.....

 

[jdubs952]

Come on guys, pick up a physiology book or some research lit. You're body will adjust and 5 weeks is too much, but it will not necc. mean muscle loss. Thats only in the cases of extreme negative energy balance.

To account for and beat the platuea that is ur body homeostatic control adjusting to intake is simple: MOVE.....before the energy balance was very negative, as your body catches up, your energy balance, although probably still negative, isn't as much as a decreased amount of fat loss is detected. Once this happens: DO not cut calories more, this is when you WILL lose muscle..plain and simply, expend more, do not make demands to stressful; sprinting, supramaximal efforts, etc... just move, walk more, 10 more mins of cardio, and so forth, this will allow you to continue to lose body fat. And this ketosis crap is just that: a calorie burned is a caloried burned. If you eat a balanced diet at 1500 kcals or a keto diet at 1500 kcals, body fat loss will be identical. its like saying: if i walk on treadmill at 4.5 thats the "fat burning zone" b/c the sticker on the treadmill says so. EDUCATE do not believe gym myths.