Refeed today

[Thinker82]

ah man, I think I over did it on my refeed today (currently low carbing, one refeed per week)

10am - 2 low fat cranberry muffins from Tim Hortons
1:30pm - huge bowl of mixed cerials (lucky charms, frosted flakes, rice crispies)
2:00pm - Large pear
3:00pm - Another Large pear only choped up and mixed with low fat cottage cheese.
4:00pm - Meduim sized bowl of lucky charm cerial
6:00pm - Another huge bowl of mixed cerials (lucky charms, frosted flakes, rice crispies)

Damn this is the last time I refeed on a day that Im off work and got nothing to do, I couldnt stop eating.
Going to the gym for a 2 hour workout in a few mins so hopefully I can work off some of this extra weight I put on today, feels like i've put on like 10 pounds in the past 8 hours.
Hope these damn refeeds really work

 

[Vageta]

Well large bowl of mixed cereal is a bit cryptic but doesn't seem like you overdid it to me. Sounds like you underdid it if anything.

 

[Creatureofnight]

Yeah bro, i dont think you even hit 50% above maintence, especially if you worked out and did cardio today.

Id also get a bit more protein and maybe even some fats in there.

Wheres the pasta,rice,bread fat free cheeses and fat free puddings? Have some fun with it...

If you are only doing a 12 hour refeed, you would really have to pack the cals down and take in too much fat to really do damage especially if your only doing one refeed a week and the rest of the days very low carbs

 

[Thinker82]

good to hear that I didn't over do it. thanks

Reasons I thought I may have overdone it:

1) Put on 5 pounds of water retention (hopefully no fat)
2) I got really bloated
3) I wasn't really hungry when I was scarfing down all that food, I almost went into binge mode.
4) Im only 5'10" 150 pounds with not so great metabolism because of yo-yo dieting in the past and I know these foods cause me to gain weight rapidly.

I feel a lot better now with my workout out of the way and the bloating is calming down a bit.
Next friday when I do my next refeed I'll cut out some cerial and add a sub sandwich from subway and maybe some pasta or rice.

 

[Vageta]

Take that scale and throw it out the damn window. Seriously, you need to stay off the scale during refeeds or you're gonna freak yourself out. Water levels have nothing to do with fat gain but you'll psyche yourself out thinking it's all fat. When dieting just weigh yourself once a week at the same time. I recommend the morning before your refeed or the morning after. Don't weigh yourself the first week before you refeed then weigh yourself the next week the morning after. Sometimes I weigh myself before and after refeeds just to see how much water I've gained though I completely realize that it's all water and just like to see how much I gain.

I also don't always get truly bloated. My stomach tends to stick out like a GH gut simply because of the amount of food I put it in during refeeds. However it's usually back to normal the next day, especially after a bowel movement. I rarely experience a lot of subcutaneous water gain from a strict refeed though others seem to.

Eating a lot of carbs can definately stimulate hunger in some but you have to go into this refeed with the diet mentality. If you let yourself think it's ok to "cheat" then you will. I treat refeeds religiously like my diet and count all calories and macronutrients. I didn't used to but I found I always went off my initial "plan" if I didn't. Since I've been treating them just like diet days I've noticed I stick exactly to plan and my results have been more consitant.

I know this is hard for most but you need to completely rid yourself of the "fat gain demons". You just have to pound it into your head that refeeds aren't hurting you but instead helping. If you read all that you can find on them, especially Par's articles, it should help to relieve you of these worries. I used to have these when I started refeeding as well. I kept thinking I was slowing down my progress, but over time I realized the true beauty that refeeds are.

 

[Creatureofnight]

I easily put on 8-10 lbs of water weight during a refeed day. Buts its just that, WATER. Give it a day or two back to your normal diet and it will be gone.