ALL ABOUT REFEED DAYS

what is a refeed day?

 A refeed day is a temporary break from your caloric deficit and involves a day of overeating. During this day you should focus mostly on increasing the number of carbs. 

When you're being in a caloric deficit trying to lose weight or lower your body fat in order to get more shredded you might want to introduce a refeed day once a week.  

Key Benefits

 ✅Multiple studies made on two different groups have shown that those who introduced refeed days on their diet plan during a weight loss phase have retained more muscle mass and been able to maintain the results for a longer period of time than those who were in a caloric deficit during the entire weight loss phase. 

 ✅Taking a break from dieting and allowing yourself to eat some foods that you’ve been craving  has a positive psychological impact over your mind. And with that you lower the risk of binging and ruining your diet.

✅Some studies has also shown that those who introduced a refeed day were more successful in accomplishing their set goal.

But that would seem counterintuitive, overeating over undereating, right? It's not that simple. 🤔

facts

👉According to HealthLine, as you decrease your number of calories and you start to lose weight, a change in hormones takes place, which gives signals to your body that you’re in a calorie deficit and thus that it will receive fewer foods than it usually does. During this time, your body will start to look for ways to reduce it as much as possible to limit weight loss.

👉In particular, a hormone known as leptin begins to decline. Leptin is produced by fat cells and tells your body that it has adequate fat stores, helping regulate appetite and encouraging calorie burning 

 👉However, low levels of this hormone signal your brain that you’re entering a period of calorie deprivation. As a result, your body receives signals to eat more food and burn fewer calories. This process is known as adaptive thermogenesis.

👉By introducing a refeed day every week, you will temporarily increase your leptin levels through increased calorie intake, which may help keep your body’s fat-burning process working again.

HOW – THE RIGHT WAY

Carbohydrates are the main focus of refeed days due to their superior ability to increase leptin levels, compared with fats or proteins. Therefore, by eating foods that are dense in carbs on your refeed day, you’ll be helping your body to balance its leptin levels and boost your metabolism. 

Keep in mind that a refeed day is not necessarily a cheat day. It’s not one of those days when you would just indulge whatever you want. Calorie wise it is, but you still need to take into account your macronutrients. It is advisable to keep your protein and fats the same as you have them during the dieting days and triple the number of carbs. Thus it’s the best time to eat that pasta or the maple syrup pancakes you’ve been craving for.