First: what a leptin Re-feed is. This is a day where you increase carbs from 50%-100% over what you usually take in, Protein is lowered to about 1.2-1.5 grams per pound and fat is kept low for this one day around 15% of your total calories.
Second: What is the benefit of this? When you get to a lean level of body fat and when you follow generally a low carb diet most of the time, the body over time will slow it's metabolism, and your results will begin too slow, pretty much what is happening is leptin levels (a hormone in our body that is responsible for keeping our metabolism run correctly) get too low from dieting for too long or eating too low of carbs and when that happens we generally have a hard time at loosing that last bit of fat, you know what i'm talking about; the fat that just sits there and never seems to go down at all, (for me that troublesome area right around by belly button) everyone has a different place where they tend to store that annoying bit of stubborn fat. The benefits of doing a day with higher carbs will reset those levels causing the body raise leptin back to normal and you will be able to continue burning body fat when you resume to your regular diet.
GREAT SO I CAN EAT A BUNCH OF JUNK FOOD ONE DAY A WEEK?!?!?
NO!!!!!! this re-feed day is not a day to eat a lot of crap, everything you eat should be clean in my opinion.
WHAT DO WE EAT THEN!?!?
-Carbs! and clean sources of them. I usually use a lot of sweet potatoes on my reefed days, that and gluten free oatmeal. I also usually use this day to eat some pasta! since i don't usually eat pasta. as long as your carb sources are clean you will be all set.
A BUNCH OF FRUIT OK?
- You don't want to spike your insulin level and too much fruit will tend to do that, no fruit won't make you fat but since you will be taking in so many carbs this day, if your insulin spikes too much you will store some of those carbs you have eaten, try to limit fruit to 2-3 servings for this day. The point is to carb up without spiking insulin too much thats why low glycemic carbs work best.
WHAT ARE LOW GLYCEMIC CARBS, IF YOU DON'T MIND EXPLAINING?
Oatmeal, sweet potatoes, brown rice, quinoa. also some others are whole wheat whole grain products but those have a little higher glycemic index than the previous selection, there still fine tho to include on a couple meals for the re-feed tho. The main thing to watch is just don't let sugar levels get out of control.
SO HOW DO I SET UP A RE-FEED DAY?
- First you have to find your maintenance calorie level (which you should already know) if you don't know it you can use my article on my blog "how to dial in your nutrition" then once you figure out your maintenance level, add 200-500 calories depending on how lean you already are (more lean= more cals, less lean = less calories added) next we have to figure out the ratios of P/C/F, for a proper re-feed i suggest using a ratio balance of 30/55/15 or even 25/60/15 so in an example would be somebody that has a maintenance of 2200 cals and still has a decent amount of weight too loose, they would increase that to 2500 cals and take in 343g of carbs, 187g of protein, and 41 grams of fat (30/55/15).
HOW OFTEN SHOULD I DO THIS?
- This depends on how lean you already are, the more lean you are the more often this needs done. here is what i recommend
10% body fat or less= 1-2 re-feeds every 7 days.
10-20% body fat= 1 re-feed every 7-14 days.
anyone above 20% should not worry about re-feeds and just worry about being in a defecit till they get leaner, then add in the re-feeds to take your leanness to the next level.
SO DO I TRAIN ON THIS DAY?
- Totally up too you, The point of this day is to reset leptin not burn up calories, for me when i do a re-feed i plan it on days where i am training the largest muscle in my body that why i can make good use of all that extra glycogen, For me it would be on a leg or back day as those are the largest muscles in the body. some people choose to only do low intensity training, the choice is really up to you what you think feels best.
IS IT OK IF I WANT TO TREAT MYSELF TO A CHEAT MEAL ON THIS DAY?
- Yes, that is totally fine but with that said make sure you keep your fat low!
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO KEEP FAT SO LOW ON THIS DAY?
- The main source of fuel the body uses for energy is carbs, the secondary source the body chooses is fat, and the third source it chooses for energy is protein. so on this day if you eat a lot of carbs and fat the body will simply burn the carbs and store the fat for future use! thats why one should never take in a lot of fat with a lot of carbs, thats a recipe for disaster.
SO ON THIS DAY I SHOULD DO HIGH CARB, MED-LOW PROTEIN, AND VERY LOW FAT? IS THAT CORRECT?
Yep you got it! this approach will take your body to a completely new level of definition. I use this plan 1-2X weekly to help keep me lean all year round since i generally eat lower carbs throughout most days of the week. here is a screen shot of a re-feed day that i use. (click on it to make it bigger)
Also if you want more evidence why you should do Re-feeds here is an article from Mark Sisson!He even recommends them! Try a re-feed out some time and within about 3 weeks in a row using them you will notice drops in BF%. You will also notice when you go back to your standard diet too for the remaining part of the week that your metabolism has shot way up! you will be hungry more often till your body adjusts again. Also the glycogen you store on this day will make the next 2 days workouts really good. You should be able to push more weight than usual and you should feel pretty good.
Peace, Fausey
super duper information Shawn, thanks
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