Dieting is tough, we get it! It’s not easy to go without foods you may normally eat without restriction or to eat differently to those around you. Tools such as refeeds allow us to provide a mental break from dieting, as well as plan for social events. Here’s the lowdown on whether and when to refeed.

Key takeaways

• A refeed is a planned period of increased calorie intake, lasting from a few hours up to a few days.
• Refeeds can help prevent negative metabolic adaptations from dieting, improve adherence and boost performance when applied correctly.
• Scheduling refeeds in advance breaks up long periods of dieting into manageable blocks.
• Whether you need to refeed depends on how long you have been dieting, your starting body composition and the depth of your calorie deficit.
• Don’t use a refeed as an excuse to eat lots of high calorie foods – prioritise healthy eating habits while enjoying some leeway for foods you may have missed.
• You don’t have to do a refeed if they make it harder for you to adhere.

What is a refeed?

A refeed is a planned period of increased calorie intake while dieting, that can last anywhere from a few hours up to a few days. For most of our clients, we recommend single-day (24-hour) refeeds.

Why refeed?

Refeeds and metabolic adaptation

The general idea behind a refeed is that being in a caloric deficit for long periods is both psychologically and physically challenging. Whenever you restrict your calorie intake for an extended period and lose a significant amount of body fat, you will most likely experience the effects of several adaptations made by your body. This is to try and prevent further fat loss and conserve energy.

Remember that your body cannot tell the difference between a voluntary diet and genuine food scarcity. These adaptations (collectively known as ‘metabolic adaptation’) can include:

Reduced energy expenditure from NEAT – either you start doing less activity or subconscious movement such as blinking, fidgeting, etc.

Changes in hormone levels that promote increased hunger, decreased metabolic rate and increased risk of muscle loss.

Increased cravings and food-focused behaviour.

In theory, a refeed reduces the likelihood of these changes occurring and their severity. It is unlikely that a single day refeed can completely reverse adaptations that take several weeks of caloric restriction to develop. However, including them at regular intervals may help slow down the rate at which they occur.

Refeeds and performance

Your body has a limited capacity for storing glycogen, which acts as the body’s primary fuel source during high-intensity exercise. Resistance training and caloric restriction both deplete your body’s glycogen stores, which can negatively impact your workout performance over time. Including a refeed the day before a tough workout will replenish your glycogen stores and provide the energy that you need to power through.

Refeeds and psychological breaks

Arguably the most important benefit of a refeed is that it provides a mental break from dieting, specifically:

• Scheduling refeeds in advance can break up long periods of dieting into more manageable blocks, giving you something to look forward to.
• Refeeds can add variety to your diet and allow you to include foods that you may have temporarily restricted, but sorely miss!
• No diet will ever be completely distraction-free, and you can time refeeds to coincide with events like social gatherings.

In summary, single day refeeds cannot magically increase your rate of fat loss. Nor can they completely counteract metabolic adaptations that occur when dieting for extended periods. However, they do provide a short-term boost in workout performance, as well as several psychological benefits that make them worthy of consideration.

Refeed frequency – do you need a refeed?

A key point to make about these metabolic adaptations is that the extent to which they occur depends on several factors, including:

1. How long you have been dieting.

2. Your starting body fat percentage.

3. The size of calorie deficit.

If you are just starting your diet, have relatively high body fat levels (no sign of visible abs yet) and are taking a sensible approach, it’s unlikely that you need a refeed.

However, refeeds become more important when you have been dieting for several weeks, have lost a lot of body fat and are struggling with the effects of what experienced dieters call ‘diet fatigue’.

It is also important to consider that not everybody responds favourably to refeeds. If you are starting a training and nutrition program after years of poor eating habits, taking breaks early in the process can disrupt the creation of new healthy eating habits. While this should not be an issue if you have built healthy nutrition and lifestyle habits, some individuals become overly fixated on the refeed day, which increases the chances of them overeating.

Refeed recommendations

The only real way to know how you respond to a refeed is to test it out. To do this, we recommend:

Start by establishing basic healthy eating habits and do not include a refeed for the first three weeks of your transformation.

Schedule your first refeed for a day of your choice in week 4.

If you enjoy the refeed and find that it helps restore some physical and mental energy, continue to schedule one refeed day every 7-14 days.

If you find that it disrupts your routine and makes it difficult to get back on track, you do not need to include a refeed.

Most clients tend to enjoy refeeds and, at the very least, you should view it as a nutritional insurance policy to help navigate cravings, social events or times when you have limited food choices.

How to schedule a refeed

When to refeed

There is no specific day you must perform a refeed on and it can change each time, but here are some starting suggestions:

Schedule the refeed for the day before your toughest workout of the week. If performing a refeed to help navigate a social situation, then time it to coincide.

Some people prefer to schedule refeeds for a day they are not working, so they have more time to prepare and enjoy the extra calories.

Refeed size

The aim is to increase your calories to a point where you are no longer in a calorie deficit. To keep things simple, we recommend setting the refeed calorie target as your maintenance calories.

Having a target to aim for is essential, rather than adopting a ‘cheat day’ mentality and eating whatever takes your fancy. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, part of establishing a healthy relationship with food is that there are no “good” or “bad” foods, simply ones that are more or less calorie-dense and that contain more or fewer nutrients. The concept of a “cheat day” can encourage a reward-punishment cycle that is hard to break. Secondly, the purpose of a refeed day is to increase your calories to maintenance. This is like pressing the pause button on fat loss, whereas a cheat day can easily erase several days of dieting!

What to eat during a refeed

We recommend aiming for your normal protein target (you can eat more but remember that mood and performance benefits will mostly come from increased fats and carbohydrates), and the remaining calories can come from any food or non-alcoholic drink of your choice. A common mistake people make is trying to fit as much ‘junk food’ into the refeed day as possible.

The problems here are that they often end up exceeding the refeed target and struggle to return to their ‘normal diet’ the following day. For the best results, we recommend including some treats, but mainly eating more of the same foods that you have built the rest of your meal plan around.

How to set up your refeed

Step 1:

Set a refeed calorie target

Set the refeed calorie target as the maintenance calorie value you estimated earlier.

Step 2:

Set macronutrient targets

Aim for your normal protein target (but you can eat more) and allocate the remaining calories to a macronutrient distribution of your choice.

Step 3:

Resume your normal weekday diet

After the refeed, don’t panic if your weight spikes. This is natural and shows that the refeed has been effective in replenishing muscle glycogen stores. Resume your normal weekday plan and keep going!