REFEED DAYS VS CHEAT DAYS
▪️I personally suggest that you should incorporate refeed days instead of cheat days when your goal is to lose fat.
▪️When it comes to refeed days, calories are raised to maintenance or a slight surplus, through an increase in carbohydrates which will serve as a mental and metabolic break from dieting.
▪️Overall, when you are planning your diet, it’s a good idea to add at least one or even two refeed days every one in a while (frequency should be based on the person’s leanness), and it won’t cause any “damage” to the progress being made in a diet.
▪️Refeed days can also help you reduce water weight because of the increased amount of carbs, which can help decrease stress levels and cause water weight to drop: as a result you generally feel tighter/leaner/fuller, you will also have more energy during your workouts and even your mood your mood will improve.
▪️And it doesn’t just stop there! ..2 or more (consecutive refeed days) generally referred to as “Diet Breaks” have a positive impact on our Leptin levels, which is the hormone that is responsible for regulating our metabolism. From my experience I’ve seen that Multiple Days spent at maintenance with an increased amount of carbs will increase my energy expenditure and will allow me to train better, without regaining the fat back since the calories are still kept around maintenance.
▪️However, on the other hand “Cheat Days” will never be anything more than an excuse not to diet. Cheat days really don’t serve a purpose and will only slow the process down due to the fact that the calories consumed will generally be very high (it’s called “cheat” for a reason).
▪️Also the mental aspect of a cheat day, which mostly (not always) tends to make people feel guilty and more likely to quit the diet afterwards.
▪️Am I saying that you should never have a cheat day? Certainly not, there are some occasions in which you could cheat a little, however, if the goal is losing fat they would only slow down the process.
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