How To Structure Refeeds PROPERLY

So thought I would share a piece of work by one of my mentors and go to guys for nutritional advice, Kyle Webber aka 'The Physique Coach' and owner of Nutrivolve.

Now this is aimed more at those that have competed or looking to compete, refeeds can be a god send but also if abused can be the difference between you placing or not, or in worst case scenarios not even making it to the stage after 12, 16, 20 weeks of dieting.

How To Structure Refeed Meals

Hey there! If you’re reading this, then chances are that you’ve either competed in a physique based competition before or are looking at getting on stage sometime soon! 

Now before you get into it, I want to take this opportunity to give you some advice. Throughout my years as a full-time coach, I’ve specialised in bringing beginner physique athletes to a high level of physical development. Now; there are a few essential things that you MUST do (in my opinion) in order to reach a higher level. 

Your goal should NOT be to just step on stage, but rather to present the BEST possible version of yourself. To have a physique you are PROUD of. 

To be HAPPY with what you have achieved. 

To have LEARNED more about your body than ever before. 

I’ve developed this guide for you because these are all the things that I wished someone told me when I first started out. I was once in your shoes too; uncertain and overwhelmed with information, so I’ve made it my goal to try and help out others out by what I’ve learned over my years of competing, coaching and training high level competitors. Let me know if this has been of benefit, I’d love to hear from you!

PREFACE – Physiological Vs Psychological Benefits

When it comes to brief periods of overfeeding, although there are many physiological benefits to be had (if the body is in a state that warrants their implementation) most people get caught up in the psychological relief that it brings. After months of mentally blocking out the effects of ghrelin on appetite stimulation (usually from carbohydrate reduction) the body has somewhat down-regulated the production of dopamine and serotonin (‘feel good’ hormones).

Have you ever wolged down a jar of Nutella and it just feels SO DAMN GOOD while you’re eating it but then afterwards you feel horrible?

…yeh me neither

But that feeling stems from a surge of serotonin release via a rapid increase in not only blood sugar levels, but also vagus nerve activation. 

That probably didn’t make much sense to you… To simplify; when you eat a large amount of something that you like, there’s a hormone released that makes you ‘feel good’. In most cases, cheats/refeeds are quite ‘carb heavy’ (unless you decide to reefed on steak... for some weird reason), hence the increase in blood sugar. 

There’s also a nerve called the vagus nerve which allows the gut to communicate with the brain. This is what tells you when you are full or hungry. The problem however, is that this connection takes time… more time that what it takes to finish a liter of ice cream in a binge frenzy anyway. This is why you don’t feel full and sorry for yourself until AFTER the overfeeding period. 

Now that’s all well and good and I do feel that ‘free meals’ (I like to use this term instead of cheat) do have their place on a diet if you are struggling in social situations, but outside of a very brief increase in mood – the physiological benefits are often outweighed by the possible detrimental effects such as decreased insulin sensitivity, increase triglycerides (leading to an increase in fat storage) and excessive fluid retention. 

On the other end of the spectrum, a proper reefed can still provide the psychological benefits of a cheat meal however the physiological enhancements are far more pronounced.

THE GOALS OF A REFEED

Think of a refeed as somewhat of a controlled cheat meal with a purpose that extends more physiological than psychological. The idea of a refeed in the context that I like to approach them is to over fill muscle glycogen stores and cause a significant increase in leptin (a hormone produced by your fat cells which tells your body that you are full). If you’re dieting and attempting to train at your full potential, it’s extremely important to keep glycogen retention as high as possible, and the longer we diet the more leptin sensitive our bodies become, hence increasing hunger signals.

There are 3 main goals to adding in a reefed in a diet: 

1. To increase leptin 

2. To up-regulate metabolic activity 

3. To restore muscle glycogen

Lower levels of leptin often correlates with decreased T3 output (one of the hormones produced by the thyroid) which is one reason why people tend to stall or plateau in their weight loss. As TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) drops, the thyroid is no longer signaled to produce the hormones needed to regulate metabolic rate at a large intake (i.e. less food = less need to create metabolic activity), which in turn causes the body to adapt to the lower food intake. By implementing a brief period of overfeeding, we can force a large spike in leptin production, which can assist in contributing to a substantial (albeit short-lived) increase in T3 and T4, both of which are responsible for regulating your metabolic rate.

Essentially, what we are trying to do by implementing a reefed is preventing the body from adapting to a lower caloric intake via creating a net increase in total overall calorie intake as opposed to a consistent adjustment. The greater your thyroid output, the more efficient your body becomes at burning through the food you give it (i.e. 'speeding up your metabolism' as some people like to call it, though I'd rather refer to it as a brief period of increased metabolic activity).

The trick to this though (and why so many people screw up their refeeds), is that you need to create a SUBSTANTIAL increase in order to achieve your reefed goals. A little bit of extra rice isn’t going to cut it.

HOW TO STRUCTURE A PROPER REFEED

I’m going to take away all the confusion you have EVER had about Another issue surrounding refeeds that I see is the inability for people to utilize them efficiently. In order for a reefed to be effective, 2 things need to happen:

1. The body needs to be RECEPTIVE to the increased intake 

2. The overfeeding amount needs to be SUBSTANTIAL enough to create a positive increase in metabolic activity

So – if you’re a female and you’re consuming under 50g of carbs a day, increasing that by an extra 50% most likely isn’t going to do ANYTHING for you. In general, the lower you are the higher your reefed should be. Here are some arbitrary numbers that I like to go by:

Total carb intake ≤ 50g = Increase carbs by 200% 

Total carb intake ≤ 100g = Increase carbs by 150% 

Total carb intake ≤ 150g = Increase carbs by 100% 

Total carb intake ≤ 200g = Increase carbs by 50%** 

**It’s unlikely you’ll need a reefed at this intake

Now in terms of what the reefed should consist off, this is where we can be somewhat more lenient. Refeeds are often calculated to a set amount of carbohydrates, and personally I'll suggest people to use food sources that they know digest well. 

Personally; I suggest that these extra carbohydrates are added in to your diet in the final 2-4hrs of your day. This will not only help to provide a large serotonin dump (putting you to sleep), but will also allow you to enjoy loading up hard in the evening without the temptation to pick and nibble on everything throughout the day just because “it’s high carb day”.

A FEW MORE RULES…

It’s not a good idea to be dieting on rice and potato and then decide to reefed on low-fat ice cream and pop-tarts. It’s also not a good idea to include high amounts of dietary fat with reefed meals as the surge in insulin may cause excessive uptake of FFA’s to be stored in the fat cells. What I would suggest is keeping fat intake during this time as LOW as possible, not adding in anything extra to the carb feeding aside from the trace amounts occurring in the food sources themselves. 

It’s also a good idea (if you are on the higher end of the spectrum) to opt for carbohydrate sources that are fairly low volume to reduce GI upset and digestive stress. 

As for protein – this one’s up to you. It’s not a necessity to increase protein intake however I would suggest including some just to slow the raise in blood glucose levels. Approximately 20-30g would be fine.

TO FINISH OFF

Whether you want to do a reefed over the period of a whole day or a brief period is up to you. It also doesn’t matter whether a reefed is performed the day of or the day before a hard training session. The physiological effect will still occur, however it MAY prove beneficial for some people to have their reefed after a hard training session to increase nutrient uptake (though if you have done the hard yards and waited your time, body will be ready for it whenever). Find your own groove with what feels best

WORK REFERENCED

Kyle Webber - 'The Physique Coach' 26th July 2017