Help with Refeeds

[imported_elle11]

Hi guys and girls,
I am currently at 18% BF and trying to lose a little more, of course while maintaining or gaining a little muscle. My body wants to stay at around 20% Bf so I am looking into refeeds in hopes of decreasing my BF more. I'm 5'6", 130# and consuming 1500 kcals during the week.

Everyone talks about eating maintenance during the week and then increasing kcals and carbs over the weekend. Is there some kind of guideline for amount of carbs to add for refeeds based on body weight? What kind of carbs? Are we talking complex, or any kind of carbs, including sugar?

Thanks in advance -- looking forward to a large refeed on Mother's day -- LOL!

 

[imported_elle11]

okay I found this on ThinkMuscle.com:

Quote[/b] ]To be a little more qualitative about it, the studies on glycogen compensation show that you can put away about 10 g/kg lean body mass of carbs before you max out glycogen.

I would still like to know what you eat for refeeds though?

 

[imported_edziu]

All your carb-rich foods are open game for refeeds. The shorter your refeed period, the looser you can be.

If you're doing a 24 or 36 hour refeed, try not to have as much sugar and white bread. Try to get a little more fiber.

If you're doing a 6 hour refeed "carb binge," you can go nuts.

Pasta, rice, bread, bagels, Smarties, cotton candy. . . it's all good. I use Splenda normally; during a refeed, I switch to sugar. Most cereals will be good, too.

With the bread, mind your spreads -- the butters, etc., will
add up to more fat. But jelly, jam, preserve, honey even. . . yum!

Be carefull with cookies and crackers -- they are often surprisingly high in fat as well as being carb bombs.

If you get it right, your body temperature will rise and you might get a bit hyper. I remember one refeed after 6 days on 1200 calories; for breakfast I had a stack of pancakes with 1/2 cup of syrup, and a cup of coffee sweetened with a pack of hot chocolate mix (mostly sugar). I was bouncing down the hallway at work, practically sprinting. It was fun, but it can't be very good for you, long term.

 

[imported_elle11]

Thanks Edziu,
So for my refeed I'll do around 450 gms Carb (going by the thinkmuscle.com calculations) from 6pm to 6 pm the next day? Do I need to be concerned about calories during the refeed, other than they should be high? 500 more?

 

[stevie]

there is an article by lyle macdonald at thinkmuscle, titled the cyclical ketogenic diet (or something like that). and another called training on the CKD.
Im not sure if you have read those, but they provide alot of info about refeeds ie carb grams, fat grams, and protein grams. and at what rate to consume the carbs etc.
Ive never tried the suggestions though so i cant comment personally.

 

[imported_elle11]

Stevie,
Fantastic article!

Well, I did my first refeed/carb-up this weekend and it did not go as planned.

During the last week I ate 1500 calories, 40%carbs, 30% protein, 30%fat. That was around 150 gms carbs. On my refeed this weekend I ate 2500 cals, 41%carbs, 17%protein and 37% fat (oops&#33. That was around 250 gms carbs Saturday and then again Sunday. Hard to keep the fat down -- I'll have to play with it. Anyway thanks, Elle

Here's a recap from the article:

Summary of Guidelines for the Carb-Load
1. 8-10 grams of carbohydrates per kilogram of lean body mass should be consumed during the initial 24 hours of the carb-load. This will make up 70% of the total calories consumed. During the second 24 hours, approximately 5 grams/kg should be consumed which will be approximately 60% of the total calories consumed.

2. Protein intake should be approximately 1 gram per pound during all phases of the carb-load. In the first 24 hours, this will represent about 15% of total calories, in the second 24 hours, this will represent about 25% of total calories.

3. Fat intake should be kept at 15% of total calories during the first 24 hours, or a maximum of 88 grams of fat. Fat intake should be roughly cut in half during the second 24 hours of the carb-load.

During the first 24 hours of carb-loading, carbohydrate intake should be 10 grams per kilogram of lean body mass or 4.5 grams of carbs per pound of lean body mass . This will represent 70% of the total calories consumed. The remaining calories will be divided evenly between fat (15% of total calories) and protein (15% of total calories).

 

[imported_edziu]

FitDay is great for helping you find where you went wrong. You probably knew what you were getting into with the pie, but I'll bet the pasta salad was a fat surprise. . .

The carb-up is an attempt at 450 extra carbs, which is 450 extra calories. But unless the food you add is pure carb, it will also add a little fat and protein, which means you have to cut back the fat and protein elsewhere to compensate.

It can be tricky. I have it easy, because I love simple starches. My friend, Derek, used to say, "whoever said that man can not live by bread alone never met Edziu."