![\"Autumn](\"https:\/\/bod-blog-assets.prod.cd.beachbodyondemand.com\/bod-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Refeed-Day-What-It-Is-and-How-It-Works.inpost1.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\nIf you\u2019re a fitness geek, you\u2019ve probably heard of \u201crefeed days,\u201d a strategy in which you increase your calories \u2014 specifically carbs \u2014 for a day or so to replenish your energy stores and improve performance and results.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a gym-rat favorite that\u2019s been around for years, and there\u2019s no shortage of anecdotal evidence showing that it works.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s promising research backing up refeed days.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, this information gets lost in a sea of incorrect \u201cbro science,\u201d so let\u2019s cut through the clutter and take a look at the real benefits of a refeed day.<\/p>\n
When you consume carbs, they\u2019re broken down into glucose, or blood sugar.\u00a0Your body uses this blood sugar as its primary fuel source.<\/p>\n
Glycogen \u2014 carbohydrates that are stored in your liver and muscles \u2014 acts as your body\u2019s backup fuel source.<\/p>\n
While hard exercise is obviously great for you, it also breaks you down.<\/p>\n
If you add a calorie deficit into the mix, things can get rugged: Those glycogen stores become depleted, your body exists in more of a stress state,\u00a0and\u00a0it wears you down mentally.<\/p>\n
Physically, you can address the situation with\u00a0proper rest and recovery.<\/p>\n
Dietarily, it\u2019s a little trickier.<\/p>\n
Obviously, you can eat more, but if you\u2019re trying to lose weight, eating more to feel better was how you got to this point to begin with, right?<\/p>\n
So you want to be a little controlled about it \u2014 that\u2019s where refeed day comes in.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t mistake this with a cheat day; on a cheat day, you just go for it and eat a bunch of untargeted garbage.<\/p>\n
You\u00a0might\u00a0get the benefits of a refeed day in there among the excessive fat and sodium, but the additional empty calories and problematic ingredients that come with junk food aren\u2019t necessarily benefiting you.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
With a refeed day, you\u2019re taking a specific food \u2014 high-glycemic carbohydrates \u2014 that would otherwise work against your health and targeting them for good instead of evil.<\/p>\n
The reason for this is that after eating at a reduced calorie level for a while, your body is at a bit of a carbohydrate deficit, particularly with regards to glycogen, the stored form of your body\u2019s primary energy source, glucose.<\/p>\n
In this situation, when you increase carbs, they go toward replenishing that glycogen, as opposed to being stored as fat.<\/p>\n
Muscle glycogen, specifically, allows you to push harder during exercise, so when you top off your glycogen during a refeed day, you should be able to push even harder in your next workout.<\/p>\n
Another benefit of the carb increase is that it feels good to eat yummy food.<\/p>\n
In fact, high-carbohydrate foods\u00a0release a \u201cfeel good\u201d hormone\u00a0in your brain called serotonin.<\/p>\n
Sure, you could get the job done with plain potatoes sprinkled with wheat flour, but why do that when you can do it with waffles?<\/p>\n
Psychologically, enjoying the more decadent foods associated with carbs, especially at refeed levels, is a welcome break from the austerity of the rest of a results-driven eating plan.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A lot of \u201cbro science\u201d claims that refeed days increase leptin, a hunger-regulating hormone that \u201ctells\u201d your brain that you\u2019re full.<\/p>\n
Many bro articles point to\u00a0this 2001 study\u00a0showing that carbs increase leptin.<\/p>\n
However, if you read deeper into the study, you\u2019ll see that the authors claim their findings \u201cshowed that leptin did not have an acute effect on satiety.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s more,\u00a0another study from 1999 claims that \u201cleptin levels in fasted subjects returned to baseline within 12 h of refeeding.\u201d<\/p>\n
In other words, increased leptin is temporary and it doesn\u2019t really impact hunger.<\/p>\n
Funny you should ask. Our new program 80 Day Obsession does \u2014 but with a few modifications.<\/p>\n
While there are various studies showing successful refeed day timing strategies, there aren\u2019t really any hard and fast rules.<\/p>\n
When Beachbody Super Trainer Autumn Calabrese wanted to include refeed days in\u00a080 Day Obsession, we kept a number of things in mind, including her years of experience using refeed days as a trainer and bikini competitor, as well as the available credible science.<\/p>\n
We fine-tuned it during the\u00a080 Day Obsession test group. The result is what we call a\u00a0modified\u00a0refeed day.<\/p>\n
The modified refeed day isn\u2019t quite as gluttonous as a traditional refeed day.<\/p>\n
Massive calorie surpluses aren\u2019t for everyone; they can leave you bloated and uncomfortable.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s more, folks in the test groups still perceived a performance benefit and a psychological boost from a more moderate calorie increase.<\/p>\n
But the modified refeed day can still seem like a lot of food, so the carbs on these days are high-glycemic \u2014 meaning fast-absorbing \u2014 so that they digest quickly and don\u2019t leave you feeling stuffed.<\/p>\n
Also, the fast-absorbing nature of high-glycemic carbs means they also replenish glycogen quickly, making them an asset for your\u00a0pre-workout meal.<\/p>\n
When doing a program as challenging as 80 Day Obsession, it\u2019s easy to get swept up in the notion that harder is better.<\/p>\n
A lot of the time, this can be true; it\u2019s important to do the work and keep that diet tight. But sometimes you just need to take a breath, take a refeed day, and eat the cookie. You\u2019ll be better off for it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you\u2019re a fitness geek, you\u2019ve probably heard of \u201crefeed days,\u201d a strategy in which you increase your calories \u2014 specifically carbs \u2014 for a day or so to replenish your energy stores and improve performance and results. It\u2019s a gym-rat favorite that\u2019s been around for years, and there\u2019s no shortage of anecdotal evidence showing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3672,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fitness"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3671"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3673,"href":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3671\/revisions\/3673"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movewithnicole.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}