The basic premise of a refeed is, after a predetermined number of days in a caloric deficit the dieter would implement a refeed, and depending on how you set this up a number of refeeding strategies can be implemented. The most common would be;

• the single day refeed,
• the consecutive day refeed and
• the full week refeed (also sometimes referred to as a diet break).

Each can be set up a number of ways but they all generally follow a few common rules:

• eat at or above your calorie maintenance,
• eat more carbs than you currently consume,
• usually lower protein and fat intake.

Most of the benefits attributed to refeeds are psychological. People like having the ability to have a higher calorie day and feeling fuller the next day. However, these people need to stop saying it is to raise leptin levels etc. when really it is just an excuse to eat more for one day. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to eat more for a day, but don’t tell people it has anything to do with leptin. Now you will hear the argument that people implement a refeed and they then woke up leaner the next day so it’s not all psychological. However, all they really did was fill their depleted muscle glycogen and pull some extra water into their muscles from the surrounding area, this is a similar approach used when peaking for a physique competition.

Now having said all this, I do implement refeeds into some of my clients' plans, provided they are lean enough. The reason is purely psychological, some people just feel restricted while dieting, even when eating higher calories and they like having a day where they can fit a few of the foods they have been missing out on into their diet. But again I don’t think this is an optimal physiological practice and I have noticed no difference in dieting outcomes between the two groups.

So should YOU refeed?

Here’s an easy check list to see if you need to refeed:

• are you lean enough (sub ~12% for guys and sub ~20% for girls)?
• do you feel hungry all the time, or more often than you feel full?
• do your muscles feel flat and you’re not getting good pumps in the gym?
• is your nutrient status up to scratch (magnesium, zinc, B vitamins, D3 being big ones here)?
• are you sleeping enough?