The refeed and contest prep

liftjunkie06 · 04-06-2007, 08:00 AM

I've been dieting for 2 weeks now for a june 23rd show and everything is going well. However, I keep seeing info on refeeding. I know it helps raise metabolism and leptin levels, but I feel like I'm totally cheating myself. Anyone else go through this? I never feel the urge to cheat, and I have very good discipline. It's really hard to deviate from my solid contest prep routine.

Who does this? Following Layne's contest prep article, what results do you get? I'm having a really hard time eating almost 500g of carbs in one day--psychologically.

Any other tips on refeeds? Who does them? Thanks.

Vadim Beliaev · 04-06-2007, 08:08 AM

I never did a refeed, ever. It throws everything way off balance for me.

VenomX · 04-06-2007, 08:31 AM

I've been doing refeeds once a week for the past 6 weeks and have continued to lose ~2lbs a week however thats about to change very quickly as i'm approaching my LBM in weight. I couldn't do 500g of carbs though, the most i usually get in is 350-400 in a 5 hour window.

dvsness · 04-06-2007, 08:47 AM

I completely understand where you're coming from. I did my carb refeeds at 2g per pound of bodyweight and it was mentally challenging. I did find it to be an effective tool, though.

PumpJunky · 04-06-2007, 09:15 AM

I'm cycleing 2 days at 140g, 1 day at 225g, 1 day at 90g, 2 days at 140g, 1 day at 90g, and repeat cycle.

Quelly · 04-06-2007, 12:47 PM

refeeds I think work best for ecto's and mesos....just my opinion...not that endos shouldnt do them, just they should be much more moderate....I personally do a refeed every 4 days (mind you I'm 4 weeks out) and I switch from 275/115/25 (P/C/F) to 190/275/10 on refeed days....its been working pretty well for me, and the science makes sense

but there aren't as necessary until your cals get a lot lower and your bf% gets lower too, and 500g of carbs sounds like a lot bro...

Cytrainer913 · 04-06-2007, 02:45 PM

They do wonders for your metabolism when it gets stalled and needs a boot from days of hypocaloric totals. If these are not put in they can be deadly to your progress.

I am an endo was doing refeeds of 200-250 g's on wed and sat and doing 100 g's the rest of the week. If you don't do these there are also greater chances of lean tissue loss as well. So figure out how to get those refeeds in there.

some endos are better doing refeeds once a week!

Vadim Beliaev · 04-06-2007, 03:02 PM

Instead of doing refeeds if i feel my metabolism slowing down, i just increase meal frequency. Worked wonders for me, even if i had to eat every hour.

liftjunkie06 · 04-09-2007, 08:03 AM

I did a refeed and only got in about 325 carbs. It seemed to help, but it was still tough to do. It just feels wrong. I am a typical meso, at about 10% +/- right now. So I guess I'll do them once a week, but probably go for about 250-275 carbs on refeed days. My other days range from 130-180 or so (more on workout days--post workout) and I do 2 very low carb days once every 2 weeks to help dump any excess glycogen.

Sciamach · 04-09-2007, 08:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quelly

refeeds I think work best for ecto's and mesos....just my opinion...not that endos shouldnt do them, just they should be much more moderate....I personally do a refeed every 4 days (mind you I'm 4 weeks out) and I switch from 275/115/25 (P/C/F) to 190/275/10 on refeed days....its been working pretty well for me, and the science makes sense

but there aren't as necessary until your cals get a lot lower and your bf% gets lower too, and 500g of carbs sounds like a lot bro...

QFT

Razmoneyrecords · 04-09-2007, 08:24 AM

I did my first prep without refeeds, and my energy levels and muscle mass dwindled. This year I'm doing a refeed every sunday. I don't track how many carbs I eat on sunday. I just lower the protein with my meals, and make sure to get about 30 to 40 grams of quality carbs (my preference is oats and brown rice). so at 6 to 7 meals, that's between 200 to 300 grams. I find that on Monday I hold some subq water, due to the spillover. By tuesday I feel great, and my BF % has been decreasing .5 to 1 % per week, with almost no muscle or strength loss. This is a scary thing for a bodybuilder, to load up on carbs while dieting, but it is so powerful. Try it for a couple weeks and see what the calipers say.

KnowstheSky · 04-09-2007, 11:28 AM

I have been cutting for 8 weeks, dropping about 2 lbs a week. My refeed day is Saturday, when I hit legs (hoping for a little anabolic growth to occur).

I am doing about 180-190 grams of carbs each day, with refeed day jumping to 300 at most. 500 seems very extreme.

As I understand it, refeeds are crucial so your body doesn't go into starvation/fat conserving mode from the many day of low carbs. Seems to be working great for me, for what it is worth...

cuhockey · 04-09-2007, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by liftjunkie06

I've been dieting for 2 weeks now for a june 23rd show and everything is going well. However, I keep seeing info on refeeding. I know it helps raise metabolism and leptin levels, but I feel like I'm totally cheating myself. Anyone else go through this? I never feel the urge to cheat, and I have very good discipline. It's really hard to deviate from my solid contest prep routine.

Who does this? Following Layne's contest prep article, what results do you get? I'm having a really hard time eating almost 500g of carbs in one day--psychologically.

Any other tips on refeeds? Who does them? Thanks.

You say you have a solid contest prep routine. Reefeding should be part of that solid routine. Also, refeed is not a cheat since it is using good foods, not cheat foods.

At your weight you may want to refeed with 400 grams of carbs ( according to the article it would be 300 grams up to a bit over 400 grams.)

Results from Layne's contest prep? Last year I did Layne's contest diet and I lost 27 pounds of fat and gained 5 pounds of lean. Went from 20%bf to 7.5%---I wasn't doing a contest, 7.5% was merely my personal goal. You're much younger than I, and you have a much higher metabolism, so it should work even better for you. I did refeeds 2 twice a week with low glycemic foods such as yams, oatmeal, etc.

In addition to the info in Layne's article, I have read that after a few days of depleting carbs by eating low carbs your body will release little insulin to store those refeed carbs. Thus refeed carbs will be stored in muscle cells as glycogen, not stored as fat. That stored glycogen will fuel help fuel your workouts for the next few days.

You have 11 more weeks, and you have been already dieting for 2, so for a meso at 9%bf you have plenty of time to get contest lean.

Hope that helps.

Quelly · 04-09-2007, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cuhockey

You say you have a solid contest prep routine. Reefeding should be part of that solid routine. Also, refeed is not a cheat since it is using good foods, not cheat foods.

At your weight you may want to refeed with 400 calories.

Results from Layne's contest prep? Last year I did Layne's contest diet and I lost 27 pounds of fat and gained 5 pounds of lean. Went from 20%bf to 7.5%---I wasn't doing a contest, 7.5% was merely my personal goal. You're much younger than I, and you have a much higher metabolism, so it should work even better for you. I did refeeds 2 twice a week with low glycemic foods such as yams, oatmeal, etc.

In addition to the info in Layne's article, I have read that after a few days of depleting carbs by eating low carbs your body will release little insulin to store those refeed carbs. Thus refeed carbs will be stored in muscle cells as glycogen, not stored as fat. That stored glycogen will fuel help fuel your workouts for the next few days.

You have 11 more weeks, and you have been already dieting for 2, so you have plenty of time to get contest lean.

Hope that helps.

refeed with 400 calories? either you mean adding 400 calories on top of your current caloric intake, or you mean adding 400 calories from carbs (100g carb)? unclear

cuhockey · 04-09-2007, 09:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quelly

refeed with 400 calories? either you mean adding 400 calories on top of your current caloric intake, or you mean adding 400 calories from carbs (100g carb)? unclear

Quelly: I need to correct that! Thanks for bringing up. I meant grams, not calories.

I am suggesting , based on a) Layne's article, b) liftjunkie's bodyweight, and c) an assumption that he is a meso, that he can eat a max of about 400 grams of carbs on a refeed day. Note that he said he was eating 500 grams on refeed days.

Layne's article suggests his contest diet be around 181 to 233 g of carbs/day. Then on refeed days to increase the carbs by 50% to 100%.

Quelly · 04-09-2007, 10:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cuhockey

Quelly: I need to correct that! Thanks for bringing up. I meant grams, not calories.

I am suggesting , based on a) Layne's article, b) liftjunkie's bodyweight, and c) an assumption that he is a meso, that he can eat a max of about 400 grams of carbs on a refeed day. Note that he said he was eating 500 grams on refeed days.

Layne's article suggests his contest diet be around 181 to 233 g of carbs/day. Then on refeed days to increase the carbs by 50% to 100%.

400 is more reasonable than 500...but it sounds a bit high

liftjunkie06 · 04-10-2007, 07:51 AM

Guys--thanks for the input. My refeeds will not exceed 300 grams and I will do them once a week for awhile. I'll probably get about 250-275 realistically.

I am using Layne's prep as a guide. It has worked well thus far.

Cytrainer913 · 04-10-2007, 10:44 AM

They are really dependent upon your bodytype.

I mean some ectos can be eating near daily amounts of 250-300 g's of carbs 2-3 weeks out, and then refeeding with 500 g's of carbs, like Sean on here who just did an NANBF show, and was just about as hard as ayone can get. If I ate that amount during precontest, I would be fat as all hell. I usually take in during the week about 100-125 g's of carbs, and then my refeeds are about 200-250 g's of carbs, and I am endo/meso. Make sure you normal days are high enough to where the bodyfat is still dropping, and the refeeds can be near 75-200 g's more just depending upon your bodytype and metabolic rate.