Why is a cheat meal considered a step back and a refeed a step forward?

[martina92685]

Just wondering; many people on this site have that opinion.

[norcalmuscle]

It depends what you consider a refeed and a cheat. I consider a refeed being just eating more calories but still eating the same healthy stuff I normally would. A cheat to me is eating something I normally wouldn't eat like pizza or a burger and fries.

[martina92685]

Yeah but if you are still increasing calories so your metabolism is jumped while cutting, why is a cheat SO bad that it's considered a hindrance on progress?

Or I guess, if your refeed is 3000 calories of oatmeal and green beans (healthy stuff), or you cheat and eat 3000 calories of pizza and beer, what is the difference?

edit: um...half of that wasn't standard English. Sorry, I'm sleepy.

[TheNewestGuy]

Neither really did much for me on a cut. Best plan of action for me was to stick to the plan until the goal was reached.

[norcalmuscle]

If you have a cheat every once in a while it's not going to effect you all that much as long as you keep it to a minimum. As far as the healthy cheat, well I consider it a lot better than putting pizza and beer in you because atleast you're getting stuff beneficial to you that your body can use even if you are over eating. I'd go with the good stuff over a ton of saturated fat and a bunch of processed foods, to me there's a big difference.

[CF10]

If you refeed, it's clean foods. It is over maintenence or at least a big jump up from what you are currently doing on a cut, so that is the one step back part. But the effects it has on hormones and metabolism will speed up fat loss in the coming weeks, which is 2 steps forward.

If you cheat, it's dirty, full of transfat and hydrogenated oils and whatnot. These have zero positive effect on body composition and are likely to be stored as fat. The same positive effect goes toward your hormones and metabolism, but you probably took two steps back due to the rise in cals over maintenence plus the fact that those cals were probably used for fat storage and not as much muscle repair as the clean foods would have. So, two steps back, two steps forward.

[getgot211]

your body cares very little if something is 'clean'.

[terracotta]

It is not the processing that matters ... it is the proportion of carbs in your refeed. Check out http://terracotta2.googlepages.com/refeeds

[DarinK]

It is not the processing that matters ... it is the proportion of carbs in your refeed. Check out http://terracotta2.googlepages.com/refeeds

What I found interesting is the percentage over maintenance he recommended. 5% over maintenance on the refeed every four days. That seems small. I wonder is that enough?

[terracotta]

What I found interesting is the percentage over maintenance he recommended. 5% over maintenance on the refeed every four days. That seems small. I wonder is that enough?

I have to change the article..
to note that the paragraph on the bottom is my suggestion. That particular number is from Venuto's Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle.

edit - fixed the note at the top.

The particular diet I followed when using BFFM is explained here - http://terracotta2.googlepages.com/caloriecycling

[JustiNtense]

your body cares very little if something is 'clean'.

Your gut does though.