What are the benefits of a cheat day?

[captain_d]

not only for cutting but also for bulking or strength gains. i have heard that when cutting it is good because your body starts to adapt to not getting much fat and slows down how fast it burns it after a while and the cheat day kind of resets that. and something about glucose in bulking and strength gains. please help clear this up for me.

[taffer]

psychological

a refeed on the other hand, has its advantages

[Leafs/Pack]

Don't count on a cheat meal benefiting you physically, cutting or bulking. It more or less just helps you keep your sanity.

[teemaz]

how often should you have a cheat day? is once a week too much?

[BiGD_49]

Most people, from what I see, have a cheat MEAL (one cheat) like once a week.

[taffer]

how often should you have a cheat day? is once a week too much?

probly
depends what you eat

[xxghostxx]

not only for cutting but also for bulking or strength gains. i have heard that when cutting it is good because your body starts to adapt to not getting much fat and slows down how fast it burns it after a while and the cheat day kind of resets that. and something about glucose in bulking and strength gains. please help clear this up for me.

The idea behind a refeed or cheat type meal in a cut is based on a few things outside of the psychological factor. During caloric restriction comes a drop in leptin levels. With a drop in leptin comes thyroid decrease, GH decrease, testosterone/estrogen levels drop, and cortisol levels are elevated. Now a whole slew of factors play a role in how far any of these will increase or decrease; diet time, amount under caloric maitenance,etc. So here comes the idea behind a refeed. The idea is to try and reset the leptin levels, and although they probably won't return to baseline levels, they will be elevated. The best way to go about this is a day when you go above the caloric intake you'd been at for however long. Then jump back on the diet horse, and keep cruising along. Depending on how big a deficet you've created and duration of diet,as well as your response to these refeeds, should dictate how often you do this. Now this really isn't a license to go on a buffet rampage every week, a good clean refeed is going to be of more benefit in the long run than 3 pizzas from Dominoes every week. As far as bulking is concerned, that is more a pyschological appeal in my eyes. When you are overfeeding already, you have a positive flux in the cells, and with this,said leptin levels would actually be increased. So it's kind of a game of science and pyschiatry at different levels. Of course their is more to it than I understand just yet, but if you wish to get a better level of understanding, I highly suggest tracking down anything you can from Lyle Mcdonald.

[Mcoguy]

The idea behind a refeed or cheat type meal in a cut is based on a few things outside of the psychological factor. During caloric restriction comes a drop in leptin levels. With a drop in leptin comes thyroid decrease, GH decrease, testosterone/estrogen levels drop, and cortisol levels are elevated. Now a whole slew of factors play a role in how far any of these will increase or decrease; diet time, amount under caloric maitenance,etc. So here comes the idea behind a refeed. The idea is to try and reset the leptin levels, and although they probably won't return to baseline levels, they will be elevated. The best way to go about this is a day when you go above the caloric intake you'd been at for however long. Then jump back on the diet horse, and keep cruising along. Depending on how big a deficet you've created and duration of diet,as well as your response to these refeeds, should dictate how often you do this. Now this really isn't a license to go on a buffet rampage every week, a good clean refeed is going to be of more benefit in the long run than 3 pizzas from Dominoes every week. As far as bulking is concerned, that is more a pyschological appeal in my eyes. When you are overfeeding already, you have a positive flux in the cells, and with this,said leptin levels would actually be increased. So it's kind of a game of science and pyschiatry at different levels. Of course their is more to it than I understand just yet, but if you wish to get a better level of understanding, I highly suggest tracking down anything you can from Lyle Mcdonald.

Oh my God, look at this young man go. All that college is totally paying off.........some day when I need an assistant..............

[saw14]

i think ghost has summed up the concept of a cheat day or meal in every respect. i never liked to cheat on my cut just because i was too anal back then(and im sure i still will be), and i didnt want to set myself back a week. usually though i like to have a blow out day once i reach my goals for my cut. as it comes to a bulk cheat, there are absolutely zero benefits that come from it imo, other then its fun to do. if there is one benefit from it, it is the fact that you become incredibly self aware of all the sites on your body where you are holding more fat, and you feel really fat! is that a benefit? maybe if there werent any mirrors or ways to reflect our image and see what we look like the bulk cheat would have a benefit but i dont think it really does. that said, dont hide from a cheat cause you think its going to set you back two months or you will gain 5 lbs of fat. all that is false, just prepare for the symptoms of a normal cheat: dry mouth, night sweats, stomach pains, bloating, water retention, frequent bathroom visitations, and so. but in the end it all goes away in a week or less, unless you do a monsta' cheat...those ones can last a little bit longer. just remember to go back to your diet, dont cut cals drastically, maybe add a little more cardio the next day or so and let your body do the rest.

[Steve_W]

Yeah read stuff by Lyle Mcdonald, Elzi Volk has some pretty decent stuff but Lyle is pretty much your man when it comes down to refeeds.

[xxghostxx]

Yeah read stuff by Lyle Mcdonald, Elzi Volk has some pretty decent stuff but Lyle is pretty much your man when it comes down to refeeds.

Hey Steve, you have any links to Elzi stuff having to do with refeeds? I searched and only came up with Lyles references to Elzi in articles, and some of her articles that were in relevance to different subjects.

[afftonz28]

Pretty good article if you havnet read it on Leptin and fat storing and the effects of Refeeds and cheating.

http://magazine.mindandmuscle.net/ma...D=51&issueID=3

[xxghostxx]

Pretty good article if you havnet read it on Leptin and fat storing and the effects of Refeeds and cheating.

http://magazine.mindandmuscle.net/ma...D=51&issueID=3

I'm an avant junkie

[Bigh203]

I dunno about an entire day devoted to cheating but ONE cheat meal a week is good. Sure you should try to have a clean cheat meal but it doesn't hurt to splurge a lil bit for that one meal. It helps a diet or bulk seem not so bad and gives an incentive to work towards by dieting strictly for the days leading up to the cheat day. I usually have my cheat meal on Sundays at around 1 pm. I usually head to the dining hall and grub my ass off but I stay away from excess carbs(sugars) and focus more on eating as much protein rich foods they offer.

[Lieb]

I do one cheat DAY every 7th day and my body fat is dropping.
see the progress
http://www.fitprofile.com/gallery.asp?pid=136

[xxghostxx]

I do one cheat DAY every 7th day and my body fat is dropping.
see the progress
http://www.fitprofile.com/gallery.asp?pid=136

You just wanted all of us to see you as a makeshift chippendale in that last pic

[Steve_W]

I do one cheat DAY every 7th day and my body fat is dropping.
see the progress
http://www.fitprofile.com/gallery.asp?pid=136

Your structure is really similar to mine, nice job. What was your previous bodyfat?

[American]

I'm a one meal a week, at Chili's after church kind of guy. Southwestern Egg Rolls here I come!

[Mcoguy]

You just wanted all of us to see you as a makeshift chippendale in that last pic

"Yar, tha will replace the whale in mi nightmares!"

[Lieb]

Your structure is really similar to mine, nice job. What was your previous bodyfat?

I;m not sure. I started december 28th, and those new pics were from march 28th. I would estimate 16-18%, now I'm down to like 11 or 12%

[mindraper]

mmm can someone plz explain a "clean" cheat?

Isit like subway instead of fried chicken with french fries or
isit like eating a big juicy steak with baked potato instead of the good ol chicken breast, rice and broccoli?

[rockstarsar]

mmm can someone plz explain a "clean" cheat?

Isit like subway instead of fried chicken with french fries or
isit like eating a big juicy steak with baked potato instead of the good ol chicken breast, rice and broccoli?

No. Most people here, myself included, consider Subway a cheat. A clean cheat is simply an overfeed of the foods you would consume on a daily basis. For example, doubling the oats portion or having more fish, sweet potatoes, etc.