High maintenance - More fat earlier in the day or carbs during the 5 hour refeed?

[alcahuetej]

I have a higher maintenance for my bodyweight (hovering between 158 - 160 lbs., maintenace is ~19/lb. most days) but most of the activity is low intensity (on my feet most of the day).

I've done a 5 hour refeed once/week the last two weeks, but I end up looking a bit flatter/smoother the next morning. And my weight has stabilized. I wanted to try the lower end of the recommendation first (1.5 x BW) for carbs, but that would keep me well below maintenance for the refeed.

Should I bump up fat earlier in the day to increase total calories for the day? Or just keep pushing carbs during the refeed like I have been?

Fat during the refeeds has been well below 50 grams, and sugars are in check as well.

As I said earlier, while I burn a lot of calories throughout the week, the majority is through low intensity running/walking. I lift full body twice/week and do a short depletion workout or two, but that's really it for anything that would be depleting glycogen.

[farrenator]

2 points:
1) refeed should be above maintenance
2) increased carbs increase leptin and from what I have read, increased fat doesn't.

I would increase carbs.

[alcahuetej]

Originally Posted by farrenator

2 points:
1) refeed should be above maintenance
2) increased carbs increase leptin and from what I have read, increased fat doesn't.

I would increase carbs.

Right, I realize a refeed day should be above maintenance.

But when I keep my three meals earlier in the day before the refeed the same as my diet days, in order to push my day over maintenance, I have to increase carbs close to the high end for a 5 hour refeed. Yesterday was ~2.5 grams/lb. for my refeed to get me over maintenance calories for the day.

I'm eating a moderate carb diet, and my physical activity overall isn't particularly glycogen depleting. And judging from the past week's skinfolds, and how I look the morning after the refeed, I'm wondering if there's some spillover.

[farrenator]

Realize that carb refeeds aren't just to top off glycogen - see point #2, re: leptin.

Now if you think you are getting spillover, maybe that is just an unavoidable result. Sorry, I don't have anything more to add since I am not an expert on this topic. I guess your other option is to experiment. Good luck.

[alcahuetej]

Just thought I’d like to update this thread.

I cut out refeeds altogether (independent of, and prior to listening to Lyle’s recent podcast), and increased fats to more moderate amounts. Carbs are around ~200 on days off/cardio, and ~240ish on days I lift. The two full body days are ~10% deficit rather than at or above maintenance like a refeed day. Four days are -850 calories each day, and one day is maintenance just to allow some flexibility and sanity.

With no change in overall deficit the last two weeks my weight dropped out by about 1 – 2 pounds, and everything tightened up. I should know my own body and routine by now to realize increasing carbs beyond what I truly need doesn’t work for me, moderate to high fat intake work better. And as I stated in earlier posts, most of my activity is low intensity.

[Taytay100]

I'm always gonna stand by the UD.20/RFL style refeeds.

1) Sh*t tonne of carbs
2) Sanity - Makes you feel like you're binging when in hindsight all you're doing is restoring glycogen. As lyles recently mentioned, i don't think leptin is effected that much but still... carbs.

I don't sweat the small details besides that. Just make sure you're depleted enough that you actually warrant the refeed to avoid any form of spillover.

[Schlansky]

Originally Posted by alcahuetej

Just thought I’d like to update this thread.

I cut out refeeds altogether (independent of, and prior to listening to Lyle’s recent podcast), and increased fats to more moderate amounts. Carbs are around ~200 on days off/cardio, and ~240ish on days I lift. The two full body days are ~10% deficit rather than at or above maintenance like a refeed day. Four days are -850 calories each day, and one day is maintenance just to allow some flexibility and sanity.

With no change in overall deficit the last two weeks my weight dropped out by about 1 – 2 pounds, and everything tightened up. I should know my own body and routine by now to realize increasing carbs beyond what I truly need doesn’t work for me, moderate to high fat intake work better. And as I stated in earlier posts, most of my activity is low intensity.

Yeah makes sense if you don´t like/thrive on refeeds like the rest of us

What´s your fat intake now? And what is your weekly deficite?

[alcahuetej]

Originally Posted by Schlansky

Yeah makes sense if you don´t like/thrive on refeeds like the rest of us

What´s your fat intake now? And what is your weekly deficite?

Most days it's 65 - 75 grams of fat, which puts me around 30% of my daily intake. Weekly deficit is a bit variable, as I just went on a weekend trip where calories were WELL above maintenance, followed by 5 days at 8 x BW.

The deficit has been a bit variable on a daily basis from there. But this past week was ~7000 calories according to my Fitbit. I came back from the trip 11 pounds heavier, then lost another 12 throughout the week, so now's probably not the best time to evaluate things.

It's been a little over a week since I returned, and I usually evaluate everyting mid week. Visually I'm leaner than I've ever been, but I like to evaluate over time rather than take a single snap shot and have that tell the story.