Is It Time For A Diet Break? (Diet Breaks vs. Refeeds)

If you’ve been eating in a calorie deficit for a consistent amount of time and still have fat loss goals, it might be a good idea to start implementing refeeds or diet breaks into your routine. But before I get into what these are and how to know if they are right for you and your goals, let me set refeeds and diet breaks apart from cheat days. Refeeds and cheat days are not the same thing.

Cheat days (or on a smaller scale, cheat meals) are glorified binges that almost always consists of mindless consumption of foods high in saturated fat and refined sugar. Refeeds and diet breaks, however, are a planned, structured increase in calories and carbohydrates to help negate some of the negative (but normal) physiological responses to a consistent calorie deficit.

These responses include:

• Decreased Leptin (the body’s “fullness” signaling hormone)

• Reduced Energy Expenditure

• Increased Hunger + Cravings

• Low Energy + Libido

• Mood Swings

• Decreased Strength + Performance

The goal is to raise Leptin levels to help keep you from feeling miserable while dieting and therefore allow you to be more consistent long term without slowing down your progress.

How To Properly Refeed:

In order to properly implement a refeed, you should raise your calories to just above maintenance level (typically about a 25-40% increase) for a 2-3 day period. Scheduled refeeds should take place every 7-14 days that you are eating in a calorie deficit. The leaner someone is, the more frequently they should implement refeeds since it is likely for leptin levels to drop more quickly in individuals starting out with a lower body fat percentage. When increasing your calories, most of the surplus should go towards your carbohydrate intake as carbs have been shown to be most successful when it comes to raising Leptin levels.

Refeeds vs. Diet Breaks

Similar to refeeds, diet breaks are also a planned, structured increase in calories and carbs but for a longer period of time. For diet breaks, you should increase your calories to maintenance level for 1-2 weeks every 4-8 weeks that you are in a calorie deficit. As with refeeds, the leaner a person is the more frequently they should implement diet breaks.

There is really no right or wrong choice when it comes to deciding between doing a refeed or diet break. Choose whichever you think will fit best with your lifestyle and adjust the timing and duration as needed based on results.