Thread: Leptin/Refeed in my Situtation

I'd eat at maintenance level calories for two weeks. Maybe longer if you've seriously been low carb dieting for 4 consecutive months without a break. Your body is probably hating you right now and you need to convince it that your not dieting anymore.

After this period of maintenance, I'd consider a more flexible dieting situation before you go for broke. Maybe do an every other day (EOD) refeed where you alternate low cal/low carb days with a refeed that has you eating at maintenance that's wrapped around a high intensity workout. So maybe, 4 diet days and 3 refeed days. Your deficit could still be significant.

For example:

Day 1: 1500 cals/low carb -- Deficit of say 1,100
Day 2: Maintenance; 2,600 cals; High intensity workout
Day 3: 1500 cals/low carb
Day 4: 1500 cals/low carb; maybe some cardio
Day 5: Maintenance; 2,600 cals; High intensity workout
Day 6: 1500 cals/low carb
Day 7: Maintenance; 2,600 cals; High intensity workout

That's four days with a deficit of 1,100 or 4,400 total caloric deficit for a week. At 3,500 cals per pound of fat, you're losing 1 lb per week while keeping your body from going insane.

You could do something reasonable like that before going for broke and cutting cals even more severely with less refeeds...say once per week.

KY

Refeeds and Leptin

Originally Posted by PhatLiLPanda

Hey guys, i was wondering what would be a appropriate refeed for someone like me.
Im 5'11, 170 pounds and around 19% body fat.
However my situtation is different then most others. Recently, ive been on a 4 month low carb diet <80 carbs a day. When i was on my low carb diet i took in about 1500-1800 calories a day even though my maintence is ~2500-3400 depending on if i have work that day or not and 4500 if go the gym/work as well (according to my bodybugg). I sorta believe that i was starving myself and putting my body into starvation mode so now its hard for me to lose weight even though i go to the gym everyday, and upped my calories to ~2500 a day (which is about a 1000 deflict) with <170 carbs day. My question is should i still just do the 1 day refeed or should i add another day or 2 to rejump my metabalism so i can try and kick my body out of starvation mode.

thanks guys!

What was your weight and %BF before you started your 4 month cut? At 19%BF you're far from "starvation mode". If your in caloric deficit you should still be losing weight. Could you define your statement: "..now its hard for me to lose weight ..". Does that mean your still losing just not as quickly as before?

Originally Posted by NJ-Surfer

What was your weight and %BF before you started your 4 month cut? At 19%BF you're far from "starvation mode". If your in caloric deficit you should still be losing weight. Could you define your statement: "..now its hard for me to lose weight ..". Does that mean your still losing just not as quickly as before?

Well thats what my scale say's, the one that takes your BF%. im not sure what my BF was before i started my 4 month cut but i havnt been able to lose a single pound lately, ive actually gained 2 pounds even tho ive been going to the gym everyday and doing cardio for an hour and some resistance training for 30 mins.

Originally Posted by PhatLiLPanda

Well thats what my scale say's, the one that takes your BF%. im not sure what my BF was before i started my 4 month cut but i havnt been able to lose a single pound lately, ive actually gained 2 pounds even tho ive been going to the gym everyday and doing cardio for an hour and some resistance training for 30 mins.

That two pounds could be water. And those BF% scales are useless.

I'd like to see your typical days food.

Heres how ive been eatting recently, anywhere between ~1800-2500 calories. Which seems ok, but ive also been hitting the gym everyday for 2 hours to do cardio and a lil bit of resistance. I burn around 4000 calories on mon/weds/fri/sat/sun because of work/gym and ~3000 if i dont work. Im a server so i am always rushing around on my shifts. However, this is all recent since the new year started. Before that, for 4 months i took around 1500-1800 calories a day but i didnt go to the gym at all(stupid me) cause of school/work and i know i lost alot of muscle weight because of that because i can tell that i was alot stronger before that when i constantly went to gym

Originally Posted by PhatLiLPanda

Heres how ive been eatting recently, anywhere between ~1800-2500 calories. Which seems ok, but ive also been hitting the gym everyday for 2 hours to do cardio and a lil bit of resistance. I burn around 4000 calories on mon/weds/fri/sat/sun because of work/gym and ~3000 if i dont work. Im a server so i am always rushing around on my shifts. However, this is all recent since the new year started. Before that, for 4 months i took around 1500-1800 calories a day but i didnt go to the gym at all(stupid me) cause of school/work and i know i lost alot of muscle weight because of that because i can tell that i was alot stronger before that when i constantly went to gym

You're probably overestimating your calories burned and therefore you're most likely eating at maintenance. Remember as you lose weight you need to readjust your calories as your body requires less. Your 1st mistake was not knowing your weight and %BF when you started, that would have helped better assess your current needs. I would suggest dropping 500 calories from the diet you posted which will bring you down to ~2000 calories/day. Do that for 2 weeks and see how it goes. At 5'11, 170 pounds and 19% body fat 2000 calories/day seem to me to be about right for an ~20% cut.

wow i just took a look at the website with what all the people with certain BF% looks like and im no where near 19%BF if thats what its suppose to look like. Is their a better way for me to measure BF?

p.s. sorry i cant post links yet!, but its in the same diet and nutrition forum.