We all know that timing is key. Whether it’s when to down your Kaged Pre-Workout or the best time to eat that pizza on a Friday night.
In this article we're going to break down the science of refeeds and cheat meals, teaching you how to best time them and utilize them for maximal benefits, while minimizing fat storage.
Cheat Meals vs Refeeds
It’s important to recognize the difference between these before we go any further. For the purpose of this article, I will define a ‘cheat meal’ as a random one-day or one-meal binge or large intake of bad food.
In contrast, a refeed would be classified as a strategic single day, or more days, of higher calorie and carb intake. This is not made up of “bad foods." It is implemented to replenish muscle carbohydrate stores (glycogen) while boosting your metabolism, hormones, and reducing hunger.
These are two different situations. A refeed is more strategic and controlled. For a refeed, you may simply eat 25-50% more calories of clean food, or occasionally use this allowance to have some ‘bad’ food.
In contrast, for far too many people, the whole psychology of a ‘cheat meal’ makes it a total one-day or one-meal binge, where people can normally consume 3000+ calories, leaving them in a state of depression with extreme bloating or a “food baby.”
While both have a place, for most people, a controlled refeed will provide far more physiological benefits backed by science and research.
For some, the psychological break of a ‘cheat’ day can also work well; however, it must be consumed in moderation. For others, a cheat meal can be a very bad idea, as it leads to a vicious cycle of binge eating, a poor psychology with food, and normally, a ton of fat gain to write off last week’s hard work!
Whether you're going down the cheat meal or refeed route, there are certain techniques to maximize the benefits. Or at the very least, reduce many of the side effects like excess fat gain. Here are some tips to time your cheat meals and refeeds so you get the best results.
1) Lower Your Muscle Glycogen First
Firstly, it would make sense to ensure your muscle glycogen stores are low or fully depleted.
If they are low, more of the food you consume will be stored as glycogen. If your muscle glycogen stores are already full, you're more likely to convert that food into fat storage. This is a biological process known as de novo lipogenesis.
If you're currently dieting, there’s a big chance that your glycogen stores will be low anyway, especially if you are on a lower-carb diet. If you are eating more carbs, or using a refeed / cheat meal when bulking, you have a couple of methods to lower glycogen stores.
Lower Your Carbohydrate Intake 48 Hours Before
Firstly, you could simply lower your carbohydrate intake for 48 hours before the cheat meal/refeed. This has also been shown to enhance muscle glycogen stores.
Train Multiple Muscle Groups
In addition, performing multiple muscle groups or full body exercise will burn through muscle glycogen stores fast.
For example, rather than just training chest that day, you could do a full body workout, performing 5 sets for all the big muscles: chest, back, legs, arms, and delts.
If you have time, it may also be wise to train twice that day, with just a protein and fat meal in between. This also works very well to quickly lower muscle glycogen stores within 1 day.
Do Some HIIT
Another effective method is to perform some HIIT Intervals.
Based on the research, just one 20-30 second interval can lower leg muscle glycogen stores by 15-25%, as much as several sets of a leg exercise. Try adding 5-10 HIIT sprints at the end of your session, before heading for that cheat meal or starting the refeed.
2) Time Your Workouts
Timing your workouts is also an important factor, especially when consuming a high amount of food and carbs.
Shortly after training, you have a big increase in insulin sensitivity, which means your body is far more effective at driving carbs into the muscle. This normally lasts for around 4-6 hours; however, it’s drastically increased for the first 60 minutes.
So, if time permits, aim to consume your cheat meal/refeed within the first 60 or at least, the first 6 hours, after training. In research, they’ve seen glycogen replenishment be over 25% higher within this window, which can be quite significant if you are knocking back 500 grams of carbs.
3) Cheat Meal and Refeed Supplements?
As always, let's be clear that supplements don't do the work for you. However, they can supplement your other efforts.
If you're just going for a refeed and next extra calories, Kaged Clean Meal is ideal for you. It's a health-first meal replacement shake that packs clean protein, carbs, fat, and micronutrients into a great-tasting shake.
Several other supplements can further enhance glycogen replenishment, these include: Berberine, Fenugreek, and Chromium. If you choose chromium, make sure you find a supplement that uses ChromeMate® chromium for reasons we outline here.
You can try adding one of these to your high-carb meals or refeeds to further enhance blood sugar control and insulin function.
Make the Choice
Based on the research, there isn’t any real clear benefit from a one-day cheat meal. While cheat meals may provide some psychological benefit for a few people, it would probably be wiser to have a more moderate refeed, such as 3 days of taking in 1000 extra calories, rather than 3000 extra calories in one day.
By doing this, you can improve your metabolism and reduce hunger hormones such as ghrelin. If you are feeling the need to have large blowouts, then it’s time to make your daily dietary regime more varied and enjoyable. Once you learn to master and enjoy your diet every day, the desire to have a “cheat” meal becomes far less strong and you can normally go several weeks without any.
As always, you get out what you put in. If you cheat every weekend, don’t be surprised with the end result.
