“Will I get a refeed or cheat meal?”
This is a commonly asked question from prospective and current clients here at The Cut Gym.
And we don’t blame them. After weeks of strict measures and tough workouts, a large pizza looks mighty tasty. Throughout this article, this question of why refeed or cheat meals are a thing of the past will be addressed along with our reasoning and thought process.
At the Cut Gym, we have a package to suit your goals and needs, no matter what step you have reached on your body transformation ladder.
From leading a more active and healthy lifestyle to transforming your physique, we always prioritise your body, and because of this our foremost priority will always be health.
What Does it Mean to Cheat?
Let’s start with the word Cheat.
To most, this only has negative connotations. It implies that someone is doing something wrong, which in the case of a cheat meal means developing a bad relationship with food and a binge-like habit.
In order to maintain a healthy relationship with food, we advise there are no good or bad foods; food is food. There are of course more nutritionally dense foods with lower caloric density.
A healthy relationship with food is key to not only maintaining goals but to leading a happy, healthy life.
I had the pleasure of meeting and attending a workshop with Anna Sward and she posted a blog that clearly illustrates the problem with the idea of ‘Eating Clean’.
Anna says: “Instead of promoting the notion that there is a way of eating that is ‘clean’ and another that is ‘unclean/dirty’. We should be encouraging education and doing our best to inspire others to fall in love with nutrition dense foods and cooking from scratch.
Because of the positive impact that can have on our bodies and consequently, on our everyday lives”
If you are in the process of strictly adhering to a nutrition plan, more often than not you will start craving less nutritionally-dense foods. This is especially the case if you are trying to get ‘super lean’.
If you have been through this process, you will understand how affecting these food cravings can be.
Why do Food Cravings Happen?
If you have ever followed a nutrition plan with the intention to drastically reduce body fat you have probably experienced a plethora of cravings and have felt the need to binge.
Craving foods that are energy-dense and not “typically diet food” is pretty normal, particularly at the start of the process. These cravings could be due to an imbalance of hormones as your body is trying to resist the change that it is going through and adapting to the rapid loss of body fat.
Also, there is the emotional side to deal with.
When eating some of your favourite foods, endorphins are released, making you feel good so that you naturally want more.
Food is often seen as a way of relieving stress and reducing anxiety, and that is why a survey of young women found that every participant admitted to having them.
Is it Okay to Have a Cheat Meal?
Cheat meals can serve as a ‘diet break’.
Basically, cheating is choosing a meal/day to look forward to when you can take your foot off the pedal from dieting.
Generally, cheat meals are when someone doesn’t really take the nutrient quality into consideration and typically chooses junk food such as chocolate, pizzas, crisps etc. Our general belief is that if you need a weekly “diet break” then you are on too much of a restrictive plan.
We are certainly not saying you should never eat these foods, but if the goal is fat loss, then you have to be in a calorie deficit (period). 2000 calories+ of pizza (who can manage just a slice?) consumed in one meal will soon bring up your daily average consumption across the week, which makes progress difficult.
You probably have enough events throughout the year where avoiding these high-calorie binges are impossible so it would make sense to coincide cheat meals here.
Factoring a weekly one on top of this stacks the odds of actually progressing highly against you.
Many people ask, ‘how often can I have a cheat meal?’
The answer depends on you. In the ideal case, never. Cheat meals equal calories so if you do have one, ensuring it doesn’t become a regular occurrence is vital to keeping progress on the right track.
What is a Refeed Day?
A refeed is a more controlled calorie increase than a cheat meal.
With a refeed, the calories generally come by way of more carbs. The purpose of a refeed is to replenish glycogen (energy stores) which is depleted from dieting and when on low carb nutrition plans.
When training hard and in a calorie deficit your body is being put under stress. A carb refeed may be needed to get over this.
Low carb diets such as keto or paleo would be instances when carb refeeds would be needed more.
There are potential signs of needing a refeed such as poor performance in the gym, feeling exhausted and slow recovery to name a few.
How to Refeed?
When considering cheat meals and refeeds, the latter is seen as the less evil of the two.
This is because refeeds consist of eating foods that aren’t always packed with calories, but do provide a boost in essential nutrients and carbohydrates.
Eating things like potatoes, rice and bananas are all acceptable on refeed days, as long as you aren’t taking too much in and increasing your calorie load by too much.
Of course, these are better for you than pizza, but it is important to know what to eat them with. If you are eating rice covered in a sauce that is rich in calories, it will have the same effect as a cheat meal and won’t be good for your progress.
Refeed and Cheat Meals at The Cut Gym
For the most part, we tend to steer away from cheat meals and refeed meals/days.
Why?
Well, in our opinion these approaches tend to be connected to nutrition protocols that are on a massive calorie deficit and have an emphasis on getting as quick a result as possible.
At The Cut Gym, our team of expert trainers favour approaches that give you as much food as possible whilst still achieving your specific goal. We believe this approach is more sustainable and looks after your health and wellbeing for a longer-term.
If you’re interested in body transformation and nutrition plans, get in touch with our team today.
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