I remember when i hit a plateau. I was stuck at 190 forever! (and being that close to the 180's is just taunting...)
I researched "refeed" days, and i tried it, and it worked!
It's different for everyone, but i read, actually, that you should "refeed" for at least 3 days. 3 to 7 days is a good period.
I refed for 7 days, and i was very nervous. I thought after a week of eating more, i was going to gain weight, even if it was food/water weight. but i lost a pound after it all! and then it slowly went down more, from there.
If i recall, i had been at a 1400-1600 calorie intake. I just upped it to 2000, or a little more if i was hungrier.
I strongly recomment the "refeed" theory to anyone on a low calorie diet. Some people recommend that on a low calorie diet, you should diet for a certain number of weeks, (say 4) and then refeed for one week.
hope that helps!

Thanks for telling about your experience.

When I was in long-term weight loss mode, I would have a similar experience, but I didn't keep track the way you did. It was more like a couple of days going off plan because of social or emotional situations, and then I'd go back on plan, and would be surprised to see that I'd dropped a couple of pounds. I don't know the calorie counts of my off-plan days, but I'm sure it was high.

I think the key is eating at a reasonable, healthy weight-loss level (1400-1600 is great), occasionally raising it up for a brief period, and then GOING BACK to the lower level.

I'm very close to the weight at which I want to maintain, but I'm in no hurry to get there; I'm in losing mode for the next couple of months. It's helpful to see the results of people's experiments.

I'm going to come back and comment on this thread, uhm......right after I have a little rest. I'm exhausted

I think some higher calorie days are what caused me to lose a few pounds quickly putting me past goal. When I was 136 pounds I decided to start entering maintenance because I was a pound away, I might as well get going, right? So I started eating at 1600-1700 calories but had several days where I wound up at 1400 because I just wasn't all that hungry.

I quickly got to 135, then 134...then 133.

So I decided I needed more calories. I started eating 1800, but still had days where I would eat less because I wasn't hungry and forgot to eat a snack or something. Before I knew it, I was at 131.

I was doing a form of calorie cycling without intending to and I think those higher days sparked my metabolism and put me past my goal.

I think I need to consistently eat at 1800 (or more, I'm very active) or have days where I go above 1800 to go hand in hand with the days where I wind up eating less.

I have "cheat days" every week, usually on the weekend I eat 1600-1700 calories whereas during the week I eat around 135. I think calorie cycling has contributed to my weight loss.

Ahhhh....completely rested.
So, basically the Spike works like this--from the best of my memory, because MFP automatically deleted the msg

It is based on your BMR--mine is 1330 using MFP. I think you subtract 100 & add 100, so my low days--I ate 1200, my high days--I ate 1400--alternating the 2 throughout the week. On the 6th day--or Saturday for me--you had your Spike Day. You would double the calories on your high #. So for me, it would be 2800. The day following the Spike Day, you would resume the lower day and start to alternate again.

As far as exercising went. (And I may have the 2 backwards--I've asked for the info again, because I hate to keep buying things that I seldom use)
On the low days, you did strength training. On the high days, you did cardio--enough to burn at least 300 cals, and on the Spike Day--you rested.

These, I may have backwards & please, if anyone is using Spike--correct me.

I tried this a week before Christmas and saw 147.6 for the first time since September 22. (Yes, I know the exact date ) But then, I took 2 weeks off of exercising. I still half-way counted calories, but wasn't near as strict. I ate holiday foods and didn't gain or lose an ounce.

On December 30, I started 1/2 marathon training, b/c I signed up for my first 1/2 set for April 28. At this point, if I lose--so be it. If I maintain, so be it. If I gain...well--by January 4, I actually did gain 3 lbs of water weight, but it was gone by January 6.
My focus now is staying fueled for the runs. I would like to lose more, but I really am terrified to start eating 1600-1900 cals worth of food!

In my weight loss, my husband and I had an off-plan day every week or every other week. For me, it allowed me to splurge a little on foods I was craving (usually pizza or chips). The next day, it was back on plan. It worked for us. Did it really help us lose more weight doing it that way? I don't know. What I do know is that it helped keep us on plan during the week because we knew we would just have what we were craving later that weekend.

Be careful, though, because if you don't get back on track right away, one day turns into 2, 3, then a week of bad eating, then a month. You know how it goes!

Wow! This is amazing. So far only positive feedback. I'm really hopeful now.

Kellost the first thing that I noticed after my refeed Saturday was that I was hungrier than normal on Sunday so you may be right and this could be a slippery slope if I give in to it. However today I had my normal appetite back. Thankfully.

One thing was odd though about the refeed day. I made what used to be a favourite breakfast of mine years ago, brie on batch bread toasted sandwich with green peppers and it didn't do much for me. I have been avoiding high calorie food for so long that I bigged it up in my imagination. I prefer my blueberry porridge! So, if nothing else comes of my experiment I'm not going to miss my high calorie foods as much. The chocolate biscuit definitely doesn't taste as nice either as when I know I shouldn't have one.

So, I decided to have my Spike Day Sunday at 4pm. I hope it will work to my advantage this week. I had eaten about 900 cals between Midnight and 3pm & when I finally took the initiative to get out of bed, I decided to try to consume 1900 cals ( to make the 2800). Uhm.....I didn't quite get there. It would have been easy if I were eating junk, but I am trying to eat things that will help me achieve my fitness goals.
Having a "Spike Day", "Cheat Day", "Off Plan Day", whatever you wish to call it, does not mean (for me) that I get to indulge in and other high-processed carbs.

Instead, I ate this:

PB2 Greek Yogurt, w/granola, 100 cal Popcorn, Hot Cocoa: 323
Corn Flakes w/skim milk : 280 (I must STOP eating boxed cereal!)
Bean Dip w/tortillas , Fresh Pineapple: 440
Double Dense NOW Green Monster, Sushi: 1580
Total: 2623

I had 5 hours to consume 1580 cals--which is what I would eat in a whole day! I was sooooo stuffed! However, I was stuffed with all good food and nothing really processed. If I had thought when I came home from work to do the Spike Day, I would have made wiser choices for breakfast!

Next week, I will!! I'll let you all know how this week goes, if I lose or gain, or plateau!

Week 1 review:

My maintenance calorie level should be between 1700 and 2100 according to different calculators.

Sat cal:2,400
Six days following : Average of 1425 per day (high of 1582, low of 1345)
Week average calorie per day: 1564

Result: Weight loss of 300g or .7lbs

This is not a lot of weight to lose but I only lost 1lb over the previous two months eating less than this. So this is working. I will change what I'm doing again because I don't think my metabolism has increased, or if it has it fell back again. I think this because over the last three days I was really cold. (I was reviewing students work in a hall and I was the only one who needed a coat). I do loads of exercise so I think to increase it a refeed more frequently or a block of refeed days may help. I'm following a low cal low GL diet, protein twice daily, with of one snack per day that's none of these.

The way my weight altered over the week was strange.Two days after my refeed day I weighed exactly the same, which I find really weird. I thought that my weight would go up soon after. On the Wednesday though my weight fell and remained at that lower weight each day after. So I seem to have used more calories on the Tuesday and the Wednesday and then maybe my body adjusted down again? So the leptin boost (if that's what's happening) lasted for three days after my refeed day.

Unfortunately I was too busy at work last week to shop for different foods to do a mid week refeed but I am determined to do this next week and see if this boosts weight loss further.

Next weeks plan: Sat and Wed refeed of 2200kcal, about half high carb foods
I will weigh myself every day this time to see if I can figure
out the pattern of weight loss/gain.


K9Owner, I had a similar problem on Saturday, I was still eating until 10 trying to get enough calories in me. It did not sit well in my stomach eating so late. I'm definitely aiming to eat earlier today.

According to body builders (who regularly get down to 0% body fat) high carb foods are exactly what you need on a refeed day, and they use past and pizza and sweet stuff to get their calories and their glucose levels high. So this may not be what you want to eat but it may be necessary. Protein is high in calories but won't give you loads of glucose and it's both that will cause the body to produce more leptin, according to some theories that I've read on leptin production, and body builders sites and forums, talking to a pro rugby player and one diet book.

One explanation that I read is that the body stores energy in three different ways. Glucose is stored in the liver as glycogen and blood short term, protein in muscle and fat everywhere. Glucose is the first thing that the body accesses, it's the easiest. When the glycogen stores are high then there is more leptin sent out as food is plentiful and our metabolism is raised, or returned to normal after a low cal period. If there's too much glycogen then it gets stored as fat after a time of course, but the body craves high calorie food on a diet because it wants to have this access to easy sources of energy to maintain a high metabolism. Short term doses of high cal food may be good for us. In theory. The day before a rugby match pro rugby players eat tons of high cal carbs, pasta especially, so that on match day they will be able to easily access far more energy than by eating any other food. These men run and wrestle almost constantly for eighty minutes every time they play and of course I don't but what they say and do ties in theories that I've read about leptin release. If the glucose stores are used up within a few days then this high cal food won't get stored as fat, and the metabolism is higher than previously so low cal eating will have a greater effect then.

I'm not sure when the body starts breaking down muscle instead of fat but I did read that there is a minimum amount of calories you can reduce before it does that. Muscle as I'm sure you know uses energy so if we're starving having less muscles means that we will live longer. So for this reason as well there must be a low limit for how little calories to eat and maintain fat loss. Do you know what that is? Right now I'm wondering if this new weight loss I had is due to higher leptin levels or is it because I'm not breaking down muscle to maintain a low metabolism because I'm above the minimum average calorie level for me.

I wish that I could find scientific studies to prove this stuff. At least body builders and rugby players seem to be a good source of information, and from long years of success keeping their fat low and energy high I believe what they say works for them but even then on their forums they have differing theories of when to refeed and how often. And I'm not lifting weights like crazy or playing rugby. I feel like doing a study myself on normal humans.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/sclark60.htm

http://www.fitnessbreakout.com/strat...t-for-fat-loss

After the refeed day did you feel like you had more energy?

IntoTouch: WoW, that is a massive amount of info for me to absorb atm.

I'll just answer the question and let you know how my week went.

Last Sunday was Spike, menu above.
Monday, I was full from Sunday. I didn't have any GI (tummy) issues:
Cals were 1224
I didn't weigh
Exercise Cals: 499

Tuesday
Cals: 1493
I didn't weigh
Exercise Cals: 665

Wednesday
Cals: 1457
Weight: 146.8
Exercise Cals: 406

Thursday
Cals: 1357
Weight: 146.8
Exercise Cals: 561

Friday
Cals: 1289
Weight: 147.4 (Poor sleep(5 hrs)/muscles retaining lactic acid)
Exercise Cals:736

Saturday
Cals: 1421
Weight: 146.4
Exercise Cals: to be determined

Sunday is Spike for me again and I have the food planned out for 24 hours worth of eating, because I work Sunday night. This is defo working for me right now, but I'm NOT eating pasta & pizza on Spike Day. I'm trying aggressively to eliminate the junk & highly processed carbs. I'll continue to follow and let you know how it goes this week

BTW: Being 146 has broken the plateau I've been in since July! I am flushed with excitement!!

There is lots of good information here! I don't have a lot of experience with this but I know that after a year of a strict calorie counting, I was stuck around 170 pounds. We went on a family camping trip for three days and I decided to take a break and enjoy what I wanted without counting. This included chips, hot dogs and ice cream. I ended up losing three pounds when I was fearful that I would gain weight. I am going to keep this in mind if I hit a plateau this time around

K9 Owner that is brilliant! Well done! I'm delighted to hear it.

If you don't mind me asking how much exactly did you lose? Also are you still eating much less than your lowest estimate maintenance level on average per week?

I'm wondering if you are increasing your metabolism yet or do you think that you still need to eat less than normal people who haven't been on low cal diets for months/years. I'd also like to know because I've come across some mad information in the 4 hour body diet and in how much Lance Armstrong was eating. These showed people eating far and above what they should be able to eat without gaining weight.


Week 2 Review:

Sat: 2484cal Wed: 2140cal 5 Day Average: 1409
Overall Average: 1709 per day

Result: Weight loss of 1/3lb

Although this is a tiny weight loss I am still amazed that I didn't gain. Even after reading all the information that I could find on this it seems unbelievable to me. I weighed myself three times this morning and moved the scales to different parts of the floor in case it was unbalanced or not working. I am 100% sure that the last time that I ate around 1700 or even 1600 calories per day the weight just piled on. That was eating more every day rather than the three day gap then refeed. There is definitely something to this.

However my body is still stuck on lower metabolism/ leptin levels. The lowest estimates of my daily needs are above still what I ate I do think that my metabolism is still stuck on low. I was still colder than other people as well last week. And last week was a serious exercise week. I wish I could get my metabolism/leptin levels up really high quickly.

The way that my weight fluctuated during the week was very strange. I weighed myself every morning and my lowest weight was right after Saturday, when I ate the most. Then the highest was two days later after two days eating 1230cal on average. I don't understand this. Perhaps it takes a couple of days for the body to make fat? Does anyone know why should be?

I think if I want to go on maintenance this will be how I do it. Although I don't enjoy large doses of high carb foods, having two days of high calorie may let me live a little more and hopefully keep my metabolism higher. It seems to keep me from gaining weight and eating more which is brilliant.

Now I'm in a dilemma. If the theory that I've been reading is correct then I would be wise to keep eating more calories until my metabolism/leptin levels stay high regularly. But I want to lose weight now!

So, I will go back to one refeed day per week and see how I progress with this. Although the idea of being warm and having more energy is very tempting I want to get thinner more and have been stuck at the same level for months. I will aim for around 2400 refeed then 1400 per day again.

The report of another week of Spike.
Well, it has been more eventful than what I would have liked to report, but here it is…
I'll give the food journal for Spike Day only.

Sun, Jan 15::Worked, 1st day of TOM
Hissho Sushi, Crunchy Roll, Chobani Greek Yogurt w/Frozen Raspberries, 6 Hazelnuts, & 1 tsp Agave, Blue Bunny Health Smart 4 oz Vanilla Ice Cream
1/2 NOW Whey ProteinDouble Dense Green Monster
1/2 NOW Whey ProteinDouble Dense Green Monster, 3 Ritz Crackers w/1 tsp PB, 1/2 Mutilgrain round, 3 slices Smoked Turkey
1/2 c Grapes, Sante Fe Chicken Wrap, Cottage Cheese w/Strawberry Jam
Total 2821
Exercise: 497


Monday (TOM)
Cals: 1223
I didn't weigh
Exercise Cals: 504

Tuesday(TOM)
Cals: 841
I didn't weigh
Exercise Cals: NONE (Chiropractor, lower back issues)

Wednesday (TOM)
Cals: 1615 (tried to make up for Tuesday's poor eating)
I didn't weigh
Exercise Cals: 244


Thursday
Cals: 1245
Weight: 146.6
Exercise Cals: 305
*Massage Therapist after workout*

Friday (Another rest day, did some yoga)
Cals: 1228
Weight: 146.0
Exercise Cals: 76

Saturday
Cals will be ~ 1600
Exercise Cals ? (Running 3-4 miler today)
I will not weigh today

I had to rest my back this week due to prior back injury. I don't want to re-injure it for the training of this 1/2 mary. So, a couple of days, I did minimal exercise--nothing like last week.Also, TOM always brings lower back pain for me--sometimes it is bearable, sometimes--like this past week, it was not. Thereby forcing me to rest. I'm still satisfied with a 1.4 lb loss.
Also, I am going to a girl's night out tonight and reserved some of my cals for vino which is why I've had a couple of 1200 cal days back to back. I shouldn't have any of these issues next week & will know for sure if my plateau has finally broken by next Friday

IntoTouch: From when I started--last April--I weighed 160.2 (August 2010, I weighed 167). I lost down to 149.4 by July 29, 2011. So from April-July, it was coming off really well, safely-roughly 1 lb/week. Then, I started going back and forth between 148-151 ever since then. But I have been on holiday. I took a cruise for a week in October. Then the holidays--which I didn't count calories and exercised minimally and still plateaued--no gains or losses despite not counting or exercising for about 3 weeks.