[LockItUp]

Originally Posted by JossFit

. . . once I had already gotten fairly lean... about 15% body fat.

OMG in what world is 15% "fairly" lean.

[sontaikle]

I'm pretty lean now too and I notice this is when refeeds work. They never really did anything for me when I had a higher bf%

All they did was give me extra water weight to deal with!

[JohnP]

Originally Posted by LockItUp

OMG in what world is 15% "fairly" lean.

Yep ... 15% for a woman is about 9-10% for a man. That is only "fairly" lean in the world of professional BBers who are prepping for a contest...

Originally Posted by ReillyJ

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

This article isn't accurate in any way. They've taken the science and applied their own filters too it. To boost leptin you have to overfeed and fat has nothing to do with it. When professionals do a refeed they will eat thousands of calories, primarily carbs and purposely keep fat grams very low. More importantly, unless you're already lean and trying to get leaner leptin isn't something you need to worry about. (Leptin is the basis for the "science" in that article.

However, as I mentioned, it can help psychologically which can also help to keep the scale moving due to the effect on stress and compliance. For example if you know you're going to be able to loosen up on the weekends it helps you mentally stay on track which can also help keep stress levels lower.

My point is - the article is right that it can be helpful but wrong about the reasons why.

[Amarantha2]

I also just wanted to reiterate John's point & clarify that is what I was trying to say but John explained it better than I did & I agree with TripSwitch.

Originally Posted by TripSwitch

I just wanted to step back in here a moment and reiterate a point that John just made... I always felt that "refeeds" offered me a very noticeable psychological and motivational advantage to stay on plan and get to my goal... They definitely helped me with my "mindset" as far as dieting goes... That I'm certain of...

[Moving Forward]

May I say that you are all amazing? I really appreciate all the information and opinions. Since I don't ever plan to reach 15% body fat, a re-feed in the technical sense probably isn't for me. But I'm definitely going to consider some of the other ideas given including a diet break and occasional cheat days. Any other ideas--keep them coming! I know that stalls are fairly normal, but John hit the nail on the head when he mentioned the psychological aspect. I'm so there right now!