Your thoughts on Re-feed days?

[CherylB]

Originally Posted by Tabatha

If I were going to refeed it would have to start with starbucks I love me a bagel with creme cheese and a mocha. I won't buy bagels because I don't want them sitting around afterward LOL I feel i could use a refeed now but I am too close to P3. going to start P3 by the end of the week.

That's what I was going to do (P3 on May 1) but now I'm not so sure. I don't think I'm ready to go a minimum of 3 weeks without losing any more weight. I have had a few episodes of refeed (aka cheating) and it has not hurt me and sometimes has helped. Knowing I can lose weight quickly and steadily when going at it in P2 with all my heart and soul and then having the ability to take a couple days off and enjoy things I may have been missing, I can totally do that for weeks on end.

So, that's probably going to be my new plan.

[Tabatha]

Originally Posted by CherylB

That's what I was going to do (P3 on May 1) but now I'm not so sure. I don't think I'm ready to go a minimum of 3 weeks without losing any more weight. I have had a few episodes of refeed (aka cheating) and it has not hurt me and sometimes has helped. Knowing I can lose weight quickly and steadily when going at it in P2 with all my heart and soul and then having the ability to take a couple days off and enjoy things I may have been missing, I can totally do that for weeks on end.

So, that's probably going to be my new plan.

I don't have anymore drops so I have to go to P3. I am going to cycle this round. I did 1 3 week round. so I will just P3 for 3 weeks then jump back into P2. I wanted to do 6 weeks but just ran out... I am trying not to miss food right now. It is just easier to see it as a PIA

[2011me]

Check in on my carb up (refeed) day:

Sat was carb up day
Sun +3.2
Mon -.8
This morning -1.2

I am calling this a success. It has kicked me back into loss mode, I am less bloated and lost inches.

Although I would (and did lol) skip a carb day during the 21 days of p3, I will continue with the scheduled carb up days throughout treatment. I also think that it should be a scheduled part of the lifetime phase... with my thoughts of the lifetime phase being mostly an enhanced p3 with scheduled carb up days and steak days as needed.

But I digress...

As I did mostly carbs on my load for this second round (straight from p3, skipping 4), and I believe this carb day worked in much of the same way as the load for this round...refeeding with leptin for muscles.

I think the first round (and coming of a p4 with enough carbs intro'd back to refeed leptin levels) works with the high (good) fat load. But think if you are coming off of a no, or very low carb, phase... a carb up day is a good load for cyclers, as an example...(those who skip p4)... and I think a carb up refeed during treatment (p2) is good too.

But everyone's body reacts different, so this is my opinion on my experience.

[LoneStargal]

Ok, I have to say that the re-feed worked for me. I am in my fourth and last round. For a week I had bounced up and down by one pound. During Easter weekend I did a re-feed, eating carbs, protein and sugar I gained 2 pounds by Monday morning but now on Friday I have lost a total of 4 pounds which means a net loss of 2 pounds in 4 days after not losing for a week. Also it helped me refocus for my last few weeks. I am not sure I could have continued with the diet at the rate I was going. But I was so happy to eat with family during Easter weekend and now am looking forward to the last 2 weeks with the hope of losing 6 more pounds to get to goal. Although I would not do a re-feed on the first round, I would do them in any other rounds just to help with the mental part, and it also did seem to jump start my lossing also.

I love HCG
HCG has been a miracle for me.
I will post before and after pictures in two weeks.

[Christalina]

Hey Lonestargal~
Good for you!
I had a similar experience. The refeed enabled me to continue on with the rest of the round when I was ready to give up.

[catjrow3]

Originally Posted by LoneStargal

I love HCG
HCG has been a miracle for me.
I will post before and after pictures in two weeks.

Will be looking forward to seeing the pictures! I love before and afters!!! Great job!

[CherylB]

(I just screwed up and lost my long post. )

Here I go for the second time.

I am posting here to report my experiences with refeeds, having been on hhcg a lot longer than last time and being a bit wiser.

(Please see my siggi for details of how long I've been doing this, etc.)

I have been on hhcg (pellets) for 55 straight days. 50 of those have been VLCD and 5 have been planned days off (for holidays, etc.) My first two days off plan were specifically for a refeed. I ate whatever I wanted but ate too much and was miserable. I was happy to get back to the VLCD. I didn't notice any increase in my rate of loss.

The second break from plan was for Easter weekend. I also ate what I wanted but did not eat to the point of being miserable, as in the first refeed attempt. Again, I didn't notice an increase in my rate of loss.

This time, I went off for just one day. I ate whatever I wanted Saturday, for an early Mom's Day celebration with family. I tracked my food the best that I could on ****** and I ate around 4,100 calories (including 2 large chocolate bars with almonds. They were gooooood.)

So, Friday I weighed 184.4. Monday, I weighed 185.6. Yesterday, I weighed 183.2. Today (Wednesday), I weighed 180.4! Now THAT is an increase in weight loss, if I ever saw one!

My advice is, if you are going to do a refeed, do it for only one day. Eat whatever you've been missing, but don't eat so much that you want to die. Then get right back in the saddle and eat cleanly on P2. And don't do a refeed more than every 14 days or so.

Those are my 0.02 cents!

[2BabesMama]

Originally Posted by CherylB

My advice is, if you are going to do a refeed, do it for only one day. Eat whatever you've been missing, but don't eat so much that you want to die. Then get right back in the saddle and eat cleanly on P2. And don't do a refeed more than every 14 days or so.

Those are my 0.02 cents!

Honey, I think that is pretty much good advice for all of us.

But really, I appreciate your experience with refeeding! You just keep taking your drops on those refeed meals too? I am considering a refeed day (or just meal) after my 21 days is over then trucking through on some more P2 days.

[CherylB]

Yep! I have always taken my 4 pellets 3x/day all this time. Give it a shot and see how it goes! I am thrilled that on hhcg I can take these little excursions and not have to pay for it for a week, the way I did on Atkins. This is so much more forgiving!

[Missy's Journey]

Cheryl....how long do you plan on going on R2 this way? If someone was to take the 1 day refeed every 14 or 21 days...do you think you could go 90 days?

[CherylB]

I personally think you can, but I'd see how it goes. I think there are a few people here who tried doing it straight through to goal. I don't know how wise that is. I guess it all depends on how far you have to go! I could never do that with so much to lose.

I realize that some great benefits are to be had in P3 so I am looking forward to getting there. I just know that 177 is a big set-point for me, so if I'm going to reset my hypothalamus in P3, better to do it in the 175 range. At least then I can also be enjoying having reached that big goal, too!

[catjrow3]

I am unfortunately one who holds for a week! Still trying to get back to Sunday's weight, and just had a minor screw up!! Figures! I am glad this works for some, but it definitely slows me right down!!

[Meek75]

Cheryl, thanks for starting this thread. I am familiar with refeeds, so I'm going to try one every 15th day. I plan to extend this round, since I am behind two weeks and all out of my juice. I'll have about 38 days remaining before P3.

I'll keep you all posted on my results.

Thanks again, .

[CherylB]

Originally Posted by SkinnyGenesFit

Cheryl, thanks for starting this thread. I am familiar with refeeds, so I'm going to try one every 15th day. I plan to extend this round, since I am behind two weeks and all out of my juice. I'll have about 38 days remaining before P3.

I'll keep you all posted on my results.

Thanks again, .

Good luck! Please do chart your experiences here so we can all learn and grow!

[Meek75]

Originally Posted by CherylB

Good luck! Please do chart your experiences here so we can all learn and grow!

Thanks. I will let you know how I do... gonna get a clean 14 days under my belt once my juice arrives and then do a refeed on Day 15 .

Have you tried the refeed meal yet?

[CherylB]

Meaning a refeed of just one meal? Nope. That would be sort of like a tease for me.

Are you just beginning your round? How long do you plan to go on P2? I'm just asking because if you are doing a round of 30-40 days or more, I'd wait to do the refeed until you've gotten those first 23 days done cleanly (whether rogue or not, "cleanly" according to your own plan.) Dr Simeon says that it's important to go at least 23 days. Not sure why that is, but I think it has something to do with the minimum amount of time that you need to let your hypothalamus rest up before P3.

[2BabesMama]

I'll be watching Skinny's posts too. If I try a refeed, I'm thinking more in line with a meal rather than the whole day of free-for-all. Of course, the size of that meal may be large enough to feed my whole family, but we won't discuss that at the moment!:blush:

[Meek75]

Originally Posted by CherylB

Meaning a refeed of just one meal? Nope. That would be sort of like a tease for me.

Are you just beginning your round? How long do you plan to go on P2? I'm just asking because if you are doing a round of 30-40 days or more, I'd wait to do the refeed until you've gotten those first 23 days done cleanly (whether rogue or not, "cleanly" according to your own plan.) Dr Simeon says that it's important to go at least 23 days. Not sure why that is, but I think it has something to do with the minimum amount of time that you need to let your hypothalamus rest up before P3.

I understand you hesitance.

I started my round 17 days ago. This round has been a mess (TOM in week 2, ran out of juice in week 3). I'm in P3 right now in hopes that my juice will arrive today. I'm trying to decide if I should pick up where I left off or start over . If I start over, then I will do a clean 23 days, followed by a refeed and then continue on for another 14 days, etc... We shall see.

I will keep you all posted.

I know someone who is doing a refeed, but she is keeping it very clean with low fat, high carbs + protein and eating about 1000 more cals then protocol level. I plan to follow her lead on this, as she knows a lot of the CKD diet. I've done the Anabolic Diet as well, which allowed refeeds.

[CherylB]

Bumpity bump bump bump!

[TerriMM]

Thanks Cheryl for refering me to this thread. And thank you everyone else for taking the time to share your sucesses and changes you would make in the future. I'll be joining your ranks on June 11th, my 25th day of my 1st round.

[LilacBruze]

So... here's what happened...

After 21 days of consistent loss, I woke up yesterday to a pound gain. I was retaining water, but the whole thing really frustrated me. I'm doing a 40 day round. I was doing really well until yesterday, and then all of a sudden I was depressed and angry and no matter how much water I drank, the water retention was not going away.

I started reading this thread, and then before I knew it, I was having a mini refeed! I had a protein bar, two bowls of Kashi cereal, and 2 bagels with low fat cream cheese. I tried to do as low-fat and high protein but because I am diabetic, I could not overload on carbs per se, but these foods alone shot my glucose through the roof so hopefully they were high carb enough.

I woke up this morning to a 3.2 lb gain.

Back in the saddle again today. We'll see how it goes.

[CherylB]

Sounds good! Keep us posted. Hope you have good results from it!

Happy Memorial Day, everybody! I'll be doing a refeed tomorrow at a big, huge family picnic. Almost to the end of my R1P2. (A very long round.) June 3 will be my first day off pellets.

[LilacBruze]

A very long round, indeed! Are you looking forward to P3?

Cheryl, thanks for not telling me I did it wrong, lol. I am dealing with the whys behind my sudden decision. I don't know what happened. I'm not feeling guilty or regretful, just trying to understand what drove me to such a sudden decision. I said in another thread that maybe it was a sub-conscious fear of P3. I don't know.

[CherylB]

Just sounds like something triggered you and "put you in a mood." It'll be fine.

[CMac]

yes let me know how your loss goes now. Wonder why you are retaining. Maybe youve lost so much fat that the muscle is just holding water right now, it will go away.

[star a.d.]

I just had a bit of a refeed day, too early on I suppose, but such as it happened. I'm up half a lb today, so we'll see how I go for the next few days. save for the fact that PMS will be starting this week too. @&%&#!!!! but yeah, I feel way less freaked out after reading the thread.

[vli1127]

I am just beginning hHCG and am on day 2 of round 1 vlcd. Cheryl referred me to this thread after I questioned what a refeed was, thanks Cheryl. I am not needing a reffed yet, but expect I might later on down the road as others have mentioned.

[ShellbellTX]

Read ALL 12 pages..SO intrigued and kept my mind on not quitting from not losing at a rate I want.
Made mind up to do a re-feed tomorrow..just happened to go to Costco today with 10 year old who picked out Honey buns, Doritos...cookies...Drumstick ice cream:P
It will either hurt me or stall me even more but willing to try it.
Cant stomach the apple day idea..just not into them at all and have read that its just water weight that comes off to give one a psychological boost..nah..I will past.
Will update the results of this little experience..the last 3 weeks I have only yeilded 2 pounds a week with 3 to 4 of those days not losing a thing..just bouncing up and down the same pound. sigh...
Would be a great perk if this works! I am not hungry..just listless and tired.

[paulabob]

Originally Posted by ShellbellTX

.the last 3 weeks I have only yeilded 2 pounds a week with 3 to 4 of those days not losing a thing..just bouncing up and down the same pound. sigh...
Would be a great perk if this works! I am not hungry..just listless and tired.

You might also think about moving to P3. It's my favorite part of the program.

[LilacBruze]

Originally Posted by ShellbellTX

Read ALL 12 pages..SO intrigued and kept my mind on not quitting from not losing at a rate I want.
Made mind up to do a re-feed tomorrow..just happened to go to Costco today with 10 year old who picked out Honey buns, Doritos...cookies...Drumstick ice cream:P
It will either hurt me or stall me even more but willing to try it.
Cant stomach the apple day idea..just not into them at all and have read that its just water weight that comes off to give one a psychological boost..nah..I will past.
Will update the results of this little experience..the last 3 weeks I have only yeilded 2 pounds a week with 3 to 4 of those days not losing a thing..just bouncing up and down the same pound. sigh...
Would be a great perk if this works! I am not hungry..just listless and tired.

I hope all that sugar you listed is not what you're planning to do the re-feed on?

I don't have much experience with re-feeds, but I think you would have much better success if you followed a loading type plan with fats as opposed to sugars and empty starches? <-- not judging, just thinking out loud.