Cheat days - is this true?

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Hey there,

I read something recently that surprised me. It was along the lines of:
Eating pizza once a week is good for you. The reasoning behind this is as follows.
If you have a very strict diet and are successfully losing weight week in, week out then your body will adapt and think that you are fasting. As a result it will try to hold on to the fat in your body.
To overcome this, you can have a cheat day once a week where you would eat something like pizza. However, if you are to do this, you MUST train very hard the day after your cheat day in attempt to lose the fat you just stored.
The article claimed it confused the body and almost jump started your metabolism again.

I can provide a link to the article later this evening when I'm at home.

Has anyone else heard of this, or is it a load of crap? I don't want to attempt this if it's going to have negative effects on me.

Thanks for reading.

Martian Martin

I'm no expert but when I see things like "Confuse the body" and "jump start your metabolism" my instincts would say its bull.

the drifter

Martian Martin wrote: »

I'm no expert but when I see things like "Confuse the body" and "jump start your metabolism" my instincts would say its bull.

my instincts would then follow him and add "sh*t"

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I thought as much lads. Cheers.

Parsley

i thought the reason was behind cheat days was that they won't do too much damage to your dieting/fat loss because they make it easier to keep a diet going long term. if you've a very strict diet and you're not really enjoying it you'll be less inclined to keep it going than if you have one day you're allowed enjoy/reward yourself.

emon

This kind of approach will only work in extreme diets like "Get Shredded Diet" (google it if you want)..Even that diet is recommended to be done for a maximum of 12 weeks in a given 2 year period..And thatfor individuals with very specific goals..

the drifter

Parsley wrote: »

i thought the reason was behind cheat days was that they won't do too much damage to your dieting/fat loss because they make it easier to keep a diet going long term. if you've a very strict diet and you're not really enjoying it you'll be less inclined to keep it going than if you have one day you're allowed enjoy/reward yourself.

I think the man pretty much has it...when i cut the weight last year my " treat" was a Chinese on a friday night....i used to look forward to it for days!!!

ragg

http://ezinearticles.com/?Understanding-Leptin---How-Cheating-on-Your-Diet-is-Not-Only-Beneficial-But-Increases-Your-Fat-Loss!&id=3283315

If you want to read the science type stuff behind it - there are plenty of journal type stuff on the internet.

This is only going to help in a strict diet running off quite a severe deficit. Even more so in the low carb types.

I'd say its more like every 2 - 3.
An entire pizza will **** of most people calorie deficit pretty quickly

Amaru KGB

No cheat days are great, so great I try and do them as often as I can

Red Cortina

Rachel Cosgrove in her book the Female Body Breakthrough recommends having something like 3 days of low calorie intake followed by a day of higher calories when you are trying to 'dial it in' further.

bubblyone

Red Cortina wrote: »

Rachel Cosgrove in her book the Female Body Breakthrough recommends having something like 3 days of low calorie intake followed by a day of higher calories when you are trying to 'dial it in' further.

Interesting... Leigh Peele recommends 5 low days followed by 2 higher for some people too. Depending on how they're doing. Carb cycling can work for people too I think.

The single cheat meal is (apparently) very unlikely to have any real effect on boosting your metabolism. For me, it's psychologically helpful. I get to eat food I restrict otherwise. Tom Venuto calls it a free meal though...because it's part of the plan not to adhere 100%-more like 90/10. I think the biggest difficulty with it is moderation. Fat loss requires a caloric deficit over time. You don't want to undo all the hard work in a massive blow-out.

Canis Lupus

A cheat day just makes a tough diet more bearable. My problem is trying not to make everyday a cheat day. This bout of cracking weather here in London has me out at my bbq every evening

Mellor

Canis Lupus wrote: »

A cheat day just makes a tough diet more bearable. My problem is trying not to make everyday a cheat day. This bout of cracking weather here in London has me out at my bbq every evening

Try living in australia

g'em

emon wrote: »

This kind of approach will only work in extreme diets like "Get Shredded Diet" (google it if you want)..Even that diet is recommended to be done for a maximum of 12 weeks in a given 2 year period..And thatfor individuals with very specific goals..

Did it a few years ago and Holy shíte is it hard. I got through a couple of kilos of fruit on my first cheat day

There are both psychological and physiological elements to cheat days. Psychological it's a mental holiday to eat more food when you've been restricting yourself - you feel rewarded for hard work done and you can enjoy your indulgence relatively guilt-free and come back to your diet with renewed determination.

But physiologically there's quite a lot of evidence to suggest that cheating can be a great thing - it helps reset your leptin levels. Leptin has received a lot of attention in recent years because it has been found to be so important in appetite control and energy expenditure.

In short, when leptin is high, you increase fat metabolism. When you diet, your leptin levels fall and your energy expenditure falls with it - i.e. your body adapts and you burn fat more slowly - this is why we reach a plateau after prolonged dieting. But cheat days (and days, not meals) will boost leptin production and encourage your body to burn fat at an increased rate again. Anyone who has done an extreme diet like GSD will know that the greatest fat loss is seen in the days following a cheat.

So yeah, there's truth to it alright, but it'll really only work if you're paying attention to what you're eating in the days outside your cheat day

the drifter

g'em wrote: »

Did it a few years ago and Holy shíte is it hard. I got through a couple of kilos of fruit on my first cheat day

There are both psychological and physiological elements to cheat days. Psychological it's a mental holiday to eat more food when you've been restricting yourself - you feel rewarded for hard work done and you can enjoy your indulgence relatively guilt-free and come back to your diet with renewed determination.

But physiologically there's quite a lot of evidence to suggest that cheating can be a great thing - it helps reset your leptin levels. Leptin has received a lot of attention in recent years because it has been found to be so important in appetite control and energy expenditure.

In short, when leptin is high, you increase fat metabolism. When you diet, your leptin levels fall and your energy expenditure falls with it - i.e. your body adapts and you burn fat more slowly - this is why we reach a plateau after prolonged dieting. But cheat days (and days, not meals) will boost leptin production and encourage your body to burn fat at an increased rate again. Anyone who has done an extreme diet like GSD will know that the greatest fat loss is seen in the days following a cheat.

So yeah, there's truth to it alright, but it'll really only work if you're paying attention to what you're eating in the days outside your cheat day

Great post!

I think i understand it but there are a lot of big words!

BobbyOLeary

g'em wrote: »

In short, when leptin is high, you increase fat metabolism. When you diet, your leptin levels fall and your energy expenditure falls with it - i.e. your body adapts and you burn fat more slowly - this is why we reach a plateau after prolonged dieting. But cheat days (and days, not meals) will boost leptin production and encourage your body to burn fat at an increased rate again.

Hey g'em, any chance you could post up or PM me a link to those studies? I did a lit review on leptin as an adipostat (essentially a chemcial controlling the level of adipose tissue in your body, a thermostat but for fat, catchy name I know) a couple of years ago and I struggled to come across studies done into leptin and this kind of thing. Found some really interesting stuff about high blood triglycerides restricting leptin crossing the BBB though. Very interesting field altogether.

moco

Some weight watchers do a thing called wendie plan where you vary your point each day, several very low point days with a couple of very high point days. I hear it works well for people whos weight loss had slowed down.

I've been having 1000 cals a day for a few weeks but had a chinese last night so I'll see how that one works out when I weigh on Monday :P

g'em

BobbyOLeary wrote: »

Hey g'em, any chance you could post up or PM me a link to those studies? I did a lit review on leptin as an adipostat (essentially a chemcial controlling the level of adipose tissue in your body, a thermostat but for fat, catchy name I know) a couple of years ago and I struggled to come across studies done into leptin and this kind of thing. Found some really interesting stuff about high blood triglycerides restricting leptin crossing the BBB though. Very interesting field altogether.

You'll know leptin in more detail than me so, but there's a couple of studies that support this theory (one of them admittedly in mice ) Tehre seems to be a slew of leptin-related studies around the late-90s, early 00's when it was a very en vogue hot topic, but it's tapered off now for whatever reason.

Reduced body weight, adipose tissue, and leptin levels despite increased energy intake in female mice lacking acylation-stimulating protein

Leptin

Leptin signaling, adiposity, and energy balance

Role of adipose tissue in body-weight regulation: mechanisms regulating leptin production and energy balance.

Khannie

Mellor wrote: »

Try living in australia

Thraw anatha shrimp on the baaaabie mate.

Actually, I would love bbq today. I may just do that.

g'em

Actually there's an interview with John Berardi where he discusses re-feeding and leptin and how the theory behind its role is still speculation:

http://www.johnberardi.com/articles/qa/wannabebig_2.htm

Red Cortina

Just after finishing reading The Diet Delusion by Gary Taubes and in that book insulin is called out as the hormone responsible for fat storage. Is this a load of rubish then?

ragg

Red Cortina wrote: »

Just after finishing reading The Diet Delusion by Gary Taubes and in that book insulin is called out as the hormone responsible for fat storage. Is this a load of rubish then?

No, Inulin is the hormone that basically shuttles fatty acids into your cells.
Conversly it can help shuttle nutrients into you musces after a workout. It basically opens the cell walls.

Leptin is presumed to be more of a bodywieght regulation hormone then. In times of food abundance your body will use fuel more quickly. In times of food scarcity you body will slow everything down.

Having read up on it, im not sure how true all this is. It may not be peer reviwed "proven" science, but there is no doubt about anecdotally at least cheating on a diet every so often works wonders in the week or so after the cheat.

Assuming you are following a strick diet, particualrly a low carb diet.

Poncherello

Saw a book on this one time think it was called 'The Cheat to lose Diet'
Skimmed it and it did seem to reference leptin studies etc

BobbyOLeary

Red Cortina wrote: »

Just after finishing reading The Diet Delusion by Gary Taubes and in that book insulin is called out as the hormone responsible for fat storage. Is this a load of rubish then?

No. It's a bit simplistic to say insulin is THE hormone responsible for fat storage. The answer is that we don't really know for sure. Leptin is more associated with satiety than fat storage. Leptin levels have been hypothesised to be proportional to adipose tissue volume but from my reading it seems to me at least that leptin levels past the BBB (blood brain barrier) seem to be the money shot. Leptin fiddles around with the hypothalamus (proper medical term there - fiddles around) to make you "feel" less hungry. Or at least it's meant to, or rather at least we think it does. It's a very murky field. At the end of the day in simplistic terms:

Leptin = Satiety
Insulin = Fat Storage

Oh and thanks g'em for those studies, I'll take a look over the weekend.

ragg

BobbyOLeary wrote: »

No. It's a bit simplistic to say insulin is THE hormone responsible for fat storage. The answer is that we don't really know for sure. Leptin is more associated with satiety than fat storage. Leptin levels have been hypothesised to be proportional to adipose tissue volume but from my reading it seems to me at least that leptin levels past the BBB (blood brain barrier) seem to be the money shot. Leptin fiddles around with the hypothalamus (proper medical term there - fiddles around) to make you "feel" less hungry. Or at least it's meant to, or rather at least we think it does. It's a very murky field. At the end of the day in simplistic terms:

Leptin = Satiety
Insulin = Fat Storage

Oh and thanks g'em for those studies, I'll take a look over the weekend.

What are you studying? Sounds interesting

suziemcc

I do weight watchers and i do believe ye need to allow urself a treat day and when i say treat day i dont mean eat everything in site, i mean have a chinese, chipper or something like that.... I get weighted in on a tuesday and this is usually the day that i will have something like this i will try not to go over my daily allowance by too much but it will be something take away that i have and then if i know i am going out at the weekend i will save points each day to compensate this then... i think if i taught i was not allowed have something i would constantly think about it and in the end we all know were that leads bingeing....!!!!!

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This has turned out to be a great thread. Thank you!

BobbyOLeary

ragg wrote: »

What are you studying? Sounds interesting

My primary degree was Physiology in UCD, it's a 4 year BSc course. I'm just finished the first year of the graduate medical program now. My last year of science was pretty much all lit reviews of a few fields. We had a very interesting GI module in which we went through a bit on Leptin and Ghrelin.

I found that old lit review I wrote back in 2008, I've attached it to this post. It gives a reasonably simple run-down of leptin and what it does.

lynnsback

I hope it's not against board protocol to resurrect an old thread, but does anyone know if there is any British or Irish research on leptin and adiposity? There is some amazing American research out there, but is there any European research?

Are there any doctors in Ireland treating patients with leptin sensitising medications for this very purpose? I know Byetta is used for diabetics, but is anyone using these meds for adiposity in Ireland?