Macro partitioning
A 1-week diet break (increasing carbohydrate intake to energy balance) following intermittent energy restriction improves leg muscle endurance in adult athletes without compromising fat loss goals.
If you are an athlete cutting weight, schedule a 1-week 'diet break' where you eat at maintenance calories (focusing on carbs) every 3-4 weeks. This will not add fat, but it will significantly improve your leg endurance and mental alertness, making your training sessions more effective. Time this break before a key training block or competition.
a 1-week diet break improved muscle endurance in the legs (but not the arms), and was accompanied by reduced sensations of hunger, prospective consumption, and irritability, and higher sensations of fullness, satisfaction, and alertness. While the 1-week diet break had no significant effect on fat mass, it significantly increased fat-free mass and resting energy expenditure.
Why this rating
Randomized controlled trial design (secondary analysis of ICECAP), pre-specified outcomes, statistically significant results (P<0.05), but small sample size (n=26).
Source
A 1-week diet break improves muscle endurance during an intermittent dieting regime in adult athletes: A pre-specified secondary analysis of the ICECAP trial
Jackson Peos et al. · PLoS ONE · 2021
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