Refeed day calculator.
This refeed day calculator takes a client's maintenance calories, how deep their cut is, and how many weeks they have been dieting, then gives you a refeed-day calorie and carbohydrate target plus a sensible frequency. A refeed lifts intake back to maintenance for a day, with the extra coming almost entirely from carbs - fuel for training, glycogen, and a client's willingness to keep going.
the client's cut
the refeed day
refeed day calories
2,600 kcal
+500 kcal above the cutting day - all of it carbs.
refeed day carb target
311 g
Up from 200 g on a cutting day.
refeed day macros
- Protein: 195 g (held)
- Carbs: 311 g
- Fat: 64 g
suggested frequency
One refeed per week.
A starting point from the deficit depth and weeks dieting - move it up or down on what the check-in data says.
for reference: the cutting day
Cutting day: 2,100 kcal - protein 195 g, carbs 200 g, fat 58 g.
Macros are a rough starting split: protein is held constant across both days, refeed-day fat sits near 22% of refeed calories, and carbohydrate fills the rest. Tie protein to the client's body weight where you know it.
the short answer
A refeed day sets calories back to maintenance for one day, with the extra calories added as carbohydrate. The math this calculator uses is refeed calories = maintenance, protein held constant at about 30% of maintenance calories in grams, fat near 22% of refeed calories, and carbohydrate fills the rest. On a 2,600 kcal maintenance with a 500 kcal daily deficit, the cutting day is 2,100 kcal and the refeed day is 2,600 kcal. Holding protein at 195 g and fat at 64 g, that leaves about 311 g of carbs on the refeed day versus roughly 200 g on the cutting day - the whole 500 kcal swing lands in carbohydrate.
Why a refeed is carbs to maintenance - not a bigger deficit's reward.
A refeed day exists to solve a specific problem: a client who has been in a deficit for a while is running low on muscle glycogen, their training is getting flat, and their willingness to keep dieting is fraying. Pushing calories back up to maintenance for one day - with the extra coming from carbohydrate - refills that glycogen, gives the next session real fuel, and gives the client a day that does not feel like restriction. It is a deliberate pause in the deficit, not an escape from it.
Carbs carry the swing because carbohydrate is what refills glycogen and powers hard training, so the extra calories do the most good as carbs. Protein stays constant - the client's recovery and satiety needs do not change on a refeed day, and holding protein keeps the plan simple. Fat comes down a little from a normal day to make room for the carbs without pushing calories past maintenance. That is the whole logic this calculator encodes.
A refeed is not a cheat day. A refeed is a number the client hits on purpose; a cheat day is usually the food deciding the number. The refeed lands at maintenance and stays clean; a cheat day can blow past maintenance on fat and calories and quietly erase several days of deficit. The frequency the tool suggests scales with how much recovery the client actually needs: a deeper cut and more weeks dieting earn more refeeds, while an early, mild deficit rarely needs one at all.
Who it does not suit: a client with a history of disordered eating. A scheduled, high-carb "reward" day can feed a binge-restrict pattern that a steady target avoids. If that is your client, keep the number level, drop the language of reward, and get qualified support involved. Adherence to a calm plan beats an optimised one every time.
One refeed target per client, updated as the cut deepens.
In practice you run this when a client is deep enough into a cut that a refeed earns its place. Put in their maintenance, their current daily deficit and how many weeks they have been dieting, and you get three things: a refeed-day calorie target, a carb number that is the headline of the day, and a frequency to try. Then you set the refeed on a training day - ideally the hardest session of the week - so the extra carbs land where they fuel the most work.
Start conservative. Give a client one refeed a week before you give them two, and only widen the frequency if the check-in data - flat weights that should be dropping, tanked training, sinking mood - says the deficit needs more relief. If a client treats the refeed as permission to overshoot, tighten the structure or pull it back to a plain maintenance day. The refeed is a tool for adherence, and the moment it hurts adherence it has stopped doing its job.
The math was never the bottleneck - it is running this for every client in a cut and keeping each refeed target current as their maintenance drifts. Inside Coachway, calorie and macro targets live on each client and can be set per weekday with date exceptions for phase work, so a scheduled refeed is a setting on the client, not a spreadsheet you rebuild. Those targets flow straight into the client's meal plan and app, so the refeed day shows up for them without a single message from you.
If you are structuring refeeds across a whole client list, see how much faster it is when the targets live on the client.
No charge today - cancel anytime under Billing.Frequently asked questions.
What is a refeed day?
A refeed day is a planned, temporary rise in calories back up to roughly maintenance for a client who is in a deficit, with the extra calories coming almost entirely from carbohydrate. It is not a surplus and not a free-for-all. The point is to refill muscle glycogen, give training a better day, and buy some psychological relief from a long cut so the client keeps going. Protein stays where it was; fat comes down a little to make room for the carbs.
How many calories should a refeed day be?
A standard refeed lands at or just under maintenance calories - not above. This calculator sets the refeed day equal to the maintenance figure you enter, so it is the same as the client eating to maintain for one day. On a 2,600 kcal maintenance with a 500 kcal daily deficit, the cutting day is 2,100 kcal and the refeed day is 2,600 kcal - a swing of 500 kcal, almost all of it carbohydrate.
How do you calculate refeed day carbs?
Hold protein constant, keep fat low to moderate, and let carbohydrate fill the rest of the refeed-day calories. This calculator keeps protein at about 30% of maintenance calories in grams, sets refeed-day fat near 22% of refeed calories, and puts everything left into carbs. That is why the carb target jumps on the refeed day: the extra calories plus the lower fat share both flow into carbohydrate, which is exactly the fuel that refills glycogen.
How often should you have a refeed day?
It depends on how deep the deficit is and how long the client has been dieting. A lean client in an aggressive cut, many weeks in, benefits from one to two refeeds per week; someone early in a mild deficit rarely needs a scheduled refeed at all. This calculator turns your deficit size and weeks-in-a-deficit into a suggested frequency as a starting point - then you adjust it from the check-in data, not from the calendar.
Is a refeed day the same as a cheat day?
No, and the difference matters. A refeed is structured: calories rise to a set target (maintenance), the extra comes from carbohydrate, and protein and food quality hold. A cheat day is unstructured and can blow well past maintenance on fat and calories, which erases days of deficit and often triggers guilt. A refeed keeps the client in control of the number; a cheat day usually hands the number to the food.
Which clients should not use refeed days?
A client who is barely in a deficit or only a couple of weeks into a diet usually does not need one yet - there is nothing to recover from. More importantly, any client with a history of disordered eating should not be given "earned" high-carb days, because a scheduled break in restriction can feed a binge-restrict cycle. For that client, keep the target steady, avoid the language of reward, and involve qualified support where it is needed.
This target is a starting structure, not a prescription - adjust to check-in data, and keep protein tied to body weight where you know it. This tool is general fitness information, not medical or dietetic advice.
Get the inputs right first: estimate maintenance with the maintenance calorie calculator, set the deficit with the calorie deficit calculator, and read the full method behind the day in the guide on refeed days and how to structure them. When the cut is over, plan the way back up with the reverse diet calculator.
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Open calculator ->Set a refeed day for every client in a cut - from one tab
This calculator gives you the numbers for one client. Coachway - built on knowledge from working with 150 online coaches over 6+ years - keeps calorie and macro targets on every client, set per weekday, and pushes them straight to their meal plan and app, so a scheduled refeed is a setting, not an afternoon of spreadsheets.
