Difference between a refeed and a free meal

A refeed is not the same thing as a free meal.

A free meal is a moderately-sized off plan meal that could theoretically be taken at any point during a fat-loss diet. These are generally not needed for any specific physiological reason and will often count against your nutritional compliance to slow down progress.

A refeed, however, is a designated period of high carbohydrate (and low fat) feeding lasting from 5-6 hours to an entire day. And contrary to a free meal, it has very specific intended physiological effects.

Thus, you generally do not need a refeed until you are fairly lean as the metabolic consequences of being in a deficit are less concerning with higher levels of body fat.

People starting out at higher levels of body fat can go longer without any such refeeding periods without suffering any ill effects so we typically do not use them until needed.

Those who have been eating at a moderate deficit and have become reasonably lean, but stopped making progress would be ideal candidates for a refeed.

If you spontaneously decide to stuff your face on the weekend you’re certainly entitled to make that choice (assuming that you can live with the results), but that would not be properly considered a refeed.