Taking a pause from low calories, once in a while.

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  • CaliDollFace
    CaliDollFace Posts: 27 Member
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    That doesn't usually work out well for me. I am more successful under a strict plan.
  • Artemiris
    Artemiris Posts: 189 Member
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    I think I need to better clarify what I meant.

    By "eating at maintenance" I did not mean the occasional break caused by vacations/events/dinner out...
    Neither was I talking about increasing the calories because of hunger or cravings.

    I meant a conscious plan to eat at maintenance for, let's say 3 weeks, every (let's say) 3 months, or every tot pounds lost.

    Some people claim that keeping a restrict diet for a long period of time is not ideal and that it might be beneficial to eat at maintenance (and, obviously, as a consequence, interrupt the weight loss) every once in a while.

    I personally find it quite resonable and I was curious to know if anyone did that.
  • hamlet1222
    hamlet1222 Posts: 459 Member
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    I can't see anything wrong with doing that at all, perhaps even just eat what you want when you want, but keep logging - and see where you 'naturally' settle.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    I took a break from logging all last month. It was pretty refreshing.
  • looney9708
    looney9708 Posts: 174 Member
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    jemhh wrote: »
    @Artemiris I don't do it on a set schedule. When I am losing weight, I am usually not hungry beyond "oh, it's dinner time" kind of hunger. When I get to the point where I am just hungry all of the time, I take a week off. Well, actually 8 days because I usually do Sunday through Sunday. I am usually ready and raring to get back to cutting my calories by Friday at the latest, but I make myself wait because the extra calories for a few more days helps me out with exercise (lifting) so much.

    Do you gain a lot of weight or just a few pounds water weight if you do this?
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
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    looney9708 wrote: »
    jemhh wrote: »
    @Artemiris I don't do it on a set schedule. When I am losing weight, I am usually not hungry beyond "oh, it's dinner time" kind of hunger. When I get to the point where I am just hungry all of the time, I take a week off. Well, actually 8 days because I usually do Sunday through Sunday. I am usually ready and raring to get back to cutting my calories by Friday at the latest, but I make myself wait because the extra calories for a few more days helps me out with exercise (lifting) so much.

    Do you gain a lot of weight or just a few pounds water weight if you do this?

    curious about this too

  • Asher_Ethan
    Asher_Ethan Posts: 2,430 Member
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    During vacations I always log everything but I'm usually at 3k calories everyday. But I'm okay with that as I would rather enjoy my vacations.
  • jessikundrick
    jessikundrick Posts: 7 Member
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    Every Saturday I don't log and I have my treats. This is when I plan to go out to eat or have some candy. It really helps me stay on track for the week because I know at some point I'll be able to eat something fun instead of giving it up completely. Without it, I would end up giving up on my diet entirely, so I think it's a good idea :smile:
  • PinkPixiexox
    PinkPixiexox Posts: 4,142 Member
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    It won't 'boost your metabolism' or 'speed up the weight loss' (I've heard a lot of people do it for these reasons!) but eating at maintenance for a week or so is definitely a good move, in my opinion. It's always nice to have a controlled 'break' from the whole idea of weight loss every now and again - it can get a little overwhelming.

    Eating at maintenance (or near to) for a week was my way of giving myself a rest from constant losses. Don't get me wrong, I loved the weight loss but sometimes I wanted to have occasions where I could eat a substantial amount more - so I did.

    Once you're back in a deficit, you'll continue to lose. The key is here - not to go overboard and not to binge eat. Tracking is still important :)
  • Yi5hedr3
    Yi5hedr3 Posts: 2,696 Member
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    Yep! Everyone should do this once a week.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    edited October 2015
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    looney9708 wrote: »
    jemhh wrote: »
    @Artemiris I don't do it on a set schedule. When I am losing weight, I am usually not hungry beyond "oh, it's dinner time" kind of hunger. When I get to the point where I am just hungry all of the time, I take a week off. Well, actually 8 days because I usually do Sunday through Sunday. I am usually ready and raring to get back to cutting my calories by Friday at the latest, but I make myself wait because the extra calories for a few more days helps me out with exercise (lifting) so much.

    Do you gain a lot of weight or just a few pounds water weight if you do this?

    I don't usually gain anything from it. I don't eat really low carb so I don't get a carb bloat from it. I also don't eat in a really big deficit. When I was losing most of my weight, I ate between 1750 and 1850 calories and then my maintenance was 2200. I would just flip up to the 2200 number for a week and back down without any water weight issues.

    ETA: I'm not saying I've never had carb/sodium bloat. I've had that a few times but it was when I went off the rails for one day and ate a ton of foods like Cheez-its, a quarter pounder, pastry, etc. within a few hours. Those weren't diet break weeks though.

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