Diet break woes

Samrny

I'm taking a break this week on my calorie deficit, and am eating the 2000-ish calories I need to maintain my weight, right?

Well this doesn't feel so much like a welcome respite as it feels like... an inefficiency? It's stressing me out, I feel like I'm wasting time, that I should LOSE LOSE LOSE until I'm at my goal weight, not take these silly breaks that won't even hurt anything. So I'm struggling to get to the full maintenance amount of calories, I'm still at a very modest deficit each day. I am even trying to drink Pepsi again to get to maintenance.

I guess I'm worried as I have a history of eating disorder, and I'm concerned as to what is going to happen once I have lost all the weight and need to eat at maintenance permanently.

tl;dr: Trouble eating enough maintenance calories.

arditarose

So you are making a good decision. Diet breaks are good for the body and soul, and they are great practice for what you need to do after you lose the weight. It's not like you're being lazy, if anything you probably logging very accurately which is great. I also find that I tend to lose a bit easier after a diet break!

puffbrat

Why are you taking the break? Since it sounds like it is really stressing you out, will it actually be useful?

I agree with arditarose that diet breaks can be healthy and helpful, but they should reduce stress not increase it.

Since you have a history of disordered eating, you should consider talking to a professional about what that transition to maintenance will be like and how to handle it in as healthy and positive a way possible.

raindawg

If it is mentally getting to you, you could eat up from your current deficit to 100 or so below maintenance. Then you might feel like you are taking a break, but also continuing some progress.

JennieMaeK

puffbrat wrote: »

Why are you taking the break? Since it sounds like it is really stressing you out, will it actually be useful?

I agree with arditarose that diet breaks can be healthy and helpful, but they should reduce stress not increase it.

Since you have a history of disordered eating, you should consider talking to a professional about what that transition to maintenance will be like and how to handle it in as healthy and positive a way possible.

I agree with this. I've been on MFP for a year and three months and haven't taken a diet break. Some weeks I eat more, but it's more a natural part of life, rather than a decision to eat at maintenance for a week. While I can see the benefit, for me the stress of re-starting the following week isn't worth it. (I used to constantly start again on Monday).

thunder1982

Its not much of a break if its stressing you out! I had a look at your profile and see your 1/2way to your goal. Congratulations!

Not sure how aggressive you weekly target for weight loss is as you dont mention it. I would agree with the suggestion of just making your deficit smaller than your normal target deficit. That way you get a bit of a break that you can actually enjoy.

Machka9

I didn't take my first diet break until I reached my first goal.

And when I took that first diet break, I was on holiday and didn't want the bother of tracking while travelling. I also wanted the freedom to eat some of the Canadian foods I had been missing without worrying about the number of calories I was consuming.

I enjoyed the break ... discovered I couldn't eat quite as much as I hoped to ... discovered I was doing things like order salads with my meals ...

And then I resumed the diet when I returned home because I had decided to aim for a second goal.


If you haven't reached your goal yet, why are you taking a diet break?
If you don't have a goal for your diet break ... like, "I've been craving chocolate cake for weeks, I'm taking this diet break so I can have a slice" or "I'm going on holiday for a week" ... why are you taking a diet break?
Why not just keep going until you either reach a goal or feel you really need the break?