Of refeeds and diet breaks

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  • alteredsteve175
    alteredsteve175 Posts: 2,716 Member
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    Nony_Mouse wrote: »
    Or I can send you my psychotic immune system! It's free to a good home and good for a 4 lb weight loss in less than 6 weeks eating at TDEE (or more accurately, what would normally be TDEE) :|

    How nice of you, but I must respectfully decline your offer. ;)

    So I'm setting parameters for my diet break. Have been on calorie restriction since March 6th. 1400 cal to start - reset to 1550 cal a couple of months ago. Low carb - 40g or less net carbs most days.

    Ran some calculators for maintenance calories. Ankerl gave me 1907 - ruled.me 1944 - MFP 2150 - IIFYM 2507.

    I'm thinking of aiming for 1950-2000 cal per day. 200 g carbs - 115 g protein - 72 g fat. Thoughts?

  • Rickster1967
    Rickster1967 Posts: 485 Member
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    Second day of higher calorie eating has been harder, it's 8.20pm and I should eat 650 cals more. Have to find some energy dense foods I guess coz I'm not hungry eating these filling, healthy foods that I have been on whilst dieting hard.

    Anyway, here's a question:

    with 73lb to target weight, how much more should I drop using deficit calories before switching to recomposition?

    I was thinking of dropping another 40 to 45lbs then switching to recomp
  • VintageFeline
    VintageFeline Posts: 6,771 Member
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    alteredstates175 wrote: »
    Nony_Mouse wrote: »
    Or I can send you my psychotic immune system! It's free to a good home and good for a 4 lb weight loss in less than 6 weeks eating at TDEE (or more accurately, what would normally be TDEE) :|

    How nice of you, but I must respectfully decline your offer. ;)

    So I'm setting parameters for my diet break. Have been on calorie restriction since March 6th. 1400 cal to start - reset to 1550 cal a couple of months ago. Low carb - 40g or less net carbs most days.

    Ran some calculators for maintenance calories. Ankerl gave me 1907 - ruled.me 1944 - MFP 2150 - IIFYM 2507.

    I'm thinking of aiming for 1950-2000 cal per day. 200 g carbs - 115 g protein - 72 g fat. Thoughts?

    If you have your own data use that instead of a calculator. Take the last eight weeks of loss, work out what that means in calories and add to what you have been eating on average. Real world trumps guesstimating calculators.

    Macro splits are personal. But as you've been low carb when you return to "normal" carb you are going to see a scale spike as glycogen replenishes.
  • Nony_Mouse
    Nony_Mouse Posts: 5,646 Member
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    alteredstates175 wrote: »
    Nony_Mouse wrote: »
    Or I can send you my psychotic immune system! It's free to a good home and good for a 4 lb weight loss in less than 6 weeks eating at TDEE (or more accurately, what would normally be TDEE) :|

    How nice of you, but I must respectfully decline your offer. ;)

    So I'm setting parameters for my diet break. Have been on calorie restriction since March 6th. 1400 cal to start - reset to 1550 cal a couple of months ago. Low carb - 40g or less net carbs most days.

    Ran some calculators for maintenance calories. Ankerl gave me 1907 - ruled.me 1944 - MFP 2150 - IIFYM 2507.

    I'm thinking of aiming for 1950-2000 cal per day. 200 g carbs - 115 g protein - 72 g fat. Thoughts?

    What does your own data say? IE when you compare your deficit over the last, say, six weeks to your actual weight loss?

    With diet break you are better to overshoot than undershoot. So if you have been averaging a lb a week at 1550, I'd up to 2050. Protein I'm in the camp of shooting for 0.8-1g per lb of 'ideal' weight, whatever that is for you. Carbs you want to have a minimum of 100-150g a day, but can go higher if you wish.
  • alteredsteve175
    alteredsteve175 Posts: 2,716 Member
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    VintageFeline wrote: »
    If you have your own data use that instead of a calculator. Take the last eight weeks of loss, work out what that means in calories and add to what you have been eating on average. Real world trumps guesstimating calculators.

    Macro splits are personal. But as you've been low carb when you return to "normal" carb you are going to see a scale spike as glycogen replenishes.

    Got it. Makes sense. The Libra app has me at a 400 calorie per day deficit. So I will start with adding that back.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    Rickster1967 wrote: »
    Second day of higher calorie eating has been harder, it's 8.20pm and I should eat 650 cals more. Have to find some energy dense foods I guess coz I'm not hungry eating these filling, healthy foods that I have been on whilst dieting hard.

    Anyway, here's a question:

    with 73lb to target weight, how much more should I drop using deficit calories before switching to recomposition?

    I was thinking of dropping another 40 to 45lbs then switching to recomp

    It's best to go on BF% - not super accurate, but good estimate.
    12-15% higher end to start.

    Otherwise you get some negatives regarding insulin and uptake that just doesn't benefit the attempted muscle building.
  • alteredsteve175
    alteredsteve175 Posts: 2,716 Member
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    Nony_Mouse wrote: »
    What does your own data say? IE when you compare your deficit over the last, say, six weeks to your actual weight loss?

    With diet break you are better to overshoot than undershoot. So if you have been averaging a lb a week at 1550, I'd up to 2050. Protein I'm in the camp of shooting for 0.8-1g per lb of 'ideal' weight, whatever that is for you. Carbs you want to have a minimum of 100-150g a day, but can go higher if you wish.

    Got it. My loss average is 1.1 pounds per week, so will add back 400-500 cals per day. Just adding some ale back in the mix will take care of that! Cheers!

  • WhereIsPJSoles
    WhereIsPJSoles Posts: 622 Member
    edited December 2017
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    So how often should one diet break approximately? I’ve read a couple times that leaner people should more often but I guess I’m not sure how often is often.
  • Nony_Mouse
    Nony_Mouse Posts: 5,646 Member
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    Hi @WhereIsPJSoles :) This is a question that will hopefully be answered more definitively in Lyle McDonald's must almost be ready book on us wimmin folks. Definitely more often the leaner you are. I'd say for a woman within the healthy weight range you're looking at at least every 6-8 weeks. I went six weeks between my two (though my second one was a bust because my immune system decided to go even more psycho and I actually lost weight), that was sitting at around 25-27% body fat. I was still feeling fine physically at the 6 week mark, though I was doing weekend refeeds as well which helped immensely. Psychologically I was ready, though that may have just been because I'd already planned to do it (and good thing too, as it turned out!).
  • Nony_Mouse
    Nony_Mouse Posts: 5,646 Member
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    My doctor is so awesome. She's totally happy for me to try the low histamine thing because she knows I've done my homework on it. She also commented that she wouldn't want to see me doing anything really restrictive because of my dwindling size, I assured her I am trying to eat all the foods and will be upping my cals in an attempt to stabilise. If this doesn't work, we're going to look at allergy injections and she will do some research for me into which tests and shots are the best for me to get, because they're bloody expensive.

    She also checked my bite, agreed that I seem to have gotten it under control with the liquid iodine, but gave me a script for antibiotics anyway, because she said with my skin it's almost inevitable that sooner or later a scrape, cut or bite is going to get infected, so I may as well have them on hand. She said 'you're smart enough to know if you need to take them' :).

    And OMG, holiday traffic! Popped up to the next town to visit the lingerie shop cos Boxing Day sale already, and they had a few new things in (I needed that red bra guys, old one doesn't fit), and have lunch with my friend who works there (I made a new friend! I don't do that very often IRL). What's normally about a 10-15 minute drive took me about 45 mins. Coming home was fine, because no one comes south for the holidays, though I did nix going to the next town down from me to get my replacement Fitbit band. It can wait.

    Oh yeah, and I had an iced chocolate with whipped cream for lunch :D Guess I should look up the cals in one of those.
  • Nony_Mouse
    Nony_Mouse Posts: 5,646 Member
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    mph323 wrote: »
    I ran 10K on the treadmill yesterday!! The most I've ever run (treadmill or outside) is 5.5 miles! It was one of those perfect days where everything aligns - I had the time, the energy and the mental stamina to just keep on running to my playlist. I'm going to start the 5K to 10K app in Jan because it uses intervals for the training, and I plan to do it outside, so I'll have to work up to that distance in the real world, but wow!

    I have a lot more energy since I've started eating at maintenance. I've been going up and down the same 2 lbs for several weeks now, so I think I'm doing it right. This week I'm starting to up my resistance training to 3 days a week from 2 to start working on the recomp portion of the program. I'm actually getting excited about this, I have new goals instead of the grind of moving the goal weight every time I get there so keep on slogging along at a never-ending deficit that gets harder and harder the less I weigh.

    Nony - red bras should be as much a staple in a woman's wardrobe as a little black dress :)

    Yay running!!!

    I don't think I have the energy to try running again tonight, but I am going to go for a walk. Hopefully a couple of days of higher cals will give me some more oomph. How the hell does anyone do a 500 deficit at my size and still be able to function?? Own fault, I should have kept the higher cals I was doing last week going.
  • tar2323
    tar2323 Posts: 141 Member
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    I've read through this entire thread and I'm doing my best to absorb all the incredible info provided by you guys. Taking on board what you've said, I'm going to head into a diet break. I'm down from 233 to 165 with only a short stop in the middle, so it makes sense. I'd like some help to work out what my maintenance cals should be, if you wouldn't mind? I'm 5ft 1", 56 years-old and mostly sedentary. I've been losing about .5lb a week on 1200 cals, more when I've dropped the cals further (which I don't do often). With those stats, what sort of range should I be aiming for to maintain over the Christmas/New Year period? I'm hopeful for this, as I've certainly noticed a correlation between a short high-carb refeed weekend and fast weightloss thereafter. Nice that this thread explains that it's not just me imagining it. Thanks so much for your fantastic advice - it's a real game changer for me.
  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,752 Member
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    tar2323 wrote: »
    I've read through this entire thread and I'm doing my best to absorb all the incredible info provided by you guys. Taking on board what you've said, I'm going to head into a diet break. I'm down from 233 to 165 with only a short stop in the middle, so it makes sense. I'd like some help to work out what my maintenance cals should be, if you wouldn't mind? I'm 5ft 1", 56 years-old and mostly sedentary. I've been losing about .5lb a week on 1200 cals, more when I've dropped the cals further (which I don't do often). With those stats, what sort of range should I be aiming for to maintain over the Christmas/New Year period? I'm hopeful for this, as I've certainly noticed a correlation between a short high-carb refeed weekend and fast weightloss thereafter. Nice that this thread explains that it's not just me imagining it. Thanks so much for your fantastic advice - it's a real game changer for me.

    Well done on your loss, and for taking it steady! 0.5lb loss per week would suggest you're having a deficit of about 250 cals a day (please someone correct me if I'm wrong).
  • tar2323
    tar2323 Posts: 141 Member
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    livingleanlivingclean wrote: »
    Well done on your loss, and for taking it steady! 0.5lb loss per week would suggest you're having a deficit of about 250 cals a day (please someone correct me if I'm wrong).

    Thank you. Yes, I think that's right. I think my maintenance will be 1675 (or around there - I know it's not a perfect science), but would like to be sure.

  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,752 Member
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    tar2323 wrote: »
    livingleanlivingclean wrote: »
    Well done on your loss, and for taking it steady! 0.5lb loss per week would suggest you're having a deficit of about 250 cals a day (please someone correct me if I'm wrong).

    Thank you. Yes, I think that's right. I think my maintenance will be 1675 (or around there - I know it's not a perfect science), but would like to be sure.

    Where did you get 1675 from?

    1200 + 250 = 1450...
  • GottaBurnEmAll
    GottaBurnEmAll Posts: 7,722 Member
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    mph323 wrote: »
    I ran 10K on the treadmill yesterday!! The most I've ever run (treadmill or outside) is 5.5 miles! It was one of those perfect days where everything aligns - I had the time, the energy and the mental stamina to just keep on running to my playlist. I'm going to start the 5K to 10K app in Jan because it uses intervals for the training, and I plan to do it outside, so I'll have to work up to that distance in the real world, but wow!

    I have a lot more energy since I've started eating at maintenance. I've been going up and down the same 2 lbs for several weeks now, so I think I'm doing it right. This week I'm starting to up my resistance training to 3 days a week from 2 to start working on the recomp portion of the program. I'm actually getting excited about this, I have new goals instead of the grind of moving the goal weight every time I get there so keep on slogging along at a never-ending deficit that gets harder and harder the less I weigh.

    Nony - red bras should be as much a staple in a woman's wardrobe as a little black dress :)

    Woohooo!!!! 10K is a goal of mine... someday.

    My running experiment was a bust. I will confess here that it left me with the hungries and led to a couple of days of binging. Not too pleased with that after all the progress I've made on that front. I was also flat out exhausted in the aftermath.

    Oh well, lesson learned. Running will be reserved for maintenance. I will just build my body back up to it slowly, because my joints weren't happy in the aftermath either.

    I'm currently on day 2 of a migraine and muddling through getting last minute shopping done with it. What a joy. :/ I have no appetite at all for anything except yogurt.

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