Intermittent dieting

HelenWater
HelenWater Posts: 232 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Has anyone tried the dieting pattern alternating two weeks on followed by two weeks off. The energy intake for the diet weeks is 67% of maintenance.

Replies

  • FlowerPower8579
    FlowerPower8579 Posts: 25 Member
    Personally this wouldn't work for me as I like to be either completely healthy, or not healthy at all there is no point in this for me, as it would be two steps forward & one step back. It's all in the mentality. Saying that everyone is different.. right?
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
    HelenWater wrote: »
    Has anyone tried the dieting pattern alternating two weeks on followed by two weeks off. The energy intake for the diet weeks is 67% of maintenance.
    • Two weeks of 67% of maintenance
    • Two weeks of maintenance
    That could work.
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,839 Member
    Other than it being hard to keep track of, why not? The tendency to eat more than maintenance during the 100% weeks might be strong and the 67% weeks might be miserable. You'd have to try it to find out if it would work for you. I wouldn't try alternating 67% weeks with non-logging weeks without first making sure you aren't just eating back any deficit with 133% weeks!

    As to the health issues, unless you are very sensitive to blood sugar swings, etc., and watch your vitamin/nutrient intake, it shouldn't hurt you. That means you can't do this if your 67% weeks would be too low calorie to get the nutrients you need.

    Let's do a little arithmetic.

    Let's say your TDEE is 1500 calories/day. Using your plan, you'd eat 1500 calories/day in your high weeks and 1000 calories/day in your low weeks for an average of 1250 calories/day which is pretty low but not dangerously so.

    If your TDEE is 1200 calories/day and you are contemplating eating only 800 calories/day in your low weeks for an averyage of 1000 calories, well, then you are getting to where it would be hard to get sufficient nutrients to stay healthy.

    Instead, let's say your TDEE is a generous 2400 calories/day and you are planning to eat only 1600 calories/day during the low weeks for an average of 2000 calories a day. Doable but it might be hard to maintain without feeling awfully deprived on the lower weeks.

    Note that the projected speed of weight loss varies a good deal based on your initial TDEE. In the first example, the average daily deficit is 250 calories or a speed of half-a-pound/week. In the second example, the average deficit is 200 calories or less than half-a-pound per week. In the third example, the average deficit is 400 calorie/day or about 1 pound every 8 or 9 days.
  • HelenWater
    HelenWater Posts: 232 Member
    https://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ijo2017206a.html is the link for the study I read.
  • HelenWater
    HelenWater Posts: 232 Member
    I have a TDEE of about 2,500 Calories, but I need to lose a lot of weight. The idea of having diet breaks appeals to me as I would otherwise need to restrict my diet for over a year if I lost two pound (1kg) per week.
  • HelenWater
    HelenWater Posts: 232 Member
    edited October 2017
    Thank you to those who have responded.
  • HelenWater
    HelenWater Posts: 232 Member
    I don’t imagine that the off weeks would be unhealthier than the on weeks.
  • Nikion901
    Nikion901 Posts: 2,467 Member
    HelenWater wrote: »
    I have a TDEE of about 2,500 Calories, but I need to lose a lot of weight. The idea of having diet breaks appeals to me as I would otherwise need to restrict my diet for over a year if I lost two pound (1kg) per week.

    If it appeals to you ... do it. After you've done it for one cycle (4 weeks) you can then decide if it's something you want to repeat for the next 4-weeks ,,, and just go month by month with it.
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,839 Member
    edited October 2017
    HelenWater wrote: »
    I have a TDEE of about 2,500 Calories, but I need to lose a lot of weight. The idea of having diet breaks appeals to me as I would otherwise need to restrict my diet for over a year if I lost two pound (1kg) per week.

    If you need to lose a lot of weight, know that you cannot just go back to eating as you have been when you have lost weight and expect to keep it off. Arguably, you are now eating at maintenance for your current weight. Your TDEE goes down as your body weight goes down. The number of calories I am now eating that represents a 500 calorie deficit for a sedentary woman of my size and age is about equal to maintenance for a lightly active woman my age/height with a high-normal BMI. In other words, to be a thinner person, I must always eat less than I did as a fat woman.

    In other words, you cannot just restrict your diet for the year you are losing weight. You will restrict your diet forever or return to your current weight. That's why people keep talking about developing eating habits/patterns you can maintain very long term.
  • HelenWater
    HelenWater Posts: 232 Member
    Yes unfortunately I will have to eat much less than I do now. I checked out my goal weight TDEE and I think it would be around 1800 - 1900 Calories.
  • tashygolean730
    tashygolean730 Posts: 92 Member
    HelenWater wrote: »
    I have a TDEE of about 2,500 Calories, but I need to lose a lot of weight. The idea of having diet breaks appeals to me as I would otherwise need to restrict my diet for over a year if I lost two pound (1kg) per week.

    I did my diet time longer. I dieted for 6 months and lost 60lbs. Then I took a 3 month break at maintenance. Now I'm back on and have lots and additional 17lbs. I actually do 1300 calories Monday-Friday, and maintenance on the weekends now. This still puts at a pace to lose about 1.5 lbs a week. But soon my rate of loss will slow because of how much smaller I've gotten.
  • HelenWater
    HelenWater Posts: 232 Member
    tashygolean730 wrote: »
    HelenWater wrote: »
    I have a TDEE of about 2,500 Calories, but I need to lose a lot of weight. The idea of having diet breaks appeals to me as I would otherwise need to restrict my diet for over a year if I lost two pound (1kg) per week.

    I did my diet time longer. I dieted for 6 months and lost 60lbs. Then I took a 3 month break at maintenance. Now I'm back on and have lots and additional 17lbs. I actually do 1300 calories Monday-Friday, and maintenance on the weekends now. This still puts at a pace to lose about 1.5 lbs a week. But soon my rate of loss will slow because of how much smaller I've gotten.

    I do like the look of what you’re doing. It looks like it would fit in with life better than restricting all of the time.
  • HelenWater
    HelenWater Posts: 232 Member
    HelenWater wrote: »
    https://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ijo2017206a.html is the link for the study I read.

    The MATADOR (Minimising Adaptive Thermogenesis And Deactivating Obesity Rebound) study.
  • ladyhusker39
    ladyhusker39 Posts: 1,406 Member
    I think it makes sense for a lot of reasons:

    1) You get to practice eating at maintenance throughout the process.

    2) Your maintenance weeks will allow you to enjoy foods you like and fit them in more easily.

    3) By nature it will take longer than if you restricted for weeks at a time at that low rate. I see that a lot here and it seldom sticks long term.

    4) You seem well informed about the plan and appear to have realistic expectations. Your attitude and sensibility about it suggests it's doable.

    5) You can always switch up your plan anytime it stops working or you just aren't enjoying it anymore.

    Sounds like a solid plan. I say go for it and see what happens. Check back in and let us know how it's going.
  • ladyhusker39
    ladyhusker39 Posts: 1,406 Member
    FlowerPower8579 wrote: »
    Personally this wouldn't work for me as I like to be either completely healthy, or not healthy at all there is no point in this for me, as it would be two steps forward & one step back. It's all in the mentality. Saying that everyone is different.. right?

    I don't get how eating at maintenance is a "step back" or what "completely healthy or not healthy at all" even means.
  • HelenWater
    HelenWater Posts: 232 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    FlowerPower8579 wrote: »
    Personally this wouldn't work for me as I like to be either completely healthy, or not healthy at all there is no point in this for me, as it would be two steps forward & one step back. It's all in the mentality. Saying that everyone is different.. right?

    How is eating maintenance "not healthy"

    I've been in maintenance for over 4.5 years and I eat every bit as healthy as I did when I was losing weight.

    As to the OP...it could work. The only difficulty I could potentially see is that a lot of people have a hard time getting back on the wagon so to speak.

    When I was losing I typically dieted during the week and ate maintenance on the weekends...I didn't have any issues getting back on it come Mondays.

    Five days lower intake and two days maintenance is quite painless. I’m starting to lose weight again, and I’m definitely eating healthy food all of the time with small treats on weekends.

  • HelenWater
    HelenWater Posts: 232 Member
    It’s been a while, but I’m trying the MATADOR study protocol of alternating two weeks at 67% of maintenance and two weeks at maintenance. My macros will be different from the study macros as I have other considerations besides weight loss.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    edited August 2019
    I would find it difficult, but that doesn't mean you will, and it's an interesting concept. Let us know how you like it. I did eat at around maintenance once a week.
  • dewd2
    dewd2 Posts: 2,445 Member
    HelenWater wrote: »
    It’s been a while, but I’m trying the MATADOR study protocol of alternating two weeks at 67% of maintenance and two weeks at maintenance. My macros will be different from the study macros as I have other considerations besides weight loss.

    It's been 2 years. I'm curious what happened the first time? Did you try this approach? How was it and did it allow you to maintain long term success?
  • HelenWater
    HelenWater Posts: 232 Member
    I started losing weight without trying too much for about a year, but my weight started creeping up again in the past year. That’s why I’m addressing it now. I suppose I won’t really know if it works for quite some time.
  • HelenWater
    HelenWater Posts: 232 Member
    A few years ago I lost 30kg in a year by eating less and exercising more. Then 25kg came back. I think it will be easier to restrict food intake half of the time, and I will get to eat at maintenance half of the time.

    I would really like to hear about anyone’s experience with this protocol.
  • janinemharris
    janinemharris Posts: 12 Member
    I'm interested in this approach. I lost weight cutting consistently then moved countries and it was easy to eat too much in the new place. So now that has happened to me again and I have tried harder to only eat at maintenance for the last four weeks - so at least I haven't put on weight back on as last time. I think this approach will allow me less lost progress in those weeks where I am stressed as my workload changes a lot week to week. As one commenter says, practising eating at maintenance is also an interesting idea as it's very easy to say, I'm not dieting anymore and then eat way above maintenance and sabotage all your hard work!! This way it's not just dieting time that makes you cautious of what goes in; it's all the time, in preparation for after the weight is lost. I think it seems sensible (and directly searched intermittent dieting) so I will try this too, I think. :)

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