Holiday Diet Break/Maintanence

SpanishFusion

Been doing this since Aug 1, and I have a good bit of weight to loose and will probably be doing this for at least a year. I have been on a roll loosing every week, but I am so so so sooo ready for a Diet Break. I read on article that someone on here shared about taking a planned diet break, which is basically a 2 week period of maintenance eating. I was thinking about taking it when I hit my first 10% goal. I project I will hit it in the next 1-2 weeks. Yay me! -- I was also thinking about loosening my calorie goal from 1.5# per week to .5# per week during the holidays (it is unrealistic to think that I won't enjoy my holiday season). But since my Diet Break and the Holidays are landing so close to each other, I am wondering if I should just power through to Thanksgiving and take my 'planned' Diet Break for Nov 23-Jan 2. What are you all's thoughts? I'm so ready...

LivingtheLeanDream

If you need a diet break, take it now. Your plan is a good one to aim for 0.5lb per week, its win win, you get to eat more yet still lose. Then you can come back after that break and feel ready to eat at higher deficit again.

need2belean

Leeg5656 wrote: »

Been doing this since Aug 1, and I have a good bit of weight to loose and will probably be doing this for at least a year. I have been on a roll loosing every week, but I am so so so sooo ready for a Diet Break. I read on article that someone on here shared about taking a planned diet break, which is basically a 2 week period of maintenance eating. I was thinking about taking it when I hit my first 10% goal. I project I will hit it in the next 1-2 weeks. Yay me! -- I was also thinking about loosening my calorie goal from 1.5# per week to .5# per week during the holidays (it is unrealistic to think that I won't enjoy my holiday season). But since my Diet Break and the Holidays are landing so close to each other, I am wondering if I should just power through to Thanksgiving and take my 'planned' Diet Break for Nov 23-Jan 2. What are you all's thoughts? I'm so ready...

Well, November 23-Jan 2 is more than a 2 week diet break. A whole month of what you may think is eating at maintenance could actually, bring back more pounds than you may hope for. A diet break is a good idea, but I would suggest a week to 2 weeks at most. And if you're going to do it, I'd recommend weighing every day to make sure you aren't gaining more than a pound a week. If you gain more than a pound a week, you aren't eating at maintenance but in a surplus and could undue all this hard work you've put in since August. Also, if you're feeling that restrictive in your diet that you have to take a whole month off of "dieting" then something needs to be tweaked in your diet.

kristen8000

Honestly, if you are feeling "restricted" this shortly into the lose cycle, your deficit is too agressive for you. You shouldn't be losing steam after only almost 3 months.

So, what I'd suggest is to lower your deficit to either 1lb/or .5lb per week. I think it's too early for a maintainance break and you may find yourself using that "break" to go back to your old habits. I'm only saying this because I've been there. Then it's super hard to get yourself mentally prepared to go back to a deficit again. If you lose slower, you'll get to goal faster than if you maintained for 2 months.

steveko89

Kudos for being "on a roll" losing, sustained loss isn't easy. That said, I would keep going. If you feel like you need a "diet break" you need to work on the sustainability of your overall plan both for the duration of your weight loss period and so you have a good plan once you're ready to shift into maintenance and/or body re-composition. Based on your comment of "enjoying your holiday season" I think there's a food relationship/mindset piece you need to acknowledge and overcome to ensure long term success and weight maintenance as well. All in all, don't make the holidays an excuse to not keeping yourself accountable.

SpanishFusion

@need2belean Initially I had planned on 2 separate type breaks. One was a planned 2 week diet break eating maintanence calories and the other was more like having a slower weight loss for the holidays. On both of them I was planning on logging my calories and weighing as normal. Hopefully I won't gain anything if I stay in my daily calorie goal. It's not that i need a month off, BUT since they will be so close together, (Diet break = probably Nov 6-19 and then Holiday slower weigh loss from Thanksgiving to after New Year) I am toying with the idea of combining them. I only get 1200 / day. That's not alot. Thank you for your thoughts. They give me something to think about

Anon2018

How much do you weigh and how much do you have to lose?

Maxxitt

I think a diet break is entirely sensible. A week or two at "maintenance" may refresh you, and then starting back on deficit eating with a smaller deficit that you intend to maintain through the New Year is quite reasonable as well.

SpanishFusion

@steveko89 Thank you for your encouragement. And YES absolutely!!!! I have a food relationship! I love food and I am a great cook. I cook for myself and those that I love, a big huge Hispanic family. I think about it now more than before. And all I can think about it is that in about a month it will be TAMALE season!! It's in my genetics and my upbringing. I'm not overweight by accident... But I am trying to create some type of balance here. I don't want to fall off the wagon completely. I know me. But if I can set parameters maybe I can get through tamale season without any damage. Thanks for your thoughts.

laurenebargar

I think a diet break is sensible, however; taking a diet break that lasts all through the holidays sounds to me like a recipe for disaster. I personally would be afraid of over eating, but going to a .5 a week loss could be a good compromise.

lorrpb

I would encourage you to find ways to "enjoy the holidays" with your family that don't require you to eat large amounts of food. You can taste everything with smaller portions and stay on track

CynthiasChoice

One option is to take a 2 week diet break (maintenance calories) now, since you've been at a calorie deficit for 10 weeks or so. Then return to your usual deficit, but have one high calorie day just for Thanksgiving. Then do another 10 - 14 day diet break close to Christmas and New Years. I've just finished a 14 day diet break and plan to do another at the end of December.

Come back to this thread and report back on your diet break experience! It will keep you honest with yourself and focused.

Nony_Mouse

For those who clearly don't understand what the OP is referring to, so pretty much everyone other than the OP and two three other posters (Cynthia posted while I was typing, she gets it), here is the link to the article in question: https://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html/

Wanting to take a diet break is not a sign that someone's diet is too restrictive or is unsustainable, it's a very sensible and pragmatic thing to plan into your weight loss.

@need2belean - OP is not going to gain weight doing a by the book diet break, because it involves tracking to ensure you're eating at maintenance. It's not a free for all.

@kristen8000 and @steveko89, see above re nothing to do with sustainability or a too aggressive deficit. The diet break is also damn good practice at maintenance, so holidays are actually a pretty ideal time to be doing one. And FFS, everyone wants to enjoy the holidays, it has nothing to do with a bad relationship with food.

Have a read of the article. It discusses why regular diet breaks are a good idea both physiologically and psychologically, and should ideally be a planned part of any weight loss. If you want to know even more about the physiology of weight loss, see this ongoing discussion: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks#latest

OP, obviously I think a diet break is a wonderful idea. There's nothing wrong with doing a full month if you so choose, or the two week diet break then a smaller deficit (or, for that matter, you could do planned maintenance days to coincide with festive days and normal deficit the other days).

SpanishFusion

Nony_Mouse wrote: »

For those who clearly don't understand what the OP is referring to, so pretty much everyone other than the OP and two three other posters (Cynthia posted while I was typing, she gets it), here is the link to the article in question: https://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html/

Wanting to take a diet break is not a sign that someone's diet is too restrictive or is unsustainable, it's a very sensible and pragmatic thing to plan into your weight loss.

@need2belean - OP is not going to gain weight doing a by the book diet break, because it involves tracking to ensure you're eating at maintenance. It's not a free for all.

@kristen8000 and @steveko89, see above re nothing to do with sustainability or a too aggressive deficit. The diet break is also damn good practice at maintenance, so holidays are actually a pretty ideal time to be doing one. And FFS, everyone wants to enjoy the holidays, it has nothing to do with a bad relationship with food.

Have a read of the article. It discusses why regular diet breaks are a good idea both physiologically and psychologically, and should ideally be a planned part of any weight loss. If you want to know even more about the physiology of weight loss, see this ongoing discussion: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks#latest

OP, obviously I think a diet break is a wonderful idea. There's nothing wrong with doing a full month if you so choose, or the two week diet break then a smaller deficit (or, for that matter, you could do planned maintenance days to coincide with festive days and normal deficit the other days).

@Nony_Mouse You are awesome! Thank you for conveying what I was trying to say and good ideas.

@CynthiasChoice Great idea! And I will come back in 2018 and let you know how it worked out!

I think what I will do is finish up this week as it will be 13 weeks of eating at a deficit and then do a 2 week maintenance diet break. I will then go back to the deficit, have one maintenance day for Thanksgiving, and end up the year on another 2 week diet break.

Thank you all for your input!

Nony_Mouse

Leeg5656 wrote: »

Nony_Mouse wrote: »

For those who clearly don't understand what the OP is referring to, so pretty much everyone other than the OP and two three other posters (Cynthia posted while I was typing, she gets it), here is the link to the article in question: https://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html/

Wanting to take a diet break is not a sign that someone's diet is too restrictive or is unsustainable, it's a very sensible and pragmatic thing to plan into your weight loss.

@need2belean - OP is not going to gain weight doing a by the book diet break, because it involves tracking to ensure you're eating at maintenance. It's not a free for all.

@kristen8000 and @steveko89, see above re nothing to do with sustainability or a too aggressive deficit. The diet break is also damn good practice at maintenance, so holidays are actually a pretty ideal time to be doing one. And FFS, everyone wants to enjoy the holidays, it has nothing to do with a bad relationship with food.

Have a read of the article. It discusses why regular diet breaks are a good idea both physiologically and psychologically, and should ideally be a planned part of any weight loss. If you want to know even more about the physiology of weight loss, see this ongoing discussion: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks#latest

OP, obviously I think a diet break is a wonderful idea. There's nothing wrong with doing a full month if you so choose, or the two week diet break then a smaller deficit (or, for that matter, you could do planned maintenance days to coincide with festive days and normal deficit the other days).

@Nony_Mouse You are awesome! Thank you for conveying what I was trying to say and good ideas.

@CynthiasChoice Great idea! And I will come back in 2018 and let you know how it worked out!

I think what I will do is finish up this week as it will be 13 weeks of eating at a deficit and then do a 2 week maintenance diet break. I will then go back to the deficit, have one maintenance day for Thanksgiving, and end up the year on another 2 week diet break.

Thank you all for your input!

My pleasure Feel free to join us over on the refeeds/diet break thread that I linked too!

CynthiasChoice

I'm kind of data obsessed, so I would find it really interesting to know exactly what people are seeing on the scale in the weeks leading up to the diet break, what happens on the scale during the 2 week maintenance, and then what happens on the days and weeks following the diet break.

It would be useful anecdotal info as long as logging was done accurately and according to plan. Obviously weight fluctuates for all kinds of reasons, but with enough people reporting, we might start seeing a trend.

I decided to do a diet break because my weight loss pattern changed. My loss was amazingly linear for 9+ months, and then suddenly started bouncing around for no apparent reason. The overall trend was still down, but only about 2 pounds per month instead of the usual 4.

After hearing about the Matador Study:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604391/intermittent-vs-continuous-weight-loss

And reading about adaptive thermogenesis here: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1077746/starvation-mode-adaptive-thermogenesis-and-weight-loss/p1

I decided to do a diet break myself and got lots of help through this thread:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks/p1

For anyone else who's data obsessed like me, here's my experience thus far:
During my diet break I immediately lost 1 pound (back down to a recent lowest weight) then up 1.4 pounds on Day 5, then back down 1.4 pounds on Day 14. After just one day of returning to calorie deficit, I dropped 1/2 pound to a new low weight. I'm not sure, but I'm thinking that .5 pound loss might indicate that I was not actually eating enough on my diet break. Good to know for next time.

@Leeg5656 I hope you have success with your diet break(s)!