Diet break success!

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lightenup2016
lightenup2016 Posts: 1,055 Member
edited February 2018 in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I just tried my first intentional diet break, and it was great! My mom visited us from out of state for 11 days, so I figured it would be easiest to take that time for a break, since I knew it would be challenging to stay in a deficit while she was here. I increased calories by about 500 calories each day, and mostly stuck with my activity level, adding back half of any exercise I did (all walking). We ate lunch out 4 times, and went to a wedding reception while she was here.

I stuck to my calorie goal most days, going over by a few hundred one day (at the wedding reception), AND dealt with an increased appetite due to PMS. The morning my mom got here I weighed in at 146.8, she left yesterday, and this morning I weighed in at 147.0! In between that time I'd gone up to 149.6 and everywhere in between (PMS, increased sodium, etc), but yesterday was a lower calorie day, and it all evened out!

This was my first foray into maintenance, and I'm happy to say it went well and my weight stayed the same! Now back to that deficit and 20 more lbs to go!!

If you're nervous about maintenance (as I've been), try a diet break! It's like maintenance practice! :smile:

Replies

  • swim777
    swim777 Posts: 599 Member
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    Great job!! Sounds like you had a great plan and it worked!!
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,053 Member
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    Thanks for following up to let us know how it went! And congrats on a successful mom visit, too.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
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    That's terrific, and you're right it will give you a bit of insight into maintenance.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
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    A break was easy when I was still 30 lbs from my goal... I didn't gain anything on vacations because I could still afford to eat more.

    Once I was in a healthy weight? It boosted my appetite and hunger and it was impossible to get back to it. I realize it's just my experience, but I just cringe when I see 'diet break' now :(
  • evilpoptart63
    evilpoptart63 Posts: 397 Member
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    I'm so happy it went well for you!! Diet breaks can be amazing! I've done a few and noticed it helped break through weight loss plateaus but the mental break from dieting has always been my favorite part. wtg hun!!
  • h1udd
    h1udd Posts: 623 Member
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    Excellent news and thanks for the post ... I am 0.5kg from my goal, so either this or next weekend. .. And I am worried about eating more and going to maintenance. I guess you work so hard to reach that arbitrary number that the thought of loosing it is just too much.

    Its made worse by I dont care how much I weigh, I just dont want the fat back, yet I associate the number with the level of fat.

    Posts like yours are encouraging ... thanks

  • invitedchaos
    invitedchaos Posts: 45 Member
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    Do you mean taking a break from your diet, or just from logging and scrutinizing calories? I'm worried about maintaining, especially since my weight seems to respond very quickly to any deviation from my plan. The SuperBowl overage alone took me two weeks to recover (just following my regular plan)! Cheat days don't seem to help me, so I can't imagine taking a break.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
    edited March 2018
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    invitedchaos wrote: »
    Do you mean taking a break from your diet, or just from logging and scrutinizing calories? I'm worried about maintaining, especially since my weight seems to respond very quickly to any deviation from my plan. The SuperBowl overage alone took me two weeks to recover (just following my regular plan)! Cheat days don't seem to help me, so I can't imagine taking a break.

    A diet break is just eating at maintenance calories instead of at deficit for whatever number of days. It usually still means logging intake. The fact is if we kept consistently eating more than we burn then we would gain, and most people don't want to gain.
  • Leannep2201
    Leannep2201 Posts: 441 Member
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    This post is reassuring to read.

    I’m getting ready to start a diet break, due to going on camp for a few days. I was planning on doing 7 days of maintenance, because the reading I’ve done about diet breaks suggests that a week or two can be beneficial for a few reasons- but I’m actually only on camp for 4 days. I guess I’m a little nervous about it, because I’m sooooo close to my first mini-goal (don’t think I’ll quite get there before camp though). I don’t want to risk gaining! I’m sure that won’t happen- I’ll stil track obviously, and I’ll increase my exercise (easy to on camp!), but still, the fear is there....

    Good to read about how well it how well it worked for you, OP! Gives me hope!,

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