Questions about "taking a break"

Jdavism

Hello everyone,

Was going to solicit some feedback from some of you who have lost a lot of weight and if you did it non-stop until you got to your goal weight or if you had months that you just maintained.

I'll start with a brief explanation, I was hit by a car on 1/26/2013.. fractured two vertebras in my spine and after being required to drive an hour to the only MRI table that could hold 445lb decided to change my life around, so on 2/14/13. I started my journey... I went to a nutritionist, started at the gym etc.

I'm really not looking to debate whats "perfect" not "perfect' I'm just going to tell you what I did to get where I am and then my questions.

1) I am supremely disciplined, sometimes eating the same meals 30-40 days in a row if it's working.

2) In a 30 day period I MIGHT have one or two cheat meals, not days. I usually do them very high carbs and only after I've stalled, high carb cheat meals at night spurn weight loss plateaus for me personally.

3) I also eat at the same intervals daily, 8:30am breakfast, 12:00pm lunch, 3:00pm snack, 6:00pm dinner.

4) I go to my nutritionist monthly to review my progress and to review and questions etc.

5) I worked out the first 4 months of my weight loss but stopped because it caused me very erratic weight loss stalls and getting my calorie goals correct. After I stopped working out my weigh loss was easier to control. Again, I'm not looking to debate this, I'm telling you what occurred for me. I plan to start working out again 4x per week but only after I've hit my goal weight.

On to my questions, in roughly a year I'll have lost 190+lbs, going from 445lb to 255lb.. I'm 6 foot 6, and going by my BMI chart "healthy" would be 215lb. I'm not convinced thats the right weight for me based on my frame.. I might pull up and move to maintenance at 235-245.. I'm already in 36 waist pants and have a pretty big frame.

Anyone else that tall? What is your target weight?

I'm also thinking about taking a break and moving to maintenance for a month before moving back to finish off the last 25-35lbs... Is there any disadvantages to going from weight loss, to maintenance back to loss? The point of moving to maintenance would be to try to get mentally prepared.. and to trial and error for a month to see how maintaining will be. At some levels I believe that this stringent of weight loss in one year has given me a complex, I now focus on my diet intricately and I believe it would be mentally healthy for me to break from it.. I'm beginning to think I'm becoming compulsive about it at some levels.

Just looking for thoughts on if its best to just stay the course another 2-3 months and move to maintenance or if taking a month to maintain would be helpful.

naurugirl

Wow! Congrats on the weight loss! Just wanted to chime in and say that the concept of going from deficit to maintenance back to a deficit is called a "re-feed". I'm not 100% about the science behind it, but the basic idea is if you've been eating at a deficit for an extended period of time, it can be beneficial (in terms of future weight loss/getting over plateaus) to give your body a break from the deficit and eat at maintenance.

WBB55

Wow. Great job. I hope others take inspiration from your story.

If I were you, and this is just my opinion, I wouldn't go lose-maintenance-lose-maintenance. I would up my calories 100/day once/month. You are regimented and strict. I would fear regressing into old habits if I suddenly added 500 or 800 calories to my daily diet. That the sudden increase in hormones etc. would spiral quickly and you'd lose your regimen. But that's just me.

You've been restricting for a long time. Taper off slowly.

Edit to say: Like if you're eating 1800 now. Start eating 1900. Then a month later 2000. Up it by 100 each month until you're at your maintenance calories. Then eat that for the rest of your life (with some cheats now and then at holidays/birthdays/etc.).

stealthq

Quick FYI - frame size doesn't influence your 'ideal' weight all that much. Musculature does, though. Have more muscle, then you should weigh more. You might want to change your target from weight to a healthy %BF range.

I've not lost near as much as many on this site (including you, congrats on the achievement), but I will tell you that your decision is 100% up to your mental state. Plenty of people move into maintenance and find they're even more obsessive about their diet than they were before.

If you think this might be you, I would just continue on as you have because shifting won't help. Instead, practice giving yourself more leeway with your diet - purposefully add in more variety, allow yourself more leeway with your deficit, make sure how you're eating is what you'd be happy to sustain. You might find it easier to do these things if you're still losing weight (just more slowly).

If that isn't you, then I'd move into maintenance for a while and de-stress :flowerforyou:. Take a break and try to come back to your cut later with renewed focus. Unfortunately, the last pounds take a lot longer than the first and you won't want to feel desperate to get to maintenance, if you know what I mean.

meshashesha2012

i took a break. in 2012 I lost 30 pounds. I had already planned on taking a month or 2 off for just maintenance but it ended up being a year. the main things that changed during that time was that I started weight loss when i was funemployed, then once i got a new job and got really busy, it was harder to stay disciplined with not eating out as much.

i know that;s probably a longer break than you're asking about :laugh:

i think the best thing about taking that long of a break was knowing that i had learned enough regarding portion control that i could maintain my weight loss if i just went back to my bad habits of constantly eating out.


also for the shorter breaks, people like lyle mcdonald suggest having refeeds, especially if you have a longer weight loss period. the general idea is that refeeds (especially carb refeeds) seem to help keep insulin levels at a good level to aid in fat loss. i'm oversimplifying it, but this is one of the articles he discusses it http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/training-the-obese-beginner.html

Dougf90

Congrats on the big loss man, it's tough! As for the ideal weight for your height, even though I'm only 5'10" I will say this as a guy coming from a high number like you are... there is always more weight to lose. I too thought, damn there's no way I would need to go under 200lbs at, say 250lbs, I'd look thin. Low and behold, I get down to 200lbs and you can see it. You don't need my advice because you seem to be pretty keen on all this stuff, I'd just say reassess your ultimate goal when you get there and don't get your hopes up or too dead set on it.

As for maintaining for a while before starting up again, I see no problem with it! If it gets your mind right, I say go for it.

Good job again!

ashenriver

Awesome job,

but I am curious, did your nutritionist say nothing about eating the same foods for 30-40 days?

During this time of 'maintenance or break' you could try to incorporate some exercises for muscle strength or cardio for heart health

endoftheside

I am not sure that taking a break by going to maintenance would end up being the break you are hoping for. From what I've seen, finding and staying at the proper maintenance level can be just as difficult as the losing phase, possibly even more so. I would be more inclined to add several hundred calories and start exercising on your "break".

Keiras_Mom

I took several maintenance "breaks" during my loss. Whenever I felt diet fatigue setting in, I'd go into maintenance for a few weeks. I found, at least for me, my body naturally gravitated back to weight loss mode when I was ready. I agree with a previous poster as well, that you won't know until you get to 200 pounds exactly what 200 pounds will look like on you.

My husband had WLS about 14 and a half months ago and he's lost over 200 pounds. He's 6'3" and the doctor wants him at around 180 pounds. Neither of us can imagine him at that low weight, but he's currently under 230 pounds and we couldn't imagine him there either. He looks amazing and feels great, but there is still some more weight to lose. DH will get to 200 and then reevaluate.

BTW, neither of us are really keen on exercise either. We go through periods where we do it, but then slack off again. I don't begrudge you your decisions.

Mandylynne1979

way to go on your weight loss!! That is amazing!

nikkiofthelake

Wow. Great job. I hope others take inspiration from your story.

If I were you, and this is just my opinion, I wouldn't go lose-maintenance-lose-maintenance. I would up my calories 100/day once/month. You are regimented and strict. I would fear regressing into old habits if I suddenly added 500 or 800 calories to my daily diet. That the sudden increase in hormones etc. would spiral quickly and you'd lose your regimen. But that's just me.

You've been restricting for a long time. Taper off slowly.

Edit to say: Like if you're eating 1800 now. Start eating 1900. Then a month later 2000. Up it by 100 each month until you're at your maintenance calories. Then eat that for the rest of your life (with some cheats now and then at holidays/birthdays/etc.).

Great advice!