I would LOVE your input on this weight loss concept:

no. too long of a break.

It actually seems to be happening to a lot of people at MFP, but they call them "plateaus."

I'm not sure if I agree. It seems to me that if you're losing weight slowly, you wouldn't need time to "reset."

That makes sense to me. Not only your body, but your mind too. I think it takes a while to adjust your way of thinking along with your habits. I don't know about a specific time frame, I'm sure it varies between people, but still. Sounds reasonable.

It actually seems to be happening to a lot of people at MFP, but they call them "plateaus."

yup acogg u r absolutely right!!

I'd have agree with this concept, someone who is maintaining their bodyweight at 2000 calories a day at X weight due to having a higher metabolism is going to have an easier time losing weight than the person who is eating 1500 calories a day at the same bodyweight.

That may well help if you're not strong willed enough to stick at it when maintaining.

I know I haven't been strong willed in many situations - despite knowing that I was already overweight, I have then gone on to eat even more in many situations. Haven't needed to diet/lose weight beforehand to do this.

I'm slowly returning to maintenance then going to go to 250calories over.
Am now on a target of -500 deficit. Because I did have a couple of weak willed days (due to environmental issues not diet specific - I've always turned to food for comfort/pleasure), I'm extending my time here a bit longer; but happy enough that it should even out.

You are bummed that you "only" lost 14 pounds in three months?? That wonderful! Be proud!!! xo

I actually do that. I have been maintaining a 55 lb. weight loss that I did in three sections with 6 week breaks in between going from very low calorie to almost 4 times that during the maintenance phase. This time I am stretching it out from the end of September to the New Year. It's supposed to give you a new lower set point each time and your body needs time to adjust to that lower set point. I wouldn't call these plateaus because usually a person who is still trying to lose weight but hits a wall so to speak. With interval losing, you are stabilizing your metabolism. Might not work for everyone but so many people lose weight quickly, get all excited about it and then, boom, gain it back and then some almost as quickly.

If there is no extreme weightloss needed then i don't see why this wouldn't be a good idea. But, eating maintenance for some people would mean being too close to going back to old bad habits. Say, someone who is not willing to follow a diet with only homemade food and is resorting to just limiting the portions of fatty food, is now eating larger amounts of those foods... He/she would be too tempted to overeat.
It depends on the person. What i do agree with is that you can't change your habits overnight, and since an overweight person might have tried to lose weight for so long and frustrated by so many unsuccessful attempts... Seeing that he/she can maintain the weightloss can motivate him/her to keep going because it's a confident boost. A lot of people just won't diet because of the fear to failure. If we can show them that they won't fail for real then it might work for them on the long run.

Every person is different.

It wouldn't have worked for me, I'm sure, it's too long. But it could work for others when all other strategies fail.

I agree to an extent. Not so long of a break, but I've noticed it works for me. For example, I lost 10 lbs in Oct/part of November and then stalled. I took a break for a week and now that I'm back to eating lower, I'm losing again. I think I will do this every so often. For both weight loss and the mental break I need. Maybe try to coincide my breaks with vacations or holidays as much as possible. However I did up my exercise during my break a little. Not majorly but a bit.

Every morning on my way to work I listen to a weight loss podcast ran by a female fitness trainer and a male pharmacist. This mornings topic really had me thinking....

Their good friend, a doctor to be exact, mentioned this KEY tool in keeping the weight OFF. He says:

"After losing 10% of your body fat, it is vital to take a 3-6 month break from weight loss and switch to maintaining. Then, after the body maintained this weight for 3-6 months,start up the weight loss training again"

So, 200 pound person lets say loses 20 pounds. They are down to 280. This doctor recommends maintaining the new weight for a couple months, then starting again.

He says this will adjust your metabolism to the new weight. This gradual loss, maintain, loss method is the most effective way to lose weight and keep it off.
He says, yes every body is different, but every body needs time to adjust to the new weight. Plain and simple. If a 200 pound person lost 50 pounds rapidly, maintaining would be more difficult for him/her. As the body hasn't had time to adjust properly...


After hearing this I was a bit sad, fast weight loss is something we all strive for. The maintain method would drive me nuts.

What is your opinion on this topic? I'd love to hear!

Makes absolute sense !!!. I lost 35lbs in 2006 within 6 months, back then it was easy to loose weight. As you age things change, loosing weight for some people as they age may not be the same game as they played before. This concept makes sense and I would certainly take break for every 10lbs of weight lost.

Maintenance mode will make my will power very strong and motivate. One may actually loose while maintaining.

If 3 months is too long one can start with Couple of weeks maintenance mode and see how their body reacts.

Keep Loosing you all !!!

As a health psychologist working in this area, I have not yet read any reseaech on this. It sounds very interesting and like it is based on what we do know is healthy about adjusting to changes in body weight. The more rapidly we lose, the more difficult it tends to ve to keep it off. I'm not sure though if so much time is needed or realistic for most people. Overall, I would hypothesize that if one could do it that way, they may have longer lasting results.

I've read articles that say the same thing. People are just really stuck to their ideas about losing weight fast, as can be seen with other responses. But it's not about someone "not having enough willpower" when they gain back the weight or their losing slows significantly. The body is much more complicated than that and it's been proven through research the idea that it's as simple as "calories in - calories out" is BOGUS!

The concept of maintaining in order to create a new set weight is very reasonable and really has been shown to help people keep the weight off. Keep in mind that most people are yo-yo dieters and a staggering number of people regain their weight loss plus some (something like 80 - 90% I think).

Yes, we all want to lose weight fast, but is it worth it if it doesn't stay off? There are so many contributing factors to our weight and some really are physiological and genetic. That's a point that a lot of people miss.

I'm just going to say that I do know what I'm talking about to some extent. I've taught nutrition and took a very hard course on the physiology of obesity at a prestigious school. However, no, I'm not a nutritionist nor am I a physician. However, if you'd like an opinion that backs my knowledge you can always look at this article:
http://www.webmd.com/diet/guide/ideal-weight-or-happy-weight.

The slow loss makes me sad too but I think the idea does make sense. Although, maybe not 6 months, One or two months sound good to me.