Do you take diet breaks?

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highervibes
highervibes Posts: 2,219 Member
in Food and Nutrition
And before you say "it's not a diet it's a lifestyle" just get out of my thread tyvm.

I've been in a deficit since March with some over days and some maintenance days here and there but I'm thinking ot taking a break from cutting to eat at maintenance over the holidays since it's been a long time, and it's the holidays. 2 birds I suppose. I've been reading some info on diet breaks (Alan Aragon and Lyle Macdonald) and it seems the diet break seems to benefit mostly lean people. I definitely don't qualify as I still have 10% bf to lose but I'm in no hurry to lose the lbs so I'm just thinking out loud, is a diet break worth it for fat people with respect to adaptive thermogenisis? Thoughts?
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  • MayaSPapaya
    MayaSPapaya Posts: 735 Member
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    How long of a break are we talking? I tend to have a cheat meal on Friday nights, and some Saturdays I don't eat as well as I should...but then Sunday I'm usually right back on track. So yes, I guess I give myself a break for 1-2 days. When Thanksgiving rolls around I'll probably give myself a break that day too, but will quickly go back to my normal routine. I don't think the holidays should necessarily be a reason to go crazy for weeks.
  • CarlaAnn15
    CarlaAnn15 Posts: 55 Member
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    Do you allow yourself a cheat day?? If not, then maybe a diet break is what you need. I have a cheat day every week. I don't binge eat but allow myself something I wouldn't normally have. It also helps trick your body so it's not the same thing day after day! Good Luck to you!
  • highervibes
    highervibes Posts: 2,219 Member
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    How long of a break are we talking? I tend to have a cheat meal on Friday nights, and some Saturdays I don't eat as well as I should...but then Sunday I'm usually right back on track. So yes, I guess I give myself a break for 1-2 days. When Thanksgiving rolls around I'll probably give myself a break that day too, but will quickly go back to my normal routine. I don't think the holidays should necessarily be a reason to go crazy for weeks.

    I would only eat at my maintenance calories, I wasn't planning on going crazy lol. I was thinking 2 weeks.
  • highervibes
    highervibes Posts: 2,219 Member
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    Do you allow yourself a cheat day?? If not, then maybe a diet break is what you need. I have a cheat day every week. I don't binge eat but allow myself something I wouldn't normally have. It also helps trick your body so it's not the same thing day after day! Good Luck to you!

    I don't really do cheat days but that's because I don't exclude anything. I do have days where I'm either at my maintenance or way over (maybe once/month am I obcenely over)
  • glitterstreet
    glitterstreet Posts: 144
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    I was actually planning on doing the same thing for a couple of weeks but haven't been able to bring myself to do it, it has been so long that I didn't eat at a deficit. I can't seeing any damage being done by having a break though but you might find zig zagging your calorie intake and still maintaining a deficit more beneficial as it has room for flexibility for holiday eating.
  • highervibes
    highervibes Posts: 2,219 Member
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    I was actually planning on doing the same thing for a couple of weeks but haven't been able to bring myself to do it, it has been so long that I didn't eat at a deficit. I can't seeing any damage being done by having a break though but you might find zig zagging your calorie intake and still maintaining a deficit more beneficial as it has room for flexibility for holiday eating.

    brilliant.
  • shapefitter
    shapefitter Posts: 900 Member
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    Are you with weightwatchers?
  • Cindyinpg
    Cindyinpg Posts: 3,902 Member
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    And before you say "it's not a diet it's a lifestyle" just get out of my thread tyvm.

    I've been in a deficit since March with some over days and some maintenance days here and there but I'm thinking ot taking a break from cutting to eat at maintenance over the holidays since it's been a long time, and it's the holidays. 2 birds I suppose. I've been reading some info on diet breaks (Alan Aragon and Lyle Macdonald) and it seems the diet break seems to benefit mostly lean people. I definitely don't qualify as I still have 10% bf to lose but I'm in no hurry to lose the lbs so I'm just thinking out loud, is a diet break worth it for fat people with respect to adaptive thermogenisis? Thoughts?
    I've read a little bit on that from them and Leigh Peele too. If I ever have a long plateau, I will not hesitate to take a diet break and eat at maintenance for a while (and I will enjoy every minute :drinker: ). In everything I've read, I don't remember any recommended time frames. Maybe someone else will chime in... I would think anywhere from a couple days to a couple weeks would be beneficial, especially if you have a good handle on your numbers and continue to log.
  • sharleengc
    sharleengc Posts: 792 Member
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    I have set my goal to maintenance during holidays or vacations. While I don't eat nearly as much as I used to, I find it hard to try and eat to lose when I'm supposed to be having fun. So, yeah, I've done that a few times. It can sometimes take a little bit to get back in the swing of things after but it works.

    I also tend to gain about 2-3lbs back when I switch to maintenance but it comes off quickly when I go back to "weight lose" mode.
  • Alluminati
    Alluminati Posts: 6,208 Member
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    I did this for 4 weeks just to see what would happen. My maintenance turns out to be between 2200-2400 cals (I'm short). It was nice having the extra calories. The only drawback was I struggled a few days going back into my deficit mode of 1900-2000. Not sure if it's psychological or physical, knowing I have to eat less :grumble:
  • highervibes
    highervibes Posts: 2,219 Member
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    Are you with weightwatchers?

    no, why?
  • Jewlz280
    Jewlz280 Posts: 547 Member
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    Yup. It's never really planned. But it usually happens somewhat during the holidays and during vacations. But I think people will get confused reading this because I read it to mean you meant not a break from eating healthy, but upping your cals to give you a chance to somewhat rest and re-set. But I got the impression others thought you meant to just go whole hog and eat whatever. But you mean not to do that, but just to up cals to maintenance for a period of time, right? I think it's a good idea. Not only for your body, but for your brain. And if you're like me and have been doing this slow and steady, then it won't be a shock at all. And since you said no foods were off limits, that's even better! You just won't have that urge to eat like crazy because nothing has been a 'no no'. Anyways, I say if you feel the need then go for it, but maybe do longer than 2 weeks to make it more worth while. Maybe an entire month and then after that start cutting back down to see what happens. You WILL probably have an initial weight gain when you go up, but to me that wasn't a big deal. If it had been like, 8 to 10lbs., I would freak. But not 5 or less.

    Just a note, my ticker says 0 loss, but that's since joining MFP last month. I'm tweaking now to see what works and doing new things. Prior to joining, I lost 50lbs, went into maintenance for a couple of months, and now I'm working on losing right at 35 to 40lbs. I gained right at 4lbs. when I went into maintenance. :)
  • lithezebra
    lithezebra Posts: 3,670 Member
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    Diet breaks have never worked for me. I end up gaining weight. I'm probably eating at maintenance when I'm 100-200 calories below what MFP says is my maintenance, and I'm conservative about estimating my activity level. I'm not trying to lose any weight, just maintain at my ideal weight, and it still looks like a diet.
  • highervibes
    highervibes Posts: 2,219 Member
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    Yup. It's never really planned. But it usually happens somewhat during the holidays and during vacations. But I think people will get confused reading this because I read it to mean you meant not a break from eating healthy, but upping your cals to give you a chance to somewhat rest and re-set. But I got the impression others thought you meant to just go whole hog and eat whatever. But you mean not to do that, but just to up cals to maintenance for a period of time, right? I think it's a good idea. Not only for your body, but for your brain. And if you're like me and have been doing this slow and steady, then it won't be a shock at all. And since you said no foods were off limits, that's even better! You just won't have that urge to eat like crazy because nothing has been a 'no no'. Anyways, I say if you feel the need then go for it, but maybe do longer than 2 weeks to make it more worth while. Maybe an entire month and then after that start cutting back down to see what happens. You WILL probably have an initial weight gain when you go up, but to me that wasn't a big deal. If it had been like, 8 to 10lbs., I would freak. But not 5 or less.

    Just a note, my ticker says 0 loss, but that's since joining MFP last month. I'm tweaking now to see what works and doing new things. Prior to joining, I lost 50lbs, went into maintenance for a couple of months, and now I'm working on losing right at 35 to 40lbs. I gained right at 4lbs. when I went into maintenance. :)

    This is exactly what I meant. I absolutely am NOT encouraging eating anything and everything with reckless abandon and I would continue logging with 100% honesty. It's my pet peeve when people dont' log a day because it was "bad" (or worse, weeks!)
  • frizbeemom
    frizbeemom Posts: 101 Member
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    I think that is a smart way to eat through the holidays. And I totally got the point that you are eating a controlled TDEE, not hogwild, willynilly, whatever dessert can be stuffed in your mouth the fastest. Lol. Which is what I did one Christmas. I was in diet mode until the week before Christmas and took a 2 weeks break. Not tracking at all. I figured, "How much can I really gain in two weeks?" Um... it took me WEEKS/MONTHS to work off that gain. Lol. Never again. I up my eating to include holiday treats and snacks so I don't feel all deprived and sad, but I still keep it at a controlled, tracked intake. :)

    To clarify, I don't track on THE day of Christmas and Thanksgiving. There's also something called "living". But I get right back on to normalcy that next morning, even thru eating all the leftovers. Well, I usually track breakfasts of those days, and then give up. lol.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    Sure. When I'm in need of a break from watching what I eat I just back off, and try to keep protein above carbs, or I try to consider my grains, generally. I don't go crazy, but then I don't generally eat much junk food in the first place.

    When I travel, and sometimes on fridays, I just don't think about it much, but try to keep an eye on either protein or grains...and I'm usually okay.
    But then again, if I keep an eye on grains I usually do okay anyway... but that statement may bring out the diet police. :drinker:
  • Jewlz280
    Jewlz280 Posts: 547 Member
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    Yup. It's never really planned. But it usually happens somewhat during the holidays and during vacations. But I think people will get confused reading this because I read it to mean you meant not a break from eating healthy, but upping your cals to give you a chance to somewhat rest and re-set. But I got the impression others thought you meant to just go whole hog and eat whatever. But you mean not to do that, but just to up cals to maintenance for a period of time, right? I think it's a good idea. Not only for your body, but for your brain. And if you're like me and have been doing this slow and steady, then it won't be a shock at all. And since you said no foods were off limits, that's even better! You just won't have that urge to eat like crazy because nothing has been a 'no no'. Anyways, I say if you feel the need then go for it, but maybe do longer than 2 weeks to make it more worth while. Maybe an entire month and then after that start cutting back down to see what happens. You WILL probably have an initial weight gain when you go up, but to me that wasn't a big deal. If it had been like, 8 to 10lbs., I would freak. But not 5 or less.

    Just a note, my ticker says 0 loss, but that's since joining MFP last month. I'm tweaking now to see what works and doing new things. Prior to joining, I lost 50lbs, went into maintenance for a couple of months, and now I'm working on losing right at 35 to 40lbs. I gained right at 4lbs. when I went into maintenance. :)

    This is exactly what I meant. I absolutely am NOT encouraging eating anything and everything with reckless abandon and I would continue logging with 100% honesty. It's my pet peeve when people dont' log a day because it was "bad" (or worse, weeks!)

    Ditto. I actually like to log it and then see the average over the month! It's funny how if you have an overage that even without trying you will have other days that are lower and still end up at the end of the month where you wanted to be. Out of the last 30 days, I only had one day I didn't log and I'm seriously thinking of going back and adding it. I was sick and in bed and had rice and soup. Then crackers with some PB. I just felt horrid and didn't get on to log it. But I like to follow it all. I like to see the numbers and averages over the long haul! It's why I try really hard not to get too wrapped up in the day to day numbers.
  • BlueBombers
    BlueBombers Posts: 4,065 Member
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    I haven't taken a break for an extended period of time. I've had and off days and get back on track the next day.

    Usually I just have cheat meals each week, keeps me sane :smile:
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    It's perfectly fine. But you got to realize that you will probably gain weight as your muscles start storing glucogen or whatever it is (there's a thread called 'why you gain weight when you eat more than your cut' that explains it). It won't be fat, but you'll gain weight... which you'll lose again once you eat at a deficit again. But it's just something to be aware of (and why people above are saying they always gain weight back eating at maintenance).
  • l911jnt
    l911jnt Posts: 164 Member
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    I may also end up taking a week break at maintenance calories. This is only my 8 the week dieting for the first time EVER and I have done great so far but am stalled out. Hoping it will help me get thru it cuz it sucks.

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