Do you take diet breaks?

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Replies

  • Jewlz280
    Jewlz280 Posts: 547 Member
    OP...i am totally one of those "its not a diet it's a lifestyle people" but i have tried what you are thinking about and definitely recommend it. When i dont log and just eat what i want i maintain my weight. i personally lose around 10lbs, get tired of tracking and eating clean constantly and take a break for a few weeks. this causes my weight loss to be slow but it also causes the weight loss to stick! in less than a year i've lost 22lbs and counting and have not had any issues with gaining any of it back. i have taken time to lose weight and let my body settle into the weight loss so that i can see what i truly look like that that weight and reevaluate my goal weight/body. this also allows me to learn to love my body through my transformation. going into maintenance for a few weeks makes me feel even better about getting to my goal because i know once i get to it i'll be able to maintain that weight. feel free to add me of PM me if you have any questions or want to chat about it!

    I think I need you and OP on my friend's list!
  • hannah_ryann
    hannah_ryann Posts: 259 Member
    I actually just completed a week of eating at maintenance. I actively lost between January and May, took a FULL 2 months off, actively lost from July-last week. Prior to my maintenance week, I had competed in a weight loss competition while upping my running mileage over the past 12 weeks. I wasn't feeling burned out per say, just "run down," as another poster said.

    After eating at maintenance (or maybe even a little over) for this week, I feel AWESOME. I can't wait for tomorrow to come so I can get back into weight loss mode. I'm up 4 pounds from my lowest weight recorded a week and 2 days ago but I know that can be contributed to my replenished glycogen stores, as also referenced by another poster (kudos to whoever posted that original thread; it was brilliant).

    So, yes, I just took a week long diet break, and I can speak from experience that it does wonders for my psychological well-being on this journey. I don't believe I'll need to take another one before I hit goal, since I'm only about 15 pounds away.
  • highervibes
    highervibes Posts: 2,219 Member


    After eating at maintenance (or maybe even a little over) for this week, I feel AWESOME. I can't wait for tomorrow to come so I can get back into weight loss mode. I'm up 4 pounds from my lowest weight recorded a week and 2 days ago but I know that can be contributed to my replenished glycogen stores, as also referenced by another poster (kudos to whoever posted that original thread; it was brilliant).


    So nice to see a logical reaction to the glycogen replenishing + weight gain. I get so annoyed when people gain 3lbs and freak out lol. It'll level out unless you're eating 10K in excess calories over the week of course. A pizza night and a snickers is very unlikely to cause a 3lb gain :)
  • tomcornhole
    tomcornhole Posts: 1,084 Member
    I just took a week off from cutting / logging. Awesome. Exactly what I needed. Gained 4 lbs. Didn't go crazy, but just didn't care about logging anything. I lifted like a madman for that week and my constipation has gone away. Life is good.

    Now back to logging with renewed vigor. I missed it and think I missed my protein macros for the week. But I nailed my joy macro.

    Tom
  • MaiLinna
    MaiLinna Posts: 580 Member
    The holidays are coming up so it's pretty normal. I'm definitely gonna eat my fill of potatoes when I get the chance.
  • ElliInJapan
    ElliInJapan Posts: 286 Member
    I just took a 2 week break while on holidays. I tried to to overdo it, but I ate whatever I felt like eating, drank a lot of alcohol and enjoyed the break from logging & counting calories. I only gained 1.2kg, which I lost in 2-3 days after I got back. I think it is great to take a break here and there. I have no idea whether it has any effect on adaptive thermogenesis, but the mental break is definitely worth it.
  • spaingirl2011
    spaingirl2011 Posts: 763 Member
    This is such an interesting discussion-- I've been thinking of doing the same thing (controlled--not "last supper" style!) over the holidays. In fact, on the EM2WL board, people usually advocate 2 weeks at maintenance for every 8 weeks on a deficit. So this sounds par for the course.
  • bluefox9er
    bluefox9er Posts: 2,917 Member
    people still see portion management as a purge or punishment...I believe you should eat if you are hungry, splurge if you feel like it. life is short, enjoy your relationship with food, don't let food control you.
  • kellyskitties
    kellyskitties Posts: 475 Member
    I took one - when I hit the MFP and my diet do not fit my crazy A schedule point. I did that for over a month. Maintaining setting was a tad high - I gained 3 pounds. Then I was ready to go again. I eat under maintenance most of the time - in fact I changed my goal to 200 under. But if I really really want something, I'll just try to not shoot clean over maintenance.

    So some days I'm holding and some days I'm losing. Sounds ok to me. I'm done with the whole hit it and get it - push through - keep strong mess. I'm in it for a long haul, long way to go and I can't do it at full throttle. I found some balance.

    Over the holidays - I may adjust up to maintenance for the big meals/days out. I don't want to FEEL deprived. I want to enjoy myself. Other days, I'll try to stay under.

    Nothing wrong with your idea. HOld your place until you are ready to go again. Works for me, literally, it did.
  • princesstoadstool82
    princesstoadstool82 Posts: 371 Member
    i think they are great, i just had a week off everything, lifting and logging 1, it was my birthday, and 2, i was feeling over it, but i knew all i needed was a break... (not to be confused with quitting )
    also. i'm following the tdee method, and its good to eat at maintainance, kinda a reset if you will every now and then. then get back into eatting at a cut..

    i will say i find the tdee method, not really dieting, so getting back into it will be a peice of cake :)

    i'm not skinny at all... but honestly a week off wont do much difference, unless you eat a vlcal diet, then your body might think its one of them binges and go a bit crazy, but my body didnt seem to do anything, i ate cake and other crap foods i was avoiding due to high cholesterol (which i got down in the last 3 months!!! woo) and of course eatting better to lose weight... but a week off for me.. was well something im glad i did, i'm back into logging as of today (and eatting good ) :) and back into strong lifts as of tomorrow

    good luck :D
  • cebiginalaska
    cebiginalaska Posts: 280 Member
    LOL this is a cheat week. Way over calories because of alcohol drinking beer overkill 4 nights extra of 1500 calories :drinker: :cry: cost too much
  • BrendaLee
    BrendaLee Posts: 4,463 Member
    I've basically been in maintenance mode for the past couple of weeks. After eight months of deficit, I just needed a break. Two weeks seems about the right amount of time. I'm ready to get back to business, but I think I'll schedule a week or two off every now and then.
  • reddaddie
    reddaddie Posts: 121 Member
    What you are describing is just changing the parameters of your eating plan, that would not be altering your "lifestyle". I switched from 2 lbs a week to 1 lb a week with 10 lbs to go. You as long as you are conscious of what you are eating and pay attention to the results you will be ok.
  • whierd
    whierd Posts: 14,025 Member
    I do. A week or two of eating above maintenance can sometimes be beneficial at rebalancing your hormone levels.
  • MuseofSong
    MuseofSong Posts: 322 Member
    Eating TDEE/maintenance setting during a holiday event is a pretty darn nice way of coping, imo. You shouldn't gain any weight, so no damage done!

    My only hrmph is I do not know how to measure the calories of the food I'll be presented with at other people's houses. I use a kitchen scale for everything I make or look at the nutritional label or look up the info. :\ I can't do that when I'm at someone else's house, and I'm not sure what ingredients are in what. Ah well, I might have some inaccurate logging days, I guess. I'm definitely not going to beat myself up over it though.

    I think I will plan some 'zag' days and expect the holiday meals to be 'zigs'. I probably will not 'plan to lose' during holiday weeks.
  • Otterluv
    Otterluv Posts: 9,083 Member
    I take a two week maintenance break every three months or so. That little break does wonders for my energy level and attitude. I have come a long way, and have a long way to go. If I didn't take an occasional break, it would be very difficult for me to adhere to my calorie goals for that long of a time period.
  • skadoosh33
    skadoosh33 Posts: 353 Member
    I've been eating crappy about twice a week during this past 6 weeks. I try to burn enough to make up for it. The wife likes to go out to eat on our days off.
  • willdob3
    willdob3 Posts: 640 Member
    I don't take breaks now (lol, finally did the lifestyle thing) but I used to take break between programs. for example, Body for Life (12 wks) and then a week off with no organized workouts or specific nutrition. I always ate pretty clean for the week though. After the week, another round of BFL or on to another program with lifting & nutrition combined. The week off was hard to do but many of us saw increased results during & after that week. Most people enjoyed eating off-plan in moderation, not 24/7 junk food fests.

    But, yep, I just eat healthy all the time now and I like it.
  • Cranquistador
    Cranquistador Posts: 39,744 Member
    Yep.

    I take two weeks Christmas and New Years and two weeks in July at the shore.:smile:
  • Grace215lbs
    Grace215lbs Posts: 129 Member
    Yes,Every 10 weeks i would maintain for 1 month.. and my weight loss would pick up when i started again. Suggested by my GP.
  • brower47
    brower47 Posts: 16,356 Member
    I do. It has taken me three years to go from the mid 190s to the mid 150s. I'm not concerned with getting a bikini body by xyz day or month. I'm just now coming off of a month and a half break. It's taken me two weeks to get back to where I was before I took a break but I'm more concerned with the long term, over time weight loss. Whenever I did the "I will weight X by Y", I always failed. Maybe I'll be in the mid 140s by this time next year, maybe lower or a little higher. Oh well.
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
    I may have missed it OP but how lean are you and how close to goal weight? That and how long you've been in a deficit for are the main factors. As well as that, if you are getting relatively low calorie levels and are plateauing then a short diet break can work well.

    There is no way I want to be in calorie deficit forever :laugh:
  • Maureen214
    Maureen214 Posts: 40 Member
    I understand what you're saying, but I think you have to be at a fairly "successful" plAce in our goals or close to maintenance. I've list and gained 20-40 pounds on and off sooo many times I the past 20 years, but this feels like my mist consistent start. I've list steadily 16 pounds in 6 weeks and have at least 60 more to go to get to my first possible goal and lowest weight since college. And I owe that success to weighing, measuring and logging EVERYTHING for 45 days straight. If I don't I don't think I have a realistic image of how much I'm truly eating. For example, for my husband's birthday, I allowed myself to eat the turkey breast, mashed potatoes , stuffing , and even ice cream cake. In my mind, even though I ate lighter throughout the day and knew it wasn't the end of the world if I went over my 1660 calories for the day by even a few hundred. But In my mind, I still thought I ate about 3,000 calories. But I measured, controlled portions , ate about 250-300 at breakfast and at lunch, so I still ended up the day at 1620 calories ... Actually UNDER. My point is my mind has been screwed up do many times before, that I could have said, oh I went over by thousands of calories and 16 pounds is nothing. And I would have binged the rest of the week and very quickly put on a pound or two a week and all of my efforts to lose 16 pounds would turn into a gain of 20 12 weeks later.
    So this whole line if thinking just really scares me.
    Am I a complete nut job?!? Or is there still hope?!? I'm mostly serious. Anyone else even close to this line of thinking??
  • highervibes
    highervibes Posts: 2,219 Member
    I may have missed it OP but how lean are you and how close to goal weight? That and how long you've been in a deficit for are the main factors. As well as that, if you are getting relatively low calorie levels and are plateauing then a short diet break can work well.

    There is no way I want to be in calorie deficit forever :laugh:

    I'm not lean (30%bf) not close to goal (30lbs from it) and I rarely eat less than 1850 calories. I've been in a deficit since March but I have had many high days a long the way. I guess this is going to be more of a psychological break vs a physiiological one because I don't think I'm at high risk for any metabolic slowdown.
  • highervibes
    highervibes Posts: 2,219 Member
    I understand what you're saying, but I think you have to be at a fairly "successful" plAce in our goals or close to maintenance. I've list and gained 20-40 pounds on and off sooo many times I the past 20 years, but this feels like my mist consistent start. I've list steadily 16 pounds in 6 weeks and have at least 60 more to go to get to my first possible goal and lowest weight since college. And I owe that success to weighing, measuring and logging EVERYTHING for 45 days straight. If I don't I don't think I have a realistic image of how much I'm truly eating. For example, for my husband's birthday, I allowed myself to eat the turkey breast, mashed potatoes , stuffing , and even ice cream cake. In my mind, even though I ate lighter throughout the day and knew it wasn't the end of the world if I went over my 1660 calories for the day by even a few hundred. But In my mind, I still thought I ate about 3,000 calories. But I measured, controlled portions , ate about 250-300 at breakfast and at lunch, so I still ended up the day at 1620 calories ... Actually UNDER. My point is my mind has been screwed up do many times before, that I could have said, oh I went over by thousands of calories and 16 pounds is nothing. And I would have binged the rest of the week and very quickly put on a pound or two a week and all of my efforts to lose 16 pounds would turn into a gain of 20 12 weeks later.
    So this whole line if thinking just really scares me.
    Am I a complete nut job?!? Or is there still hope?!? I'm mostly serious. Anyone else even close to this line of thinking??

    I dont' think you understand what I'm actually saying. None of the things that have made me successful thus far would change. I would still log, weigh, work out... the ONLY thing that changes is I add maybe 400 calories to my day.
  • charmander89
    charmander89 Posts: 37 Member
    I've taken one or two week breaks a few times. It's fun, but a lot harder to just get back into eating healthy afterwards. The water weight and small gains will set you back a bit too, so be warned :P
  • Faye_Anderson
    Faye_Anderson Posts: 1,495 Member
    I don't think it would be a problem, you might even find you are still losing at maintenance. You seem to know what you are doing, I'd say go for it, gives you the opportunity to tweak things a bit :smile:
  • hookilau
    hookilau Posts: 3,134 Member
    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 take breaks from logging foods from time to time, I only have about 15 more pounds to lose so, there's that. Along with the fact that I'm T2D, so I'm on a Ketogenic diet. Lots of fat keeps me satiated and carbs that only come from leafy greens and salads keep me on track even when I'm not logging.

    ETA: there are no cheat meals, no forbidden foods either, just foods that are not worth the time it takes me to re-gain the ground I'd lose if I let the habit take hold. It's not sexy or groundbreaking, but it works =)
  • bmqbonnie
    bmqbonnie Posts: 836 Member
    If I'm on vacation or something I really don't want to worry about it. Last summer we took a month long road trip and while I tried not to go totally nuts, I enjoyed myself and didn't log a thing. In the end I gained 5 lbs. Oh well. Next summer will be similar- we'll be making a similar drive, getting married, and going on a honeymoon. So not worrying about calories!

    I would probably take a similar approach for holidays and such. Other people had a good idea with temporarily going into maintenance. Shorter term I don't really do cheat days exactly, but about once a week we go out. I try to eat light most of that day, work out, and then eat whatever I want for that meal. It's not usually a big deal.
  • kayei
    kayei Posts: 6
    Right now I only have 1 cheat day a week, usually on the weekends. But that's because I've only been dieting for 2 weeks so far. Besides my 1 cheat day a week, I'm planing on taking halloween off, and thanksgiving. My birthday is exactly 1 week before Christmas, so I'll probably use my first maintenance week on my birthday-new years eve.

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