Do you take diet breaks?

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elga_thres
elga_thres Posts: 117 Member
edited August 2015 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi, everyone! I just read an article about how to avoid or fix metabolic damage (here's the link: http://www.burnthefat.com/metabolic_damage.html). There is one thing that makes me even more curious:
"Take Diet breaks: Avoid prolonged periods in aggressive caloric deficits. If you have a lot of fat to lose and it’s going to take more than 3 months to hit your long term fat loss goal, don’t do it all in one stretch. Take a week at maintenance calories after 12 weeks of restricted dieting. This – raising your calories - is the most counter-intuitive of all the metabolism-rebuilding strategies but it’s one of the most important. Even better: the bodybuilder's method of cycling fat loss phases with muscle building phases, ensures that not only are you not in constant deficit, you spend significant time in calorie surplus."

What do you think? Do you take diet breaks? I'm really worried about overestimating my maintenance level and the calories burned when I workout. I really appreciate your help. ☺

P.S. I think "diet" here means eating calorie deficit, not our eating habit.
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Replies

  • madhatter2013
    madhatter2013 Posts: 1,547 Member
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    I do this but I cycle differently. I eat at maintenance the first week of the month, the next week I create a 10% deficit, then 20% the next week, then 25% the week after. After week 4, I go right back up to maintenance and do it all over again. I need to do something different now because I'm within 20 lbs of goal and it's not working anymore, but I lost my first 50 lbs this way. My husband is doing the same with success.
  • Kexessa
    Kexessa Posts: 346 Member
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    I don't see how I eat as a 'diet'. I just see it as eating to be healthy and live. I don't micromanage my food. My body doesn't know what a week or a month is. I'm not sure what you mean by a "restricted diet". Are you on a special diet for medical reasons?
  • avr5097
    avr5097 Posts: 12 Member
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    I take diet breaks to keep my sanity. I don't eat boring food while cutting calories but I eat a lot of the same food and that can get old (fast!).
    http://www.1percentedge.com/ifcalc/ - this website is a good one, in my opinion, for finding your TDEE so you can use that to guesstimate your maintenance calorie goal. I usually just round my TDEE down and use that number. For example; if my TDEE says 1732 I'm going to use 1700. If I do that for a week and find I've gained my next maintenance week I'll use 1600.

    Personally I exercise but don't eat back those calories, when maintaining or cutting - but everyone is different so you'll have to test it out and see what works for you.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    Yes, absolutely.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    I take a logging break every 6 months. It's fantastic and keeps me in line.
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,136 Member
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    Idk if that's what I did. I ate what I wanted on Xmas, my bday, and wedding anniversary. January this year, I took a few weeks to try to find my maintenance TDEE. I also have days where I can't deal with eating small portions of foods I really want so I overeat on them to bring my sanity level back up.
  • elga_thres
    elga_thres Posts: 117 Member
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    I think what the author means by restricted diet is eating at aggressive deficit ( I cited from the article). I'm not on special diet either, just trying to make better choices when it comes to food (although I cheat one in awhile) and eating at 15% or 20% deficit.
    Kexessa wrote: »
    I don't see how I eat as a 'diet'. I just see it as eating to be healthy and live. I don't micromanage my food. My body doesn't know what a week or a month is. I'm not sure what you mean by a "restricted diet". Are you on a special diet for medical reasons?

  • elga_thres
    elga_thres Posts: 117 Member
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    Sounds like a good idea to make me feel less hungry or deprived. Thanks! ☺
    madhatter2013 wrote: »
    I do this but I cycle differently. I eat at maintenance the first week of the month, the next week I create a 10% deficit, then 20% the next week, then 25% the week after. After week 4, I go right back up to maintenance and do it all over again. I need to do something different now because I'm within 20 lbs of goal and it's not working anymore, but I lost my first 50 lbs this way. My husband is doing the same with success.

  • elga_thres
    elga_thres Posts: 117 Member
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    I will check that out. Yeah, I think I just have to experiment. Thanks! ☺
    avr5097 wrote: »
    I take diet breaks to keep my sanity. I don't eat boring food while cutting calories but I eat a lot of the same food and that can get old (fast!).
    http://www.1percentedge.com/ifcalc/ - this website is a good one, in my opinion, for finding your TDEE so you can use that to guesstimate your maintenance calorie goal. I usually just round my TDEE down and use that number. For example; if my TDEE says 1732 I'm going to use 1700. If I do that for a week and find I've gained my next maintenance week I'll use 1600.

    Personally I exercise but don't eat back those calories, when maintaining or cutting - but everyone is different so you'll have to test it out and see what works for you.

  • MKEgal
    MKEgal Posts: 3,250 Member
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    No, I don't "take diet breaks", because I'm not on a diet.
    I've made permanent changes in how / what I eat, so I can maintain health & lower weight.
    I eat what I want, in reasonable quantities, all the time.
    (Except oreos... those I can't eat in reasonable quantities.) :disappointed:

    .
    elga_thres wrote:
    I just read an article about how to avoid or fix metabolic damage
    http://www.burnthefat.com/metabolic_damage.html
    :sigh:
    We need to have a discussion about reliable / trustworthy sources of information, ESPECIALLY if you're going
    to be basing health-related decisions on it.

    A commercial site, selling you a product, is NOT a reliable source.
    They might link to reliable sources (peer-reviewed studies published in journals), just like wikipedia (which also
    is itself not a reliable source).
    If they're expecting you to rely on their word, it's probably not a reliable source.
    Are the people writing the information qualified / educated in any way for the topic? If not, be wary.

    Reliable, unbiased sources are those which do not have a financial stake in your decision,
    and those which provide references.
    Here's PubMed, from the US National Institutes of Health, where you can search for scientific studies on any
    health-related topic.
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/

    WebMD is generally good, written by professionals, often linking to further information.
    http://www.webmd.com/

    And here's the main NIH site. If you hover over "health information" toward the left of the top bar, a menu
    pops up which includes a search box. Much of this is more consumer-friendly than PubMed.
    http://www.nih.gov/


    .
    Avoid prolonged periods in aggressive caloric deficits
    I lost about 80 lb in just over a year, generally eating 200-300 cal/day below my BMR. (That's the amount I'd need
    to stay alive if I were in a coma.) Usually didn't eat back exercise calories.
    My doctors are all quite pleased with my health, in all ways, and there has never been any suggestion that I've
    done any damage of any sort.
    According to this calculator, I lost more than 80 lb of fat, but put on several pounds of muscle. I think that's
    measurement error, and am happy simply to have maintained the muscle I had.
    http://fitness.bizcalcs.com/Calculator.asp?Calc=Body-Fat-Navy

    Also, 1 week of eating at maintenance isn't going to change your metabolism.
    It will slow as you lose weight, simply because you have less body to run.
    But it takes a long time of eating well below your BMR to damage your metabolism. Think concentration camp
    victims, famine in Africa, anorexia.
  • MKEgal
    MKEgal Posts: 3,250 Member
    Options
    Useful information. Definitely read sexypants.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10012907/logging-accuracy-consistency-and-youre-probably-eating-more-than-you-think

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/819925/the-basics-dont-complicate-it/p1

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/872212/youre-probably-eating-more-than-you-think/p1

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/833026/important-posts-to-read/p1
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    I took a two-week break late April/early May when I went on vacation. I'll probably do the same late September/early October for my birthday. Sometimes I just want to not worry about fitting something into my calories
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    Options
    I keep these links in my profile. I am a huge proponent of diet breaks.

    Diet breaks
    * http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html/
    * http://strengthunbound.com/when-to-take-a-diet-break/
  • elga_thres
    elga_thres Posts: 117 Member
    Options
    I see, I think "diet" here means eating at deficit (yep, I also had the same reaction as yours at first, but then I thought he meant eating at deficit). Thank you for the links, I will check them out. ☺
    MKEgal wrote: »
    No, I don't "take diet breaks", because I'm not on a diet.
    I've made permanent changes in how / what I eat, so I can maintain health & lower weight.
    I eat what I want, in reasonable quantities, all the time.
    (Except oreos... those I can't eat in reasonable quantities.) :disappointed:

    .
    elga_thres wrote:
    I just read an article about how to avoid or fix metabolic damage
    http://www.burnthefat.com/metabolic_damage.html
    :sigh:
    We need to have a discussion about reliable / trustworthy sources of information, ESPECIALLY if you're going
    to be basing health-related decisions on it.

    A commercial site, selling you a product, is NOT a reliable source.
    They might link to reliable sources (peer-reviewed studies published in journals), just like wikipedia (which also
    is itself not a reliable source).
    If they're expecting you to rely on their word, it's probably not a reliable source.
    Are the people writing the information qualified / educated in any way for the topic? If not, be wary.

    Reliable, unbiased sources are those which do not have a financial stake in your decision,
    and those which provide references.
    Here's PubMed, from the US National Institutes of Health, where you can search for scientific studies on any
    health-related topic.
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/

    WebMD is generally good, written by professionals, often linking to further information.
    http://www.webmd.com/

    And here's the main NIH site. If you hover over "health information" toward the left of the top bar, a menu
    pops up which includes a search box. Much of this is more consumer-friendly than PubMed.
    http://www.nih.gov/


    .
    Avoid prolonged periods in aggressive caloric deficits
    I lost about 80 lb in just over a year, generally eating 200-300 cal/day below my BMR. (That's the amount I'd need
    to stay alive if I were in a coma.) Usually didn't eat back exercise calories.
    My doctors are all quite pleased with my health, in all ways, and there has never been any suggestion that I've
    done any damage of any sort.
    According to this calculator, I lost more than 80 lb of fat, but put on several pounds of muscle. I think that's
    measurement error, and am happy simply to have maintained the muscle I had.
    http://fitness.bizcalcs.com/Calculator.asp?Calc=Body-Fat-Navy

    Also, 1 week of eating at maintenance isn't going to change your metabolism.
    It will slow as you lose weight, simply because you have less body to run.
    But it takes a long time of eating well below your BMR to damage your metabolism. Think concentration camp
    victims, famine in Africa, anorexia.

  • elga_thres
    elga_thres Posts: 117 Member
    Options

    For how long?
    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    I take a logging break every 6 months. It's fantastic and keeps me in line.

  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
    edited August 2015
    Options
    After a long, long time of losing (about 2 years), I hit a plateau and took a long break. Six months. When I went back to it, I began losing again.

    The break did my body good and it did my mind good, too. I was SO SICK of weighing every little but of food, logging food...all the obsessiveness of calorie counting and weight loss. Especially when I wasn't losing!

    I didn't change what I ate. I didn't really even eat bigger portions. I just ate more bread, think. I didn't think about food as it applies to weight. I just ate. It was nice!

    I'm a big fan of the break.
  • ki4eld
    ki4eld Posts: 1,215 Member
    Options
    I don't do breaks. I do "idgaf" (I don't give a f) days. I get one day a month and I don't allow myself to avoid it or delay it. It's usually a weekend day, so I can munch with hubby or friends. I do it, whether I think I should or not. I will occasionally add another, especially if I'm ill. On these days, I eat right, but I don't freak if my protein is low or my carbs are a little high. I don't stress over my calories or my fluid intake.

    I eat acceptable amounts. It's not a break and it's not cheating. It's just eating and accepting that being human, I might not be able to eat like a machine every day of my life.

    When I've hit a plateau, I go into plateau eating mode. That means I up my carbs a little, keep exercise the same, allow my calories to go an additional 200 per day (which still puts me at a deficit), and wait until the plateau passes. That's not a break either; that's giving my body time to adjust to the lower weight and accept it's not going to die of starvation, then we'll go back to busting it. This is just practicing patience.
  • LunaInverse
    LunaInverse Posts: 109 Member
    Options
    I don't do breaks, I do caloric cycling. Like 3 or 4 days a week I'll eat 1400, and then 1800 the other 3 days. It works for me because I also do low carb, so those 3 high calorie days are awesome for me! And I can basically eat whatever I want on the high calorie days, so long as I stay withing my daily goal. It's worked great for me so far
  • elga_thres
    elga_thres Posts: 117 Member
    Options
    I'm also more flexible on those occasions (the type of food).
    zyxst wrote: »
    Idk if that's what I did. I ate what I wanted on Xmas, my bday, and wedding anniversary. January this year, I took a few weeks to try to find my maintenance TDEE. I also have days where I can't deal with eating small portions of foods I really want so I overeat on them to bring my sanity level back up.

  • elga_thres
    elga_thres Posts: 117 Member
    Options

    Did you gain weight during the long break?
    Kalikel wrote: »
    After a long, long time of losing (about 2 years), I hit a plateau and took a long break. Six months. When I went back to it, I began losing again.

    The break did my body good and it did my mind good, too. I was SO SICK of weighing every little but of food, logging food...all the obsessiveness of calorie counting and weight loss. Especially when I wasn't losing!

    I didn't change what I ate. I didn't really even eat bigger portions. I just ate more bread, think. I didn't think about food as it applies to weight. I just ate. It was nice!

    I'm a big fan of the break.

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