Scheduled Diet Break

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lulalacroix
lulalacroix Posts: 1,082 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
At the beginning of this year I had a total of 59 pounds to lose. I figured it might take over a year to lose the weight in a healthy manner. So I have scheduled 4 diet breaks this year. This first one was to start after losing 15 pounds or this coming Wednesday.

I'm planning to eat at maintenance for 7 days. I will continue to weigh and log my food. I'm actually kinda nervous about this because I don't want to screw up my loss pattern., but I'm really excited to eat more for a week. I've lost weight in the past but eventually mess up the maintenance, so this is a good chance to practice.

Anyways, should I still weigh myself daily? Should I still log daily weight into Libra? Is there anything else I haven't considered? Thanks.

Replies

  • SuzySunshine99
    SuzySunshine99 Posts: 2,985 Member
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    Instead of scheduling them ahead of time, why don't you just keep your weight loss momentum going until you feel you really do need a break? Maybe you won't feel like you NEED a break once you get to your pre-arranged break time. Everyone is different, but for some people, a "diet break" might result in a return to bad habits. But, if you are confident that you can stick to maintenance calories during your breaks, then it won't hurt your efforts in the long run.

    If you currently weigh yourself daily, then you still should during your breaks. This will give you a good idea of your weight trend and confirm that you are not eating above your maintenance.

    Remember that this is a lifestyle change that you want to keep going for the rest of your life, so, in theory, the effort should not be so exhausting as to require "breaks". If it is, perhaps you are being a little too aggressive in your goals and you just need to slow it down, not take a break completely.
  • lulalacroix
    lulalacroix Posts: 1,082 Member
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    Maybe "diet break" isn't the right terminology. My diet isn't exhausting and although I'm losing slightly quicker than predicted, my goal isn't aggressive. I have my calories set to lose 1 pound per week currently.
  • lemonychild
    lemonychild Posts: 654 Member
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    I say you go for your maintenance eating as planned. It's such a good idea to also practice maintenance because as you know that is also part of weight loss. I think you should do everything as you regularly do (excercise, weighin, etc) I don't know much about libra but maybe the #s would seem to be way off? Maybe have a separate spreadsheet for maintenance weigh ins?
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    I would keep doing what you're doing now but just eat at maintenance during that time. So log your food/calories/weight/exercise as usual.
  • lulalacroix
    lulalacroix Posts: 1,082 Member
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    lemonychild wrote: »
    I say you go for your maintenance eating as planned. It's such a good idea to also practice maintenance because as you know that is also part of weight loss. I think you should do everything as you regularly do (excercise, weighin, etc) I don't know much about libra but maybe the #s would seem to be way off? Maybe have a separate spreadsheet for maintenance weigh ins?

    Thanks. I expect that I may have more water gain than usual and it could skew my weight trend on Libra. So yeah, maybe I should skip reporting my weight that week...??
  • Kimblesnbits13
    Kimblesnbits13 Posts: 369 Member
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    lulalacroix wrote: »
    lemonychild wrote: »
    I say you go for your maintenance eating as planned. It's such a good idea to also practice maintenance because as you know that is also part of weight loss. I think you should do everything as you regularly do (excercise, weighin, etc) I don't know much about libra but maybe the #s would seem to be way off? Maybe have a separate spreadsheet for maintenance weigh ins?

    Thanks. I expect that I may have more water gain than usual and it could skew my weight trend on Libra. So yeah, maybe I should skip reporting my weight that week...??

    I think you should most definitely keep recording on your breaks because it'll give you the data for the future diet break times! As long as you don't have an emotional relationship with the scale and have a true understanding of how weight fluctuates up and will go back down. You might even be surprised to see if you don't go up on your maintenance break. BUT it really depends on your relationship with the scale. Like if it's up one day and you say "screw it imma eat all the things!" This was my experience but somehow, weighing every single day (even on the horrible day after overeating) really taught me a lot and now I know my body more and can pretty much predict my weight everyday even when I overeat.

  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    lulalacroix wrote: »
    lemonychild wrote: »
    I say you go for your maintenance eating as planned. It's such a good idea to also practice maintenance because as you know that is also part of weight loss. I think you should do everything as you regularly do (excercise, weighin, etc) I don't know much about libra but maybe the #s would seem to be way off? Maybe have a separate spreadsheet for maintenance weigh ins?

    Thanks. I expect that I may have more water gain than usual and it could skew my weight trend on Libra. So yeah, maybe I should skip reporting my weight that week...??

    The point of an app like Libra is to track long term trends. One week at maintenance, which may or may not come with water weight gain, should not skew anything.
  • lulalacroix
    lulalacroix Posts: 1,082 Member
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    Kimblesnbits13 wrote: »
    lulalacroix wrote: »
    lemonychild wrote: »
    I say you go for your maintenance eating as planned. It's such a good idea to also practice maintenance because as you know that is also part of weight loss. I think you should do everything as you regularly do (excercise, weighin, etc) I don't know much about libra but maybe the #s would seem to be way off? Maybe have a separate spreadsheet for maintenance weigh ins?

    Thanks. I expect that I may have more water gain than usual and it could skew my weight trend on Libra. So yeah, maybe I should skip reporting my weight that week...??

    I think you should most definitely keep recording on your breaks because it'll give you the data for the future diet break times! As long as you don't have an emotional relationship with the scale and have a true understanding of how weight fluctuates up and will go back down. You might even be surprised to see if you don't go up on your maintenance break. BUT it really depends on your relationship with the scale. Like if it's up one day and you say "screw it imma eat all the things!" This was my experience but somehow, weighing every single day (even on the horrible day after overeating) really taught me a lot and now I know my body more and can pretty much predict my weight everyday even when I overeat.

    I love the scale. I record first thing in the morning. But later I might check to see my weight after a glass of water or a sandwich. I might check my weight after a poo. Lol. I just like seeing how everything affects the numbers. I really just pay attention to the overall trend though.
  • CafeRacer808
    CafeRacer808 Posts: 2,396 Member
    edited February 2017
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    jemhh wrote: »
    lulalacroix wrote: »
    lemonychild wrote: »
    I say you go for your maintenance eating as planned. It's such a good idea to also practice maintenance because as you know that is also part of weight loss. I think you should do everything as you regularly do (excercise, weighin, etc) I don't know much about libra but maybe the #s would seem to be way off? Maybe have a separate spreadsheet for maintenance weigh ins?

    Thanks. I expect that I may have more water gain than usual and it could skew my weight trend on Libra. So yeah, maybe I should skip reporting my weight that week...??

    The point of an app like Libra is to track long term trends. One week at maintenance, which may or may not come with water weight gain, should not skew anything.

    This. I would also add that your diet break is still part of your weight loss journey. Entering your maintenance weigh ins will flatten out the trend line, which will serve as a visual reminder months or years down the line that you took a one week break. Personally, that's something I'd like to be reminded of in the future.
  • everher
    everher Posts: 909 Member
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    I would be careful that you are actually eating at maintenance and not above it during your diet break.

    I think using your own personal data would be more accurate in determining maintenance than using a number MFP provides or if you do want to use MFP's number I would eat a bit less (maybe 100 calories a day less) to make sure you maintain and don't gain. If you're currently set to lose 1 lb a week, you're only talking about eating 500 calories more a day. Be careful not to overeat.

    I would also continue to weigh myself daily.
  • Tonkajoe
    Tonkajoe Posts: 14 Member
    edited February 2017
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    my 2or 3 cents .. i dunno about a whole week. One day maybe. The habits your currently making are easy to break and hard to start up again. I know if I stop working out ie. its much much harder to start up again. Watch this guys vid on youtube below as another example. I'm not suggesting it cant be done just for me I get to close to the fire by not paying attention. I find thats the best thing about MFP is it forces me to pay attention. Also, I did this once before - lost weight. But I hadn't really thought about maintenance. I got super depressed after a family kinda thing .. and stopped caring .. it took me a looong time to even make the decision to try again and by then I was 20lbs more than when I had started to first time. So maintenance - for me anyways (it seems I can loose fat/gain muscle easy enough) is the really hard part. This time around Im expecting to be using MFP and such for about a year minimum AFTER getting down to my goal Good Luck to you though in what ever u decide. T.

    https://youtu.be/3uhCzewGnNk
  • lulalacroix
    lulalacroix Posts: 1,082 Member
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    @everher I definitely have to figure out which maintenance number to use. My calories are set to 1490 per day to lose 1 pound per week but according to Libra my deficit is actually just over 700 calories per day instead of 500. So I'm not really sure how much to increase actually.

    @CafeRacer808 Good point on being able to see the data in the future.
  • lulalacroix
    lulalacroix Posts: 1,082 Member
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    @Tonkajoe I appreciate your input. However I am looking at this longterm and do see maintenance as a big part of my journey. I agree that maintenance is the really hard part. I don't understand the point of the video. He is speaking about binging which is not an issue for me.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    lulalacroix wrote: »
    @everher I definitely have to figure out which maintenance number to use. My calories are set to 1490 per day to lose 1 pound per week but according to Libra my deficit is actually just over 700 calories per day instead of 500. So I'm not really sure how much to increase actually.

    @CafeRacer808 Good point on being able to see the data in the future.

    Eat 2000-2200. A 200 calorie difference for one week is not going to be problematic. For one, your TEF calories decrease when cutting calories and increase when eating more so that will account for part of the 200. Plus even if you ate 200 cal/day over for 7 days, it's not even equal to half a pound. Nothing to fret about.
  • lulalacroix
    lulalacroix Posts: 1,082 Member
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    @jemhh Yes. That's exactly what I will do. Thanks.

    Now to consider which yummy additions I will have to raise my calories. Maybe more milk in my tea, more steak, and some ice cream that isn't Halo Top. :smiley:
  • lemonychild
    lemonychild Posts: 654 Member
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    lulalacroix wrote: »
    @jemhh Yes. That's exactly what I will do. Thanks.

    Now to consider which yummy additions I will have to raise my calories. Maybe more milk in my tea, more steak, and some ice cream that isn't Halo Top. :smiley:
    Question ? Do you work out ? My usual daily burn in 2500-2700 with exercise

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