Diet Break?

domeofstars
domeofstars Posts: 480 Member
edited November 17 in Health and Weight Loss
Since the beginning of this year, I have lost 7.4 kilos (or about 16 pounds) which I am thrilled about. However, over the past three weeks I have started to binge eat and I worked out that I have undone my calorie deficit days. So I have decided for at least the next two weeks, to try and eat in maintenance. I am going to do the same amount of exercise I have been doing, but I am not going to weigh foods or log I am just going to try and eat to my natural hunger.

While I'd love to lose a bit more weight, i'd rather maintain the weight I have lost rather than push myself to lose more only to regain everything!

So my question is: do you ever take diet breaks? What exactly is a 'diet break' to you?

I don't want to have to count calories and weigh everything for the rest of my life...

Replies

  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    Yes, I do. A diet break is time spent eating at maintenance while maintaining my normal exercise program.
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
    Eat at maintenance, increase carbohydrates to around 1g/lb, keep up activity and exercise for 7-14 days.
  • cheryldumais
    cheryldumais Posts: 1,907 Member
    I hit a plateau for 3.5 months and ate at maintenance for a week (probably should have gone two weeks). It helped me but I did log everything. I think not logging is dangerous. I expect to have to log things the rest of my life. I have lost 77 pounds on MFP and have no desire to gain it back. Your experience may be different but I would personally be afraid to eat without restraint. The good thing about the diet break for me was my hunger was satisfied, I was encouraged that I could maintain my loss and afterwards I started losing again. I don't always weigh everything since I have gotten to the point where I know how many calories are in many things after a year and a bit of dieting but I do weigh occasionally just to ensure I am not underestimating. Sometimes I am surprised at what things weigh so it is a useful exercise. I still have 20 pounds to lose but am in no hurry to get to my goal as most people seem to think I am fine the way I am.
  • domeofstars
    domeofstars Posts: 480 Member
    I can see everyone's points. I overate today so i feel like i need to eat in a deficit for the next few days....i feel like i might fall into the trap of eating in a calorie deficit for a few days and then binge eating and undoing everything. Oh *kitten*.
    I have been here before. I go on a diet for a while, lose some weight and then slowly but surely my binge eating increases with regularity and then suddenly I find myself at my original starting weight
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,130 Member
    I've taken diet breaks at Christmas and when travelling earlier this year, at Christmas I just ate what I liked and put a bunch of weight back on, when I was travelling I still logged but was logging at Maintenance, I wasn't weighing because I can't really do that when travelling and eating out but I stayed the same weight over that period, when I came back and went back to eating at a deficit I had a big whoosh. I'd definitely agree with @Daddy78230 ref logging even when trying to maintain.

    What is causing you to binge eat? Are you being unnecessarily restictive, are their emotional triggers or something else. That is the thing you need to get to the root cause of and until you do, you may find yourself in a bit of a vicious cycle.
  • domeofstars
    domeofstars Posts: 480 Member
    tinkerbellang83 wrote: »

    What is causing you to binge eat? Are you being unnecessarily restictive, are their emotional triggers or something else. That is the thing you need to get to the root cause of and until you do, you may find yourself in a bit of a vicious cycle.

    Yes there are emotional triggers. I overeat because I don't want to feel...I feed the fear and pain of being abused when I was little. The fat I gain is psychological protection from being harmed....but ever since the abuse started, I may as well have died when it did. And there is a part of me that wishes I had just died before the abuse started, life ever since has been hell on earth and I've had problem after problem after problem after problem and every single one, every SINGLE ONE is because I was raped for years as a little girl. That's going to screw any person up.
  • red99ryder
    red99ryder Posts: 399 Member
    The calories count even if you don't log them . Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but I expect I will have to watch what I eat the rest of my life .Eating all I wanted is what got me fat in the first place

    Good luck
  • heiliskrimsli
    heiliskrimsli Posts: 735 Member
    domeofstars wrote: »
    tinkerbellang83 wrote: »

    What is causing you to binge eat? Are you being unnecessarily restictive, are their emotional triggers or something else. That is the thing you need to get to the root cause of and until you do, you may find yourself in a bit of a vicious cycle.

    Yes there are emotional triggers. I overeat because I don't want to feel...I feed the fear and pain of being abused when I was little. The fat I gain is psychological protection from being harmed....but ever since the abuse started, I may as well have died when it did. And there is a part of me that wishes I had just died before the abuse started, life ever since has been hell on earth and I've had problem after problem after problem after problem and every single one, every SINGLE ONE is because I was raped for years as a little girl. That's going to screw any person up.

    It sounds like this is something that you really do need help with, and that help is not going to come from your diet. I'm not suggesting that you don't even try to work on eating at a reasonable intake level, just that diet won't fix the rest of this.

    Counseling for the underlying problems would likely be very beneficial to you in general, particularly from a qualified provider who is versed in treating people with childhood trauma.
  • lemonychild
    lemonychild Posts: 654 Member
    all the time, it makes it much easier to eat at maintenance every so often and also trains for life long maintenance
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,130 Member
    domeofstars wrote: »
    tinkerbellang83 wrote: »

    What is causing you to binge eat? Are you being unnecessarily restictive, are their emotional triggers or something else. That is the thing you need to get to the root cause of and until you do, you may find yourself in a bit of a vicious cycle.

    Yes there are emotional triggers. I overeat because I don't want to feel...I feed the fear and pain of being abused when I was little. The fat I gain is psychological protection from being harmed....but ever since the abuse started, I may as well have died when it did. And there is a part of me that wishes I had just died before the abuse started, life ever since has been hell on earth and I've had problem after problem after problem after problem and every single one, every SINGLE ONE is because I was raped for years as a little girl. That's going to screw any person up.

    As @heiliskrimsli says diet alone isn't going to fix it, you need to deal with the emotional triggers, maybe try looking into some Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. Either way until you deal with the emotional connection between your feelings and food you're going to find it difficult.
  • bizgirl26
    bizgirl26 Posts: 1,795 Member
    domeofstars wrote: »
    tinkerbellang83 wrote: »

    What is causing you to binge eat? Are you being unnecessarily restictive, are their emotional triggers or something else. That is the thing you need to get to the root cause of and until you do, you may find yourself in a bit of a vicious cycle.

    Yes there are emotional triggers. I overeat because I don't want to feel...I feed the fear and pain of being abused when I was little. The fat I gain is psychological protection from being harmed....but ever since the abuse started, I may as well have died when it did. And there is a part of me that wishes I had just died before the abuse started, life ever since has been hell on earth and I've had problem after problem after problem after problem and every single one, every SINGLE ONE is because I was raped for years as a little girl. That's going to screw any person up.


    Although I do take diet breaks while on vacation and don't log anything ( 2weeks a year ) I don't think that a diet break is what you need. You need to talk to a professional to find ways to deal with your emotional pain that aren't related to food . Hugs
  • lthames0810
    lthames0810 Posts: 722 Member
    I take planned diet breaks. I eat at maintenance for at least two weeks and I weigh and log food and I closely monitor my weight daily to be sure I'm truly at maintenance. If anything, I'm more careful of my intake on the breaks than when I'm losing. It's good practice.
  • domeofstars
    domeofstars Posts: 480 Member
    red99ryder wrote: »
    The calories count even if you don't log them . Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but I expect I will have to watch what I eat the rest of my life .Eating all I wanted is what got me fat in the first place

    Good luck

    I do know that the calories count if I don't log them, that is no news to me. I will probably have to watch what I eat for the rest of my life as well but I am hoping to do that without the tedium of weighing and measuring and logging every single thing. I want to try and focus on eating for health, and for wonderful energy levels. Diabetes runs in my family, as does high cholesterol. Don't want these problems for myself. Good luck to you too.
  • Theo166
    Theo166 Posts: 2,564 Member
    From what you've described, you'll have no idea whether you are eating at maintenance or even gaining 1-2 lbs a week. Instead of free eating, I suggest you just keep tracking and change your loss target to 0 lbs.
  • domeofstars
    domeofstars Posts: 480 Member
    It was great to have a break from logging. I thought that I overate on some days, but my weight has stayed exactly the same :)
  • domeofstars
    domeofstars Posts: 480 Member
    Ok what's strange...maybe not strange but awesome is that I have just lost another kilo or 2.2 pounds. I can remember years ago joining weight watchers and there was a lady there who said that she had reached her goal weight yet was still continuing to lose weight. At the time weight watchers had the option of either counting points, or having a 'filling and healthy day' that is eating from a list of prescribed foods when you feel hungry. The foods were basically all the unprocessed and healthy foods you would expect as well as wholegrain/wholewheat/brown carbs. Also I have had a couple of times recently where I have eaten something fatty and then felt quite bloated and uncomfortable for hours afterward which is quite off-putting in terms of eating junk.
    I guess what I need to consider now is what will work best for me in terms of when I finally reach my goal weight...that being said i'm not far to go now. I feel like if I focus on eating for health most of the time and stay active I will be fine but I will be monitoring my weight very closely.
  • Ironandwine69
    Ironandwine69 Posts: 2,432 Member
    I did. For 4 years. What happened? I got fat is what happened
  • kgwoozle
    kgwoozle Posts: 2 Member
    I take vacations when I get burned out on logging and being really careful. If I don't, I risk rebelling losing all my hard work.

    I have done this for an extended amounts of time and guess what, I gained a wopping six pounds back.

    But I kept most of the lifestyle changes and probably upped my exercise.

    I know I was lucky, but then again my goals are modest and for me it is more about the journey than the destination.
  • Lives2Travel
    Lives2Travel Posts: 682 Member
    edited May 2017
    I think a break is a good idea both physically and mentally. Just don't do what I did. I lost 113 pounds a couple years ago and took a break intending it to last a few weeks. 2 years later I finally am back to working on the rest. The good news is that my post break weight was only 6 lbs above my lowest dieting weight. But it was just as hard to get started facing a 26 lb loss as it was facing a 135 lb loss!
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