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Made real progress, is it fine to take a break?
FatMatt80
Posts: 8 Member
Hi all - the good news is i've lost 2 stone since the start of October, really pleased as i've maintained strength also, however, i do feel a little weak/bored/tired of having 1,500 cals per day, i plan on upping this to a maintenance amount of 2,450 cals for the next few weeks, open question, is this ok, will it help/hinder in the long run?
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Replies
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do it... and if you come back to weight loss in the future learn how to do it in a healthy manner instead of crash dieting.6
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i didn't think i was crash dieting?7
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realize you will probably see a small increase in weight once you increase your calories, just water weight and not fat so don't let it get to you
it shouldnt hinder you as long as you stick to your maintenance calories. Lots of people find they need to take breaks along the way, losing weight puts stress on your body, breaks along the way can be beneficial when you have alot to lose. As mentioned above, you might want to consider eating more and losing slower when you get back at it, it may be more sustainable for you.5 -
4legsRbetterthan2 wrote: »realize you will probably see a small increase in weight once you increase your calories, just water weight and not fat so don't let it get to you
it shouldnt hinder you as long as you stick to your maintenance calories. Lots of people find they need to take breaks along the way, losing weight puts stress on your body breaks along the way can be beneficial when you have alot to lose. As mentioned above, you might want to consider eating more and losing slower when you get back at it, it may be more sustainable for you.
thanks for the advice, much appreciated, i was / still am very heavy, and i did plan on upping my calories once i got into more advanced training.0 -
yes you can switch betweenb deficit and maintenance all the way to your ideal weight
hormonally it's a good idea too, I still have a lot to lose but I'm going on a high carb maintenance level diet break starting the 18th December1 -
What about upping it to 2000/day? Your still in a deficit, but the extra 500cal/day might rejuvenate you. Are you eating too bland? Sometimes it's tough to make 1500cal/day taste good, but you can get creative.3
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Don't jump up a 1000 calories that's idiotic..
Slowly add calories 100/200 a week and reverse diet8 -
Losing very quickly -- and 3 lbs. a week is quickly -- is fun and exciting, and it's wonderful to see the numbers dropping on the scale and to feel successful. Unfortunately the faster weight comes off, the more likely it is that it'll come back again. On top of that, with calories that low you're going to lose lean mass along with the fat, and not have the nutrients available to build muscle . . . which I'm guessing is one of your goals. 1500 calories/day isn't going to do you any favors in the long run.
From your stats and at your current weight, it looks like you could lose 2 lbs/week at 1839 calories/day, and 1 lb/week at 2329 calories/day. Maintenance should be around 2829 calories/day. There's a long and interesting thread in this forum called Of Refeeds and Diet Breaks with a solid summary on the first page. You might give it a look to get some ideas about a diet break.5 -
That was a pretty rapid weight loss which is why he was worried about crash dieting. But with a significant amount to lose it’s not unusual for the first bit to have a higher rate of loss than you will experience in the future. Slowing that rate of lose will help you with important things like keeping lean muscle and being able to continue with your deficit without feeling miserable. Go for it, take a diet break and when you come back set your goal for 2 pounds a week and eat a few more calories.1
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Losing very quickly -- and 3 lbs. a week is quickly -- is fun and exciting, and it's wonderful to see the numbers dropping on the scale and to feel successful. Unfortunately the faster weight comes off, the more likely it is that it'll come back again. On top of that, with calories that low you're going to lose lean mass along with the fat, and not have the nutrients available to build muscle . . . which I'm guessing is one of your goals. 1500 calories/day isn't going to do you any favors in the long run.
From your stats and at your current weight, it looks like you could lose 2 lbs/week at 1839 calories/day, and 1 lb/week at 2329 calories/day. Maintenance should be around 2829 calories/day. There's a long and interesting thread in the forum called Of Refeeds and Diet Breaks with a solid summary on the first page. You might give it a look to get some ideas about a diet break.
thank you, much appreciated.0 -
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TavistockToad wrote: »
Read to me as though the OP is feeling weak and tired of having to eat low calorie not actual energy wise. If I was wrong then yes more calories after their break. If not most people experience a bit of “weakness” when faced with their favorite foods.
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I would try a 2,000 for a bit.1
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Losing very quickly -- and 3 lbs. a week is quickly -- is fun and exciting, and it's wonderful to see the numbers dropping on the scale and to feel successful. Unfortunately the faster weight comes off, the more likely it is that it'll come back again. On top of that, with calories that low you're going to lose lean mass along with the fat, and not have the nutrients available to build muscle . . . which I'm guessing is one of your goals. 1500 calories/day isn't going to do you any favors in the long run.
From your stats and at your current weight, it looks like you could lose 2 lbs/week at 1839 calories/day, and 1 lb/week at 2329 calories/day. Maintenance should be around 2829 calories/day. There's a long and interesting thread in this forum called Of Refeeds and Diet Breaks with a solid summary on the first page. You might give it a look to get some ideas about a diet break.
^^She said what I was going to
A controlled diet break (eating at maintenance cals, not a free for all) is actually a really good thing to do periodically while you're losing weight, and the thread ZoneFive linked explains why, and how to do it properly - ie, you need to actually hit maintenance cals. Yes, you are going to see a scale weight spike from more food in your system and glycogen replenishment, it will drop off fairly quickly once you go back to a deficit, because not fat. There are now a heap of personal testimonials in that thread from those who have done a diet break, it's well worth wading through to read those (just open the thread in another browser window and chip away at it, cos damn, we're chatty in there!), but the TL;DR of those is that I think every one of us 'gained' initially, and every one of us dropped that quickly when returning to a deficit, plus a bit extra for at least some of us.
After your diet break, reset MFP to lose 2 lbs per week, and eat that plus at least half of any extra calories you burn from deliberate exercise. Because yes, you are losing too fast.3
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