The Diet Break.
Replies
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GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »Gallowmere1984 wrote: »GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »ticiaelizabeth wrote: »ticiaelizabeth wrote: »I'm on week two of a diet break, and lemme tell you, I feel about 1000x better and much more prepared for the last leg of my weight loss
Really?
So are you doing maintenance (for now)?
Yep, I've been at maintenance calories for a couple weeks now. Ready to take them down a bit again to lose this last 10 pounds. I'd been stuck for months anyhow, all the while eating several hundred calories less, so I'm hoping this has been a good reset for my body.
I'm curious, because I'm sort of in the sameish situation. When you upped to maintenance calories, what did the scale do?
Since the person you quoted hasn't answered, I will. Now granted, my experience will be a little different, because I ran an extremely restrictive cut (>18g carbs, and only enough fat for EFAs) that was also VLCD. What I did was set my maintenance calories to maintenance -20%, and increased slowly over the two weeks, finally going back to cutting after getting back to my "true" maintenance calories (2100).
With the reintroduction of carbs, I saw my scale weight go from 162 to 167 by the end of the two weeks. However, considering that I had started the cut at 177, it was still a success. I also noticed that my chest, shoulder, arm, and thigh measurements skyrocketed over that two weeks, while my waist and hip measurements only saw a minimal increase. It was all glycogen recoup, and while it was a little difficult, I had to make myself ignore the scale while still recording it for a few days.
Well, I've already come off a run of that same cut you were doing to a more reasonable deficit and had the scale jump from the glycogen replenishment. I'm nervous about yet another jump.
I keep having this pattern of losing 2 pounds and then having the scale jump back up to 120 no matter what I did RFL... back to deficit, jumped to 120 sat there for months, no matter what.
Did RFL again. Got down to 116. And yup. Back to 120 on a "normal" deficit. I'm so over this.
I wanted to update this. I had to stop doing this because I was tired of taking breaks from running to do a big cut. I feel better with consistent activity.
I went back to regular deficit and my weight stabilized back at 116... after I really scrutinized my diary and found a food that I'd taken nutrition info from the label. It was badly labeled. I ate that food every day and was off to the tune of 200 calories or so a day. That was mostly eating up my deficit. Add to that some things I wasn't logging like low calorie condiments? Well. That explains things. I'm maintaining the 116 now (well, close to, I'm sort of banking a few calories for Christmas this week).
I'll continue maintenance between Christmas and New Year's and then go back to regular deficit to lose the rest of my vanity weight.
Moral of this story: even if you've been at this a long time, something can always bite you in the backside.9 -
what worked? lol nothing for me as I was in a plateau for 6+ months. It took me 4 months to lose 1.2 lbs. thats why I went to maintenance. I have a metabolic disorder so it makes it hard for me to lose,I still lose but at a really slow snails pace.Ive dropped my calories for months,ramped up work outs,et. I had even upped getting steps in and I went as far as to changing my activity settings since I was more active and tried eating what MFP gave me, again nothing,ate less than half my calories back,nada.I even lowered my calories by 100 every few weeks to see if that would have made a difference. it didnt. all my blood work comes back normal too(no thyroid issues,no hormone issues,etc. I weigh everything and still.CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »I'm in the same situation aswell, trying to lose the last 6-10lbs, I upped my calories yesterday to (sedentary) maintenance calories. What a freeing and happy feeling it was! It's like the pressure and weight was lifted off my shoulders. Like @ticiaelizabeth I've been stuck for months too.
Christine, how are you doing now? Are you still stuck?
Nope. I've gone from losing 0 kgs pw to .3kgs a week. I think .3kgs = .8lbs.
Terrific! I would love that!
ETA-- Did the "diet break" help you so that you started losing again afterward?
I'm kinda still on it. I changed my calories to goal weight /sedentary /maintenance and try and create more of a deficit with exercise which is just walking.
I'm convinced that this will be the only way I can do this also. I'm going to amp up activity and go to the gym more.
Ive tried this in the past and for me didnt work.but good luck hope it works for you.
What worked?
I know for my height and weight Im still overweight and have some fat to lose. its coming off slowly but the weight is not.I know thats something but seriously,at this point I dont know what else to do.Ive tried it all and yeah so I said to heck with it during the winter. also was not going to go lower than 1500 calories as I was always hungry eating less than that most days. and with all that exercise it wasnt good netting so low.
But just because It didnt work for me doesnt mean it may not work for you. everyone is different
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I've been comtemplating this for weeks. It's been 6 months, I didn't have a lot to lose 20-25 pounds and I only have 5 more that I added after I reached near my first goal but it's been weeks and not much has changed on the scale and honestly I feel hungry all the time.0
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@SueSueDio - would love to see your experience here for everyone's benefit
Someone called???
Well, let's see... I've been on this journey for 49 weeks as of today, and I've lost 47lbs. Although my weight has been very much "up and down" all along and I can get stuck within a couple of pounds of a particular weight for a few weeks at a time, the loss averages out almost at the 1lb per week I asked MFP for and I'm happy with that! That 49 weeks, however, has included 8 weeks in total of eating at maintenance levels which I guess technically makes the average rate of loss higher.
I encountered the concept of "diet breaks" through one of Patrick's excellent blog posts in February and thought it sounded like a good idea. Some of you clearly do great with adherence and don't feel the need for a break, but I personally find that after 8-10 weeks I start to get a bit sloppy with my weighing and logging. I sneak extra bites of food that I don't log, or I don't weigh everything on my plate, or I start to think "one more won't matter", and so on. For me, taking a deliberate and planned break every couple of months stops me from feeling like a failure for not keeping to my calorie goal. As someone else mentioned, thinking that I have to do this for perhaps a couple of years to get to a "happy weight" is daunting. But 8 weeks? I can do that!
I've often timed my breaks to coincide with family events such as birthdays, which allows me to eat more without feeling like I'm "cheating". That's a word I dislike - most of the time I make a conscious choice whether or not to eat something that will put me over my calories, I don't just chow down regardless. But being able to take a deliberate break lets me feel more successful and in control overall.
With my first break, I was a little panicky about regaining weight and found the whole thing quite stressful. I figured that if I went a little over my daily calories while in a deficit, I'd still be under maintenance so it would be okay. But if I went over my maintenance calories, I'd suddenly blow up like a balloon! That didn't happen, and my weight did in fact stay steady throughout, so I was a bit more relaxed going into the second break.
For that second one, though, I encountered a new phenomenon - a "need" to eat up to my calorie allowance whether or not I was hungry! If I saw that I had calories left over, I'd go looking for something to munch on and find myself standing in front of the fridge or pantry wondering what to have, when in reality I didn't even want anything else. Fortunately I realised what I was doing after three or four days and was able to stop that behaviour.
Now, when I take a break, I don't stress about reaching my maintenance goal. If I'm hungry I'll have something else, but if not then I'm fine leaving calories "in the bank", as it were, for a day when I might want to have an extra treat. I try not to go over my daily allowance, but I don't worry about it if that happens. It's one or two days, it's not going to derail me. For the most part I'm in control of my food-related cravings now - if I want something and it fits in my calories, I'll have it. And if it doesn't fit, I make a decision whether to eat it anyway or save it for another day.
@Tacklewasher mentioned not feeling like eating maintenance calories for a whole two weeks. What I've learned from my experiences so far is that I don't have to. I can, if I want to, but I don't need to... I can eat less on some days and more on others. What I like is the freedom to do that, rather than feeling like I've gone overboard on a couple of days when I "should" have been sticking to my goal - the psychological impact of that deliberate break is so much more positive than the emotions associated with "screwing up", "pigging out", "failing to moderate", or whatever else I might call it.
This turned into a long post - sorry! But finally... the biggest thing I've learned from taking regular breaks like this is that it sort of recharges my batteries. I've never had a problem with going back to restricting after a break, even though it's a little sad to see my calories drop even lower than they were previously every time I reset my goals! Taking a break gives me a chance to practice my estimation of portion sizes and test what I've learned so far about calorie content and self control, and it lets me go back to restricting with a renewed sense of purpose and clearer focus. I'm ready for the next 8 weeks!
(For the record, I just started another break this weekend which will last until the new year. There will no doubt be a handful of days where I'll eat more than my maintenance calories, and others where I'll be under. In January I'll be ready to hop back aboard the train and continue my journey, still feeling like a success! )
Edit: I feel like I should make it clear, in case it wasn't, that whenever I take a break I still weigh and log everything just the same as when I'm restricting. It's just that my daily goal is higher. 13 -
I've been comtemplating this for weeks. It's been 6 months, I didn't have a lot to lose 20-25 pounds and I only have 5 more that I added after I reached near my first goal but it's been weeks and not much has changed on the scale and honestly I feel hungry all the time.
the less you have to lose the slower its going to be which sucks but thats how it is.0 -
@SueSueDio - would love to see your experience here for everyone's benefit
Well, let's see... I've been on this journey for 49 weeks as of today, and I've lost 47lbs. Although my weight has been very much "up and down" all along and I can get stuck within a couple of pounds of a particular weight for a few weeks at a time, the loss averages out almost at the 1lb per week I asked MFP for and I'm happy with that! That 49 weeks, however, has included 8 weeks in total of eating at maintenance levels which I guess technically makes the average rate of loss higher.
Sue, do you happen to have the breakdown of your numbers? i.e., how long you went before your first break, how much you had lost by then, and how much you subsequently lost after each additional break? Because it seems to me a significant portion of your 47 lbs has been since you started taking breaks.
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@SueSueDio - would love to see your experience here for everyone's benefit
Well, let's see... I've been on this journey for 49 weeks as of today, and I've lost 47lbs. Although my weight has been very much "up and down" all along and I can get stuck within a couple of pounds of a particular weight for a few weeks at a time, the loss averages out almost at the 1lb per week I asked MFP for and I'm happy with that! That 49 weeks, however, has included 8 weeks in total of eating at maintenance levels which I guess technically makes the average rate of loss higher.
Sue, do you happen to have the breakdown of your numbers? i.e., how long you went before your first break, how much you had lost by then, and how much you subsequently lost after each additional break? Because it seems to me a significant portion of your 47 lbs has been since you started taking breaks.
I can probably figure it out... if I have time later tonight then I'll look at it, if not then tomorrow!1 -
Sue, do you happen to have the breakdown of your numbers? i.e., how long you went before your first break, how much you had lost by then, and how much you subsequently lost after each additional break? Because it seems to me a significant portion of your 47 lbs has been since you started taking breaks.
Okay, I have it... lots of boring numbers ahead!
Well, you're right that most of it has been lost since I started taking breaks, because I took my first one after just 8 weeks...
Here's my breakdown - I'll use the word "diet" for convenience here, although I don't think of it as "a diet". (I started weighing myself on a daily basis about three weeks in, when I got a digital scale.)
First break started March 6 after 8 weeks of consistent logging, weight was 205lbs (having lost 12lbs. ETA: Half of that was in my first week when I had the big initial whoosh.).
Restarted diet March 21, weight was 205lbs (having fluctuated between 204.5 and 206.5).
Second break started June 13 after 22 weeks, weight was 189lbs (having lost 28lbs).
Restarted diet June 27, weight was 187.5lbs (having fluctuated between 188 and 190.5; I hit 187.5 on the day of restarting).
Third break started July 27 after 28 weeks, weight was 185lbs (having lost 32lbs).
Note: this one wasn't planned in advance, but for some reason I was getting despondent and my logging was suffering. I also wanted to take a break at the end of September and didn't want to wait more than three months for it, so I decided to take an impromptu break here.
Restarted diet August 8, weight was 187lbs (having fluctuated between 185 and 187).
My weight dropped dramatically after this particular break, and I lost another 6lbs in the following 8 days. I double-checked my diary and I only logged exercise on two of those days, so I wasn't suddenly more active. *shrug*
Fourth break started September 30 after 37.5 weeks, weight was 178lbs (having lost 39lbs).
Restarted diet October 17, weight was 178lbs (having fluctuated between 178 and 180.5)
Fifth break started December 17 after almost 49 weeks, weight was 169.5lbs that morning (down 47.5lbs in total). I plan to restart the diet on January 2.
I've briefly seen 170lbs and even 169.5lbs since the end of November, but mostly my weight has been around 171-172 since mid-November despite me apparently being in a deficit most of that time. I'm very sedentary and do very little exercise... some days none at all, others maybe 100-200 calories burned (which is reduced from the amount my tracker gives me, but which I do generally eat back).
So, looking at all that, I don't honestly think I can say that taking the breaks has helped my weight loss in any significant way from a purely physical viewpoint. However - I do think it's really helped from a psychological and adherence aspect. I think that if I'd tried to stay the course all year without any breaks, I would have grown tired of it and given up by now. Perhaps I'd have been able to maintain a lower weight than when I started, and perhaps not.
Taking these breaks has allowed me to practice my new skills and to learn some things about myself, which I might not have done if I hadn't taken any at all. Yes, I might have lost weight faster if I didn't take any breaks - but that assumes that I would have been able to stick with it and be consistent with my logging for the whole time. I don't believe that I could have done that.
So, for me, this method works and a slower loss is better. It IS frustrating at times, when I just want to get to my goal and be done with it! At those times I have to remind myself that I'll never "be done with it" anyway, because I'll always have to stay vigilant and watch my portions, even if I manage to become good enough at estimating my calories that I don't need to log constantly. Next year I'll probably have to lower my goal to 0.5lbs per week, and work on becoming more active, in order to lose the rest of the weight. It irritates me that my loss seems to have slowed down so much, but if I look at the actual numbers it's still averaging close to 1lb per week. It feels like I'm stalled, but I'm not really!
Anyway, that was a lot of waffle but perhaps someone will find it useful! This is why I take regular breaks, and why I feel it works for me, but others may feel that it's not worth it and they'd rather just push on through and get it over with. That's up to the individual, obviously, but Patrick did suggest looking at this as a preventative measure as well, to avoid eventual burnout even if you feel fine with constant "dieting". Something to think about!
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Sue, you have done fabulously with this method. I think the key is that during the "diet breaks" you ate at maintenance and your body had time to readjust to the weight drop in increments. Now it seems you have gotten down nicely and are continuing to keep the weight off. Thank you for sharing. Forgive me if you mentioned already-- what is your final goal?1
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GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »Gallowmere1984 wrote: »GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »ticiaelizabeth wrote: »ticiaelizabeth wrote: »I'm on week two of a diet break, and lemme tell you, I feel about 1000x better and much more prepared for the last leg of my weight loss
Really?
So are you doing maintenance (for now)?
Yep, I've been at maintenance calories for a couple weeks now. Ready to take them down a bit again to lose this last 10 pounds. I'd been stuck for months anyhow, all the while eating several hundred calories less, so I'm hoping this has been a good reset for my body.
I'm curious, because I'm sort of in the sameish situation. When you upped to maintenance calories, what did the scale do?
Since the person you quoted hasn't answered, I will. Now granted, my experience will be a little different, because I ran an extremely restrictive cut (>18g carbs, and only enough fat for EFAs) that was also VLCD. What I did was set my maintenance calories to maintenance -20%, and increased slowly over the two weeks, finally going back to cutting after getting back to my "true" maintenance calories (2100).
With the reintroduction of carbs, I saw my scale weight go from 162 to 167 by the end of the two weeks. However, considering that I had started the cut at 177, it was still a success. I also noticed that my chest, shoulder, arm, and thigh measurements skyrocketed over that two weeks, while my waist and hip measurements only saw a minimal increase. It was all glycogen recoup, and while it was a little difficult, I had to make myself ignore the scale while still recording it for a few days.
Well, I've already come off a run of that same cut you were doing to a more reasonable deficit and had the scale jump from the glycogen replenishment. I'm nervous about yet another jump.
I keep having this pattern of losing 2 pounds and then having the scale jump back up to 120 no matter what I did RFL... back to deficit, jumped to 120 sat there for months, no matter what.
Did RFL again. Got down to 116. And yup. Back to 120 on a "normal" deficit. I'm so over this.
I wanted to update this. I had to stop doing this because I was tired of taking breaks from running to do a big cut. I feel better with consistent activity.
I went back to regular deficit and my weight stabilized back at 116... after I really scrutinized my diary and found a food that I'd taken nutrition info from the label. It was badly labeled. I ate that food every day and was off to the tune of 200 calories or so a day. That was mostly eating up my deficit. Add to that some things I wasn't logging like low calorie condiments? Well. That explains things. I'm maintaining the 116 now (well, close to, I'm sort of banking a few calories for Christmas this week).
I'll continue maintenance between Christmas and New Year's and then go back to regular deficit to lose the rest of my vanity weight.
Moral of this story: even if you've been at this a long time, something can always bite you in the backside.
How tall are you? You seem to be at a perfect weight right now. I think that you are a success story and have done a great job. Honestly I thought that you were much younger, and you look great!0 -
Wow, Sue! You put a lot of time & effort into that (more than I intended when I asked the question)! But I bet it will be useful to a lot of people (me included). Thanks!
So, looking at all that, I don't honestly think I can say that taking the breaks has helped my weight loss in any significant way from a purely physical viewpoint. However - I do think it's really helped from a psychological and adherence aspect. I think that if I'd tried to stay the course all year without any breaks, I would have grown tired of it and given up by now. Perhaps I'd have been able to maintain a lower weight than when I started, and perhaps not.Sue, do you happen to have the breakdown of your numbers? i.e., how long you went before your first break, how much you had lost by then, and how much you subsequently lost after each additional break? Because it seems to me a significant portion of your 47 lbs has been since you started taking breaks.
Taking these breaks has allowed me to practice my new skills and to learn some things about myself, which I might not have done if I hadn't taken any at all. Yes, I might have lost weight faster if I didn't take any breaks - but that assumes that I would have been able to stick with it and be consistent with my logging for the whole time. I don't believe that I could have done that.
I don't think you can say it hasn't helped from a physical standpoint. You don't know how much you would have lost just trying to push through... maybe not nearly as much.
I love the fact you've gotten practice at maintenance. Often on here that's where you see people falter, when they think they're just going to go back to "eating normal" after months of pure restriction and get an unpleasant surprise! Like anything else in life, we only get good at it with education & practice. Great job!
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GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »Gallowmere1984 wrote: »GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »ticiaelizabeth wrote: »ticiaelizabeth wrote: »I'm on week two of a diet break, and lemme tell you, I feel about 1000x better and much more prepared for the last leg of my weight loss
Really?
So are you doing maintenance (for now)?
Yep, I've been at maintenance calories for a couple weeks now. Ready to take them down a bit again to lose this last 10 pounds. I'd been stuck for months anyhow, all the while eating several hundred calories less, so I'm hoping this has been a good reset for my body.
I'm curious, because I'm sort of in the sameish situation. When you upped to maintenance calories, what did the scale do?
Since the person you quoted hasn't answered, I will. Now granted, my experience will be a little different, because I ran an extremely restrictive cut (>18g carbs, and only enough fat for EFAs) that was also VLCD. What I did was set my maintenance calories to maintenance -20%, and increased slowly over the two weeks, finally going back to cutting after getting back to my "true" maintenance calories (2100).
With the reintroduction of carbs, I saw my scale weight go from 162 to 167 by the end of the two weeks. However, considering that I had started the cut at 177, it was still a success. I also noticed that my chest, shoulder, arm, and thigh measurements skyrocketed over that two weeks, while my waist and hip measurements only saw a minimal increase. It was all glycogen recoup, and while it was a little difficult, I had to make myself ignore the scale while still recording it for a few days.
Well, I've already come off a run of that same cut you were doing to a more reasonable deficit and had the scale jump from the glycogen replenishment. I'm nervous about yet another jump.
I keep having this pattern of losing 2 pounds and then having the scale jump back up to 120 no matter what I did RFL... back to deficit, jumped to 120 sat there for months, no matter what.
Did RFL again. Got down to 116. And yup. Back to 120 on a "normal" deficit. I'm so over this.
I wanted to update this. I had to stop doing this because I was tired of taking breaks from running to do a big cut. I feel better with consistent activity.
I went back to regular deficit and my weight stabilized back at 116... after I really scrutinized my diary and found a food that I'd taken nutrition info from the label. It was badly labeled. I ate that food every day and was off to the tune of 200 calories or so a day. That was mostly eating up my deficit. Add to that some things I wasn't logging like low calorie condiments? Well. That explains things. I'm maintaining the 116 now (well, close to, I'm sort of banking a few calories for Christmas this week).
I'll continue maintenance between Christmas and New Year's and then go back to regular deficit to lose the rest of my vanity weight.
Moral of this story: even if you've been at this a long time, something can always bite you in the backside.
How tall are you? You seem to be at a perfect weight right now. I think that you are a success story and have done a great job. Honestly I thought that you were much younger, and you look great!
Thanks Deb. I'm 5'1", and aside from my linebacker shoulders, I have a pretty small frame. There's still quite a bit of fat hanging out on my thighs that I'd like to see go. I'll see how 110 looks and decide what to do when I get there.0 -
I found that article some time ago, Made a decision to implement it after losing 2 stone (28lb = 25% of goal), I tracked still but upped my carby foods.
The good, is that my trend weight is up only 0.75 of a lb and I imagine glycogen and water has a bit to do with that.
The bad, 3 weeks turned into almost 3 months at this point. Actually going home for Christmas may help as my Mum is losing weight too.
I don’t think it’s a mystery plateau or anything it’s just the maintenance level is very comfortable now it’s wet, dark and cold. I appreciate the aim but I don’t think I’d do it again as my psychology isn’t very forgiving.
On the bright side, I now have a lot of information about maintaning my weight so I have super accurate data.1 -
GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »Gallowmere1984 wrote: »GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »ticiaelizabeth wrote: »ticiaelizabeth wrote: »I'm on week two of a diet break, and lemme tell you, I feel about 1000x better and much more prepared for the last leg of my weight loss
Really?
So are you doing maintenance (for now)?
Yep, I've been at maintenance calories for a couple weeks now. Ready to take them down a bit again to lose this last 10 pounds. I'd been stuck for months anyhow, all the while eating several hundred calories less, so I'm hoping this has been a good reset for my body.
I'm curious, because I'm sort of in the sameish situation. When you upped to maintenance calories, what did the scale do?
Since the person you quoted hasn't answered, I will. Now granted, my experience will be a little different, because I ran an extremely restrictive cut (>18g carbs, and only enough fat for EFAs) that was also VLCD. What I did was set my maintenance calories to maintenance -20%, and increased slowly over the two weeks, finally going back to cutting after getting back to my "true" maintenance calories (2100).
With the reintroduction of carbs, I saw my scale weight go from 162 to 167 by the end of the two weeks. However, considering that I had started the cut at 177, it was still a success. I also noticed that my chest, shoulder, arm, and thigh measurements skyrocketed over that two weeks, while my waist and hip measurements only saw a minimal increase. It was all glycogen recoup, and while it was a little difficult, I had to make myself ignore the scale while still recording it for a few days.
Well, I've already come off a run of that same cut you were doing to a more reasonable deficit and had the scale jump from the glycogen replenishment. I'm nervous about yet another jump.
I keep having this pattern of losing 2 pounds and then having the scale jump back up to 120 no matter what I did RFL... back to deficit, jumped to 120 sat there for months, no matter what.
Did RFL again. Got down to 116. And yup. Back to 120 on a "normal" deficit. I'm so over this.
I wanted to update this. I had to stop doing this because I was tired of taking breaks from running to do a big cut. I feel better with consistent activity.
I went back to regular deficit and my weight stabilized back at 116... after I really scrutinized my diary and found a food that I'd taken nutrition info from the label. It was badly labeled. I ate that food every day and was off to the tune of 200 calories or so a day. That was mostly eating up my deficit. Add to that some things I wasn't logging like low calorie condiments? Well. That explains things. I'm maintaining the 116 now (well, close to, I'm sort of banking a few calories for Christmas this week).
I'll continue maintenance between Christmas and New Year's and then go back to regular deficit to lose the rest of my vanity weight.
Moral of this story: even if you've been at this a long time, something can always bite you in the backside.
How tall are you? You seem to be at a perfect weight right now. I think that you are a success story and have done a great job. Honestly I thought that you were much younger, and you look great!
Thanks Deb. I'm 5'1", and aside from my linebacker shoulders, I have a pretty small frame. There's still quite a bit of fat hanging out on my thighs that I'd like to see go. I'll see how 110 looks and decide what to do when I get there.
You look terrific!0 -
JeromeBarry1 wrote: »The month of November recently completed was either my worst month of this journey or it was a diet break. Whatever I call it, it was not well-controlled. For 5 days in the month, I ate in excess of my maintenance calories. I gained a few pounds, maybe it was 5 or 8, but it was less than 10. Finally, on December 12, I regained control of my eating and logging, and increased my water consumption. My eating plan is to consume 1600-1700 calories daily, of which 107 grams are to be protein and I want 35+ grams of fiber. I achieve this with all food groups. I typically don't eat back calories from cardio exercise, and in the past week I've done no cardio exercise at all. I don't lift. I know, I should, but I don't. In the past week I've lost 8 lb. That's more than I can attribute to the whooshing discharge of water gain from excess salt and more than I can attribute to the absence of inert temporary contents of my gut. There is no other possibility to explain my rapid weight loss in the past week other than that my November eating was in surplus to my reduced NEAT sufficiently to increase my NEAT ... a diet break. I'm pleased to observe that my weight today matches my lowest weight of this journey achieved on October 31, which was the date of my colonoscopy.
If I'm not mistaken, I think part of the true "diet break" strategy is that it be intentional. There is a mental element involved as well as a physical one. But I've often found a short period of overeating (like vacation) often will boost my weight loss after the fact. In your case, I think it had to be sodium or an increase in carbs, though. You couldn't have gained 5-8 lbs of fat from 5 days of overeating (unless those were the biggest binges ever!), and you didn't lose 8lb of fat in a week, not even half that. So most had to be water. I can gain/lose 5 lbs of water weight in a day or two easy. Regardless, still great that you are back on track!
Indeed, "control" is integral to success, because "control" is the Occam's Razor explanation for how people can readily resume weight loss after a diet break. In my case, I seized control last week. I agree, most of the weight loss has been water. My calorie deficit explains a little more than 1 lb of loss in the past week. My abundance of water drinking is preventing any short-term upward fluctuation from salty evening meals. And, yes, some of the loss can be attributed to poo. Still, I'm not sure that I'd still be discharging excess sodium 8 days after my last high salt day. In the day since my prior post, I lost another 1.8 lb. It's starting to be ridiculous, 10 lb lost since December 13, and I started this journey in January. This is not Beginner's Luck.0 -
JeromeBarry1 wrote: »JeromeBarry1 wrote: »The month of November recently completed was either my worst month of this journey or it was a diet break. Whatever I call it, it was not well-controlled. For 5 days in the month, I ate in excess of my maintenance calories. I gained a few pounds, maybe it was 5 or 8, but it was less than 10. Finally, on December 12, I regained control of my eating and logging, and increased my water consumption. My eating plan is to consume 1600-1700 calories daily, of which 107 grams are to be protein and I want 35+ grams of fiber. I achieve this with all food groups. I typically don't eat back calories from cardio exercise, and in the past week I've done no cardio exercise at all. I don't lift. I know, I should, but I don't. In the past week I've lost 8 lb. That's more than I can attribute to the whooshing discharge of water gain from excess salt and more than I can attribute to the absence of inert temporary contents of my gut. There is no other possibility to explain my rapid weight loss in the past week other than that my November eating was in surplus to my reduced NEAT sufficiently to increase my NEAT ... a diet break. I'm pleased to observe that my weight today matches my lowest weight of this journey achieved on October 31, which was the date of my colonoscopy.
If I'm not mistaken, I think part of the true "diet break" strategy is that it be intentional. There is a mental element involved as well as a physical one. But I've often found a short period of overeating (like vacation) often will boost my weight loss after the fact. In your case, I think it had to be sodium or an increase in carbs, though. You couldn't have gained 5-8 lbs of fat from 5 days of overeating (unless those were the biggest binges ever!), and you didn't lose 8lb of fat in a week, not even half that. So most had to be water. I can gain/lose 5 lbs of water weight in a day or two easy. Regardless, still great that you are back on track!
Indeed, "control" is integral to success, because "control" is the Occam's Razor explanation for how people can readily resume weight loss after a diet break. In my case, I seized control last week. I agree, most of the weight loss has been water. My calorie deficit explains a little more than 1 lb of loss in the past week. My abundance of water drinking is preventing any short-term upward fluctuation from salty evening meals. And, yes, some of the loss can be attributed to poo. Still, I'm not sure that I'd still be discharging excess sodium 8 days after my last high salt day. In the day since my prior post, I lost another 1.8 lb. It's starting to be ridiculous, 10 lb lost since December 13, and I started this journey in January. This is not Beginner's Luck.
The body is a curious thing at times! Your experience sounds a bit like mine that I posted above, when I lost 6lbs in 8 days for no apparent reason. I wasn't eating at enough of a deficit or doing anything else to cause that kind of loss, it just happened. I've seen that quite often all through my journey, although not usually to quite that extent - my weight will hover within a couple of pounds of a particular weight, sometimes for several weeks, and then I drop 2-4lbs or more fairly quickly. Then the cycle repeats itself at the lower weight. It can be a bit frustrating, but I've become more used to it!2 -
Sue, you have done fabulously with this method. I think the key is that during the "diet breaks" you ate at maintenance and your body had time to readjust to the weight drop in increments. Now it seems you have gotten down nicely and are continuing to keep the weight off. Thank you for sharing. Forgive me if you mentioned already-- what is your final goal?
Thank you, Deb - I definitely feel like I learn something new with each break, and I like having the practice at maintenance in preparation for the future!
My final goal is a bit uncertain - at the moment I'm aiming for 150lbs as an initial goal, which will put me within a healthy BMI range (I'm 5'6") and is a weight I haven't seen for about 25 years. It's a few pounds heavier than I was when I got married, though, and one of my other goals is to fit into my wedding dress again!
I know that my body shape has changed over the years and I carry a lot more weight around my middle than I used to, so I'm not sure how I'm going to look and feel when I reach that first goal. I plan to reassess when I get there, and decide if I want to try for 140lbs. (I'm not sure I'd want to go lower than that, but again I'd wait and see how I felt when I got there!) I might even take a few months at maintenance to decide on that, depending on how hard it was to get to 150.
When I first started, I'd set my goal at 160lbs because I really thought I would struggle to get even that far! But I've gained a lot of confidence in myself and my ability to do this, and I feel like I can achieve my new goals now. It's taking longer than I would have preferred, but I'm very lazy so if I want to lose faster it's within my power to do it - I just have to get off my butt more often!
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GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »Gallowmere1984 wrote: »GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »ticiaelizabeth wrote: »ticiaelizabeth wrote: »I'm on week two of a diet break, and lemme tell you, I feel about 1000x better and much more prepared for the last leg of my weight loss
Really?
So are you doing maintenance (for now)?
Yep, I've been at maintenance calories for a couple weeks now. Ready to take them down a bit again to lose this last 10 pounds. I'd been stuck for months anyhow, all the while eating several hundred calories less, so I'm hoping this has been a good reset for my body.
I'm curious, because I'm sort of in the sameish situation. When you upped to maintenance calories, what did the scale do?
Since the person you quoted hasn't answered, I will. Now granted, my experience will be a little different, because I ran an extremely restrictive cut (>18g carbs, and only enough fat for EFAs) that was also VLCD. What I did was set my maintenance calories to maintenance -20%, and increased slowly over the two weeks, finally going back to cutting after getting back to my "true" maintenance calories (2100).
With the reintroduction of carbs, I saw my scale weight go from 162 to 167 by the end of the two weeks. However, considering that I had started the cut at 177, it was still a success. I also noticed that my chest, shoulder, arm, and thigh measurements skyrocketed over that two weeks, while my waist and hip measurements only saw a minimal increase. It was all glycogen recoup, and while it was a little difficult, I had to make myself ignore the scale while still recording it for a few days.
Well, I've already come off a run of that same cut you were doing to a more reasonable deficit and had the scale jump from the glycogen replenishment. I'm nervous about yet another jump.
I keep having this pattern of losing 2 pounds and then having the scale jump back up to 120 no matter what I did RFL... back to deficit, jumped to 120 sat there for months, no matter what.
Did RFL again. Got down to 116. And yup. Back to 120 on a "normal" deficit. I'm so over this.
I wanted to update this. I had to stop doing this because I was tired of taking breaks from running to do a big cut. I feel better with consistent activity.
I went back to regular deficit and my weight stabilized back at 116... after I really scrutinized my diary and found a food that I'd taken nutrition info from the label. It was badly labeled. I ate that food every day and was off to the tune of 200 calories or so a day. That was mostly eating up my deficit. Add to that some things I wasn't logging like low calorie condiments? Well. That explains things. I'm maintaining the 116 now (well, close to, I'm sort of banking a few calories for Christmas this week).
I'll continue maintenance between Christmas and New Year's and then go back to regular deficit to lose the rest of my vanity weight.
Moral of this story: even if you've been at this a long time, something can always bite you in the backside.
How tall are you? You seem to be at a perfect weight right now. I think that you are a success story and have done a great job. Honestly I thought that you were much younger, and you look great!
Thanks Deb. I'm 5'1", and aside from my linebacker shoulders, I have a pretty small frame. There's still quite a bit of fat hanging out on my thighs that I'd like to see go. I'll see how 110 looks and decide what to do when I get there.
You look terrific!
Thank you!0 -
My diet break made my appetite spike up so much that I haven't been able to keep any kind of deficit since.
So in my experience, unless you're REALLY struggling, I really don't recommend it...1 -
Wow, Sue! You put a lot of time & effort into that (more than I intended when I asked the question)! But I bet it will be useful to a lot of people (me included). Thanks!
You're welcome!I don't think you can say it hasn't helped from a physical standpoint. You don't know how much you would have lost just trying to push through... maybe not nearly as much.
Well, I guess... it seems like I might have lost more, but at the same time, like I said, that would assume I could actually stick to a constant deficit and I doubt that would have happened!I love the fact you've gotten practice at maintenance. Often on here that's where you see people falter, when they think they're just going to go back to "eating normal" after months of pure restriction and get an unpleasant surprise! Like anything else in life, we only get good at it with education & practice. Great job!
Yep, I'm definitely learning all the time! I realised a while ago that I'd never be able to go back to what I used to consider "normal eating" (one reason why I wrote this post to try and help other people who might have that mindset), but the good news is that my appetite has changed and I also don't have the strong cravings that I used to have. I don't feel the need to eat the huge portions that were normal last year, and I have a lot more control around treats - I still eat plenty of them, as I'm sure you know, but I no longer eat them mindlessly!
2 -
I have been eating at maintenance for quite some time but recently in the last few months ramped up my running and didn't really tweak my calories to match the running. I ate a little more here and there, but I am sure my body needed more because my workouts started to suffer along with my mood & sleep. I started increasing cals more to see if it would help my workouts but I still was not seeing improvement. I went to the doc and they tested my hormones and my testosterone was at a 7! My estrogen was good but my progesterone was low as well. Pretty much did a number on my body. So as of now I am eating a little above maintenance and enjoying easy walks for exercise. Sounds wonderful, but for somebody who loves high intensity workouts this is killer for me.0
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This is a great thread and am giving it a bump for anyone who hasn't read it.
I coincidentally just finished my first diet break. I loved the break. I ate about 500 calories over my current deficit amount and weighed/logged my intake. At the end of the break the scale showed a loss of .02 lb. I am happily back on my deficit.10 -
Sue, you have done fabulously with this method. I think the key is that during the "diet breaks" you ate at maintenance and your body had time to readjust to the weight drop in increments. Now it seems you have gotten down nicely and are continuing to keep the weight off. Thank you for sharing. Forgive me if you mentioned already-- what is your final goal?
Thank you, Deb - I definitely feel like I learn something new with each break, and I like having the practice at maintenance in preparation for the future!
My final goal is a bit uncertain - at the moment I'm aiming for 150lbs as an initial goal, which will put me within a healthy BMI range (I'm 5'6") and is a weight I haven't seen for about 25 years. It's a few pounds heavier than I was when I got married, though, and one of my other goals is to fit into my wedding dress again!
I know that my body shape has changed over the years and I carry a lot more weight around my middle than I used to, so I'm not sure how I'm going to look and feel when I reach that first goal. I plan to reassess when I get there, and decide if I want to try for 140lbs. (I'm not sure I'd want to go lower than that, but again I'd wait and see how I felt when I got there!) I might even take a few months at maintenance to decide on that, depending on how hard it was to get to 150.
When I first started, I'd set my goal at 160lbs because I really thought I would struggle to get even that far! But I've gained a lot of confidence in myself and my ability to do this, and I feel like I can achieve my new goals now. It's taking longer than I would have preferred, but I'm very lazy so if I want to lose faster it's within my power to do it - I just have to get off my butt more often!
Funny - I've had a similar experience. My initial goal was 140 which was just under the line for normal BMI, but with some gained confidence as I lost weight I'm looking at 130-135 as a new goal even though I'm bouncing around the mid-150s and have a bit left to go
I love diet breaks. I've been on and off MFP and found that two things have led me to be more successful: (1) diet breaks. I don't plan them in advance but can feel when I'm "burning out" a bit on having a deficit and then decide to take a break until I feel ready to have a deficit again; (2) dropped myself to 0.5lb/week after I lost my initial 20lbs because I actually lost faster than having it at 1lb/week and overeating and then feeling bad about myself. Now I lose at a bit over 0.5lb/week but under 1lb/week and any movement downward is celebrated I always heard people talk about taking your time, and I understood it in my head - but I didn't really "feel" it and truly understand it with experience until the past year and feel like things just fell into place. 5 -
@lulalacroix soooo how is your break goinglulalacroix wrote: »This is a great thread and am giving it a bump for anyone who hasn't read it.
I coincidentally just finished my first diet break. I loved the break. I ate about 500 calories over my current deficit amount and weighed/logged my intake. At the end of the break the scale showed a loss of .02 lb. I am happily back on my deficit.
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@Sidesteel Me again.
I'm going on a break. Started last Friday with me not feeling well, which spiked my appetite. So I ate a bit under maintenance over the weekend and gained ~5 lbs. Pizza and Chinese food, so I know it's water. But I've been feeling foggy since then and I'm not sure if I'm fighting the flu (wife was down with it all weekend) or what, so I'm going to continue to eat at maintenance. Also, I could not finish my normal run yesterday and today stayed in bed.
I guess the question is, 1 week, 2 weeks, until I feel better? Is there a way to tell?
Thanks.0 -
Here is Lyle McDonald's write-up on diet breaks.
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html/
I did some reading yesterday on diet breaks and most of what I read recommend around 2 weeks.
Here is another site that I read...
https://rippedbody.com/diet-break/2 -
Tacklewasher wrote: »@Sidesteel Me again.
I'm going on a break. Started last Friday with me not feeling well, which spiked my appetite. So I ate a bit under maintenance over the weekend and gained ~5 lbs. Pizza and Chinese food, so I know it's water. But I've been feeling foggy since then and I'm not sure if I'm fighting the flu (wife was down with it all weekend) or what, so I'm going to continue to eat at maintenance. Also, I could not finish my normal run yesterday and today stayed in bed.
I guess the question is, 1 week, 2 weeks, until I feel better? Is there a way to tell?
Thanks.
I was in exactly the same quandry a couple of weeks back, I get a crazy appetite when I'm ill so upped myself to maintenance until I felt better (abuot 10 days) , then was away travelling for the weekend so kept it there. I went up about a kilo with the water weight and started coming back down about 3/4 days later. I'm back on normal deficit now and it's showing in my weigh ins. I would say listen to your body when you're feeling ill and up your water intake so you don't feel as lousy.1 -
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I have enjoyed reading this thread, I thought I would share my experience as well in case it helps anyone.
I started at about 340 lbs, and was terrified of taking a break. A couple of times in the first year or so of dieting I ate more (once was during a super bowl party, the other I think a birthday party) and I gained something like 4 or 5 pounds on the scale the next day. I was extremely ignorant to the ideas of glycogen, water weight and the incredible amount of weight my body could fluctuate in what was basically just water weight (or at least the vast majority of it).
Both of those experiences left me thinking I had set myself back weeks with one day of eating more. I also didn’t have any trouble with adherence and lost 2 lbs a week like clockwork for about a year, with no breaks at all aside from the those two days I described.
After that I slowed my deficit to about 1 lb / week, but was still pretty afraid to “break” from my deficit and lost 1 lb a week very consistently until I got down to about 230 lbs. At that point I decided to try to maintain for a couple of weeks, and I gained about 10 lbs on the scale over the course of that time. I also struggled to maintain and was actually eating a bit of a surplus.
Then I went straight back to the deficit and started to learn more about water weight, glycogen and weight fluctuation, and I became less afraid of taking a diet break. None the less I stuck to my deficit very closely until I got down to about 197 (my goal had been 200 when I started dieting back at 340). Then I decided to try maintaining for a month, and it actually worked.
I even decided at that time to bulk for a couple of months as well and gained more weight than I meant to and followed that up with a vacation where I ate a lot too much (a cruise), and my weight had gone up quite a bit. I probably gained something like 13 real pounds over the course of four months of bulking/vacationing, which was too much, but I was/am still learning what I’m doing.
I found out a few things about myself during that time. I found that my weight fluctuates very large amounts between deficit and non-deficit eating, somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 lbs. When I diet break now over about 2-3 weeks my weight will go up 10 lbs (if I am maintaining, much faster if over maintenance). The weight generally comes off a little faster (maybe 1-2 weeks) when I go back into a deficit.
I also learned that I need not fear maintaining, or even large weight fluctuations. Mentally it would crack me when I saw the weight on the scale go up in the past, now I can see it go up and not freak out, and I know it can come back off without too much effort if I am planning to lose more weight. I’m also no longer afraid of bulking, and am trying to plan to do a slower bulk that allows me to gain some muscle without gaining too much fat, but I am still just trying to learn how to do this and am not very good at it yet.
I attached my weight graph in case it helps to see the weight fluctuations visually. I started tracking it daily online when I weighed about 250, though if I had the previous year or so you would see almost a straight line downward at about 2lbs / week. You will see my first maintain at about 230 in Oct '15 (the 2 week one). Then the 5 or so months of maintenance and then bulk, then another 4 month or so slower deficit to lose what I had gained, and then a true successful diet break (or maintenance phase if you prefer since it lasted two months) in June/July of this year and then deficit again to get down to about 195 and I am currently doing another maintenance phase now and plan to begin that slower bulk I mentioned soon.
So if you decide to take a diet break and see weight gain, it may not be because you are eating too much or gaining any fat, your body may respond how mine does.
I hope this helps.
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I'm trying to plan ahead for April, as I've been on a 12-week challenge that will end on Easter Sunday.
I want to try the diet break as an intentional, intuitive tool. That being said, I'll be starting another 12-week challenge on May 7th, so my inclination is to take a 5-week break. Is there anything potentially hazardous about this, other than the possibility of "getting comfortable?" (Highly doubt it will be an issue for me -- maybe so in another 30-ish pounds.) Also, just to clarify that I have the right understanding, it's OK to go "cold turkey" to maintenance calories?
I'm thinking this would be a great opportunity to build a bit of muscle. I am familiar with the Scooby tool and plan to use the "most accurate calculator" to get my starting point on "gain muscle, lose fat" (net zero). I've started SL 5x5, though modified to avoid over-the shoulder reaches due to injury, and would like to see some progress there. I've also started to move about more on land (was horridly difficult to do until recently) and am interested in trying C25k seriously (I've gotten pretty far in the water, but that's totally different), and figure this might be a good opportunity to build a bit of endurance as well. I'm tired of feeling like a slug.
I've had great gains in feeling better(ish), but when a person starts from almost nothing, it's not that hard to get a great increase in "feeling." I've been taking InBody tests (yes, I know they're not super-accurate, but it's the best I've got available) and they indicate I've had [very] modest improvements as I've lost a fair bit of my weight (guesstimating I'm just over 60% to where I'll land). Most of the better feelings are likely attributable to the fact that I've maintained muscle while losing fat, I'm guessing. I want more than that.
I know this overreaches the topic at hand a bit (or more), but I'm hoping, with some vets having chimed in on this thread, that I might be able to get some insight. Thanks in advance to anyone who can chime in!0
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