Of refeeds and diet breaks
Options
Replies
-
That's valid then.
It's when a van shows up with the equipment at gym or a mall or GNC store or similar and does cut rate tests.
Besides the fact the people are unlikely to be in correct state, I always wonder if this is just prior to spending extra money getting it calibrated and some replacement parts, so getting as much revenue out of the old at possible.0 -
Nony_Mouse wrote: »From Aug to Jan 1, I lost 24#. Since Jan 1, I've lost only 8.4. I've been struggling a bit, so I've changed up a few things. I did a diet break at the end of March. I've changed up my macros to help me with my satiation. I've changed up the number of calories to adding more on the weekend - that really didn't work. lol. Most recently I'm doing 5:2 IF. That seems to be helping the most because I'd be happy to lose 3/4# per week and I calculated to lose 1# per week and hoping that any errors in logging would make up the difference. Yes I weigh my food. Not religiously, but regularly. Probably 50% weighing, 25% measuring, 25% eye balling or guessing. I've quit drinking wine during the week. The first 7 months - no exercise. Since April I've been doing yoga 2-3 times a week. I wish I had done it sooner. Love it. I keep thinking that maybe water in my muscle due to the new exercise is a slight culprit. My sleep is not the best due to some high stress. I don't know. Maybe all of this is normal. I just thought that I would be a little further along after 10 months.
The good parts. In January, I thought my skin felt and looked saggy especially around my belly. Now I can honestly say that it doesn't have that same squishy saggy appearance. Truthfully I still have ALOT of belly fat to lose, but the skin seems to have tightened up. My side boobs are diminishing and my back fat is trimming down. Even my husband commented on it when he hugged me last night.
Is this all normal or is this an underachievement?
Honestly? I'd commit to weighing everything religiously for 4-6 weeks. You need to establish that you're calculating your calorie intake accurately before looking for other potential reasons for slower weight loss.
Agreed. The phrases "it works until it doesn't" and "what gets measured gets managed" apply here. If you're guessing 25% of the time, and loosely measuring another 25%, that's 50% of accountability that gets lost. You don't need to be neurotic about weighing your food at all times in the future, but troubleshooting begins with being able to know where you stand currently, and you want to be as accurate with objective data as possible before looking elsewhere.
Losing fat in the beginning is easy for most because there's some certainty that there's a deficit occurring compared to pre-dieting baseline intake, when dieters become mindful about their food. Once it stops working, then it's time to dial it in.
The hierarchy for body composition always follows: calories > macros [protein > carbs/fat] > micros > meal timing > supplements; and for activity: strength training > cardio (HIIT > LISS), where all the preceding categories should be taken into account before moving onto the next.
Alternatively, you can always eat like a robot:
https://www.facebook.com/chrismasterjohn/videos/1671524842883137/3 -
Nony_Mouse wrote: »From Aug to Jan 1, I lost 24#. Since Jan 1, I've lost only 8.4. I've been struggling a bit, so I've changed up a few things. I did a diet break at the end of March. I've changed up my macros to help me with my satiation. I've changed up the number of calories to adding more on the weekend - that really didn't work. lol. Most recently I'm doing 5:2 IF. That seems to be helping the most because I'd be happy to lose 3/4# per week and I calculated to lose 1# per week and hoping that any errors in logging would make up the difference. Yes I weigh my food. Not religiously, but regularly. Probably 50% weighing, 25% measuring, 25% eye balling or guessing. I've quit drinking wine during the week. The first 7 months - no exercise. Since April I've been doing yoga 2-3 times a week. I wish I had done it sooner. Love it. I keep thinking that maybe water in my muscle due to the new exercise is a slight culprit. My sleep is not the best due to some high stress. I don't know. Maybe all of this is normal. I just thought that I would be a little further along after 10 months.
The good parts. In January, I thought my skin felt and looked saggy especially around my belly. Now I can honestly say that it doesn't have that same squishy saggy appearance. Truthfully I still have ALOT of belly fat to lose, but the skin seems to have tightened up. My side boobs are diminishing and my back fat is trimming down. Even my husband commented on it when he hugged me last night.
Is this all normal or is this an underachievement?
Honestly? I'd commit to weighing everything religiously for 4-6 weeks. You need to establish that you're calculating your calorie intake accurately before looking for other potential reasons for slower weight loss.
Agreed. The phrases "it works until it doesn't" and "what gets measured gets managed" apply here. If you're guessing 25% of the time, and loosely measuring another 25%, that's 50% of accountability that gets lost. You don't need to be neurotic about weighing your food at all times in the future, but troubleshooting begins with being able to know where you stand currently, and you want to be as accurate with objective data as possible before looking elsewhere.
Losing fat in the beginning is easy for most because there's some certainty that there's a deficit occurring compared to pre-dieting baseline intake, when dieters become mindful about their food. Once it stops working, then it's time to dial it in.
Yup. It's all about controlling the variables that you can, so you can start ruling things out as being contributing factors. Or something like that.
The upside of that is that if there legitimately *is* something wrong, and you've got a good physician who listens, you can then go back to them with a list of things that you can definitely rule out. The downside, of course, that most physicians seem to believe that patients don't know what they eat, and thus it must always be the patient's fault. (Yup. Still harboring a lot of bitterness over this one.)
But at least if you know you're being completely honest with yourself, and you know that your tracking is absolutely correct -- and, likewise, that your expenditures are tracked as accurately as you can get them -- you know that it's either a place where *you* need to tighten up, or you're at a place where you need to start looking at the other trickle-down factors like cortisol, metabolic adaptations, etc.
tl;dr: Eliminating the variables gets you down the right path.
Like, for me, I went all hypervigilance in my tracking -- I was already there to some degree, but stepped it up eleventymillion notches. (Now the goal is figuring out how to trust myself to dial it back.) When that didn't fix it, and I switched dietitians, I had RMR testing down at a legit lab. That came back showing it was actually *higher* than we projected it would be, so while it created more headtilting, it also eliminated any concerns about metabolic adaptation.
I then asked my then-GP for cortisol testing. He refused, and told me to ask my endo at my next appointment. Endo refused, and by that point I was pretty sure it was all thyroid, based on what my data showed the correlation to be between TSH, restriction, and optimal dosing... But I asked my new GP if *she* would run cortisol tests. And we saw that despite everyone thinking that cortisol *must* be elevated... it was actually on the lower side of normal.
Which sent us back to thyroid. Even my current GP concurred that it must be thyroid, but she was listening to the old endo, who insisted that no, TSH wasn't affected at all by restriction (despite significant peer-reviewed literature demonstrating the opposite). So she started going down this "Well, you're not *clinically* anorexic, but your body must think you are, and you just have to start eating more." Which made no sense to me, considering that full-fledged anorexics -- as opposed to my atypical status -- have these results at much lower weights. And it especially didn't make sense when she was claiming the latter, while denying that the former could happen.
So I finally found an endo who would look at the actual data instead of the "we rarely see this, so it must be your fault and you must be eating too much" perspective. And yup -- the TSH was artificially low, so we upped the dose. Now, a month later, I'm losing on target, and on a week-to-week basis, my weight loss is now within 10 percent of what would be expected that week based on my expenditures and intake. Sometimes it's more, and sometimes it's less. Just like how "normal" people lose weight.
But we never would have gotten here if I hadn't been able to categorically rule out variables along the way.8 -
Hi peeps! Dropping back in after my holiday to Greece, to say thanks for all the information I've learned from this thread. I didn't pack food scales, but I did track as best I could. First week I pretty much managed perfect maintenance, the last 3 days I've run a slight deficit, but that's skewed by not eating very much yesterday and doing a lot of walking around airport terminals. Back to normal eating routine today.
I'm up 9 pounds in 10 days, and old me would have been running around with my hair on fire and castigating self for "pigging out" on holiday. New me knows based on the deficit and dietary changes it's all water weight and glycogen refill (possibly with a side order of cortisol since I got in at 5 a.m. Greece time and slept like crap).
Best step day, 27,000 - proper steps too, much of it, since it involved visiting the Acropolis and various other ancient sites around Athens and then walking a kilometre and back from the hotel to the amazing Archaeological Museum. Most of the other days were less taxing but involved similar amounts of clambering up and down very old stone things.
My Fitbit Aria claims I've lost 5% body fat. Yeah, right, scale. It's water weight. Now to see how quickly it comes off
6 -
Nony_Mouse wrote: »From Aug to Jan 1, I lost 24#. Since Jan 1, I've lost only 8.4. I've been struggling a bit, so I've changed up a few things. I did a diet break at the end of March. I've changed up my macros to help me with my satiation. I've changed up the number of calories to adding more on the weekend - that really didn't work. lol. Most recently I'm doing 5:2 IF. That seems to be helping the most because I'd be happy to lose 3/4# per week and I calculated to lose 1# per week and hoping that any errors in logging would make up the difference. Yes I weigh my food. Not religiously, but regularly. Probably 50% weighing, 25% measuring, 25% eye balling or guessing. I've quit drinking wine during the week. The first 7 months - no exercise. Since April I've been doing yoga 2-3 times a week. I wish I had done it sooner. Love it. I keep thinking that maybe water in my muscle due to the new exercise is a slight culprit. My sleep is not the best due to some high stress. I don't know. Maybe all of this is normal. I just thought that I would be a little further along after 10 months.
The good parts. In January, I thought my skin felt and looked saggy especially around my belly. Now I can honestly say that it doesn't have that same squishy saggy appearance. Truthfully I still have ALOT of belly fat to lose, but the skin seems to have tightened up. My side boobs are diminishing and my back fat is trimming down. Even my husband commented on it when he hugged me last night.
Is this all normal or is this an underachievement?
Honestly? I'd commit to weighing everything religiously for 4-6 weeks. You need to establish that you're calculating your calorie intake accurately before looking for other potential reasons for slower weight loss.
Agreed. The phrases "it works until it doesn't" and "what gets measured gets managed" apply here. If you're guessing 25% of the time, and loosely measuring another 25%, that's 50% of accountability that gets lost. You don't need to be neurotic about weighing your food at all times in the future, but troubleshooting begins with being able to know where you stand currently, and you want to be as accurate with objective data as possible before looking elsewhere.
Losing fat in the beginning is easy for most because there's some certainty that there's a deficit occurring compared to pre-dieting baseline intake, when dieters become mindful about their food. Once it stops working, then it's time to dial it in.
The hierarchy for body composition always follows: calories > macros [protein > carbs/fat] > micros > meal timing > supplements; and for activity: strength training > cardio (HIIT > LISS), where all the preceding categories should be taken into account before moving onto the next.
Alternatively, you can always eat like a robot:
https://www.facebook.com/chrismasterjohn/videos/1671524842883137/
As always, thank you for responding in a way that makes sense to me. I am vigilant about logging 100% of the things that I eat, but I'm doubling down in June on the accuracy.2 -
Nony_Mouse wrote: »From Aug to Jan 1, I lost 24#. Since Jan 1, I've lost only 8.4. I've been struggling a bit, so I've changed up a few things. I did a diet break at the end of March. I've changed up my macros to help me with my satiation. I've changed up the number of calories to adding more on the weekend - that really didn't work. lol. Most recently I'm doing 5:2 IF. That seems to be helping the most because I'd be happy to lose 3/4# per week and I calculated to lose 1# per week and hoping that any errors in logging would make up the difference. Yes I weigh my food. Not religiously, but regularly. Probably 50% weighing, 25% measuring, 25% eye balling or guessing. I've quit drinking wine during the week. The first 7 months - no exercise. Since April I've been doing yoga 2-3 times a week. I wish I had done it sooner. Love it. I keep thinking that maybe water in my muscle due to the new exercise is a slight culprit. My sleep is not the best due to some high stress. I don't know. Maybe all of this is normal. I just thought that I would be a little further along after 10 months.
The good parts. In January, I thought my skin felt and looked saggy especially around my belly. Now I can honestly say that it doesn't have that same squishy saggy appearance. Truthfully I still have ALOT of belly fat to lose, but the skin seems to have tightened up. My side boobs are diminishing and my back fat is trimming down. Even my husband commented on it when he hugged me last night.
Is this all normal or is this an underachievement?
Honestly? I'd commit to weighing everything religiously for 4-6 weeks. You need to establish that you're calculating your calorie intake accurately before looking for other potential reasons for slower weight loss.
Agreed. The phrases "it works until it doesn't" and "what gets measured gets managed" apply here. If you're guessing 25% of the time, and loosely measuring another 25%, that's 50% of accountability that gets lost. You don't need to be neurotic about weighing your food at all times in the future, but troubleshooting begins with being able to know where you stand currently, and you want to be as accurate with objective data as possible before looking elsewhere.
Losing fat in the beginning is easy for most because there's some certainty that there's a deficit occurring compared to pre-dieting baseline intake, when dieters become mindful about their food. Once it stops working, then it's time to dial it in.
The hierarchy for body composition always follows: calories > macros [protein > carbs/fat] > micros > meal timing > supplements; and for activity: strength training > cardio (HIIT > LISS), where all the preceding categories should be taken into account before moving onto the next.
Alternatively, you can always eat like a robot:
https://www.facebook.com/chrismasterjohn/videos/1671524842883137/
As always, thank you for responding in a way that makes sense to me. I am vigilant about logging 100% of the things that I eat, but I'm doubling down in June on the accuracy.
You're welcome. To your credit, even haphazard tracking has allowed you to lose weight, so that's still progress, even if it's slowed. Mind you, weight loss will never, ever be linear and fluctuations will occur due to anything life wants to throw your way... and achieving ideal results are painfully longer than anyone wants.
Unless it's your job to meet weight requirements by a certain time (sports/competitions), it's difficult to be that regimented and continuously enjoy it. You do the best you can with what you've got, and as long as the majority of your diet/activity is good, then progress will happen.7 -
wise words to live by anubis
1 -
Just popping in with a bit of a whine after a disheartening conversation with my neurologist yesterday.
After journaling and tracking for a while, it's become quite obvious that botox is only effective for my migraines for two months, and that's a problem because it's dosed every 3 months.
The reason I'm bringing this up? Well, I get exercise induced migraines, and really can't seem to get into any kind of groove and I also am a comfort carb fiend when I have migraines (if they're not to the point of making me throw up, which not all of them are).
So, I am a very bloated mess right now. Everything I do is one step forward, two steps back. All the time. I do two months of work and progress and then have to hit the breaks. Lather, rinse, repeat. This has been going on a while, but it took me a bit to put it all together and actually start journaling it enough to see a pattern.
Unfortunately, there's not anything we can do. It's the intensity of the exercise that seems to trigger the migraines, so a short jog might be okay, but something longer? Nope. Lifting weights? Maybe seriously deloading or body weight. But over and over. Every third month. And then start back up again from there. And maintain while eating all the oatmeal and potatoes and popcorn
So, is this like a month long refeed then, with the carbs or what? 13 -
I am still at 170lbs...breaking from heavy lifting for two weeks (so doing conditioning/circuit type training and lighter weights along with one heavy session Saturdays which is full on strongman, loving it!) Eating at small deficit (250 cals-ish so 2250 daily, with a bump up to maintenance Fridays still) and hoping to lose the last two stone (28lbs) over the next year, rather than with steep deficits and battling hunger and low energy...adding walking back in for cardio.7
-
GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »Just popping in with a bit of a whine after a disheartening conversation with my neurologist yesterday.
After journaling and tracking for a while, it's become quite obvious that botox is only effective for my migraines for two months, and that's a problem because it's dosed every 3 months.
The reason I'm bringing this up? Well, I get exercise induced migraines, and really can't seem to get into any kind of groove and I also am a comfort carb fiend when I have migraines (if they're not to the point of making me throw up, which not all of them are).
So, I am a very bloated mess right now. Everything I do is one step forward, two steps back. All the time. I do two months of work and progress and then have to hit the breaks. Lather, rinse, repeat. This has been going on a while, but it took me a bit to put it all together and actually start journaling it enough to see a pattern.
Unfortunately, there's not anything we can do. It's the intensity of the exercise that seems to trigger the migraines, so a short jog might be okay, but something longer? Nope. Lifting weights? Maybe seriously deloading or body weight. But over and over. Every third month. And then start back up again from there. And maintain while eating all the oatmeal and potatoes and popcorn
So, is this like a month long refeed then, with the carbs or what?
Sorry to hear that. I don't have experience with migraines, but I am of the mind that if there are limitations, then do what you can to tolerance. Any activity is better than doing none.
I believe the carb cravings are a natural response to the migraines. Whether they provide a physiological benefit for migraiines over a psychological one, I'm not sure, but arguably the type of carbs (natural/whole grain vs refined/processed) would provide a benefit for body composition and cellular activity, assuming you're not totally blowing your maintenance calories
But as I said before, we do what we can with what we have based on what life gives us. Dealing with weddings and funerals for the past month, I've been on a sort of hiatus from any progress and I desperately need a break from partying lol. My training has taken a hit as well as my diet, so I'm basically getting back into the groove as well.10 -
Happy Friday all. I’ve seen and read things that can’t be unseen and since I’ve been on a perpetual party for the past couple months, it continues tonight lol
10 -
So this gal (Stephanie Buttermore) is doing a series of videos based on Lyle's women's book. The third one (not on this playlist yet, but on her channel) is about refeeds and diet breaks.
It's a good cliffnotes version for those just finding this thread thanks to the BUMP!5 -
Hungry_Shopgirl wrote: »So this gal (Stephanie Buttermore) is doing a series of videos based on Lyle's women's book. The third one (not on this playlist yet, but on her channel) is about refeeds and diet breaks.
It's a good cliffnotes version for those just finding this thread thanks to the BUMP!
Thanks for the share. I've got the book and have been chipping at it, but these videos were good reviews.
Note to self: Stick to the Lyle-based videos she's done in the future. Though I think I have a new life goal after watching one of her food day videos... Wow.3 -
Hi all, just checking in! I've been in maintenance since Feb., and am doing well, eating more than expected due to increased energy and activity. I owe a lot to the information, advice and personal experience shared in this thread, especially the emphasis on trusting the process and looking at trends rather than daily ups and downs.
Thank you everyone 17 -
Happy Monday all. For anyone that needs a refresher of what result chasing entails, enjoy this post by Aadam Ali
https://www.facebook.com/728747640541819/posts/1762918070458099/
17 -
Happy Monday all. For anyone that needs a refresher of what result chasing entails, enjoy this post by Aadam Ali
https://www.facebook.com/728747640541819/posts/1762918070458099/
QFT and all around awesomeness! Especially no. 1.2 -
GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »I have celiac disease, so everything I do is gluten free!
To dress up your potatoes, look for different herbs. Chives are good, roasting them with smoked paprika then hitting them with a squirt of lemon juice is tasty too.
Rosemary! Or garlic! A little basil or nasturtium. Or try a little turmeric.2 -
Long overdue update from me. I've been down a deep dark hole of not caring about food or exercise for 3-4 months. Dragging my now considerably chubbier butt back out of it. At least it's winter, so I can hide my sins under clothing. On the downside, it's winter, and eating at a deficit in winter blows.
Planning to do the first couple of weeks (I'm on day 4) at a straight deficit, then back to weekend refeeds. I reckon I'm probably looking at over 3 months (accounting for a diet break in the middle) to get back to where I was. Bah. But, I brought it on myself, and at least I have some extra winter insulation 15 -
I am six months in and I am on my first break. I finally had to give in and stop caring about my ratio of carbs to protein but it has left me hungrier than I like some days. I will have to figure that part out before I lose all of my weight but I have plenty of time. I decided to eat just below my maintenance to give me a buffer since I knew I would be eating out a little more than normal.
I am enjoying it but I am also antsy to get back to my routine. It is hard mentally to put the breaks on something that was working pretty well.
I decided today that instead of jumping back in to full deficit when my time is up I will transition back with 2 days (maybe 3) at half deficit.5 -
I find diet breaks to be so important, I incorporate them when I am cutting once every 6-12 weeks. It gives me some sanity....let's face it, eating less calories than you burn sucks, a diet break is like taking a step back in order to later take 2 steps forward.
In the past, I used to make the mistake of doing an entire cut throughout the whole journey and the last 5 lbs I needed to lose would take forever, I am convinced that had I done a diet break, I would've ended my cut earlier than it should've.7
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.5K Introduce Yourself
- 43.5K Getting Started
- 259.7K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 391 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.2K MyFitnessPal Information
- 22 News and Announcements
- 925 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions