Coming from the perspective of someone who has lost 100 and regained 110 back (after my dad died suddenly) and am starting back at scratch, I can tell you that even if my metabolism did slow down there is really no one to blame but me for letting it all go for so long... 110 pounds took 9 years to put back on. It might get harder but trust me when I say it is easier to get moving, try new things, and feel better when your smaller.

I might have another life crisis that will probably kick my emotional eating into high gear and start me gaining again, but trust me when I say that next time I won't leave it very long, and as long as I have a metabolism, I do know how to take it off once I commit!

So I'm not scared, I know the rest of my life will just be a series of ups and downs...but I am going to do my best to have more downs than ups from now on 😉

Hugz, Lyn

@papayahed

There's a lot of good information in the forums on the various studies that have come out. I think it's called the Minnesota Starvation Experiment that was done several decades ago, and it was the one study that shed a lot of light on human physiology in response to starvation and extreme deficits.

The problem with most studies performed on various diets is that they are usually extremely small in their sample population, and many allow the subjects to simply self report, meaning most are very poorly controlled and thus really end up meaningless. However, your popular magazines and news sources don't bother to explain that when they report on these studies; their job is to catch your attention with news. The exact same thing happens here at MFP with the articles that show up on your home page - there have been tons of articles that showed up there that was filled with shaky science.

So really, take was you read on CNN, The Times, Prevention, or any other popular level news sources with much skepticism; for every article you find claiming one thing has been proven, you'll find another that debunks it.

I usually listen to the folks here that have a science background and who point out actual journal studies to back up what they are claiming, and that's just because I can grasp math, but biological sciences and medical jargon quickly go over my head


Most people, however, when in for the long term dieting are going to have plateaus and just times where they slip off the wagon; its human nature. The idea is to find a method of losing weight that you can sustain in the long term and give yourself enough time to firmly establish new habits that will aid you in maintaining your weight once you lose it.

My personal opinion is that the science studies that are being used here to encourage the refeeds and diet breaks are sound and logical; of course eating in a deficit is going to be stressful on your body; your body needs a certain amount of fuel to function and when you are forcing it to use its reserves, its going to be stressful. We all know what long term stress can do to a person physically and mentally, so it just makes sense to me to take time every once in a while to give our bodies a break - just like we take vacations to get away from it all to give ourselves a break from our every day stresses of living, work, family, etc. So even if it were to be proven that the diet break doesn't really have an impact on hormone levels, I still believe they are a valuable tool in many other ways.

Secondly, diet breaks give you a chance to indulge yourself in a controlled manner. When you are in a deficit and calorie counting, while we know we can eat whatever we want and still lose weight as long as we stay within our deficit, we all also know that there are some items we would normally enjoy that just aren't worth the calorie load. Pizza, for example But when you are in a diet break and getting back those deficit calories you can indulge in some of those once in a while foods which in turn can help stave off feelings of deprivation.

Thirdly, I think they are a wonderful tool in learning what maintenance will be like and how to eat to maintenance which is the end goal for all of us. You get a 2 week controlled window to experiment in - if you slip off the rails, the damage done will be minimal and will give you time to find what will work for you. I don't suffer from binge episodes myself, but I would think that the structure of a diet break might also help with learning to limit over feed periods (I can't promise that; but you might find more information from others who have done it and see what their results were).

I'm only 3 days in but I have already noticed a little more energy, and I am very surprised to see how little interested my stomach actually is in those extra calories - I was really expecting to have to strongly hold myself back. We'll see where I am 2 weeks from now; my biggest hurdle will be going back to deficit eating and I may have to let myself back down slowly; we'll see in 2 weeks!

BUT there really isn't any need for you to worry so much about it now; just watch, learn from the experiences of others here, and then look at your own patterns and needs to decide if you want to give it a try or if it might work for you. The beauty of all this is that there isn't any one "right" way or any "best way" that is one size fits all; the best plan for you is the one that works for you personally!