Making some changes to my diet - input welcome/appreciated

lgfrie
lgfrie Posts: 1,449 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey all :)

So my wife and I have concluded after 15 months we are kind of burned out on the diets. I've gained a few lbs back, she is more or less holding on to her low but wavering. We've lost ~ 80 and ~ 70 pounds respectively. Our diets have lately entailed 500 calorie deficits and have always included 45-60 minute cardio workouts, combined with 12 noon - 7 pm intermittent fasting (we're both nighttime bingers, the IF has been very helpful for that).

We both have around 40 more lbs to lose, but we've been feeling sluggish about it lately, not highly motivated. I honestly don't see us lopping off the next 40 without a break first.

We've decided to take a 3 month maintenance break to try to get recharged. Our thinking is to eat at maintenance calories - that'd give us 500 more cals per day, which would be quite wonderful right now. And to convert the 17:7 IF into a simpler "no eating after 8 pm" rule. And to continue with the cardio, because it's good for us. Then, hopefully, when we've had our fill of that in a few months and are ready to get back on the train, reengage with the calorie deficits and possibly the IF.

I'm particularly interested in hearing from anyone who's taken a long planned time-out from their diet with the intention of getting it restarted down the road. And specifically, how it worked out, how long a break you took, whether your weight came out the same at the back end as the front end, and any tips or tricks to avoid the time-out turning into a regain, which is of course the fear we both have.

Thanks

Replies

  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,099 Member
    lgfrie wrote: »
    Hey all :)

    So my wife and I have concluded after 15 months we are kind of burned out on the diets. I've gained a few lbs back, she is more or less holding on to her low but wavering. We've lost ~ 80 and ~ 70 pounds respectively. Our diets have lately entailed 500 calorie deficits and have always included 45-60 minute cardio workouts, combined with 12 noon - 7 pm intermittent fasting (we're both nighttime bingers, the IF has been very helpful for that).

    We both have around 40 more lbs to lose, but we've been feeling sluggish about it lately, not highly motivated. I honestly don't see us lopping off the next 40 without a break first.

    We've decided to take a 3 month maintenance break to try to get recharged. Our thinking is to eat at maintenance calories - that'd give us 500 more cals per day, which would be quite wonderful right now. And to convert the 17:7 IF into a simpler "no eating after 8 pm" rule. And to continue with the cardio, because it's good for us. Then, hopefully, when we've had our fill of that in a few months and are ready to get back on the train, reengage with the calorie deficits and possibly the IF.

    I'm particularly interested in hearing from anyone who's taken a long planned time-out from their diet with the intention of getting it restarted down the road. And specifically, how it worked out, how long a break you took, whether your weight came out the same at the back end as the front end, and any tips or tricks to avoid the time-out turning into a regain, which is of course the fear we both have.

    Thanks

    Have you made a massive lifestyle change? I think you have sir. I dont have any new age hippy dippy mumbo jumbo, but now believe the way we eat, live, weight, history, and a small part of genetics play on where our weights will sit comfortably. Live the lifestyle that you are doing, and weight will most likely follow.
    Resist and bite brother!
  • sarahbetherck
    sarahbetherck Posts: 270 Member
    Maintenance periods are good. I would suggest that you continue to log your food and exercise, even while on maintenance. I know for me, it keeps me in check. Whenever I try to maintain and go off MFP, I go off the rails and have to lose again.
  • lgfrie
    lgfrie Posts: 1,449 Member
    sarahbetherck wrote: »
    Maintenance periods are good. I would suggest that you continue to log your food and exercise, even while on maintenance. I know for me, it keeps me in check. Whenever I try to maintain and go off MFP, I go off the rails and have to lose again.

    Thanks. Without doubt, that is DEFINITELY going to be part of it - logging and also daily weighing. I have already discovered over the last 15 months, numerous times, that when I don't log, the first 24 hours go OK, the next 24 I start grazing, and usually by day 3 but no later than day 4, I have a ferocious binge, gain a pound, and then that stupid cycle starts of scale avoidance, weight gain, not wanting to see the number, and it can be extremely hard for me to rein it back in. This time, it's gonna be constant food logging and morning accountability weigh-ins. That's the only way I can do it. School of hard knocks for me. I need the accountability of food logging and the scale.
  • lgfrie
    lgfrie Posts: 1,449 Member
    psychod787 wrote: »
    lgfrie wrote: »
    Hey all :)

    So my wife and I have concluded after 15 months we are kind of burned out on the diets. I've gained a few lbs back, she is more or less holding on to her low but wavering. We've lost ~ 80 and ~ 70 pounds respectively. Our diets have lately entailed 500 calorie deficits and have always included 45-60 minute cardio workouts, combined with 12 noon - 7 pm intermittent fasting (we're both nighttime bingers, the IF has been very helpful for that).

    We both have around 40 more lbs to lose, but we've been feeling sluggish about it lately, not highly motivated. I honestly don't see us lopping off the next 40 without a break first.

    We've decided to take a 3 month maintenance break to try to get recharged. Our thinking is to eat at maintenance calories - that'd give us 500 more cals per day, which would be quite wonderful right now. And to convert the 17:7 IF into a simpler "no eating after 8 pm" rule. And to continue with the cardio, because it's good for us. Then, hopefully, when we've had our fill of that in a few months and are ready to get back on the train, reengage with the calorie deficits and possibly the IF.

    I'm particularly interested in hearing from anyone who's taken a long planned time-out from their diet with the intention of getting it restarted down the road. And specifically, how it worked out, how long a break you took, whether your weight came out the same at the back end as the front end, and any tips or tricks to avoid the time-out turning into a regain, which is of course the fear we both have.

    Thanks

    Have you made a massive lifestyle change? I think you have sir. I dont have any new age hippy dippy mumbo jumbo, but now believe the way we eat, live, weight, history, and a small part of genetics play on where our weights will sit comfortably. Live the lifestyle that you are doing, and weight will most likely follow.
    Resist and bite brother!

    I like this! Not exactly sure what resist and bite means, but it has a good vibe :)
  • lgfrie
    lgfrie Posts: 1,449 Member
    Diatonic12 wrote: »
    You're so smart. I remember many of your posts and have cabbaged onto your tips.

    I started in 2014. I lost a whopping boatload but started eating it all back because I returned to the scene of every thrill eating ride I'd ever been on. Once again, I was entertaining myself with food rewards.

    You already know the difference between maintenance and thrill eating rides. That wagon loaded UP to the gills with Cheat Meals turning into giant month hunks....Cheat Months, Cheat Years. Then it's back to, I'm back, I'm back, I ate it all back. Starting over and over and over again.

    Many report the maintenance break is exactly what's needed to find balance.

    I started over again in 2016. It took me 2.5 years to undo what the thrill eating did and stick the landing.
    I've been maintaining my dream weight for 1.5 years now. I don't fly by the seat of my pants. I'm not married to my food so I don't need to cheat on it. :#

    Keep tracking your data points. Don't let it slip right through your hands. With every passing day and year the ground grows colder. You don't ever want to start over again. Don't let your brain bully your body. When you try to outsmart your body...your body will outsmart you back.

    Stay focused and consistent on your maintenance break.


    Good guidance from personal experience, thank you!
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,416 Member
    My opinion that you didn't ask for is this:

    Take a one WEEK maintenance break. Two weeks, max.

    Then come back with a 250 calorie deficit.

    You'll still be losing, maybe even faster than you think and it will be one HECK of a lot easier than coming back to that 500 deficit.

    I eased into maintenance from a 250 deficit. Even 250 takes some discipline, but it's not particularly painful - at least not until you get to that last 15. Then it's painful.


    I know what I looked and felt like 40 pounds heavier than I am now and it wasn't anything near how I am now.

    Finish what you started, I think three months is too long.
  • bmeadows380
    bmeadows380 Posts: 2,981 Member
    edited August 2020
    After reading through the refeeds and diet breaks thread, I've been trying to incorporate regular diet breaks into my routine to reset my hormone levels and to give me more calories for vacations. I took an unplanned one earlier this month because I've been struggling with fatigue and thought that perhaps I hadn't been fueling my activity levels properly. It took a week, but I finally had a big whoosh this morning which took off the water weight from that diet break and a couple of lbs with it.

    I want to continue losing into October, then take an extended diet break in November and December to practice maintenance eating for one thing, to give my body an extended period to get back to normal after the long term stress of being in a deficit for a year, and to help ease the holidays. I also hope that by taking a purposeful extended break, I can stave off a 18 month plateau like I hit last time. My loss rate has already dropped this summer like it always does - I seem to lose weight best in spring, then die off in late summer - so I'm hoping that by taking a diet break and working on maintenance, or giving myself permission to eat at maintenance instead of feeling guilty because I "can't stick to it any more", I'll maintain control and will be able to slide back into it in the spring without regaining anything or at least only minimally so I'm not rehashing part of the old trail back to where I was. Like you, I know daily weighing in and logging are going to be extremely necessary.

    So I don't have any advice to give from experience in the past, but I plan on doing the same thing, so I can report what success I have in the fall when I ease into it myself!
  • DanaDark
    DanaDark Posts: 2,187 Member
    Different strokes for different folks, but I lost a lot of weight doing my plan below and then gained it all back after dropping off it when I got a significant other and we simply spent 3 years together enjoying life a wee bit too much. Still together, but I am back at it and will adjust to be smarter once I trim down.

    I have trouble with the TDEE-500 every single day thing. I like going out. I like a snack at the movies. I sometimes want that 1000 calorie meal that somehow is still the size of a deck of cards. Any one of those done in a week and all is lost. Really hurts my motivation.

    For me, I start at TDEE-500, then do 5:2 IF where 2 of those days I eat no more than 500 calories if at all (other than coffee). Those calories saved from those 2 days then go elsewhere throughout the week. It was my little sister's 31st birthday this weekend and I had cake AND ice cream and a few Captain Morgans... all fine. Calories covered by the two fast days.

    TL;DR: I simply cannot look at my calorie goals solely as a per-day thing. So, I switched to a per-week with a slight eye on each day and it was a game changer for me. Perhaps it could work for you.

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