Thoughts: diet breaks

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kentuckykay96
kentuckykay96 Posts: 30 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello, I’m looking to lose nearly 100lbs. I’ve dieted since I was a teen, now mid 20s and this I know - it’s hard to track every detail, and not only that it can be all consuming. Now I have kids that I need to devote time to and I just don’t see me succeeding for any long amount of time in a calorie deficit. We are overall making changes by adding physical activity a few times a week and adding lots of vegetables to our meals and these are good habit changes for overall well-being but I’m still not losing weight. I need to hunker down and really do a deficit.
Questions: are diet breaks a good option when you have such a large, long term goal? Or perhaps a slow increase to a maintained calorie intake during the break? If so, how long should you slowly increase to that maintenance calorie limit? How will this effect my metabolism? How long should I diet vs break?
Thanks everyone, from a busy toddler mom! ♥️

Replies

  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,526 Member
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    I think they are a good tool. After about every 6 weeks, I would have a client just increase their calories for a couple of days, but nothing crazy. A little indulgence is good for motivation after dieting that long.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,121 Member
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    I think diet breaks are a good idea, whenever weight loss is likely to take a long time.

    Aside from that, weight loss doesn't mean you need to be in a deficit every day. You could have a deficit on weekdays, and eat at maintenance (or even more) on the weekends. You could have a deficit on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, and eat more on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Whatever distribution you want as long as you're in a calorie deficit overall on average.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,962 Member
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    I lost about 80 pounds. I started with a very large calorie deficit. I was at 1200 for a couple or three months. Then the inevitable crash and burn.:lol: There is no way I could stick at that low calorie. I was miserable, irritable, my nails and hair were obviously stressed and I was sleeping all the time. I could barely get through my day.

    So...I ate more. I set my calories to 1600 PLUS exercise calories. On most days I was walking for 30-45 minutes and eating 1900-2000. That was not very difficult until I got to a healthy BMI. That's when it got harder. I had very little to lose (15ish pounds) and I was hungry a lot. I had a hard time sticking to my calories and many days I was waaaaay over. Like 3000 calories.

    I still lost the weight, but it took me nine months to lose that last 15 and it was tough.

    I didn't make "refeeds" a scheduled event, but I did sort of do that by default.

    Here's a good thread - the first page has all you need: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks/p1
  • Retroguy2000
    Retroguy2000 Posts: 1,515 Member
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    Absolutely. It's a good idea both physically and mentally. Physically, because dieting is stressful on the body, and there may come a point where your weight loss is stalling which would be your cue to take a diet break now. Mentally, obviously. Taking a break means you still track, but you go back to maintenance every few months and for a couple of weeks. Let your body and mind refresh and recharge.
  • kentuckykay96
    kentuckykay96 Posts: 30 Member
    edited October 2022
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    Thank you everyone.
  • kentuckykay96
    kentuckykay96 Posts: 30 Member
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    cmriverside wrote: »
    I lost about 80 pounds. I started with a very large calorie deficit. I was at 1200 for a couple or three months. Then the inevitable crash and burn.:lol: There is no way I could stick at that low calorie. I was miserable, irritable, my nails and hair were obviously stressed and I was sleeping all the time. I could barely get through my day.

    So...I ate more. I set my calories to 1600 PLUS exercise calories. On most days I was walking for 30-45 minutes and eating 1900-2000. That was not very difficult until I got to a healthy BMI. That's when it got harder. I had very little to lose (15ish pounds) and I was hungry a lot. I had a hard time sticking to my calories and many days I was waaaaay over. Like 3000 calories.

    I still lost the weight, but it took me nine months to lose that last 15 and it was tough.

    I didn't make "refeeds" a scheduled event, but I did sort of do that by default.

    Here's a good thread - the first page has all you need: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks/p1


    This was very insightful! I had no clue! No wonder I have trouble sticking to a diet long term. Your body is fighting you! It always ends in a binge.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,962 Member
    edited October 2022
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    As far as
    ultimately life shouldn't be guided by an app or numbers
    - sure, that would be true for some people. If you need to lose 100 pounds, maybe consider tracking diligently until you get that weight under control. Something needs to change, right? Freedom is good, but when I was over-weight I had lost my ability to self-monitor my eating and I needed some hard evidence and accountability daily, and the easiest way to do that is to track food.

    I lost my 80 pounds back in 2007-08. I've continued to track food on this site for most of the past 15 years because I need to do so to maintain. I look at it like brushing my teeth. It's a health maintenance thing, and it only takes me a couple minutes per meal. I tried not tracking and gained a few pounds pretty quickly.

    One thing I have learned from tracking is that now I can go anywhere, look at a dish and estimate pretty closely how many calories it has. I can keep a running total of how much I've eaten in my head for a whole day. I learned that by using my food scale and tracking for many months at a time.

    I think some people need more personal constraints than others. I know what works and what doesn't work for me. I hope you find your path.
  • kentuckykay96
    kentuckykay96 Posts: 30 Member
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    ChickenKillerPuppy wrote: »
    I also noticed that what you mentioned in your post that felt overwhelming right now was tracking, but then you concluded that it would be really difficult to stay in a calorie deficit. Those are different things (although most of us here do use tracking to know if we are in a calorie deficit).

    If you can establish manageable habits where you are eating either at maintenance of even a slight deficit (as others have said, you don't need to be in a deficit every day - I do everything as weekly averages), and you can stick to those habits, you don't necessarily need to track, especially if you continue to weigh yourself to make sure you are not gaining weight.

    I think it is healthy and realistic to know that your life is in a place where it may be hard to be losing weight right now. It is reasonable to have your goal be to try and maintain your weight for a while, and just not gain. For so many of us life so far has been a seesaw with our weight. The ability to maintain is actually a skill and one it would make sense to develop. Once you know how to maintain, when you want to go back to losing it becomes much easier.


    I think that I feel overwhelmed by calorie tracking over long periods of time, because ultimately life shouldn't be guided by an app or numbers. Life is about living, and I think that is what I was meaning when I said tracking takes a toll on me mentally. Maintenance is certainly a skill, one that I have NEVER attempted to learn. I believe I may want to test the waters and track my maintenance times, but also coordinate days of the week to not track calories so I feel like I’m getting that mental break and freedom of choice, but being aware enough not to binge on those days.
  • kentuckykay96
    kentuckykay96 Posts: 30 Member
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    A break from reduced calories, or a break from logging, or both?

    Others have addressed the "break from reduced calories" aspect very well.

    A break from logging has different implications, depending on what you do. While calorie counting is not the One and Only True Way to accomplish weight management, if you take breaks from logging, you'll need an alternate approach that supports your goals.

    It's easy for unintended potion creep to happen. As you've discovered, simply eating more healthfully and exercising doesn't mean you'll lose weight, or even stop gaining.

    If you log long enough to establish eating patterns that result in weight loss, then stop logging but mindfully continue those patterns, that can work. But if you simultaneously stop logging plus change eating patterns to aim at maintenance calories by "going back to normal eating" or some other unpracticed pattern, there could be pitfalls or setbacks.

    I'm not suggesting that these are insurmountable issues. I'm just suggesting that you think through whether deficit breaks and logging breaks need to happen simultaneously in order to fit your needs, and if so, how to make them align with your long-term goals. Personalization of tactics is key to success, IMO.

    Best wishes for success!

    Binging is a big concern for me. So I don’t think I could do a break from logging and calorie deficit at the same time. It’s almost as though I need a day or two break from tracking, on a day that I can ensure I won’t be indulging in cravings. I hope all this is making sense. I have a real fear of not tracking, but also know that I can’t do it long term for months on end and expect to stick to it. Any thoughts?
  • kentuckykay96
    kentuckykay96 Posts: 30 Member
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    ninerbuff wrote: »
    I think they are a good tool. After about every 6 weeks, I would have a client just increase their calories for a couple of days, but nothing crazy. A little indulgence is good for motivation after dieting that long.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png

    Do you have any tips for diet breaks at maintenance caloric intake? I have a history of binging and while I have learned how to torture my body into quick weight loss, it has never sticked for any amount of time. I do not know HOW to maintain aside from what a calorie calculator tells me, so any tips you may have would be wonderful!
  • Sinisterbarbie1
    Sinisterbarbie1 Posts: 712 Member
    edited October 2022
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    The challenge might be that you are fighting the information that tracking is giving you. You say that “life is about living” and “tracking takes a mental toll” and that you never attempted to learn maintenance and need a “mental break and freedom of choice” but maintaining even at a weight 100 lbs above your desired weight does not involve complete mental breaks and freedom of choice (other than that you can choose to eat whatever fits within your calorie budget), but rather knowing your maintenance calorie limit and not exceeding it. That involves weighing and recording your calorie intake just as if you were losing if you want to be accurate.

    I don’t mean to sound harsh - once you have figured out how to manage your calorie intake and output you can do whatever you want with that information : maintain, gain, lose - it is just information. But giving yourself a “mental break” from applying that information won’t change the facts. You will still gain weight it you exceed the amount of calories your body uses in a given time period, lose weight if you are in a deficit, and maintain your weight if you are more or less even.

    On freedom of choice though, you can eat whatever you want, and eat anything your family likes. You just need to manage portions to your calorie budget. That may ultimately end up guiding you to eat different foods and start swapping out calorie dense and less nutritious foods for choices that are bigger in volume, more nutritious, etc. but that is not an absolute must . The only thing that matters is CICO.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,170 Member
    edited October 2022
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    kentuckykay96 wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    A break from reduced calories, or a break from logging, or both?

    Others have addressed the "break from reduced calories" aspect very well.

    A break from logging has different implications, depending on what you do. While calorie counting is not the One and Only True Way to accomplish weight management, if you take breaks from logging, you'll need an alternate approach that supports your goals.

    It's easy for unintended potion creep to happen. As you've discovered, simply eating more healthfully and exercising doesn't mean you'll lose weight, or even stop gaining.

    If you log long enough to establish eating patterns that result in weight loss, then stop logging but mindfully continue those patterns, that can work. But if you simultaneously stop logging plus change eating patterns to aim at maintenance calories by "going back to normal eating" or some other unpracticed pattern, there could be pitfalls or setbacks.

    I'm not suggesting that these are insurmountable issues. I'm just suggesting that you think through whether deficit breaks and logging breaks need to happen simultaneously in order to fit your needs, and if so, how to make them align with your long-term goals. Personalization of tactics is key to success, IMO.

    Best wishes for success!

    Binging is a big concern for me. So I don’t think I could do a break from logging and calorie deficit at the same time. It’s almost as though I need a day or two break from tracking, on a day that I can ensure I won’t be indulging in cravings. I hope all this is making sense. I have a real fear of not tracking, but also know that I can’t do it long term for months on end and expect to stick to it. Any thoughts?

    My thoughts:

    Basically, start, give yourself some grace, learn, keep going. Patient persistence.

    Plan a general approach that you think can work for you. Test drive it. Give it a fair try, at least a month, even if the month has some slips in it. Then assess. If it worked well enough, wonderful, keep going. (It doesn't have to be perfect, just good enough to make progress.)

    If it didn't work completely well, why was that? Think, learn from the non-ideal parts, adjust, and go on. Personalize your approach. Some part that doesn't work is not 'a failure'. It's just a thing that's teaching you how to make your plan better.

    Just don't give up.

    Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm feeling some fear and anxiety in your posts. That's understandable and normal, but in my case it helped to think of weight management as a sort of science fair experiment, trying practical changes in tactics until a routine clicked. For me, while emotions are going to happen, they're not my best helpers in something like this. Analysis and practical problem-solving were better helpers.

    I'm betting you have good skills in analysis and practical problem solving. You probably use them all the time to accomplish things in your job, home chores, finances, and more.

    Use those skills for weight management, too. My advice: Emotions will happen, feel them, but don't let them run the show.
    kentuckykay96 wrote: »
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    I think they are a good tool. After about every 6 weeks, I would have a client just increase their calories for a couple of days, but nothing crazy. A little indulgence is good for motivation after dieting that long.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png

    Do you have any tips for diet breaks at maintenance caloric intake? I have a history of binging and while I have learned how to torture my body into quick weight loss, it has never sticked for any amount of time. I do not know HOW to maintain aside from what a calorie calculator tells me, so any tips you may have would be wonderful!

    Maintenance - in the long run - is about finding sustainable habits: Reasonably happy ways of eating and moving that you can continue almost on autopilot when other parts of life get complicated. Especially if you don't want to calorie count forever, maintenance calories need to be an outcome of those habits, not just a scary razor-wire fence around them. How to estimate that calorie goal is not the hardest part of that, IMO.

    Maintenance breaks are a little different. Sure, a calculator estimate is a reasonable starting point for calorie counting the break.

    If it's a maintenance day once or twice a week - or something like that - and you're counting, that'll be fine. (Do think, on those days, about what you're learning from those days that might inform your happy long term maintenance habits, of course. For example, what added foods work best for you, and when?)

    If you take a longer maintenance break along the way - like a couple of weeks or a month - start with that calculator calorie estimate, but also notice how your body weight responds on average over those multiple weeks.

    You're likely to see a quick scale jump over the first day or two when you go to estimated maintenance calories. Don't panic, that's just extra water retention to digest/metabolize the extra food, plus extra food residue that will eventually become waste. Look at the average over the whole multiple weeks.

    If your weight dropped quite a bit over that time, eat a few more calories during the next break. Unless you gain really a lot during the break, and the break was at least a month, I personally wouldn't bother reducing calories for the next maintenance break.

    Once you get close to goal weight, then you can focus more on experimentally finding your actual personal maintenance calories. Until then, just go with the calculator estimate, but avoid major under-eating during the breaks, because major under-eating would hinder the appetite/energy benefits you might get from the break.

    Just my opinions, though, as always.
  • ChickenKillerPuppy
    ChickenKillerPuppy Posts: 297 Member
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    kentuckykay96 wrote: »
    I think that I feel overwhelmed by calorie tracking over long periods of time, because ultimately life shouldn't be guided by an app or numbers. Life is about living, and I think that is what I was meaning when I said tracking takes a toll on me mentally..

    You absolutely have the freedom to track, not track at all, eat in a deficit, eat at maintenance, or eat whatever you’d like. You can live your life however you chose. But as another poster said, your body will gain weight if you eat more than your burn whatever your mindset is.

    If what you are saying (and you may not be saying this) is that it doesn’t seem fair that in order to lose weight you or maintain your weight you need to track and log and weigh while other people just get to live their lives and have fun and you should get to live with that freedom too, well, not much to do about that. I realized I don’t have a “normal” relationship with food so I have had to teach myself to eat like a normal person through CICO and tracking and weighing my food. That has been what has given me the freedom to live my life and not worry I am going to be gaining weight or not feel guilty about treats bc I plan them in. But I may have misinterpreted your point.

    However, there are ways you can monitor your eating and weight without tracking, so if you still want to keep your weight in check and stay in maintenance without tracking I would look into that.

  • ___Soundwave___
    ___Soundwave___ Posts: 1,190 Member
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    Hello, I've lost over a hundred lbs. I think taking breaks is good for you mentally. You will also be happily surprised along your way to find that none of your clothes will fit anymore. You'll probably find some point where you'll want to buy new clothes, and it would be nice to have those make it through a season. A break at that time makes sense.

    But at any point, if you're feeling overwhelmed with life...just take a little pause. You're working on a long term goal and you're going to succeed. Know that, and know that you can relax in that you're on the right path.

    You might even regain some weight along the way, but if you do don't feel down. The overall trajectory is what you want to maintain.

    So, be kind to yourself. Little changes add up to big ones over the course of time. It will work!
  • DFW_Tom
    DFW_Tom Posts: 218 Member
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    kentuckykay96 wrote: »
    Hello, I’m looking to lose nearly 100lbs. I’ve dieted since I was a teen, now mid 20s and this I know - it’s hard to track every detail, and not only that it can be all consuming. Now I have kids that I need to devote time to and I just don’t see me succeeding for any long amount of time in a calorie deficit. We are overall making changes by adding physical activity a few times a week and adding lots of vegetables to our meals and these are good habit changes for overall well-being but I’m still not losing weight. I need to hunker down and really do a deficit.
    Questions: are diet breaks a good option when you have such a large, long term goal? Or perhaps a slow increase to a maintained calorie intake during the break? If so, how long should you slowly increase to that maintenance calorie limit? How will this effect my metabolism? How long should I diet vs break?
    Thanks everyone, from a busy toddler mom! ♥️

    I love this thread. Don't understand the mindset of some of the replies, but that is not unusual for me. Making changes like adding physical activity is a great move on your part as increasing activity will help you both mentally and physically. Adding vegetables is OK if they are replacing the kind of foods that have you wanting to lose 100lbs in the first place. More vegetables do not cancel out the stuff that you shouldn't be eating though. Masochist diets, the forced calorie restricted portion control kind (but leaves you feeling hungry all the time), that have dieters trying to eat smaller amounts of the same things that got them overweight in the first place only work so long as self-denial can be maintained.

    Intentional cheat days and diet breaks don't make sense to me. When you have found a way to eliminate the foods that you shouldn't be eating, why would you want to torture yourself by going back to consuming them for even a short while? I can't do it. When I had lost the first 10% of my body weight, (a little over 30lbs) I thought I could afford to take a break by getting a large supreme pizza takeout that night. I had gobbled that thing up, along with a 12 oz bag of potato chips by early the next day and was starving by mid-morning. I realize now that it was the cravings to resupply the glucose in my body, not real hunger, that had overpowered my self-control. Spiking my glucose and insulin by eating things I shouldn't is dumb and no kind of reward or reset.

    Diets for weight loss do not work in the long term. Lifestyle changes in what you eat do. When you have found the healthy types of food that meet your body's needs and leave you satiated, you won't need or even want intentional diet breaks. It is a mindset thing for me, I'd rather eat to live than to live to eat. I know I can live without things like donuts, ice cream and pizza that are bad for me. As long as I eat enough healthy fats, carbs and proteins to meet my body's requirements, I am satisfied and continue to lose body fat.

    That is where logging foods have been such a big help to me. Tracking my calories and macro nutrients daily helped me discover what kinds of foods I should and shouldn't be eating. Now it helps me know if I am getting enough calories, fiber and proteins - or to too many fats, carbs, or sodium. It lets me plan my meals ahead of time so that the macros consumed fit the goals I've set. Logging also make it easy to adjust those goals as my weight and activity level have changed. I find it easier to log and track in my own set of spread sheets rather than using online apps, but that is just me.

    Please, don't get discouraged if you aren't losing the amount of weight you think you should. Keep trying to find what works for you. We are all different. Our daily lives are different. Get away from looking for a diet that you only plan to be on until you lose the weight you want to lose. Make the lifestyle changes that keep you healthy and satisfied - and that you can maintain for the rest of your life.

    And enjoy your little toddler. They grow up soooo fast!! Good luck.

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