Taking a maintenance week...motivate? or sabatoge?

CMorning99
CMorning99 Posts: 924 Member
edited October 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
Is it a bad idea to just take a week off?

Especially around this time of year when we are busier than ever with the added burden of the holidays right around the corner...I am finding I am exhausted (maybe it is was adding up all year) and dont want to think about planning meals and counting calories; and as one never found of exercise, has no motivation to go running when it is 48 degrees...

Does taking some time off and just making sure you don't go above maintanence give you a motivation to renew your efforts aftwards...or is better to just keep rolling no matter how tired you are?

Replies

  • shakybabe
    shakybabe Posts: 1,578 Member
    If your that tired of it take a break but keep an eye on your weight so you don't put too much on. If you do treat yourself and indulge in cals just have a low cal day the day after and do something fun to keep moving.. go ice skating or something!, cycling.. play on games consoles.. those dance games will burn loads without it been like a structured workout especially if you get friends/family involved.

    If you got kids take them on few day trips in holidays where you walk about alot but still have fun (theme park, zoo?)
  • lthomas42
    lthomas42 Posts: 73 Member
    Don't give up because the going gets tough. That's how people ruin all their hard work. Make it a part of your daily routine, no excuses!
  • HealthyWayorNoWay
    HealthyWayorNoWay Posts: 83 Member
    Do what you got to do. Take that week and eat at maintenance it's okay. For the last week in December I plan on setting my calorie goal to my maintenance. There is nothing wrong with it!
  • CMmrsfloyd
    CMmrsfloyd Posts: 2,380 Member
    I've seen a lot of people recommend taking time for maintenance as a way to avoid plateaus. Just b/c it's something different that your body hasn't done in awhile, to keep things new. Same principle as zig-zagging and spiking and all that stuff. It definitely should not sabotage anything. It might even do you some good. :-)
  • 0PhAtDaDdY
    0PhAtDaDdY Posts: 569 Member
    It's ok as long as you do not gain any weight....
  • aaleigha1
    aaleigha1 Posts: 408 Member
    I would take a week off healthy food choices but I would still log what I ate - maybe not on here but in a small notebook as it woud be interesting to see what happened to my weight fluid retention etc
  • Cr0wned_Dynam0
    Cr0wned_Dynam0 Posts: 20
    I took some time off last year, because I had been laid off and I was gearing up to going back to school, there were a lot of changes in my life. Stopping was the biggest mistake I made. I had lost about 70 lbs at that point in time and slowly but surely about 23 lbs crept back on through 2011, because I just had the hardest time getting any kind of motivaiton at all, the weight gain just made it even harder. For me when I am feeling exhausted I am for quick and easy meals that are filled with good ingredients. Even though I try to avoid processed foods, if you have to eat lean cuisine for a few meals so you can stay on track it's better than completely calling by the way side. Think about your goal and be careful if you do take some time off, make sure you have a plan to get back on.
  • CMmrsfloyd
    CMmrsfloyd Posts: 2,380 Member
    I think there is definitely a difference between taking time off completely (not logging) and re-setting goals to maintenance and tracking that for a little while. I know I'm not at a point where I could just not log and expect things to work out fine. LOL But if you set your goal to maintenance and are honest with your logging, you should not have a problem.
  • Dave198lbs
    Dave198lbs Posts: 8,810 Member
    as long as you dont come back after that week 2 pounds heavier and whine about it
  • julslea
    julslea Posts: 436 Member
    I think i will switch to maintenance while i'm at my in-laws for 3-4 days over Christmas...still log though and get in as much exercise as I can.
  • Jess5825
    Jess5825 Posts: 228
    For me it is sabotage. I lost 70 lb in 3 years on Jenny Craig, got bored, decided to take a week off. Well that week turned into never going back and 55 lb back on before I said WTF am I doing? Id be more about a cheat meal. And the time I did that I made myself burn enough calories to actually not go over. Kind of defeated the purpose, I know.

    Who knows, you may be able to handle it though.
  • BlueLikeJazz
    BlueLikeJazz Posts: 219 Member
    Well, if I were you, I'd take a look at your past experiences. A year and a half ago, I "took a week off" after I reached my first big goal weight. It was around 4th of July so I knew there were going to be parties and picnics and I just wanted to enjoy myself and relax for the week. That week ended up becoming over a year with mini-weight-loss attempts in between, but I just couldn't get back in the swing of things until recently. I wasted so much time! I think the biggest thing, if you do take the week off, is to keep logging and actually eat at maintenance, not just guesstimate.

    What's the old physics analogy here? A thing in motion tends to stay in motion and a thing at rest tends to stay at rest. If you're on a roll, I'd try to at least partially keep it going by doing a little exercise (even just a walk) every day and still tracking your food. It's way to easy to get a case of the "f&%k-its" once you get off track.
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