Taking a Break from the Diet?

[tractorlegs]

This year has given me a lot of fitness and weight loss success (see my sig below) but after almost 8 months of being pretty strict with myself, I am just bone tired of dieting. I have only 10 pounds more to lose until I hit my goal weight, but I just wanna take a break from being so strict with myself.

So what I've decided to do for a while (maybe a month or two?) is to put myself on a maintenance program at my current weight, which will allow an increase of about 800↑↓ calories a day. Then, perhaps in January after the Holiday season is over, and my "attitude" changes, I will attack and demolish that last ten pounds.

Has anyone else done something similar? Any thoughts? 

[Mukluk4]

I do it fairly regularly (every three months or so).  The key is to not get back into old habits.

[tractorlegs]

Thanks @Mukluk4, I'm definitely going to continue to watch weight and track everything on the Fitbit app. Appreciate the advice!

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Mukluk4 wrote:

I do it fairly regularly (every three months or so).  The key is to not get back into old habits.

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[lonestarlesa]

I am right there with you! I have been following the Ideal Protein diet, (low carb~ Low calorie). I lost 82 pounds within the last 8 months...then I just stopped...I mean, I would gain a half, lose a quarter, gain an eighth, lose a half. It went on like that for about 2 months. I was 7 pounds from goal.

So I decided that I would go on maintenance for the holidays. New Years it is so easy to get motivated with every other person under the sun, so I figure I would hit it hard and heavy then.

NOW...to just not gain over these 2 months.

Lesa

[GershonSurge]

If people want to lose 60 pounds, they should set their goal at 70. Seems like everyone stops 10 pounds short.

I've been in maintenance since July 15th. I'm careful to go right back to tracking food if I gain even a pound. I've messed it up before, and I don't want to do it this time.

[shipo]

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@GershonSurge wrote:

If people want to lose 60 pounds, they should set their goal at 70. Seems like everyone stops 10 pounds short.

I've been in maintenance since July 15th. I'm careful to go right back to tracking food if I gain even a pound. I've messed it up before, and I don't want to do it this time.

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How do you know if you've gained or lost a single pound?  I ask because you're pretty active and if your body is even remotely like mine then hydration, or lack thereof, can make for some significant swings on the scale; I routinely see my weight fluctuate by five pounds or more on a day-to-day basis, sometimes by as much as ten pounds, and virtually all of the fluctuation is due to my level of hydration.

[tractorlegs]

@lonestarlesa Hi Lesa, I didn't even think about the weight loss "rush" after New Years Day. It will be easy to start again then! Everybody's losing weight (or wants to lol) so it may be easy to get caught up in it as a motivation to knock off these last ten. 

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lonestarlesa wrote:

I am right there with you! I have been following the Ideal Protein diet, (low carb~ Low calorie). I lost 82 pounds within the last 8 months...then I just stopped...I mean, I would gain a half, lose a quarter, gain an eighth, lose a half. It went on like that for about 2 months. I was 7 pounds from goal.

So I decided that I would go on maintenance for the holidays. New Years it is so easy to get motivated with every other person under the sun, so I figure I would hit it hard and heavy then.

NOW...to just not gain over these 2 months.

Lesa

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[A_Lurker]

@tractorlegs - I do this ~16 weeks apart.  @Dominique reminded me the other day that the theory behind this came from a guy whose thoughts I find quite rational (Lyle McDonald) - http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html/

A planned break has never derailed me.  Unplanned ones are a different thing.  After this break I am going to try and do the next one in 12 weeks.  At the moment I work on groups of 25 pounds.  That might work well, at just a little over 2 lbs/week that feels like a natural point.  So, good luck with maintenance.

[emili]

@tractorlegs if you feel like you need a break - for sure take a break. I just want to ask what is it specifically that is making you feel this way?

Food?

Weighing and measuring?

Variety?

Keeping track of it all?

Restrictions you put on yourself?

Choices you have to make when you go out?

Reason I ask, for me, the act of weighing, adding, entering it on the app- wears me down because it is such a process. I give myself off every Friday. At this point I can eyeball just about all my food choices and know within a few oz how much I am eating. So I eyeball the entire day Friday. We go out to eat and drink that night - I keep track of nothing. It keeps me sane.

[GershonSurge]

@shipo,

Here are my weights for the last month. I skipped a few because I figured I'd gained 2 or 3 pounds I didn't want to know about. I weigh myself as soon as I wake up in the morning. The weights are recorded by my Aria.

[shipo]

The question is, how do you know if you've actually gained or lost a pound versus a little extra hydration or a little less hydration?  Like I wrote before, most active folks I know can have their weight vary by an easy five pounds either side of their normalized slope.

[GershonSurge]

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@shipo wrote:

The question is, how do you know if you've actually gained or lost a pound versus a little extra hydration or a little less hydration?  Like I wrote before, most active folks I know can have their weight vary by an easy five pounds either side of their normalized slope.

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I guess I base part of it on how I feel. I'll probably weigh a bit more tomorrow morning than I did this morning. I didn't track intake today. If I do gain weight, I'll track my intake carefully tomorrow and until I get back down about 170. I never thought about it not being possible, so I never thought about why I can maintain my weight so closely.

[tractorlegs]

@A_Lurker Hi Anne, thanks for the link - I'll read it right now. I'm not surprised to discover that taking a break (and still maintaining a successful weight loss program) is not unusual. 

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A_Lurker wrote:

@tractorlegs - I do this ~16 weeks apart.  @Dominique reminded me the other day that the theory behind this came from a guy whose thoughts I find quite rational (Lyle McDonald) - http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html/

A planned break has never derailed me.  Unplanned ones are a different thing.  After this break I am going to try and do the next one in 12 weeks.  At the moment I work on groups of 25 pounds.  That might work well, at just a little over 2 lbs/week that feels like a natural point.  So, good luck with maintenance.

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[tractorlegs]

@emili -- Hi Elena, bottom line is I'm just getting sooooooo tired of the whole song and dance   ---  It's difficult to pinpoint a particular area. But knowing me, after a few days off (maybe a month or two?) I'll be back. I am certainly not going to destroy the work I've put into this, especially after losing almost 50 pounds and having only ten to go.

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emili wrote:

@tractorlegs if you feel like you need a break - for sure take a break. I just want to ask what is it specifically that is making you feel this way?

Food?

Weighing and measuring?

Variety?

Keeping track of it all?

Restrictions you put on yourself?

Choices you have to make when you go out?

Reason I ask, for me, the act of weighing, adding, entering it on the app- wears me down because it is such a process. I give myself off every Friday. At this point I can eyeball just about all my food choices and know within a few oz how much I am eating. So I eyeball the entire day Friday. We go out to eat and drink that night - I keep track of nothing. It keeps me sane.

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[lonestarlesa]

@tractorlegs we can so totally get this! I know I have been "dieting" for over 26 years. (I know because my oldest daughter is 26 years old...about to be 27..and I was dieting to get to a goal weight before she was born.) (from my highest weight, I have currently lost 180 pounds...so the last 10 seem to taunt me).

So I know that I will get back on course...probably sooner than later, because I don't know anything different. Which is why I believe I gained the 7 pounds when I "phased off" of ideal protein.

I felt lost without the stress and strain of monitoring (and beating myself up ) every bite.

I am working on a healthier thought process about food....and me.

I DID pick back up the weights.... so I am going to focus on lifting these 8 weeks and see how I like the changes that causes!

[tractorlegs]

@lonestarlesa -- Wow!! 180, that's quite an accomplishment.   

Good choice of words -- "taunt" lol, that's exactly what that last ten does.

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lonestarlesa wrote:

@tractorlegs we can so totally get this! I know I have been "dieting" for over 26 years. (I know because my oldest daughter is 26 years old...about to be 27..and I was dieting to get to a goal weight before she was born.) (from my highest weight, I have currently lost 180 pounds...so the last 10 seem to taunt me).

So I know that I will get back on course...probably sooner than later, because I don't know anything different. Which is why I believe I gained the 7 pounds when I "phased off" of ideal protein.

I felt lost without the stress and strain of monitoring (and beating myself up ) every bite.

I am working on a healthier thought process about food....and me.

I DID pick back up the weights.... so I am going to focus on lifting these 8 weeks and see how I like the changes that causes!

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[tractorlegs]

Well y'all are gonna think I'm crazy, but after 3 days of maintenance eating I'm ready to go back to the diet again. One thing I proved to myself is that I can go to a maintenance plan and not gain weight (although 3 days may not prove anything lol), but the stresses and "things" that made me want to take a break from dieting seem to have cleared up pretty quickly. And, I'm so close to goal that I want to get back to it. Thanks everyone for your support and comments!

[Annabel398]

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@tractorlegs wrote:

Well y'all are gonna think I'm crazy, but after 3 days of maintenance eating I'm ready to go back to the diet again. 

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This Gives Me Hope. 😃  Go, tractorlegs!!

[Annabel398]

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@emili wrote:

@tractorlegs if you feel like you need a break - for sure take a break. I just want to ask what is it specifically that is making you feel this way?

<snip>

Reason I ask, for me, the act of weighing, adding, entering it on the app- wears me down because it is such a process. 

<snip>

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Emili, OMG girl, you need to get an Aria scale! Nothing could be easier, it does the logging for you. Put it on your Xmas wish list for sure.  I my Aria!

[AndyDandyPandy]

I don't know if I will ever take breaks from my diet since I don't really restrict food or feel like I'm starving but something that would be great is eating out at a restaurant for a change besides cooking my own meals all the time. Sometimes I'll allow myself pizza, beer, and other goodies but most of the time I do restrict those kind of foods because it stalls your weight loss and I like seeing weight loss. You'd be a liar if you say weight loss doesn't motivate you. Once I hit my ultimate goal weight, I will be more reasonable with myself and moderately eat comfort food if and only when they are available.