Sustainable Weight Loss Journey - Part 6
- Jul 22
- 5 min read
This is the sixth post in my Sensible & Sustainable Weight Loss Series. I’m doing this series to help you lose weight in a healthy way, build a lifestyle that keeps weight off, and enjoy your life throughout the whole process and beyond.
Watch Me Discuss It
If you missed the first five blog posts, I recommend going back and reading them before moving forward with this one. Also, no matter how slow and gentle we make the weight-loss journey, it won't be for everyone. Please take a moment to read the disclaimer below.
Disclaimer
If you have a history of disordered eating, tread carefully. Work with a therapist trained in disordered eating before even considering a weight-loss journey.
Discuss potential lifestyle changes with your doctor. Changes to eating patterns and exercise routines are healthy for most people, but you must keep in mind any risk factors or underlying health issues when making lifestyle changes, even healthy ones.
The changes I suggest are considered healthy and beneficial by most standards. The suggestions I make have worked well for me and for people I know. These are common concepts used among successful nutrition and wellness coaches. But you know you best. Don't do anything that doesn't feel right to you.
While I recommend exercise for most people, if you have an injury or other physical issue, some exercises might not work for you. Listen to your body.
Diet Breaks
Today, I wanted to talk about when and how to take a diet break.
Our bodies are not meant to be in a calorie deficit for an extended time. While eating too few calories is the only way to lose weight, if we do that for too long, our body will adjust. Our bodies find ways to conserve energy and adapt to this lower-calorie intake. This is called metabolic adaptation. As the body adjusts, fat loss slows until it plateaus.
Everybody is different, but most bodies start adapting to a calorie deficit within a few weeks. However, the adaptation is usually slow at first, so we can stay in a slight calorie deficit for 3-4 months before we truly begin to see a weight loss plateau.
The easiest way to overcome this plateau is to schedule diet breaks at least every 3 months.
Diet breaks not only reverse metabolic adaptation but also help us maintain our new healthy habits through holidays and vacations, and quiet down the excessive food noise that often seems to get a little louder when we are trying to limit our calorie intake.
What Do I Mean by a Diet Break?
I certainly don’t mean throwing out the tracker and just eating whatever the heck you want. A diet break simply means stopping the calorie deficit and eating at maintenance for at least 3 days, often longer. A diet break can last a week, 2 weeks, even a month or two. The duration depends largely on your lifestyle, the timing, and the purpose of the break.
When might you want to take a break from dieting?
1) If you have been eating in a calorie deficit for 3 months, it’s time to take a break.
2) Take a break around any special events. If you have a wedding or big holiday coming up, scheduling a diet break to coincide with that event will allow you to enjoy it without the added stress of trying to adhere to a calorie deficit.
If that upcoming holiday is something like the 4th of July, plan a long weekend break. If it’s something bigger, like Christmas, plan a break lasting a few weeks. The name of the game is maintain, don’t gain!!
3) Maybe you simply notice increased hunger on certain days of your cycle. It’s okay to take a break for a few days every single month if that is what your body needs. You don’t have to wait 12 weeks before you take a break.
4) A vacation is a great time to also step away from your calorie deficit.
5) If food noise is suddenly getting louder and you find yourself struggling to eat in a calorie deficit, this is also a good time to take a break. Give yourself some grace; eat at maintenance for a bit. When you decide to come back into a calorie deficit, maybe make it a smaller deficit. It’s better to lose the weight more slowly, in a way that feels sustainable, than to lose it fast and then rebound into bad eating habits.
Remember!
We aren’t going to move backward. We aren’t letting go of all our healthy habits! We are just changing to maintenance calories for a bit. Maybe just a week, maybe more. We are still tracking our food, still exercising, still eating healthy foods; we are still taking care of ourselves.
What To Add In
If you have been chugging along on a calorie deficit, you might wonder what to add to increase your calorie intake. I have talked about how important it is to enjoy your favorite foods even when you are in a calorie deficit. Many of us have favorite foods that are on the high-calorie side. So while we have been enjoying them in moderation, maybe now we have just a little more of those foods. Or maybe you plan a date night out at a restaurant where your calorie intake is naturally going to be a little higher. Again, we aren’t rebounding to horrible eating habits, but if we have extra calories to use, we want to be sure we are using them for foods we really love.
Don’t Talk Yourself Out Of It
If you are still seeing weight loss at week 12, you might be tempted to just keep going. Honestly, I struggled with this too. However, I think it is best to take a little break BEFORE you really feel like you need to. Take some time to enjoy a little more food and to relax a little bit about what you are eating. Again, not going crazy, we are still planning and tracking, but we are doing it at maintenance calories.
Do I Recalculate Maintenance Calories?
The answer to this is a big ole “depends”. If you are taking a break after 12 weeks, yes, recalculate your maintenance, then use this new maintenance value to recalculate your deficit when you are ready to jump back in.
However, if you are taking a break sooner, due to an event or your cycle, it is not necessary to recalculate. You don’t want to be recalculating every month. It’s unnecessary.
I Cannot Stress This Enough
We aren’t going all “Girls Gone Wild”! Don’t undo your hard work. Think of it as training for your future self. Keep tracking everything, including your weight. Keep your calories at maintenance and keep coming up with healthy, delicious meals you love.
That's It For Now
Take a break, then return to a gentle deficit. Slow and steady is better than lose and regain!
Take care of yourself, eat mindfully, and keep at it until I see you again in the next blog post.
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