Are diet breaks necessary, or just a psychological crutch?

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Galapagosfit

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That's something I've wondered about too. Plenty of members here are carrying 100+ pounds extra and will be dieting well past the one-year mark. Others are still at it for months longer just to reach their ideal shape. Do you build in diet breaks? Are they actually required? Or is it mostly a head game? And do you reckon metabolism stalls out at some threshold if you keep yourself in a big deficit for months on end ?

I've thrown both of those at Ai already, but I want your hands-on view and your own experience. To me, it looks like the GLPs remove the need for that psychological reset a break provides. Plus I suspect hitting the gym and protecting your muscle is a better way to hold onto metabolism than taking a break from dieting.
 
Such as a "Cheat day" or a month off?

Cheat days aren't something I need. I had a month off, and a month later I'm still dealing with the consequences. So. . . .. .
 
Galapagosfit said:

That's something I've wondered about too. Plenty of members here are carrying 100+ pounds extra and will be dieting well past the one-year mark. Others are still at it for months longer just to reach their ideal shape. Do you build in diet breaks? Are they actually required? Or is it mostly a head game? And do you reckon metabolism stalls out at some threshold if you keep yourself in a big deficit for months on end ?

I've thrown both of those at Ai already, but I want your hands-on view and your own experience. To me, it looks like the GLPs remove the need for that psychological reset a break provides. Plus I suspect hitting the gym and protecting your muscle is a better way to hold onto metabolism than taking a break from dieting.
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Yep.

For one thing, diet fatigue is real — it factors into your total stress burden.

For another, a break lets you settle at your new maintenance weight and 'recalibrate' from there.

Just don't let it turn into a free-for-all.

One warning: the scale will jump up fast during the first couple of days. That's largely glycogen, water, and so on. No need to panic. It comes right back off once you're dieting again.

As a certain wise old Sith lord once put it:





Image unavailable
 
Galapagosfit said:

That's something I've wondered about too. Plenty of members here are carrying 100+ pounds extra and will be dieting well past the one-year mark. Others are still at it for months longer just to reach their ideal shape. Do you build in diet breaks? Are they actually required? Or is it mostly a head game? And do you reckon metabolism stalls out at some threshold if you keep yourself in a big deficit for months on end ?

I've thrown both of those at Ai already, but I want your hands-on view and your own experience. To me, it looks like the GLPs remove the need for that psychological reset a break provides. Plus I suspect hitting the gym and protecting your muscle is a better way to hold onto metabolism than taking a break from dieting.
Click to expand...

For the population at large, diets built around restriction to manage calories tend to have low adherence.

These days I don't really "diet" in that sense — I just eat more or less whatever I feel like, only in reduced amounts. Cutting portion size isn't very demanding. Honestly, the harder part is usually just avoiding over-ordering… though when I'm bored with something, or it doesn't taste good, or I'm simply full, I feel far less hesitation about quitting and tossing the rest.

Take lunch with my daughter, sushi: I'd typically get 6 spicy salmon rolls (a lunch special is 3 rolls). She was in the mood for spicy salmon too. I got 1 for her and 3 for myself. As it turned out, 3 was more than I wanted that day, so the next time I went with 2.

Overeating is far less of a problem for me now, and that's a great thing.
 
Galapagosfit said:

That's something I've wondered about too. Plenty of members here are carrying 100+ pounds extra and will be dieting well past the one-year mark. Others are still at it for months longer just to reach their ideal shape. Do you build in diet breaks? Are they actually required? Or is it mostly a head game? And do you reckon metabolism stalls out at some threshold if you keep yourself in a big deficit for months on end ?

I've thrown both of those at Ai already, but I want your hands-on view and your own experience. To me, it looks like the GLPs remove the need for that psychological reset a break provides. Plus I suspect hitting the gym and protecting your muscle is a better way to hold onto metabolism than taking a break from dieting.
Click to expand...
Honestly, it varies. When I'm on Reta, having any appetite at all is a struggle, so the idea of finding something to cheat with barely registers. That said, if I do end up eating something that falls outside my usual keto-ish way of eating, I still track the calories and check that it's not TOO TOO bad for me. Sushi is something I'll allow myself as a pass, but mozzarella sticks are a no — hopefully that makes sense. Most of the time, with nearly every non-diet food, the good feeling I get from staying on track and eating clean is worth more than that brief hit of flavor. Feeling sick after eating something I already knew I shouldn't — like fast food — just isn't worth it.
 
Nope. Tirz is what I'm on, and whatever "cheat" item comes to mind is something I can simply eat anyway — so there's nothing to gain from cheating or calling a day off. Beyond that, I have zero urge to stuff myself; now that even a small meal feels filling on Tirz, the whole notion disgusts me.

On the subject of "diet fatigue": roughly a month in, I stopped framing this as a diet. It genuinely rewired my sense of what a normal portion looks like, and of what my body actually needs and wants as fuel. Dieting is HARD — pure white-knuckle bullshit — whereas this is just.....eating. What I want. Not too much. Like a normal person.
 
From what I've seen, people turned to 'cheat' days for a couple of reasons. One reason is sticking with a diet over the long haul and keeping cravings in check. The reason I believe shows up more often, though, is trying to stop the body from entering starvation mode, a state where endocrine signals shift toward holding onto fat as much as possible.

So I suppose the cheat, or break, was meant to 'trick' the body into letting fat loss keep going.

These days, though, with GLP's available, we're already messing with that old metabolic corruption and leaning on the hormone control that GLP-1's give us. Because of that, I don't see a reason to still need cheat days or breaks.

1 exception that comes to mind is during bulking phases, when the goal is to stop protein from converting into glucose.
 
Before I began reta, I would pause my diet for 2+ weeks whenever I reached a plateau, but that approach never helped. I only wound up putting weight back on, which left me right back where I started. Perhaps the breaks weren't long enough, or perhaps I consumed too many calories, idk.
 
In February and for the majority of March, I ended up taking one without really planning to. That was absolutely a diet break, not [[Q1]]
 
Sasquatch said:

Such as a "Cheat day" or a month off?

Cheat days aren't something I need. I had a month off, and a month later I'm still dealing with the consequences. So. . . .. .
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What I have in mind is more of a planned pause — sticking to maintenance calories for either 2 weeks or a month.

That said, your experience matches mine: back when I would ''cheat'', stopping was the hard part, and I'd spend several weeks gaining fat and then a long time getting back on track. Reta has helped me a lot with behaving normally around food. My parents drilled into me that food on my plate must NEVER be wasted. Learning to 'stop when you're no longer hungry' has taken work.

These days my mindset is: eat whatever you want, but within reason. I eat clean, yet if a ice cream blizzard at dairy queen appeals to me, I'll order a small size and have a smaller plate for supper. That's all. I no longer go ALL IN on cheat anymore. It isn't worth feeling like crap and messing with my sleep.

I realize a lot of people dislike the concept of calories, but when I count calories and have 200 calories left to my day, I'm happy to eat that chocolate bar and don'T feel guilty about it. I can enjoy a threat even if i'm on a ''diet'' .
 
DrPEPr said:

Galapagosfit said:

That's something I've wondered about too. Plenty of members here are carrying 100+ pounds extra and will be dieting well past the one-year mark. Others are still at it for months longer just to reach their ideal shape. Do you build in diet breaks? Are they actually required? Or is it mostly a head game? And do you reckon metabolism stalls out at some threshold if you keep yourself in a big deficit for months on end ?

I've thrown both of those at Ai already, but I want your hands-on view and your own experience. To me, it looks like the GLPs remove the need for that psychological reset a break provides. Plus I suspect hitting the gym and protecting your muscle is a better way to hold onto metabolism than taking a break from dieting.
Click to expand...
Yep.

For one thing, diet fatigue is real — it factors into your total stress burden.

For another, a break lets you settle at your new maintenance weight and 'recalibrate' from there.

Just don't let it turn into a free-for-all.

One warning: the scale will jump up fast during the first couple of days. That's largely glycogen, water, and so on. No need to panic. It comes right back off once you're dieting again.

As a certain wise old Sith lord once put it:





Image unavailable
Click to expand...
Lately this has been on my mind. Right now I'm quite lean — the leanest I've ever been in my life. My goal weight is really close. Should I reset first and figure out my new maintenance, or should I just push straight for the goal weight? (I've got about 5 to 10 pounds left before I hit 10% bf.) At this point, holding onto muscle gets somewhat tougher and stress runs higher :/

Even 5 to 10 pounds can take 1 to 3 months to come off.
 
GLPs cause me to feel ill when I consume excessive fried or fatty items. I don't drink at all. And reta has left me sensitive to caffeine. So even on a cheat day, I just eat larger amounts of the healthier foods I already eat. For me, the smartest approach on those days is to eat intuitively and stop at fullness. That said, if you struggle with bingeing, I'd suggest being cautious and tracking a calorie and macro surplus rather than a deficit.
 
Galapagosfit said:

That's something I've wondered about too. Plenty of members here are carrying 100+ pounds extra and will be dieting well past the one-year mark. Others are still at it for months longer just to reach their ideal shape. Do you build in diet breaks? Are they actually required? Or is it mostly a head game? And do you reckon metabolism stalls out at some threshold if you keep yourself in a big deficit for months on end ?

I've thrown both of those at Ai already, but I want your hands-on view and your own experience. To me, it looks like the GLPs remove the need for that psychological reset a break provides. Plus I suspect hitting the gym and protecting your muscle is a better way to hold onto metabolism than taking a break from dieting.
Click to expand...
Each Sunday, dessert is on my menu — either pie with ice cream or cobbler with ice cream. That's the one treat I allow myself. A full cheat meal almost never happens. Fried or spicy food now upsets my stomach, with gumbo being the only exception. Because of that, I stick to the same meal plan to avoid feeling ill.

The southern dishes I used to love would probably make me seriously sick now.
 
Rolltide61 said:

Galapagosfit said:

That's something I've wondered about too. Plenty of members here are carrying 100+ pounds extra and will be dieting well past the one-year mark. Others are still at it for months longer just to reach their ideal shape. Do you build in diet breaks? Are they actually required? Or is it mostly a head game? And do you reckon metabolism stalls out at some threshold if you keep yourself in a big deficit for months on end ?

I've thrown both of those at Ai already, but I want your hands-on view and your own experience. To me, it looks like the GLPs remove the need for that psychological reset a break provides. Plus I suspect hitting the gym and protecting your muscle is a better way to hold onto metabolism than taking a break from dieting.
Click to expand...
Each Sunday, dessert is on my menu — either pie with ice cream or cobbler with ice cream. That's the one treat I allow myself. A full cheat meal almost never happens. Fried or spicy food now upsets my stomach, with gumbo being the only exception. Because of that, I stick to the same meal plan to avoid feeling ill.

The southern dishes I used to love would probably make me seriously sick now.
Click to expand...
Man! The ribs from Dreamland are pure protein!
 
Apparently the amount my stomach can hold falls somewhere in the range of 1 to 2 measuring cups. No matter how calorie-dense something is, I simply cannot get down more than a cup's worth.

Take a cup of glazed donuts, mash them up. Any guess how many calories that would be? That said, anything greasy just doesn't sit right with me. Potato chips, maybe a small handful? Even the thought of them isn't appealing.
 
Galapagosfit said:

That's something I've wondered about too. Plenty of members here are carrying 100+ pounds extra and will be dieting well past the one-year mark. Others are still at it for months longer just to reach their ideal shape. Do you build in diet breaks? Are they actually required? Or is it mostly a head game? And do you reckon metabolism stalls out at some threshold if you keep yourself in a big deficit for months on end ?

I've thrown both of those at Ai already, but I want your hands-on view and your own experience. To me, it looks like the GLPs remove the need for that psychological reset a break provides. Plus I suspect hitting the gym and protecting your muscle is a better way to hold onto metabolism than taking a break from dieting.
Click to expand...

118 pounds have come off over 17 months, and I've got roughly 12 left before I hit my goal. I won't pretend the grind hasn't caught up with me — the tiredness is real, which is why your point lands.

Along the way I have built in diet breaks, but nothing long: never weeks or months away from it. Mine look more casual — a weekend here and there where I ease up, occasionally loosening things more than I ought to. To me that has real worth. Bumping calories up every so often may tell the body it isn't stuck in a long deficit, and the psychological recharge is equally important, not just the physical side.

What I have never done is stop the tirzepatide. Whether I'm on vacation or traveling for work and eating poorly, the medication stays consistent. Halting it, even for a short stretch, would set me back badly.
 
Whenever I drop around 10-15 lbs, I'll spend a few days up to a week eating heavily, just to dodge metabolic adaptation! Even a short stretch of eating in a surplus can make a difference!
 
Galapagosfit said:

DrPEPr said:

Galapagosfit said:

That's something I've wondered about too. Plenty of members here are carrying 100+ pounds extra and will be dieting well past the one-year mark. Others are still at it for months longer just to reach their ideal shape. Do you build in diet breaks? Are they actually required? Or is it mostly a head game? And do you reckon metabolism stalls out at some threshold if you keep yourself in a big deficit for months on end ?

I've thrown both of those at Ai already, but I want your hands-on view and your own experience. To me, it looks like the GLPs remove the need for that psychological reset a break provides. Plus I suspect hitting the gym and protecting your muscle is a better way to hold onto metabolism than taking a break from dieting.
Click to expand...
Yep.

For one thing, diet fatigue is real — it factors into your total stress burden.

For another, a break lets you settle at your new maintenance weight and 'recalibrate' from there.

Just don't let it turn into a free-for-all.

One warning: the scale will jump up fast during the first couple of days. That's largely glycogen, water, and so on. No need to panic. It comes right back off once you're dieting again.

As a certain wise old Sith lord once put it:





Image unavailable
Click to expand...
Lately this has been on my mind. Right now I'm quite lean — the leanest I've ever been in my life. My goal weight is really close. Should I reset first and figure out my new maintenance, or should I just push straight for the goal weight? (I've got about 5 to 10 pounds left before I hit 10% bf.) At this point, holding onto muscle gets somewhat tougher and stress runs higher :/

Even 5 to 10 pounds can take 1 to 3 months to come off.
Click to expand...
Honestly, I'd just go for it.

It'll make a big difference in how you feel.
 
Before I started reta, I had dropped roughly 90 pounds. Whenever I hit a plateau, I'd usually pause for 1-2 weeks. To me it was like a reset—I stopped worrying as much about the scale not moving for a week or two. I saw it as a way to get ready for a tougher push to cut.
 
I don't follow any kind of "diet" anymore. My approach is simply to consume high-quality foods, mostly in their whole form. When I feel like having steak with potato, that's fine, and I don't hold back on the butter (margarine is never an option)...the single thing I actually focus on while eating this way is making protein the priority.

Every so often I'll dine out and perhaps have something outside my usual choices. I don't label it a "cheat" day, since I'm not on a diet...
 
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