If you have a significant amount of weight to lose (or any at all really), it may seem completely counteractive to take a break from your diet, especially if you aren't at your weight loss goal yet. However, it is not counteractive at all, in fact, it may help you not only reach your goal but sustain it!
Taking diet breaks can actually help you to not only achieve your weight loss goals but also be able to maintain your weight loss better. Weight loss can be a frustrating and long endeavour, so taking a break from a calorie deficit can be not only good for your mental wellbeing, but it can also help counteract the metabolic changes that eating in a calorie deficit for a long period of time can cause.
What does it mean to take a diet break?
When I am saying "diet break", I am not referring to taking a break from a low-carb or another restrictive diet, because ideally, you are on a non-restrictive diet and you focus on eating habits that you don't need a break from. When your goal is weight loss or just better nutrition overall, you should be making changes to your diet that are attainable and you eat in a way that is sustainable for life.
When I am saying "diet break", I am not referring to taking a break from a low-carb or another restrictive diet, because ideally, you are on a non-restrictive diet and you focus on eating habits that you don't need a break from. When your goal is weight loss or just better nutrition overall, you should be making changes to your diet that are attainable and you eat in a way that is sustainable for life.
So what do I really mean when I say diet break? By saying "diet break", I am referring to taking a break from eating in a calorie deficit by going up to your caloric maintenance for a period of time, usually around 1-2 weeks, maybe longer.
By taking a deliberate break by increasing your calories from being in a deficit to maintenance, you can enjoy the weight loss process a little more by being able to have more leeway or wiggle room in your diet. During this time, you can incorporate some of the foods you maybe don't have all the time and relax the diet "reins" if you will.
Keep in mind, this slight increase in calories does not give you a free pass to eat whatever you want and go on a 1-2 week pizza, beer, potato chip and KFC binge. A diet break is not an excuse to go completely off the rails as it will encourage the "on/off" mindset and can result in binge and restrict cycles that get you nowhere with your results.
You still want to focus on eating whole, nutrient-dense foods the majority of the time and incorporating some of the foods you love and enjoy some of the time (The 80/20 rule). In other words, you eat as you normally would, but with a few extra calories during the day.
Why should you take a diet break?
There are many reasons where taking a break from a calorie deficit will be helpful for your longterm success in weight loss. Many believe they shouldn't take a break until they've reached their goals, but this is quite the opposite, and studies (source) have shown it can help with longterm weight loss success (source).
If you've been totally consistent with your calorie deficit, meaning at least 80% consistently in a deficit for 4-6 weeks, it can be significantly helpful to increase your calories to maintenance for a couple of weeks to help combat metabolic slowdown.
A metabolic slowdown or metabolic adaptation happens when you've been in a consistent calorie deficit for a long period of time. As you stay in a calorie deficit, and you're losing body fat, your body will purposely slow down your metabolism to accommodate for the fewer calories it is getting. As time goes on, if you are always in a deficit, this process can cause damage to your metabolism where your body continually slows to keep up with the fewer calories it is getting. This is why some people can be on 1200 calories diets and still not lose weight.
To help prevent this, a diet break can be beneficial. By going from a calorie deficit to maintenance calories for at least 1-2 weeks (you can go longer if you like), you will help slow down or prevent the metabolic adaptation process.
Another reason it is beneficial for a diet break is to take a mental health break. As I mentioned before, weight loss can be a long and sometimes frustrating endeavour, and having to be in a calorie deficit can wear on your mental health.
Even if you have a good balance of 80% whole, nutrient-dense foods and 20% fun foods, and you have a good relationship with food, it can still be a stressor to be continually in a calorie deficit. By taking that time to go into maintenance and have a break, enjoy some more calories or fun foods and not worry so much about calories will be good for your mental wellbeing. Allow yourself to take a break you can help prevent burnout and weight loss fatigue and give yourself an emotional boost!
When is it time to take a diet break?
If weight loss is your current priority, it's good to consider a break from a consistent calorie deficit approximately every 4-6 weeks. This way you are breaking up your calorie deficit enough to slow the metabolic adaptation process and you're also giving yourself a mental break. There are several signs and reasons for when it's time to take a break.
One reason you may want to consider a diet break is if you've hit a plateau with your weight loss or in the gym. Keep in mind a week or two of seeing no progress is not a plateau, I'm talking you haven't seen progress in 3-5 weeks. If your goal is weight loss, it's possible that you've been in a calorie deficit for quite a while, hence why the weight loss feels like it's stalling, could be related to the metabolic adaptation I mentioned previously. In this case, an increase to maintenance calories for a couple of weeks or even up to a month may be appropriate to help your metabolism a little bit.
You may also notice a plateau in your fitness, and if you're always in a calorie deficit, it can affect your strength or workouts in the gym. If you are weight lifting, you may notice that being in a calorie deficit starts to affect your strength and energy levels for your workouts. Increasing your calories a little bit for a couple of weeks can give you that extra fuel you need to help get past the fitness plateau and get your strength back up.
You may also want to take a diet break if you're feeling burnt out. This can be hard to acknowledge and understand why it's necessary, especially if you feel like you have a long way to go before reaching your weight loss goal. A break for a week or two can help you recover mentally and give yourself some time to prioritize how you want to move forward. A break when you're feeling burned out serves as a reminder that the process of weight loss does not have to be painstaking awful or depriving.
Recognize that if you're feeling exhausted or stressed and burned out, and have a conversation with yourself that you may need to take a break from being in a calorie deficit and allow yourself to have that time. The key with this is to still focus on getting proper nutrition, but also allow that increase in calories you need.
One last reason I will go over is you may be gearing up for a week-long vacation, and who wants to be in a calorie deficit while on vacation? Absolutely no one! It's called a vacation, not a diet-cation. Take that vacation as a time to relax your diet and stay closer to maintenance calories so you can enjoy your time!
FAQ about Diet Breaks!
With taking a diet break, there are some things you should be aware of so you don't completely derail your progress or get discouraged. Here are some common questions about diet breaks that you may want to know about
Will the scale go up when I take a diet break?
When you increase your calories to maintenance, you may notice a change in the scale is reflected, by either maintaining or it may increase a little bit. Yes, the scale can go up slightly, which may lead you to believe you have blown all your progress, but don't panic! A slight increase in the scale when you've adjusted your calories does not mean you've gained body fat. Mostly this change in the scale is due to your body holding onto more water as well as added glycogen storage from the increase in calories (source).
This increase on the scale can be discouraging, which is why many people will avoid a diet break, but remember there are several reasons the scale may change, none of which necessarily mean that you gained body fat.
So I pretty much just eat whatever I want when I'm on a diet break?
I have already mentioned but I really want to emphasize this. Taking a break from a calorie deficit or a diet break is not a licence to go totally off the rails and turn it into a binge. You want to closely stick to the good nutrition habits you've been working so hard on, not throwing it all out the window to resort to your old, unfavourable eating habits. This is why I keep saying a break from a calorie deficit because a "diet break" might give the impression that you're currently nutrition habits are something you won't stick to forever. As I talked about before, put an emphasis on whole, nutrient-dense foods the majority of the time and other, fun foods some of the time. Stick to the 80/20 rule!
Won't this make my weight loss take longer?
This is a long-game strategy. When you take the time to purposely increase your calories every 4-6 weeks for 1-2 weeks, yes you will be adding more time to your weight loss journey. That being said, when you do this, it will make the process just that much more sustainable. If you give yourself a short term goal of sticking to a calorie deficit consistently for 4 weeks, knowing you will get a week that you can relax a little bit, it makes it easier to focus on being ruthlessly consistent in the short term knowing it's not for forever. Taking a regular break from a calorie deficit will help make the journey not so stressful as well as give you better results in the long run because you will know how to transition into maintenance.
Shouldn't I just do cheat days instead?
Some fitness professionals and influencers still tote the cheat day or cheat meals where you have a day or a meal that you can eat whatever you want or as much as you want.
One issue that many people come across, and speaking from my own personal experience, is that it encourages restrict/binge cycles.
These cycles happen to be overly restrictive saying no to "bad foods" because they can't have them "now", but knowing that Saturday is your cheat day and you can eat whatever you want then. The tendency for many is that they go balls to the wall Saturday and have a total food binge. This binge leads you to overconsume and binge on those bad foods you say you can't have during the week, which leads you to feel like garbage and the next week, you restrict more. I personally fell into this trap and found that it was not conducive to my mental health or results. Once I changed my mind and stopped being so restrictive, I allowed myself to have those foods whenever I wanted and therefore I have been so much more consistent with my nutrition.
That all being said, the cheat day/meal works for some people really well, and if it works with you and you have a healthy relationship with food, by all means, you do you.
Taking deliberate breaks from your diet may in fact be great for your weight loss goals and your overall mental health throughout your weight loss journey. With planning and consistency, it will help with adherence and sustainability for your nutrition plan for weight loss as well as reinforce a healthy mindset towards food.
Do you have questions about diet breaks, or maybe you are needing help with your own weight loss goals and how to get started? Feel free to message me HERE
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