The Importance Of Diet Breaks
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Picture it….you’re dieting strictly. You’re hitting your macros perfectly. Every. Single. Day. Each morsel of food is weighed and tracked. You may even be logging your water intake, also. You have never been so strict in your entire life. It’s going great. The results are coming in nicely and you couldn’t be happier. But how long can you keep this up? How long do you NEED to keep this up to reach your goal?
If you have a long way to go, it may take you a very long time. Let’s say you’re trying to go from about 17% body fat to single digit body fat. Let’s say, 8%. It’s going to take some time. You may need 6 months in order to achieve this goal, maybe even longer. Do you think you can strictly diet, without fail, ½ of the year STRAIGHT without coming up for air? This is where the swimming analogy comes into play. If you try to swim the entire way under water, I promise you, you will drown.
You may have the strongest willpower in the world. I’m not doubting your level of commitment or dedication at all. I may not even know you, but what I do know about you, is that you are HUMAN. You probably don’t want to eat out of Tupperware all of the time. You’re going to miss being able to go out to eat with your family and friends WITHOUT having to log what you ate into your MyFitnessPal App. Constantly weighing and measuring your foods don't really appeal to you. It doesn’t appeal to most. Myself included.
So how do we get around this? Enter the diet break. What are diet breaks? A diet break is a period where you deliberately stop dieting strictly and relax a little for a pre-determined amount of time. Typically, a week. Now, this is not a pass to eat like crap. You will be able to eat a few treats here and there, but for the most part, your nutrition will need to be kept in check. The only rule here is to use common sense. Don’t concern yourself with calories or macros. I hate to use the term “eat normally” but you will need some form of foundational nutrition.
A foundational nutritional approach is something you can do effortlessly. Without thinking too much about it. Something that comes easily to you. Intuitively. For me, it’s keto. I know keto like the back of my hand. It comes to me naturally. Most would say it’s a “diet” but it’s not. I don’t weigh anything. I don’t meticulously track anything. I just keep my carbs below 30 grams, keep my dietary fat intake up and only eat when I’m hungry. There are also a few free meals/days sprinkled in here and there. That’s it. This is the nutritional approach I would revert back to during a diet break. You just need to figure out what yours is before going into a strict dieting phase.
There are a myriad of benefits to a diet break. I'll name just a few in this article. It will give you a mental break from the daily rigors of dieting. If you’ve ever dieted seriously, then you know it’s HARD. Mentally more than anything. Eating the same foods day in and day out can get boring. The diet break will allow for some flexibility and variety. You can hit Chipotle and not worry about how many ounces of chicken they may have in your burrito bowl(even if the lady at the counter gives you a weak scoop)!
Having diet breaks scheduled into your dieting phase also helps give you something to look forward to. It makes it easier to stay committed to the process of dieting when you know you have something to look forward to. When you're tempted to blow your macros, it's easier knowing there is light at the end of the tunnel and you will have a little more freedom soon. It's also a great idea to plan these breaks around important events or holidays, that way you don't miss out on special events and have to feel like you're left out.
Another HUGE benefit of the diet break is your metabolism will get a much-needed jolt, too. Think of it like stoking a fire. It can burn and burn, but eventually, it will need to be stoked to burn red-hot again. Adding in all of those additional calories does something to the body. If you’re in a carb depleted state, hormones like leptin and IGF-1 are increased as well. You’ll feel it when you ingest those extra calories and your body will get kind of hot. You may even sweat a little. The TEF(thermic effect of food) impacts this also, but the hormones are a big part of it, too. All of these things will keep fat loss happening and prevent plateaus.
The greatest benefit of diet breaks? It will allow you to more focused and charged to complete the dieting phase. In the example above, we said it might take you 6 months to reach your goal. Instead of trying to go a full 6 months dieting, you could sprinkle in a diet break every 3-6 weeks. The diet break would last one week and calories would be guesstimated around maintenance. As soon as that week is over, you’ll be primed and ready to get back into it so that you can reach your goal. You'll be ready to go back underwater and keep swimming. The next time you start a dieting phase, be sure to plan your diet breaks in advance! It will make the process that much easier and allow you to focus on reach your goals!
What are your thoughts on diet breaks? Have you ever used them? What have been your experiences? Share them with me! Comment below or send me an e-mail to darr_fit@yahoo.com
-DF
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