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Create Sustainability

No matter what your weight loss strategy is, you obviously have to stick with it long enough to lose the weight you want (and keep it off, if that's also your goal). If you are on a longer-term diet, you have to structure it so you can stay on the plan. If it's a short rapid weight loss plan, you have to stick with it long enough to produce results.

The challenge is that both your mind and your body tend to resist making changes. The overall strategy has to be sustainable.

Challenges and resistance can fall into two main areas: psychological resistance (mind), and biological resistance (body). You're probably already familiar with both. Psychological resistance may manifest as feeling deprived (desire for "forbidden" foods), crumbling willpower, or simply getting tired of the program, among others. Biological or physiological resistance is basically when your body "fights back" and causes slower or stalled weight loss, hunger, low energy and so forth.

For more help with sticking to a program or plan, see Troubleshooting.

Flexibility vs Perfectionism (All or Nothing)

Being flexible and avoiding an all-or-nothing mentality is important for sustainability. See Progress, not perfection in the Attitude and Mindset section.

Managing Hunger & Deprivation

Hunger and deprivation are two enemies of long-term success. See an entire discussion with solutions here: Managing Hunger.

Gradual or Cyclical?

"Rubber Band" Analogy
Think of both psychological and biological resistance like a unique kind of rubber band that is both strong but flexible or adaptable, where at first it wants to snap back like any other rubber band, but eventually it can also learn to accept the new length or size. You could approach lengthening that rubber band in two ways. The first method is to stretch it gradually (even imperceptibly if desired) so that very little resistance is felt yet over time it stretches and stays that way. Another way is to stretch it a long way, quickly. You see results quickly, yet there's more resistance (and eventually resistance may prevent the stretch altogether). However, if you take a break and let the rubber band rest and relax at that particular length, resistance fades. In effect, you stretch it using intervals or cycles of stretch, rest, stretch, rest. Both ways are valid and different people may prefer different methods. You may find this analogy helpful when considering your various options.

Gradual Lifestyle Changes

No matter what, some kind of long term changes will be required in order to avoid regaining weight you have lost. Eliminating some habits and creating new ones -- over a period of time -- naturally creates sustainability.

The value of creating long-term healthy habits is one reason so many people believe that losing more slowly and gradually is the only way to lose weight. However losing more slowly has it's own challenges because people see little progress and may get discouraged or lack motivation. One approach isn't necessarily better than the other; they each have advantages depending on your goals and preferences. For a full discussion, see Fast or Slow.

Using a more gradual habit/behavioral approach, you might not feel the need for "deliberate breaks" or metabolic breaks". See below. But it really depends on the individual. In the end, to create the right sustainability balance, you might want to try a mix of breaks, cyclical dieting, fast, and slow loss strategies.

Breaks and Cycles

There are various kinds of breaks that serve different purposes. See the chart below. Some help you biologically, but all help you psychologically. You deliberately break from your diet in some way so that your get a break or "rest", emotionally, mentally, and physically.

Are purposeful breaks really necessary or a waste of time? Some people end up associating weight loss with misery -- the longer you're miserable, the more weight you'll lose. Yes, you do have to stretch yourself a bit and it requires some discomfort at times. But you can't sustain outright misery for long and you shouldn't have to.

Dieting in smaller blocks of time or cycles is easier to manage ... and retains long-term control. The basic idea is that you are getting a psychological rest so that you can sustain your overall weight loss over time. As well, it leaves you very flexible to adjust intake based on social situations, exercise, your schedule, and how you feel.

Psychological benefits of breaks:

  1. You don't feel like you failed because you know breaks are part of the system
  2. You remain in control instead of feeling out of control
  3. You get to eat some normally "forbidden" food (at the right time)

Biological benefits of breaks:
Depending on the particular type of break, it may also help normalize or "up-regulate" biological adaptations to hormones and metabolism. The leaner you become, the more biological resistance you are likely to encounter. Particularly if you are getting into the lower levels of fat (e.g., bodybuilding, or trying to uncover those 6-pack abs, or getting rid of that last stubborn fat).

See Metabolic Breaks for more.

Strategy Psychological Break Metabolic Break
Occasional Indulgences Yes No
Flex Meals Yes No
Eat More: Carb Refeed Yes Yes
Eat More: Formal Diet Break Yes Yes
Eat More: Reverse Dieting Yes Yes
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