It's surprising but true: sometimes to lose weight more effectively or to get out of a plateau you have to eat more and take breaks from normal dieting. We'll describe more about this concept below and in other pages.
This page assumes that you have been following a more formal or serious weight loss plan with the goal of seeing significant results, or you are creating a strategy for such a diet; meaning, most days are or will be "Weight Loss Days". (Refer to the Flexible Weight Loss page for an explanation of "Weight Loss Days"). In contrast, a more casual approach entails a lot more normal days compared to Weight Loss Days. A "normal" day is one where you are either not watching what you are eating, or you are eating at maintenance levels so you are probably not losing weight, or at least you're maintaining, and it probably doesn't feel very restrictive. In that case breaks are not needed nearly as much (if at all).
The more restrictive your program (whether low calories or limited variety or especially both) the more necessary it is to build in breaks of some kind. You may need metabolic breaks or psychological breaks or both.
Here's our recommended approach for taking breaks on any major diet plan:
Read the Sustainability page and the Metabolic Breaks page for important background material. It explains why and how this works. And also answers concerns you may have about regaining weight or fat.
There are a number of ways you can "Eat More" to help you achieve your goals.
We'll describe the various approaches below...
Anytime you need to break through a plateau, or if you feel obsessed with hunger, low energy, etc -- you can try simply eating more for a brief period of time. It doesn't need to be planned. Although the break may not last long enough to become a full metabolic reset, it can still help because:
For example:
You can also take a break for an unexpected event or if life suddenly gets too hectic or an event occurs where you cannot continue your normal weight loss plan.
You have to be in tune tune with your body -- eating more food "whenever you feel like it" can be a losing strategy if you can't tell the difference between regular/natural hunger (fat burning mode) and the all-consuming-obsessive hunger that indicates a metabolic shut down.
If you are obese or very overweight you typically don't need many breaks; a once-weekly planned Flex Meal may be enough for a psychological break. The leaner you get, the more breaks you need and the shorter your strict dieting periods need to be. See the section below called "Formal/Planned Diet Break".
A flexible approach that naturally incorporates breaks is called "Calorie Cycling" or "Zig Zagging" your calories. The idea is that your net calorie intake over the week is a calorie deficit (if you want to lose weight) or it "breaks even" if you want to maintain weight. See Flexible Weight Loss for more.
A well-designed weight loss program -- especially a rapid weight loss program -- will include a mandatory break after awhile for metabolic and psychological reasons.
If you are creating your own plan, you should do the same thing. This way you can plan a diet break over a vacation or holiday.
When is a formal break not necessary? If you are following strategies that don't feel that difficult (such as small daily changes to habits), you probably don't need a formal diet break.
How long is the break? A 2 or 3 week break is typical. A 1 week break can work, too. In other cases, you may want to extend it to a month. It also depends on how much you weigh. The more fat you carry, the longer you can diet and lose weight.
Suggestions for how long to diet/lose weight before taking a break:
See the Metabolic Break page for suggestions regarding calories, carbs and fat intake during the break.
This is a method of taking a break where you gradually increase calories in a controlled manner, such as 50 - 100 calories per week to find out the maximum number of calories you can eat and stay the same weight -- your true maintenance calories. You may be surprised at how many calories you can eat and not gain weight. See Reverse Dieting for more.
This is typically a structured, targeted strategy for carb intake used by athletes, people who exercise a lot, or those who are lean but want to get rid of stubborn fat. It may or may not fully reset the metabolism but it has other benefits that make it valuable. See Carb Refeed.
This is purely a psychological tactic. Forbidding yourself from favorite foods only makes you want them more, right? See Occasional Indulgences.