zillagraybeard
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THE IMPORTANCE OF DIET BREAKS WHEN DIETING
The 'Diet Breaks' were first introduced and popularized by Lyle McDonald in his book "A Guide to Flexible Dieting" and in the last few years we've finally been able to have some more research on the matter.
Have you ever taken a break from dieting with the purpose of dieting "better" later ? Sounds counter intuitive, but it's exactly how they work.
And no, I’m not saying cheat days or days where you simply stop dieting just because you “don’t feel like it”, or because you think you "have earned it". I’m talking about diet breaks, which actually serve a purpose to the progress you're making, setting you in a better spot (hormonally wise), to continue dieting, even though you're now starting from a lower bodyfat %.
Diet Breaks are basically short periods of time (10-14 days) spent at an estimated maintenance, where calories are brought up by increasing carbohydrate intake to up-regulate hormones like Leptin, increase metabolism and energy expenditure, regain some lost strength & muscle and probably even lose some water weight. (𝐈?*'𝐬 𝐧𝐨?* 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 ?*𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐢?*𝐡?* 𝐚𝐟?*𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐚?*𝐢𝐧?* 𝐚 ?*𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧?* 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐞?*𝐢𝐧?*, 𝐬𝐞𝐞: 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬)
Research shows that period of caloric restrictions followed by small “breaks” at caloric maintenance, result not only in just equal if not better fat loss, and more muscle mass retained, but the weight is actually easier to be kept off in the long term.
And that happens for multiple reasons: both physiological and psychological ones.
This does definitely not mean that dieting all at once doesn't work, because obviously it does (a caloric deficit will always work). And if you're dieting for a close competition, you'll likely won't have enough time to implement diet breaks.
However, if we are not dieting for a competition and we'd like to get lean and hold onto the new achieved condition for longer, the implementation of diet breaks is certainly going to work bette for long term maintenance.
The 'Diet Breaks' were first introduced and popularized by Lyle McDonald in his book "A Guide to Flexible Dieting" and in the last few years we've finally been able to have some more research on the matter.
Have you ever taken a break from dieting with the purpose of dieting "better" later ? Sounds counter intuitive, but it's exactly how they work.
And no, I’m not saying cheat days or days where you simply stop dieting just because you “don’t feel like it”, or because you think you "have earned it". I’m talking about diet breaks, which actually serve a purpose to the progress you're making, setting you in a better spot (hormonally wise), to continue dieting, even though you're now starting from a lower bodyfat %.
Diet Breaks are basically short periods of time (10-14 days) spent at an estimated maintenance, where calories are brought up by increasing carbohydrate intake to up-regulate hormones like Leptin, increase metabolism and energy expenditure, regain some lost strength & muscle and probably even lose some water weight. (𝐈?*'𝐬 𝐧𝐨?* 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 ?*𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐢?*𝐡?* 𝐚𝐟?*𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐚?*𝐢𝐧?* 𝐚 ?*𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧?* 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐞?*𝐢𝐧?*, 𝐬𝐞𝐞: 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬)
Research shows that period of caloric restrictions followed by small “breaks” at caloric maintenance, result not only in just equal if not better fat loss, and more muscle mass retained, but the weight is actually easier to be kept off in the long term.
And that happens for multiple reasons: both physiological and psychological ones.
This does definitely not mean that dieting all at once doesn't work, because obviously it does (a caloric deficit will always work). And if you're dieting for a close competition, you'll likely won't have enough time to implement diet breaks.
However, if we are not dieting for a competition and we'd like to get lean and hold onto the new achieved condition for longer, the implementation of diet breaks is certainly going to work bette for long term maintenance.
