Taking a break from a diet: a technique for long-term weight loss

Background

It seems counterintuitive to take a holiday from a diet. As a doctor surely I would want people eating healthily all the time? The reality is, none of us can eat perfectly all of the time, certainly not in today’s climate. Life happens. What is important is how you live your life ‘most of the time’. If we aim for positive habits 80% of the time then this is a huge achievement and should be celebrated! We want lifelong positive habits, not short-term ‘diets’. We now know that recurrent periods of hard-core diets can in fact teach our bodies to become better at regaining weight or even sabotaging our attempts to stick to a diet in the first place. We need to think differently.

Eating healthily requires time, patience and perserverence. It is hard work. So why should the idea of a ‘break’ not make sense? We need to take a break from work? From school? Even from family from time to time?! A break is a valuable period to recharge and more importantly re-focus.

The Evidence

Take this study for instance: The MATADOR study. Men were separated into two groups:

1/ to diet every single day (low calorie diet)

2/ Diet for 2 weeks followed by 2 weeks of higher calorie (but still eating sensibly)

They monitored the two groups and compared them after 30 weeks. The surprise was that the group that lost the most weight was the one that had breaks: these lost 50% more fat without losing muscle mass and with less slowing of their metabolism!

Other studies have shown the same, there is better metabolic adaptations and adherence to the diet and one showed that there were benefits to include less feelings of hunger and higher satisfaction overall.

The psychological benefit

There are many reasons for this: both physiological but there are big psychological gains. A  planned break takes the guilt away. There are no feelings of ‘falling off the wagon,’ ‘feeling worthless’ or feeling like a failure. After the break is completed you’re more motivated to continue. You can look forward to this period and accept it for what it is.

Please note that intermittent dieting is not the same as intermittent fasting. The former refers to a prolonged period; of between 2-14 days in length whilst IF refers usually to periods of less than a day.

Implementation Tips.  

1/ Take a look at your calendar checking to see where holidays/busy times naturally fall

2/ Choose how long to take your break for. Range can be between 2 days (no less) or up to 14 days

3/ Choose how long to take between each break. This can vary, but a good place to start is between 4-6 weeks. If you plan on taking a 14 day break then I suggest the length of time between breaks might need to be longer.

4/ Just try it. Just start. Do not overthink the lengths of time above. Be prepared that it might not work the first time – it is all about tweaking and adjusting so get a pen and paper to make notes as you go through

5/ During the break there is no need to count calories/carbohydrates or anything. Try not to completely overindulge leaving you feeling bloated, lethargic and guilty.

6/ Plan which treats you have been missing for this period. Maybe organise meals with your friends during this time. But again the trick is not to go overboard!

Summary

My personal experience with ‘real-life’ patients is that this works. The people that have the intent to play the ‘long game’ can naturally fall in to this rhythm and it works well.

The question is: Is what you’ve been doing so far working? If not, then why not try this? It’s all about experimenting and not about judgement. There are many variations and many ways to success. Each person is different, and experimentation is the key to success.

Give it a go: there will be one of two outcomes from trying: it either works or you learn something new. Both outcomes are wins.

Dr Nerys Frater 

References

Byrne NM, Sainsbury A, King NA, Hills AP, Wood RE. Intermittent energy restriction improves weight loss efficiency in obese men: the MATADOR study. Int J Obes (Lond). 2018;42(2):129-138. doi:10.1038/ijo.2017.206

Peos JJ, Helms ER, Fournier PA, et al. Continuous versus Intermittent Dieting for Fat Loss and Fat-Free Mass Retention in Resistance-trained Adults: The ICECAP Trial. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2021;53(8):1685-1698. doi:10.1249/MSS.0000000000002636