Hello all and welcome back to this week in Coffee, Cake, and Weights. I am very thankful to have a dedicated reader base and grateful for the grace as I adjust to the new year and my birthday shenane-gains.
This week I wanted to talk about when to end a weight loss phase. Everyone in the new year is excited to lose some weight, but when should we pump the brakes and give ourselves some rest time?
Are you becoming too food focused?
This comes after you have been dieting for a while and are so obsessed with fitting your calories in perfectly, but trying to squeeze things in or looking for the highest volume possible to be less hungry.
Do you eat high volume foods such as lettuce to increase satiety?
Do you look for ways to do certain flavors but use an obscene amount of things like Walden Farms?
Do you find yourself chewing an entire pack of gum to avoid food cravings?
Becoming obsessed with food is a sign that you may need to take a step back and assess everything that is going on.
This happened to me when I thought I was supposed to be eating 1100 calories a day and I was obsessively trying to feel ‘full’ without going over calories. Stuffing your face with lettuce and water is a big red sign telling you to stop.
Another end is are you ending up binging or trying to eat chocolate/sweets at every turn but wanting them to fit into your diet? I have also done this before when I was naïve and thought that eating only protein and shirataki noodle was a good way to earn my nightly cookie binge.
If you relate to any of these things in this section, consider taking a diet break or reverse diet back to a normal calorie range to correct some hunger hormones, mindset issues, and potentially metabolic damage that might be happening.
Your dream body isn’t worth your mental state! It will take time, have a little patience.
Are your calories too low?
If you are dieting and dieting and removing calories and you have not lost all that you want, you may need more than one dieting cycle.
Remember, you cannot lose weight all the time.
If you are under 1500 calories, how long have you been there?
Are you feeling hungry too often?
Do you feel like working out is too hard now?
Are your energy levels low?
If any of these questions rings true, you might have a caloric level that is too low and it won’t do you any good to be here. Eating food is important for your athletic performance and you need fuel for the day and your body in general. Eating enough even while dieting is very important.
Your overall health is not worth a diet to lose a few pounds. You may need to reverse diet with a qualified coach to help you out of this situation.
Have you ‘been on a diet’ all year to lose weight?
If you have been telling yourself you are on a diet or following a low calorie diet for more than 3-4 months and you’re spinning your wheels and unhappy with progress and results, you may need to get out of the dieting mindset.
Do you tell yourself you need to be eating less to look better?
Are you logging under a certain amount of calories in fear of weight gain?
Are you unhappy with how much weight you have or haven’t lost?
You may need to change your overall goals and find some external problem solving for the thoughts you have if this section rings true for you. Many times we may use diets to punish ourselves for how we look.
This is not how you make progress, and you may just need to focus on performance goals and work with a good coach to help keep your head in the game.
Are you simply tired of dieting?
I know after about 12 weeks of dieting it can get pretty draining — literally. You may have brought yourself down about 10-15 pounds which is a great feat in itself and you may want to just maintain that weight loss and go back to the diet later.
Have you been dieting for 12-15 weeks and need a break?
Are you down 10 pounds and feel like you just need a big piece of cake?
Do you feel like your workouts don’t have an oomph lately?
A smart approach here may just be implementing a 2-4 week diet break. Bring your calories back up to maintenance for that time period and then you can decide to go back to dieting.
A diet break is refreshing and it can increase your motivation again for meeting that goal you set out for yourself. It’s like sitting down for a 15 minute break at work — you just needed to rest your legs for a few.
As you can see there is no one-size-fits-all for ending a cut. I will say if your calories are too low and you are noticing major issues, end the diet completely. A diet break may not do you any good unless you are deep in a preparation for something like a bodybuilding competition where you have to look a certain way and lose a certain amount of fat. That can be completely exhausting and I can understand the chugging away at getting it done.
Other than competition preparation, ending a diet is usually smart if you just can’t. You know what I mean. Noncompliance, extreme fatigue, no desire to continue.
It’s smart to hire a coach at any stage in your lifting journey as they are incredibly great for every season, but here at the end of a diet they can help you prevent major rebound and over-gaining he weight you lost back and then some. They can help you reverse diet properly, and can help you adhere better than you could on your own. Yay, accountability!
I hope to see you guys on the next one.
Saturday’s at 9 am CST is when we normally drop articles so make sure I have your email or you have downloaded the app to keep up with everything you need to be successful in your fitness goals this year.
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns drop them in the comments or shoot me an email
I really appreciate this article because I've struggled with finding a stopping point, and then I end up going the opposite direction because I tried to stick with a plan that was unsustainable. Keep up the good work!