Diet Breaks

@Alessandro Mainente  Hi Alessandro!

I'm trying to get to 10% body fat and I've hit a plateau around 11.5-12%.  I've been dieting consistently for quite some time now.  Counting calories for 4-5 months.  I've heard that taking a "diet break" and eating normally for 1-2 weeks can be helpful in overcoming a plateau.  Do you have any experience with this?  I only need to lose another 4lbs of fat to hit my goal, but my body isn't letting the fat go (all in my lower abs).  Maybe a break will provide some psychological relief and give me the willpower to continue?  

I'm planning on taking 2 weeks off of counting calories from December 22-January 4 and then get back to counting until I hit 10%.  What do you think?

Thanks,

James

8 hours ago, James O'Boyle said:

@Alessandro Mainente  Hi Alessandro!

I'm trying to get to 10% body fat and I've hit a plateau around 11.5-12%.  I've been dieting consistently for quite some time now.  Counting calories for 4-5 months.  I've heard that taking a "diet break" and eating normally for 1-2 weeks can be helpful in overcoming a plateau.  Do you have any experience with this?  I only need to lose another 4lbs of fat to hit my goal, but my body isn't letting the fat go (all in my lower abs).  Maybe a break will provide some psychological relief and give me the willpower to continue?  

I'm planning on taking 2 weeks off of counting calories from December 22-January 4 and then get back to counting until I hit 10%.  What do you think?

Thanks,

James

Hi  James , it 's not a rule, it depends on general stress, general performance, amount of progressive fat loss etc. i stayed on the deficit in the last 9 months but as stated is a personal choice. You can increase again the fat loss by reducing calories but i do not want to reduce them before 20 days of no weight variations. Also taking circumferences makes the difference because at a certain body the weight has little value. Also, you must consider the amount of daily NA+ and the amount of water.

Generally speaking, once you hit a plateau you can decrease the calories if you can do that...I mean that under 1900 kcal/die rarely you can get benefits from more cutting, you need to increase the resting thermogenesis by daily low-intensity activity like walking.

I have reached the below condition of upper body fat of around 5% in the upper body without diet break or strange strategies. different strategies can be used in 3 peaking weeks before the competition but arriving at 8%-9% should be done basically with calories cut. the main problem is.......do you have enough calories to cut so that you can still lose fat?

@Alessandro Mainente 

I'm at 150lbs and my caloric intake is 1700-1800 kcal/day.  So maybe reducing calories further isn't the best option.  I do a lot of walking (about 10,000 steps per day, plus hiking once per week) but maybe I can increase it a bit.  I think taking a break will be good for me mentally and emotionally.  After taking a break from the diet, should I return to 1700 kcal/day or should I do something less extreme?  Maybe 1900 kcal?  I'll start taking more measurements (waist, hips, etc?) as well.

Thanks,

James

I think that maybe for your current % of bodyfat and if it is the first strict diet in your life is a good result. i would not try to cut more. You then need a reverse diet, build up a decent surplus maybe with some densification training and then next year try to reach lower. the second peak is always better.

@Alessandro Mainente  Thanks for the advice!

How long do you think I should wait between cuts?

And does "densification" mean "high volume"?

I am thinking maybe I take a 2 week break, then do 2 weeks of maintenance, then a bulking phase, then another cut.  How long should the bulking phase be?  Based on my goals I think I would like to gain 3-4lbs of muscle and then try to get down to 10% body fat.

Thanks again,

James

11 hours ago, James O'Boyle said:

@Alessandro Mainente  Thanks for the advice!

How long do you think I should wait between cuts?

And does "densification" mean "high volume"?

I am thinking maybe I take a 2 week break, then do 2 weeks of maintenance, then a bulking phase, then another cut.  How long should the bulking phase be?  Based on my goals I think I would like to gain 3-4lbs of muscle and then try to get down to 10% body fat.

Thanks again,

James

Once you have reached your lowest BF maybe you need a reverse diet first of about 6-8 weeks, then you can begin a new year where you try to build up some muscles mass, activating more motor neurons, moving heavy weights..etc it can take...4-5 months. then the second peaking begins.

Basically yes something like bodybuilding-oriented schema.

@Alessandro Mainente  Got it, thank you for the tips!

Wow, someone give Alessandro a sandwich!   That's what my buddy would tell me when I lost weight as in I was fading away.  I'm no where close to you or O'Boyle yet though.  I think doctor said I was at 25% body fat last visit I had.  You look incredibly shredded!  Are those recent photos?

15 hours ago, James Strack said:

Wow, someone give Alessandro a sandwich!   That's what my buddy would tell me when I lost weight as in I was fading away.  I'm no where close to you or O'Boyle yet though.  I think doctor said I was at 25% body fat last visit I had.  You look incredibly shredded!  Are those recent photos?

Photos are one month ago before doing the reverse diet that is a slow surplus in order to replenish the muscle glucogen store while holding the low body fat.

@Alessandro Mainente  Hi Alessandro, one more question for you.  How much do you recommend increasing daily calories per week on a reverse diet?  I’ve read +150 per week is a good amount.  What do you think?  For bulking I’ll be gradually increasing from 1700-2500 calories per day.

Thanks,

James