I planned on losing 10% of my body weight (27lb) over a 10-week period. I was tracking my weight more than I was tracking time and because I was only down 5% of my body weight I did not notice it had been 15 weeks. Let me tell you the crash in mood and energy was intense. Took me a few days to figure out why I was so miserable. Literally a day and a half of eating at maintenance calories and I feel great. Diet breaks are extremely important. While it is totally possible for you to lose your goal weight with no breaks there will be consequences.
I have a friend who, over the course of a year lost about 25% of their body weight. This was 3 years ago and while they have managed to maintain their weight loss, which is surprising in of itself, their appetite has still not fully recovered. They suffer regular intense bouts of hunger even at maintenance calories.
For those who are not aware the general guidelines are:
Lose no more than 1% of body weight per week.
Maintain a deficit for no more than 10 weeks in a row.
Lose no more than 10% of your total body weight per diet phase.
Return to maintenace calories for at least as long as your diet phase. Ideally longer.
Remember that when you go up to maintenance calories, you are not losing any of the progress you have made. Also, be prepared to gain 2 or 3 lb of just water weight when you do. This is just your body carrying more water, you have not gained any fat.
It’s not sexy. It is a long-term plan that will not get you super fast results. But the results you get are much much more likely to last long-term. It gives your body plenty of time to recover from the stress that accumulates during calorie restriction, and it helps you build good habits and learn how to properly eat at maintenance calories.
I hope this helps some people out 👍 Good luck with your goals.
Edit: Because of some of the comments, here are some additional clarifications
Some people have said diet breaks have been debunked. That depends on what you mean by debunked. They have been shown in studies to not increase weight loss, fat loss, or resting metabolic rate. None of those are my claims. They have also been shown to reduce disinhibition during diet phases making it easier to stick to the diet. I will say that none of these studies have been long term and none of them have had follow up years after to assess whether or not they kept the weight off.
The source for my advice comes from Dr Mike Israetel from Renaissance periodization. He has two different weight loss courses. One that’s short and digestible, and another that’s long and in depth. I generally trust him for evidence based medicine when it comes to hypertrophy and fat loss.
Here are the playlists.
I have personal experience with diet fatigue. Low energy, less NEET (not exercise activity thermogenesis), mood swings, feeling cold, etc. That is anecdotal so take it with a grain of salt. But I think that diet breaks are a good safe path to take when it comes to weight loss. There is significant individual variation so assess how you feel and adjust accordingly. There is no universal solution for everyone.
by Miserable_Sweet_5245