Diet break

A diet break is a planned one- to two-week pause in a fat-loss diet, with intake raised to roughly maintenance calories before the deficit resumes.^{1Norton and Baxter, The Complete Reverse Dieting Guide, p. 27.},^{2Helms et al., The Muscle & Strength Pyramid: Nutrition, 2nd ed., p. 120.} Helms and colleagues recommend planning the pause rather than dieting until the client loses control and binges.^{3Helms et al., The Muscle & Strength Pyramid: Nutrition, 2nd ed., p. 117.}

The rationale is metabolic adaptation: time in a deficit lowers energy expenditure, and eating more can reverse part of that drop.^{3Helms et al., The Muscle & Strength Pyramid: Nutrition, 2nd ed., p. 117.},^{4Helms et al., The Muscle & Strength Pyramid: Nutrition, 2nd ed., p. 119.} In a 2018 study, men with obesity who alternated two weeks of dieting with two weeks at maintenance lost more fat and maintained their metabolic rate better than men who dieted continuously.^{4Helms et al., The Muscle & Strength Pyramid: Nutrition, 2nd ed., p. 119.} Helms and colleagues report no research in athletes at the time of writing.^{4Helms et al., The Muscle & Strength Pyramid: Nutrition, 2nd ed., p. 119.}

In practice

• Helms recommends breaks for diets lasting three months or longer.^{4Helms et al., The Muscle & Strength Pyramid: Nutrition, 2nd ed., p. 119.} His team’s coaching approach is a week-long break every 4 to 8 weeks, or whenever fat loss has stalled for 2 to 3 weeks.^{4Helms et al., The Muscle & Strength Pyramid: Nutrition, 2nd ed., p. 119.},^{2Helms et al., The Muscle & Strength Pyramid: Nutrition, 2nd ed., p. 120.}
• A rough starting point is 300 to 600 calories more than on deficit days, with cardio cut to about half of normal.^{2Helms et al., The Muscle & Strength Pyramid: Nutrition, 2nd ed., p. 120.}
• Untracked breaks don’t seem to slow weight loss, but the fat-loss advantage appeared when clients kept tracking at maintenance.^{2Helms et al., The Muscle & Strength Pyramid: Nutrition, 2nd ed., p. 120.},^{5Helms et al., The Muscle & Strength Pyramid: Nutrition, 2nd ed., p. 121.} Tracking only protein and calories is a middle ground.^{2Helms et al., The Muscle & Strength Pyramid: Nutrition, 2nd ed., p. 120.},^{5Helms et al., The Muscle & Strength Pyramid: Nutrition, 2nd ed., p. 121.}
• Weight may rise, hold or fall during the break.^{5Helms et al., The Muscle & Strength Pyramid: Nutrition, 2nd ed., p. 121.} A small gain is mostly glycogen, water, regained muscle and food weight, and it comes back off.^{5Helms et al., The Muscle & Strength Pyramid: Nutrition, 2nd ed., p. 121.}