I’m now into my sixth week of fat loss, and my weigh ins have been as follows…
WEEK 1 – 64kg
WEEK 2 – 62.9kg (-1.1kg)
WEEK 3 – 61.8kg (-1.1kg)
WEEK 4 – 61.3kg (-0.5kg)
WEEK 5 – 61.2kg (-0.1kg)
WEEK 6 – 61.2kg (0kg loss)
Total 6 week loss = -2.8kg (-6.1lbs)
As I predicted last week, 6 weeks into my fat loss phase, I have stalled.
When this normally happens, you have 3 choices:
- Reduce your food intake (lower calories via reduced fats or carbs)
- Increase your activity (Non Exercise Activity and / or Exercise Activity)
- Do a little of both (usually my recommendation)
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I did say all of this in last week’s update, but in the interest of keeping everything in context:
Before I began this fat loss phase, I was doing hypertrophy in the gym followed by x20minutes of steady state cardio x4 days a week.
I was eating 1980kcals a day.
The first thing I did 6 weeks ago was pull my calories down from 1980kclas to 1740kcals (-240kcals) via a 60g carbohydrate decrease, and increase my body strength HIIT circuits / steady state cardio from x20minutes x4 days a week to x25minutes x6 days a week.
Once a week, my calories go back up to 1980kcals via 60g carbohydrates (and / or alcohol!). This is my x1 weekly re-feed day.
Weekly re-feeds are implemented for mental, hormonal, metabolic, performance and recovery reasons.
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I haven’t touched my calories or cardio since I started my fat loss phase, and even though I have now stalled and SHOULD be increasing expenditure and / or decreasing intake, I have decided to do the EXACT OPPOSITE and implement a 1-2 week diet break instead…
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What is a Diet Break?
A diet break is an increase in calories (back up to CURRENT maintenance calories, so for me right now, this means back up to 1980kcals from 1740kcals), and a decrease in cardio (I won’t actually be decreasing my expenditure as it is already low in the context of a fat loss phase, and I’m still feeling very fit, strong and healthy).
Diet breaks typically range anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, depending on the length of the fat loss phase, the response of the client and the client’s state of mind.
Why implement a Diet Break?
You implement diet breaks for multiple reasons:
- If you have been dieting for a while and still have a long way to go, a diet break will provide some respite, both mentally and physically.
- If the goal is maintain as much muscle mass as possible throughout a fat loss phase, diet breaks are a great tool to use to achieve this.
- If your calories and cardio are already as aggressive as they can be, and a plateau has been a constant, implementing a diet break can act as a metabolic booster of sorts, before then reentering a hopefully more effective fat loss phase.
I suppose all 3 apply to me in some form, but the truth is, I just don’t want to spend months and months in a fat loss phase with potentially no end date, no reason why, and nowhere left to take it in a few weeks time.
Why?
Because dieting is hard, fat loss is hard, and having to do it for a long period of time with no end goal in sight is, to put it mildly, unappealing.
However, that being said, I also don’t want to undo any progress I’ve made, so a diet break it is!
I may gain some weight back, I may not, I will simply have to monitor myself and see what happens after week 1.
I reassess the situation as I go, but for now, my training will remain the same, and my calories will go back up to maintenance at 1980kcals daily.
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If you would like to see the types of bodyweight workouts I do at home (while you may not be able to grow the muscle, you can certainly keep hold of what you do have), and I how I instruct a fat loss diet (both meal plans for non trackers AND calorie and macro instructions for trackers), have a read of
The STAY AT HOME 12 Week Body Transformation Plan
description page, and see if the download is right for you.
