My Fat Loss Phase – Week 6 – Diet Break

Posted on 2nd May 2020 | Back to blog

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:

  1. Reduce your food intake (lower calories via reduced fats or carbs)
  2. Increase your activity (Non Exercise Activity and / or Exercise Activity)
  3. Do a little of both (usually my recommendation)

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.

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…

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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.

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.

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