5 signs that you need a break from dieting

Do you know how weight loss works? Do you know how your body responds when you diet? Are you convinced that you cannot lose weight? If you think that excessive cardio and under-eating are the answer to your weight loss goals, I hate to break it to you but you have been lied to. In this article, I am going to explain why this approach to weight loss is flawed, what signs you should look for when your body needs a break from dieting,  and how you can achieve weight loss that you can maintain long term. 

We hear on the news and on social media that we have an “obesity” problem and that America is getting fatter every year. If we could just eat less, we as a country can get healthy and stop the “epidemic”. Well, I am here to tell you that America does not have an overeating problem. The real problem is that people don’t make their health a priority and we are in a stress epidemic. We prioritize overworking at our jobs because the mentality is the harder you work, the more worthy and successful we become. Look, it is not your fault. This limiting belief has been ingrained in us. So why is this the problem? When we prioritize work over our health or work:life balance, we skip meals, forget to eat, or blame being too busy to not workout. When we skip meals our body sees that as starvation. When we don’t eat all day, we binge at night or on the weekends to make up for the missed fuel and we go for the less nutrient dense foods because we are too lazy to put any effort into our meals. We do this due to lack of preparation and again, because we prioritize work over our health. Then, we finally hit a breaking point. We say we will be better and go for that quick fix diet to get “healthy”. We cut calories and force ourselves to eat salads and bland chicken everyday to stay on track. We workout 7 days a week and force ourselves to do cardio to burn more calories. We burn ourselves into the ground until we can’t take it anymore and then give up. Then the binge begins and we gain the weight back. Feeling like a failure, we decide, on Monday we will be better and start again. This cycle continues on and on and we start to feel like there is no hope for us. I am here to tell you that the cycle can stop and you can find a balance but the idea that dieting and quick fixes are the answer needs to end. 

So how do we know when we need a break from dieting and if we aren’t dieting then how can we reach our goals? Let’s first talk about what it means to diet and how dieting affects our bodies. There are lots of diets out there. From keto to Jenny Craig, each diet has their own set of rules that you are to follow and they claim will get you quick long lasting results. Typically diets have one or more food groups that you are supposed to cut out. For starters, this is unhealthy because it creates rules around food and disconnects you from your body's biological signals of what you actually need. It also creates a negative relationship with food. You start to fear food, even when you aren’t dieting. Carbs become the enemy and counting calories feels like the only thing keeping you from gaining weight. Along with that, most diets have you eating in a deficit. This means that you are eating less calories than your maintenance. At your maintenance calories, you won't lose or gain weight. So if you eat under this amount of calories, you should be able to lose weight (or at least that is what we are told). 

What most people don’t realize is that eating under your maintenance calories puts a lot of stress on your body. Chronic stress can be detrimental to your health. It can cause anxiety, depression, insomnia, gut issues, muscle tension and pain, high blood pressure, heart disease, and weight gain. There are also many stressors that we need to be aware of, especially if we want to lose weight. Stress can come from work, life, relationships, our thoughts, and physical stress like working out or dieting. This is important because if you are constantly trying to diet, you are putting your body at risk for chronic stress and not only will that hold you back from losing weight, but it will also negatively impact your overall health. Below are 5 signs that you should pay attention to in order to know if your body needs a break from dieting. Afterwards, we will dive into ways you can implement weight loss while also promoting lifelong health.

1. You are in a binge and restrict cycle

If you have noticed that you have entered a vicious binge and restrict cycle, it is time to take a break from dieting and work on healing your relationship with food and your body. Binge and restrict cycles come from overly restricting your food intake well below your maintenance calories. Our bodies are smart and they are biologically programmed to resist starvation. If you are restricting too much, cutting out entire meals, or not getting an adequate balance of protein, carbs, fat, and fiber in your diet, your body is going to release hormones that increase your hunger. People often feel out of control around food when they diet. They lock themselves in a box and cancel all plans to avoid being around “bad” foods because they know, once they have one bite, they will lose all control. The true reason as to why you feel out of control is because you aren’t allowing yourself the foods that you enjoy. It is like anything in life. If you tell yourself you can’t have something, your mind is wired to want it even more. If you create balance in your nutrition and allow yourself fun foods, they will be less exciting and you will feel more in control around those foods. On top of that, instead of focusing on cutting out full food groups, if you focus on having a balance of protein, carbs, fat, and fiber in most meals, your body will be getting adequate fuel and you’ll feel more satisfied. When you feel satisfied, you are less likely to rummage through the cabinets to find a treat that will curb your cravings. 

2. You feel extra moody or on edge all the time

Have you noticed a change in your mood since you started dieting? Maybe you have been getting into frequent fights with the people you love or you snap at any little thing that gets under your skin. Does it feel like your emotions are on a roller coaster and you can’t seem to balance your feelings out? These are all clear signs that it is time to take a break from dieting. One of the most important things I focus on with my clients is biological feedback. What is your body saying to you? The more diets we do, the more disconnected we become with our body's needs. Have you ever been hungry and questioned it? “I can’t be hungry, I ate so much today!”. That is a clear sign of ignoring your body’s needs because of food rules you have created in your mind. When we don’t fuel our body’s enough, we have low blood sugar and our ability to focus and function properly is diminished. Our hormones go out of whack, causing us to feel on edge. Understanding your body’s need for food before you are ravenous is key to avoiding the feeling of being “hangry”. Below, I will give you more guidance on how to eat in a deficit without feeling overly “hangry” or on edge all the time. 

3. You are struggling with poor sleep or insomnia

Sleep and recovery are so important when it comes to weight loss and hitting personal records in the gym. If you are purposely cutting your sleep hours to try and fit in more workouts, you could be pushing yourself further away from your goals instead of getting closer to them. On top of that, dieting puts even more stress on the body and influences the quality of sleep we get. When we sleep, our body needs energy to make the necessary repairs to our brain and muscles. Not getting adequate fuel can make us restless in our sleep, causing us to wake up multiple times during the night. Not only will we not feel our best the next day due to poor quality of sleep, but our bodies are not able to recover properly. Not eating enough also causes imbalances in our stress hormones, cortisol and adrenaline, which govern our circadian rhythm. If these hormones are imbalanced, we feel wired yet tired and can't fall asleep. 

4. Your performance in the gym has diminished and you feel unmotivated

Have you noticed a difference in your performance in the gym based on how you fuel your body? Some of the strongest days in the gym I have had are after a weekend of rest and eating more food than usual. I always feel the weakest in the gym when I am in a cut phase (dieting). This is because your body needs adequate energy to push heavier weights and get through HIIT sessions. If your goal is to build muscle, you have to eat more food. And just so we are clear, “toning” your body literally means building muscle. You can make huge body composition changes just by adding in strength training 3 times a week and fueling your body with the right foods. Trying to lose weight is not a bad thing but constantly focusing on that all the time and only using the scale as a measure of progress can negatively affect your mindset. Instead, take some time to focus on goals you have in the gym. I guarantee, as you start fueling your body and PRing lifts in the gym, your body will also start to change, even if the scale doesn’t. Remember that muscle is more dense than fat. So if you have noticed a lack of motivation in your workouts due to poor performance in the gym, maybe it's time to take a break from the diet and put your focus towards improving your workouts in the gym. 

5. You have plateaued in your weight loss 

I want you to try and think back to the first diet you ever did. I always like to call everyone's first diet the honeymoon phase. Why? Because the first diet most people do seems to work so well! The weight came off with less effort and it didn’t seem that hard. However, the more and more diets you do, the harder and harder it gets. This is because dieting is hard and stressful for the body. When you go on your first diet, you most likely have a stronger metabolism. But the more diets you do, the slower your metabolism becomes. The faster the metabolism is, the more calories you burn throughout the day. On top of that, yo-yo dieting, or the act of restricting and binging, is even harder on your body. Dieting can become addicting and we never move ourselves into a recovery phase. It is important to note that if you choose to diet, you NEED to come out of it and eat back at your maintenance calories to keep your body functioning properly. The answer to your plateau is NOT to continue eating less. This is going to further destroy your body’s metabolism and this is extremely unhealthy for your body. Plateauing on your weight loss is a biological sign that it is time to come out of your cut and do a reverse diet, working back up to your maintenance calories. Now let’s talk about what that looks like and how you can achieve weight loss long term.

Let me first start off with saying that I am not against weight loss or changing your body composition. I do however think it is important to work on any body image issues you may have as I have found that weight loss alone will not make you love yourself more. With that being said, if weight loss is truly something you want to achieve, it has to be sustainable. You need to focus on changing your behaviors and implementing new habits that are going to help you build a healthy lifestyle. Doing fad diets and cutting out full food groups are not the answer. Start by making time in your calendar to eat at least 3 meals a day and balance those meals with protein, carbs, fat, and fiber. Eat more food! I cannot express how important it is to work on getting over your fear of eating more food. The more you eat, the faster your metabolism will be. 

If you have been dieting for your whole life, I want you to be aware that building your calories up to maintenance may cause weight gain at first. This is important to understand because your body has to regain trust with you and you have to allow your body to recover from the excessive dieting you have put it through. I know that this moment can feel emotional and you may feel pulled back into doing a fad diet but if you can focus on the big picture and the long term goal, you will eventually get to where you want to be. My advice is to step away from the scale and focus on the biological signals. Focus on things like mood, sleep, energy levels, stress levels, water intake, consistency, and performance in the gym. When you start to see improvements in these things, you know you are on the right path. 

If you feel extremely pulled away from your body’s signals, I think it can be beneficial to use macros as a tool to know how much fuel your body actually needs. If you don’t know what a serving of protein, carbs, or fat looks like, you might not even know where to start with building your meals. There are online calculators that can help you or you can work with a coach (like me) to guide you in the right direction. 

Lastly, if you are still questioning where to start, this is my advice. If you have been dieting for 6+ months, stop dieting and work back up to your maintenance calories (you can calculate this online). While you eat at maintenance, focus on fueling your body right and healing your relationship with food and your body. Stay in this phase for no less than 6 months (more is even better). During this phase, focus on fitness goals and building daily habits that will improve your health such as improving sleep, drinking more water, meditating, or adding in daily mobility. Then when you truly feel ready for a cut, only drop your calories 200 under your maintenance or around -10% of your maintenance. You don’t need to drop 1,000 calories to get results. Yes, progress will be slower but this is going to be way more sustainable. Then, after 3 months of this, move back into your maintenance. I would recommend not doing a cut phase more than once or twice a year. This means that for the majority of the year you will be eating at your maintenance. 

If you are looking for more guidance, I welcome you to fill out an application HERE and set up your free consultation with me today. Everyone’s journey is going to look different and having the help from a coach could be the difference in reaching your goals.