Oct 20, 2023
When people hire Dr. Santana looking to lose a significant amount of weight, it's almost certain this isn't their first attempt at dieting. In fact, what Dr. Santana typically finds with overweight and obese weight loss clients is that they have been dieting for years. They are essentially always in weight loss mode. The problem is, they haven't lost the weight, which indicates that their compliance is spotty at best. Dr. Santana also points out that even if compliance is low and they haven't lost weight, there is a psychological toll from constantly dieting.
The solution? You need to take breaks from dieting if you want to lose weight and keep it off long term. A diet deload, if you will. Losing weight imposes stress on your body, both physiological and psychological stress, and the fatigue from that stress compounds the longer you stay in weight loss mode. In programming we take deloads to disappate fatigue when it has gotten too high and we risk overtraining, tweaks and form breakdown. The same concept works for dieting. Dr. Santana's recommendation is to limit your dieting to 12-16 weeks at a time, then take a break. During the break, raise your calories and eat at maintenance for several weeks. You'll likely gain some weight back -- at the very least from water weight due to the increased food -- but that's ok. You're disappating stress and fatigue, helping your body feel better, and improving your mental state before the next round of dieting, if you choose to continue.
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