When your plan goes off the rails
Our world seems to be moving at break-neck speed, and especially in our realm of education. A lot has happened lately, to put it mildly. Don’t get me wrong, most of what is happening is fantastic, but even good stress is still stress. Throw in the demands of preparing for the school year, and you’ve got a recipe for sabotaging goal achievement. I’m going to be very honest here, I found myself simply going through the motions of food prep and trying to stick to my nutrition routine. What I once found as completely blissful, I was beginning to resent. That moment was my red flag: I had to step back and take a good look at my focus and my plan.
Reset.
I’ve been here before, so I knew the warning signs (maybe you can relate?). Distracted by foods I typically don’t crave (let’s say…sugar cookies, anyone?), and no longer feeling the rush of slicing and dicing my veggies and meats in preparation for the week’s recipes, I decided to press pause for two weeks. No, I didn’t order an entire large supreme pizza and a down a bag of Oreos, but I did give myself an opportunity to indulge a little in some of my favorites.
If you’ve read my previous posts, or listened to my podcasts, you are probably aware that I don’t support the notion that there are inherently “bad foods”. Eating a slice of your mom’s homemade cheesecake (I challenge anyone's recipe against my native New Yorker mom’s cheesecake!) is not, in itself, going to derail your health goals. Eating the entire cheesecake, and continuing to indulge on a routine basis (habitually) most likely will put a big pause on building a stealth physique.
Refocus.
I learned a lot in my two week reset break. This allowed me to clear the mental fog of being in routine and not being able to have a sense of accomplishment because of it. Even better, I found that I became more creative with my recipes, and added new ideas to old favorites. Flavors of foods I routinely enjoy were magnified and I gained a renewed sense of purpose.
Although I preach adherence and consistency, I also want to be real about being human. Simply knowing the “right things to do” and understanding that eating a variety of nutritionally dense foods leads to optimal health doesn’t automatically guarantee goal achievement. It’s being able to sense when you, as an individual, need to step back and understand where you are, and where it is you want to be on your nutrition journey. Readjusting the daily habits in order to better meet your life needs is necessary and healthy.
The Proof
You know I love a good nutrition and fitness study, and this one really delivers on this subject (that, and it’s incredibly recent. Like, 2021 recent). A simple sample study of resistance-trained athletes (male and female) took a one week diet break following a restrictive twelve week training and diet program. “Participants reported significantly lower sensations of hunger…and irritability after the diet break, and significantly higher sensations of fullness, satisfaction, and alertness”. What this means to every human is that it is ok, and even necessary, to take a break from our routines every once in a while in order to make progress. This is especially going to become very important as we head into the holiday season, and life adds a little more stress.
The Take Aways
This post is not intended to be a green light to gluttonous indulgence. What it is, plain and simple, is a view into the benefits of taking a planned “break” from your nutrition routine. Need or want to give it a shot? Here’s how to do it without sabotaging your goals:
Plan when you are going to take the break
If you have just started your nutrition habits, (let’s say you’ve been really sticking to your plan consistently for one week), try to wait a few more weeks until you have established your habits
If you have been going strong for a while, and you are finding you are no longer finding joy in your plan, or you are resenting your program, these are probably good signs that a break is warranted
Give yourself between one to two weeks of a planned break
Look at your daily caloric intake for your regular plan, and maintain this energy intake during this period within about 10-15 calories each day (this way, you are less likely to gain unintentional fat)
If you plan to enjoy some indulgent foods (reference back to cheesecake), set a boundary for yourself about just how much you are going to eat (again, trying to stay close to your regular energy intake)
If you happen to go way over your caloric intake-DO NOT FREAK OUT-reset, refocus, and begin again
When your week or two week break is finished, reevaluate your plan, maybe include new recipes into your program, and get back at it!
Most importantly, listen to your body and your mind.
Peos JJ, Helms ER, Fournier PA, Krieger J, Sainsbury A. A 1-week diet break improves muscle endurance during an intermittent dieting regime in adult athletes: A pre-specified secondary analysis of the ICECAP trial. PLoS One. 2021 Feb 25;16(2):e0247292. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0247292. PMID: 33630880; PMCID: PMC7906362.
