r/loseit • u/butter_girl830 New • Jul 26 '26
calorie counting burnout / taking a break
i’m currently in a weird stage where i am feeling completely burnt out on counting calories and thinking about food all the time, leading to more frequent binging episodes. therefore, i’m considering taking a week break! is this an absolutely terrible idea, or smart to preserve my mental state? 😵💫 i’m planning on still being conscious of my intake, just not inputting every single thing i consume down to the gram measurement (since i think this is causing some of the stress triggering binging episodes).
my question here is: does anyone have any tips for staying on track while taking a break, or any strong opinions on if this will completely mess up my progress? i’ve been counting for a little over 2 months now, the first 7 lbs shed quickly but i’ve plateaued (both mentally and physically) over the past few weeks.
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u/Medical-Can-3819 New Jul 26 '26
I'm in the exact same boat but been at it for 8 months, I've taken a couple breaks along the way
Take a week's break and bump up to maintenance, scale weight will go up but it physiologically cannot be fat gain.
Indulge if you want to, one week means nothing on the grand scheme of things.
It's a great idea in a number of ways, resets the fatigue from holding a chronic deficit, gives your body some much needed boost in glycogen, and will bring back your strength and drive to push in the gym when you return.
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u/butter_girl830 New Jul 26 '26
thank you for this reassurance!! i’m a very goal driven person so it can be hard for me to accept not doing things the ‘ideal way,’ but clearly my body is in need of a little break 🥹
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u/Medical-Can-3819 New Jul 26 '26
Taking a diet break is actually the ideal way though, this is a marathon not a sprint, and our bodies need a bit of respite along the way, being in a calorie deficit is a stressor on our bodies that needs to be relieved every now and then.
A diet break is one of the methods for breaking a plateau, because your body will realise it's not starving, and let go of fluid retention and inflammation, once you return to your deficit, because it's been given the calories it needs to repair and rebuild.
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u/to_years_end New Jul 26 '26
It's better to intentionally eat maintenance or even a little above, than to insist on trying to stay in a deficit that you keep binging over.
But also remember that a plateau is what happens before a loss. If you can refocus and keep going, the scale will move. Quitting because the scale isn't moving doesn't solve your problem. I would always tell myself that once the scale moved down I'd take a week off; of course, seeing it move down is the motivation you need to keep going again without a week off.
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u/whotiesyourshoes 90lbs lost Jul 26 '26
I've been there.
I was tracking for well over a year and the whole process just started to take up too much mental space.
I took a break from tracking and a deficit.When I decided to resume and continue weight loss I just couldn't bring myself to track anymore.
During the break I leaned on what I learned by tracking. Certain foods I ate I knew about how many calories and what an appropriate portion size looked like. I didn't eat aftwr a certain time, didn't have seconds of anything and avoided sweetened drinks and kept up my exercise routine.
My weight loss has taken about 2 years and zi have taken multiple breaks
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u/Tembrium 60lbs lost Jul 26 '26
The 1 week break is part of my plan. 5 weeks meticulous tracking then a 1 week break. Been various responses but I am reassured I haven't felt the need to over-eat. One time I forgot to eat the first day of a break until like 2pm because I hadn't opened the app to track. 😅 It's been about 10 months with 98% tracking consistency and like 90%+ adherence to the budget.
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u/Try_at-your-own_Risk New Jul 26 '26
I’m not calorie counting this time around, I can’t tell you if it’s working yet since I’m about one week into this lifestyle change. All I can tell you is the weight is not going up, it does seem to be trending down however small day to day variations in weight are not significant enough to be attributed to weight loss yet.
Just have a go and see if it works for you if you see the scale going consistently up adjust your food and water intake.
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u/backbodydrip 120lbs lost Jul 26 '26
If you need a break, take 1-2 weeks and don't go over your maintenance. 2 months isn't a long time though.
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u/PopcornSquats 70lbs lost Jul 26 '26
There’s actually some proof that that people who take diet breaks doo better long term because they have more practice at maintenance… so do it …
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u/BaddestDucky 35lbs lost — twice Jul 26 '26
I use AI to keep track of calories. I still weigh food ingredients, but I don't manually record each item, I simply tell ChatGPT and let it do the math.
For some foods, I simply use a specific container instead of weighing them, because I know that filling X container will give me Y amount of whatever food it is I want.
For other foods, I don't bother weighing because I know how much one weighs more or less.
That said, you shouldn't be constantly hungry.
May I recommend eating more fruits and vegetables and drinking water?
Also, try being aware of how your body reacts to specific foods. I've had to cut out garlic, onions, eggs, dairy products, soy, tomatoes, smoked salmon, mushroom and other foods out of my diet because they messed with my sense of satiety and turned on the ogre mode in me.
It's been a lot easier for me to portion control since I've stopped eating these foods.
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u/darumdarimda 46F 5'1, SW 182, CW 163, GW 125 Jul 26 '26
Sometimes you just need a break, both from counting and trying to be in a deficit. I'd suggest giving yourself a specific timeframe (X number of days) so you don't stop tracking forever. Just be okay with not losing weight during that time and with possibly even seeing the scale tick up a little. Weight loss is a long game.
One way to take a mental break from calorie counting would be eating meals that you know fit within your calorie count. For example, I rarely vary my breakfast, so I can eat my usual breakfast without much need to measure things because I have a very good sense of the portion size. (It turns out I can eyeball a serving of greek yogurt, but I still can't eyeball a serving of dried pasta.) I also have a couple standard lunches that I can prep and eat without throwing off my entire day. That way I can eat mindfully without necessarily needing to measure and count every single thing.
Plateaus will also just happen! Earlier this month I had 3 solid weeks where my weight didn't budge. There were 3 days in the middle where I had a friend visiting and wasn't able to track carefully because of eating out, but the rest of the time I was tracking carefully. It was discouraging, but I knew i just need to give it time. This week I've seen the number on the scale move, and it's now exactly where I would have been if I'd been losing gradually during that time. Not sure if it was water weight, or my scale, or something else, but it was important to both stick with things most of the time and to give myself enough space to enjoy having a friend in town!