Dieting can be stressful. Whether it be a more aggressive, short-term diet, like a prep for a holiday or a photoshoot, or a longer-term, more sustainable approach, it will leave some after-effects that shouldn't be ignored.
If you've ever tried to lose weight and found yourself putting it back on within a few weeks to months after finishing your diet, you'll know first-hand how frustrating it is to have all your hard work undone. Back to square one, only this time, you're less motivated to start again because the outcome you've hoped for hasn't happened.
So, how can we avoid this pitfall, and have our cake and eat it too?
(Before I go on, I should state that this article is more geared towards looking at the period following more extreme and aggressive diets, but there is some overlap with more sustainable dieting approaches).
Changing the Mindset
This is where it starts. Now, this will be different depending on how extreme the diet is and how aggressively you chased a lean condition, so let's take a look at how mindset might differ between that and a more sustainable approach.
In the case of an aggressive diet, with staggered but significant calorie restriction taking place over the course of 8 to 16 weeks, for example, we're already going to be doing things that we (hopefully) understand are not necessarily sustainable in the long run. These sorts of nutritional practices are implemented for the purposes of achieving a very specific look, and once that look is achieved, there will need to be a gradual return to a more normal, flexible way of living and eating.
When it comes to a more sustainable method, where the goal might be to get to a healthy weight and body fat over the course of 6 months to a year, the nutritional habits shouldn't feel like a chore and a huge mental drain. If you find yourself thinking "I can't wait to finish this diet in 6 months and eat [insert food of your choice] then it's very likely you're eating in a way that doesn't fit into your lifestyle in the long run. To be sure, losing weight and keeping it off in the long-term requires self-honesty that some behaviours might need to change that aren't helpful to the goal. Nevertheless, a diet should comprise of foods that are enjoyable to eat, and that you can foresee eating for good once you've reached your goal.
Have a Goal & Plan for After
This is something we often overlook when we're chasing a specific goal. Our efforts become fixed on attaining the result, and then don't give enough thought to what happens after.
In the case of a photoshoot prep, the goal is very simple though difficult to execute. Towards the end of the diet phase, energy will be low, hunger will be high and food focus (daydreaming about foods you're going to eat afterward) will be very prevalent. The post-diet period can be very difficult to navigate unless there is the next goal in place.
As already mentioned, aggressive dieting leaves behind a few negative physiological and psychological factors. A return to more normal eating will help improve these changes that the body experiences, and there are different methods to bring these changes about.
So, how do we accomplish this return to normal?
Well, your body is likely primed to literally inhale food like Henry the Hoover. The 2 hormones that control your feelings of hunger and satiety - ghrelin and leptin - are literally all over the place. Leptin is low, which signals to the body that we can stop eating as we're full. Ghrelin is high, which signals to the body that we're hungry and that we need to keep eating.
Not exactly the easiest environment in which to slowly and methodically increase calorie intake, because when you start eating, this won't cause you to have that 'feeling full' signal, meaning it's not uncommon to just keep eating and eating. Unless this is managed in some way, it's an easy way to develop binge eating habits and put 5-10kg on in the space of several weeks, and in the process undo the hard work you put in.
Having a pre-determined goal ties into having the right mindset. The work doesn't stop after the diet is finished, in fact, in some cases, this is the harder part of the process for many.
If these goals are centered around building muscle mass and strength, then both processes need a caloric surplus in order to make the most out of. Same goes for athletic performance, which doesn't go hand in hand with being super lean. From a physiological point of view, the more negative effects of dieting don't start to reverse until body fat starts to increase again, so even though calories are gradually increased for the first few weeks, it's likely the body may still be in a deficit. This means that we probably won't feel 100
Setting timeframes and goal posts to hit will keep your efforts focused, and attach a greater importance to sticking to the plan. If you've reached a very lean condition, taking 4 to 8 weeks to focus on recovery by systematically increasing food intake, reducing output (cardio) and in doing so bringing stress down will yield big benefits down the line, and ultimately get you in a position to get bigger and stronger, in other words, progressing properly again.
If the dieting has been more long-term, ie. 6 months to 1 year, if there have been no periods of higher calories to offset diet related fatigue and metabolic changes as part of calorie restriction, this is a great time to shift the focus from fat loss, especially if the goal is to continue with fat loss in the future. Spending 1-2 weeks at closer to maintenance calories will reduce stress, improve training performance and provide a welome mental break for many.
An okay plan is better than no plan at all. Most important is that there is some kind of goal, and a way to measure if you're getting closer to it.
In the words of General George S. Patton:
"A good plan violently executed now is better than a bad plan executed next week."
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