Are Diet Breaks Back?! New Study Breakdown | Educational Video | Biolayne

Diet Breaks Meta-Analysis:
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38193357
1 on 1 Coaching biolayne.com/coaching
Get my research review REPS:
biolayne.com/REPS
Get my new nutrition coaching app, Carbon Diet Coach: onelink.to/9h4d62
My research based supplements: www.outworknutrition.com
Get my books on how to lose fat: www.biolaynestore.com
Take my online course "The Science of Nutrition": chfi.click/laynenorton_online
Get Custom Workouts by me for $12.99/month:
biolayne.com/workout-builder/
/ laynenorton
/ biolayne
/ biolayne

[@benrichards1]

Ive been on a constant diet break since 1997. Doing well.

[@witchmorrow]

lollll

[@merkamark]

Running Man is one of my favorite movies.

[@item6931]

😂

[@truthbetold6496]

Story of my life LOL

[@Jackjack1978.]

Lol

[@PaulRevelia]

for coaches, they never left. Diet breaks are a complete game changer for competitors for success on stage, and post show!

[@DaiChurch]

Celebrity guest appearance!! 🎉

[@georgiavaughan4242]

...But not the average person on that last 10lbs?

[@EhurtAfy]

My recent diet break went spectacularly well, I had gotten burned out from cutting calories. Did a diet break, ate so much food I probably gained a pound, but I used the extra calories to energize my workouts and by the end, I was tired of eating and looked forward to smaller meals. Now I'm through my weight loss plateau and in the best shape of my life

[@paulramirez7792]

that's encouraging to hear. how long was your diet break and did you track your calories at all during your break?

[@EhurtAfy]

@@paulramirez7792 About two weeks, I tend to eat at maintenance without much effort so I didn't really pack on much weight. Part of the diet break is the psychological break from thinking about calories. Parties and social eating are unfortunately where I overreat, so I have to be careful. Sometimes two or three such dinners is enough for me to gain a couple pounds that needs to be dieted back off

[@ColinDeWaay]

I'll be the first to say I have a bias towards diet breaks. I've found them SO helpful for clients but the things I've pretty routinely seen is people tend to do better coming from two weeks instead of just one. Which is interesting to me too because the MATADOR study was two weeks which showed the bigger benefit, whereas all the other ones (that I've seen) showing no metabolic benefit were one week. Makes me wonder if length makes a bigger difference. It's also possible it just has more to do with getting a better "refresher" and coming back to adhere better because of it, who knows, but that can't be discredited either. I'm excited for hopefully more research on this subject in the future!

[@transformxruby]

sameeeeeeeeeeeeee

[@weich1q2w]

Considering when you go high carb or low carb the transition can take a 2-4 weeks depending on the person, I think you are onto something. My guess is if they went into a surplus for a week or two they would see a bigger retention in it rather than staying at maintenance. After all the body is adapting to the energy intake so why would these studies keep it at maintenance instead of going into a short surplus is beyond me

[@Kujo2020]

I've been doing -700 cal deficit days M-F, and maintenance cals on the weekend +700 for 4 weeks now. Fatloss has been consistent.

[@C0d0ps]

Weekly deficits are pretty good

[@Laura-je2uw]

You would get the same results when you would do a consistent deficit of 300 kcal for 7 days a week i would guess. I think it just depends what is easier for you.

[@DarkoFitCoach]

Its all math in the end so however you get your deficit is good

[@alexandereast4072]

Commenting before watching here, but my intuition tells me diet breaks can be a useful tool for compliance. Even if metabolic outcomes don’t change, it can still be useful in promoting adherence which is the hardest part for most people.

[@C0d0ps]

Compliance will be rewarded

[@alexandereast4072]

Commenting after watching, the comments about RMR make sense. I know Mike Isratel is a big proponent of diet breaks because eventually there will be a departure from the diet and establishing the new maintenance intake is important. For this issue it’s almost best to ignore the current science and do whatever is best for adherence like Layne says.

[@nattyfatty6.0]

People copy my comment style and video ideas for literally everything lol

[@chewher4171]

Diet breaks are for my diet fatigue. It is more of a mental thing. Being on a diet for a long ass time can cause me to go crazy mean to people around me.

[@DZ60]

I am looking forward to my diet break. From personal experience, they work.

[@howbradknew]

Great education as always!

[@MarjolaineDaudrumez]

What a great vid! You are one’s of the few I can trust. No bullshit, I like your approach. Thank you.

[@generousbitcoinbillionaire]

That's what 90 percent of the people told the govt when they forced a dangerous and ineffective experiment

[@kestag2110]

Thanks for the info 👍

[@dyderich]

Thank you Dr. Norton

[@bkadou]

It probably causes more 'preservation' of RMR because it takes you longer to lose weight compared to just dieting through.

[@Jimmy29li]

I've found it's a good idea for gen pop people who have a hard time being consistent. Otherwise, it's a longer way to get from point A to B when you have everything dialed in.

[@brucejensen3081]

Slow and steady seems to win the race long term. Maybe those that can't regain momentum, have some learning to be had from diet breaks

[@jandjpt]

I personally like diet breaks because they allow me to have a higher focus on the quality of my workouts. It's hard for me to balance both, so whether im bulking and go into maintenance mode or get into a cut and go into maintenance mode, both allow me to have better quality workouts. Recomping is a nice bonus too.

[@brucejensen3081]

Yeah it's all about muscle to fat ratio at any given point. A diet break isn't giving up, it's a change of focus

[@jandjpt]

@@brucejensen3081 yep

[@xpaperxcutx4588]

I never went on a diet break and messed p again and hence have to do a slow reverse again to get back to maintenance. Always do a diet break guys!!!

[@paulramirez7792]

great video! Do you have any recommendations of when to take a diet break?

[@1ExplosionsHurt]

yes

[@Katholous]

Dr Layne Norton, could you please make a video about the link between diet and mental health? With regards to processed foods and high GI foods?

[@Strengthandconditioning60]

We're quantifying everything in our lives in a pursuit of a perfection that is more than likely unobtainable because of entropy

[@MailManoL]

I've been doing Intermittent dieting for about 8 months but my way is one week of 1000-1300 calorie deficit and three weeks of a slight surplus. I find it easy going one week hard and then just eat as normal. The progress has been slow but steady. No binge eating afterwards like after all the other long term diets I've tried. And that, for me is a win!

[@brucejensen3081]

Got me thinking. Maybe lifting weights breaks and stretching breaks are important. I have a wonky elbow. Havent lifted in 6 months. 53yrs old. I am pretty active with manually growing food. I did drop 8kg in the first 3 months, sort of a no thrills approach, ate well but never overate and was pretty active. In the 3 months since i have gained 2kg, but my waist seems to have dropped an inch. After 3 months of not stretching i did some for 2 weeks, and i seemed to have less tightness and was more flexible, did need longer breaks inbetween stretching though

[@madhisathya2766]

Layne, could there be a link between diet break, RMR and NEAT ?? Since a diet break would help increase NEAT which would perhaps increase RMR in some way ?? I think future research could focus on this relationship.

[@Deciden0w.]

Layne🎉

[@GayBearBro2]

For the algorithm!

[@civilapalyan6253]

I've started this week a similar approach: maintenance for 5 days a week, and 2 non-consecutive days of aggressive calorie cutting (~800 kcal/day), eg. on Tuesday and Thursday. Let's see how it goes. My goal is to lose 5-6 kg fat.

[@mcfarvo]

If a "diet break" works for your plans and psychologically benefits you overall, then feel free to use them

[@aaronbailey9454]

For the algor!!!!

[@andrel5234]

For the Alg

[@paulmarino8810]

50 kcal per day aint worth it. Keep starving.

[@st3v3_00]

Do you have a video about whether or not you're building muscle or losing fat. I'm in a caloric deficit and I would like to know what signs to look for to know if I'm actually building muscle and losing fat, and not the other way around where I'm gaining fat but losing muscle. Maybe you or some people in the comments can give me a few examples.

[@jandjpt]

Past measurements at similar weights are very useful. Image comparisons at similar weights. Numbers in the gym. All of those things are good indicators of fat loss/muscle gain.

[@Melesniannon]

You can buy a scale that does an estimated body fat percentage measurement. They're not fully reliable in the sense that "that's your exact body fat percentage, period", but they are useful for tracking which way you are trending over time.

[@jentm1]

Sooo... What was the conclusion?? I didn't get to the end 🥴😴

[@jrennickemd]

Maybe I am mis-reading those graphs (can't access the full study unfortunately), but with those confidence intervals crossing 0 for the SMDs for figure 2 and 3, wouldn't that mean that there was no difference for those conditions? So for figure 2 that would mean that there was no significant decrease in RMR in the diet break group (what we want), but then figure three shows no significant difference between the two groups overall? Maybe I'm looking too far into it, but that just caught my attention at a quick glance of it. Either way there is no big difference, but was just curious!

[@wendywertz8828]

Simple varying your calories does that! Most ppl binge eat on a “ diet break “ so I just stick to the way I eat daily no need to take a break from a healthy lifestyle!

[@cynthiatorres1678]

Hey! Can you do a study? And can I be part of that study? ❤

[@QariMuhammadAliHadi]

Hi Dr. Layne can you please make a video on black alkaline water especially EVOCUS BLACK ALKALINE DRINK. The company claims thay it is even better than normal alkaline water as it has naturally minerals which give black hue + it somehow has 4x hydration than regular water which is clinically proven. Many celebrities in India are promoting it and saying it is very beneficial for health and has anti aging properties. Is it true or not? I would really appreciate if you make a video on this. Thank you.

[@ladagspa2008]

I'm currently tracking very closely my weight loss, intake and exercise/steps on an exce workbook. I found that after 8 weeks of caloric restriction, my TDEE spontaneously dropped by 240kcal per day from non steps/exercise component. So reduction ahooened from BMR or NEAT. It's been like that ever since, fat loss is tracking 240kcal lower than what the Mifflin St Jeor ewuation says. (been 6 months of dieting, just finish my first 2 week diet break). BMR may be reducing by 100, but spontaneous fidgeting etc also reduces. So net AT is much more than 100. Current weight 82kg. Started at 90kg.

[@BlahBlahPoop617]

I think many ppl who say their NEAT just dropped often are really just saying they’re lazy and not fit. I am cutting and still doing a ton of steps. Sure, I may feel less like doing them than when I am eating at maintenance, but I still push myself and have developed the endurance base to keep up my step counts AND do cardio (mainly biking). Centuries ago, getting 30k steps or more was a baseline level of activity most ppl did and they did it like it was nothing. I think most ppl are just very unfit and have awful endurance base levels. I’ve built my endurance up so much that I burn so many calories through that I never have to really cut my calories low if I want to lose weight. And I don’t fatigue from exercise as much even when cutting because I have built up my endurance base so well. Yes, it is a bit harder, but far from impossible. And because I keep up with it, my “NEAT” or TDEE doesn’t drop by much.

[@ladagspa2008]

@@BlahBlahPoop617 So many words to say that you are the greatest specimen on this planet lol. We all mortals should bow at your feet lmao, youre the greatest ever. Btw, did you forget that I clearly mentioned reduction in non exercise calories from BMR and NEAT? After adjusting for steps/exercise there is still a smaller deficit than expected as is borne out by the smaller weight loss than expected. So no, not laziness. This is an academic point, and the Adaptive Thermogenesis in BMR and NEAT is well documented in peer reviewed literature in lay people as well as athletes, just ask a bodybuilder doing a cut for a show.

[@BlahBlahPoop617]

@@ladagspa2008 No. I am not immortal. I am just calling it what it is. Especially most Americans. They’re some of the most out of shape lazy specimens on the planet and they act like they’re being sent off to concentration camps if they have to get 20k steps in while dieting, etc. Go to a fat camp in the military if you think you have it tough. Yes. I took note of the reduction in NEAT in my comment briefly, so guess you didn’t read it before commenting. I never denied reductions in NEAT or BMR exist. Read my comment. Reductions in BMR are usually small and way overblown (“muh slow metabolism”). A hundred calories or so. Not massive. Secondly, reductions in NEAT mostly come because the person stops moving around to conserve energy. Train yourself to have good endurance and around and you’ll see you can even do it while dieting. It’s not as ideal, but people dieting often make too many excuses for just being lazy.

[@eyemallears2647]

Too complex for me….now all I have to do is reduce how much Greek yogurt (with peanut butter and honey) I eat

[@evanhadkins5532]

The next study we need. What diet break means: is it people eating more healthy food or eating junk food?

[@brucejensen3081]

I think maintenance was mentioned.

[@evanhadkins5532]

@@brucejensen3081 yes it was. But only in terms of numbers of calories not the quality of the food consumed.

[@brucejensen3081]

@@evanhadkins5532 I guess a person would continue on with the same type of food. If you are eating hyperprocessed food and restricting calories, continue as long as the number on the scales remains constant. Of course that is not really recommended, even just for the fact, that maintenance is going to be extremely difficult

[@santiagobalado5643]

Albert Goethe has rhythm

[@fullmetalalgebriste2873]

if you train hard and i mean hard you need a deload or a week off between 1 or 2 mesocycle especially during a cut and if you spend that week in a deficit you're going to jeopardize your recovery

[@Vaporvice84]

I love the irony of how whenever I watch Laynes videos where he debunks diet and fitness pseudoscience, I always gotta watch or skip an ad for the very bs products Layne is trying to debunk lol.

[@pugile80]

me personally i like to have a cheat meal every 2 weeks. works well for me

[@howy3333]

50 calories a day seems like big deal to me over the long term. I need to understand the study parameters better though. Did they control for total time of diet? It makes sense that if they measure after increasing calories, metabolic rate will be higher. Not sure if the results really show anything conclusive again

[@jakedragon8753]

I wouldn't call it a specific name but I would stick with dieting for like 6-12 weeks and then maintenance for like 2 weeks at least before dieting more partially just for mental state

[@brucejensen3081]

After dieting for 12 weeks, I would take a longer break than 2 weeks.

[@jakedragon8753]

@@brucejensen3081 figure it all depends on the mental fatigue and how hard the diet was

[@brucejensen3081]

@@jakedragon8753 probably, but if that's the case, there was probably unintended diet breaks in the 12 weeks where weight loss plateaued

[@jakedragon8753]

@brucejensen3081 possible but you can say that about any diet anyways...you diet down from...example is 30-20% bf, it doesn't have to be hard for alot

[@brucejensen3081]

@@jakedragon8753 certainly doesn't. If one forms better habits and lives like they should at 15% bodyfat, the fat should just metabolise itself away until they are 15% bodyfat. Muscle gain should be possible in this period too. Going to take a long time though and people want quick fixes

[@croissantsaregreat856]

comment for the algorithm

[@I-di-nt-do-nuff-in-]

4:59 and that’s why you constantly only look at studies that confirm what you want. You can find lots more studies that show that there is no reduction and resting metabolic rate.

[@brucejensen3081]

Takes time to form better habits and adapt to a lower energy intake required from fat loss.

[@gokukakarot1855]

For the algorithm

[@robertphillips1941]

Diet breaks and refeeds, aka going on vacation.

[@scottmckay9049]

Losing right now your advice has been invaluable 46lb down so far. For the mighty algorithm.

[@ruthannlewis6471]

❤

[@andrewzach1921]

Comment for the algorithm.

[@isthatharrasment]

Unless your income is dependent on your physique, you should take diet breaks

[@peterbedford2610]

I find the algo reprehensible. And so I'm here

[@sercan272727]

50 calories , theoretically leads to 1lb loss in 2.5 months, about 5 lbs over the course of an entire year. Does it worth overthinking? No

[@josephhodge7343]

For me diets breaks are more for my mental health.

[@joerockhead7246]

but first...

[@AlejandroRomero-je8kl]

Algorithm ❤

[@flexlikeag]

fta

[@BigBADSTUFF69]

having lost 40 lbs in the past year, Ive done breaks just for life and mental health reasons, it's tough to be constantly be in a deficit and losing strength in my workouts. Makes sense for long term dieting, probably less sense for short term.

[@rairundemps]

For the algo😊

[@TheSfajacks]

FTA!

[@I-di-nt-do-nuff-in-]

6:59 that makes zero sense having a diet break is not adhering to the diet 😂

[@AZ-ze9of]

The concept might be over your head. You really took comment to help the algorithm seriously lol

[@C0d0ps]

I disagree. For the algorithm

[@PSA78]

Diet is what and how we eat, if it's scheduled to be a difference in caloric intake then it's part of the diet.

[@C0d0ps]

@@PSA78 +1 Not planning to have fun foods is planning to fail. - I like my chocolate puddings, some people, might like some potatoes chips, for weekend, we’re all into different things

[@I-di-nt-do-nuff-in-]

@@PSA78 diet break meaning breaking from the diet meaning eating stuff that’s not currently on your diet which means you’re not following the diet

[@billscott3712]

Algorithm

[@generousbitcoinbillionaire]

Ok Greg Doucette!!

[@jacobdebernardi4385]

Food poisoning is the best diet out there - lost 10 pounds in 4 days.

[@scaraboy]

FTA

[@OGgrinder]

For the …..

[@brucejensen3081]

It is hard to regain momentum after a break. I guess the important thing is, how many of the people that have long term success with maintaining fat loss, did they do diet breaks. It probably sets you up for permanent fat loss from educating a person about maintenance. Also when a person hits their goal the body is less desperate to put fat back on. Slow and steady usually seems to win the race and the journey is important.

[@twothree4]

Bro you've been doing youtube for so many years now, why can't you FIX YOUR AUDIO, I can't hear you even with full volume

[@truthbetold6496]

OMG SEEE SEEE Keto fasting hahahahah

[@robertr.beauchamp453]

Commenting FFFOOOORRRR the algorithm!

[@AislingDonohoe]

Biceps getting bigger every video 😅

[@Juggernaut-fg2up]

Headline today: AI Reveals a huhe amount of fraud in medical research

[@Macgee826]

Absolutely no surprise there!

[@adrienichole9516]

Watching this as I eat pizza 😅😂

[@nattyfatty6.0]

Before watching the video, my opinion on diet breaks are: They can be a useful tool for dietary compliance, but there's nothing special or magical about them when it comes to weightloss itself

[@I-di-nt-do-nuff-in-]

Hello guys, we’re back with another cherry picking confirmation bias video

[@BradSchoenfailed]

Brought to you by the man who cheated on his pregnant wife and then dumped her, PHD Layne Norton !

[@Melesniannon]

@@BradSchoenfailed Thanks for the reminder, I always forget the veracity of science depends on whether or not you like a person.

[@fdddff47]

Why don't you discuss with Bart Kay ? If his claims are so ridiculous you could easily dismantle them. He tried several times to arrange a debate with you but according to him you are afraid of him because his intellect is way above yours. Any statement?

[@Swoop2565]

Diet breaks or intermittent fasting…it’s all semantics …Cmon bro 🤷🏿‍♂️ …this is clearly a content filler…smh!!!

[@K4R3N]

For the algo

[@bigollie006]

If it works mentally, fine, but that's pretty much all it is. A mental crutch to stay compliant. They work for some, but not for me.

[@realityvonqueef]

I’m wondering when he will wear clothes that fit

[@Olavnummer1]

FTA

[@medsidney]

FTA