The Importance of Maintenance

We often post about the importance of planned time NOT eating in a caloric deficit if you’re interested in long-term sustainability and maintenance of your progress, which we of course all are. You simply cannot always be in a deficit, trying to lose fat, etc., without metabolic and hormonal consequences eventually showing up to varying degrees. Failure to heed this advice results in a lack of progress even doing what used to work for you as well as potential fat gain at a caloric intake that should not be resulting in fat gain. Many, many people, both competitors and non-competitors alike can attest to this unfortunate reality and know just how frustrating it is since recovery can take a very long time depending on how long one has been dieting, how strict/severe/extreme their approach was, how resilient their metabolism is, etc.

This is why things like structured refeeds and planned dieting breaks where you move away from the deficit and eat at at least maintenance for extended periods of time, etc., is so important. A lot of people can show some resistance to going to maintenance because their first thought is something along the lines of, “Well, if I’m eating at maintenance, how am I going to lose fat? All this time I’m just staying the same; it seems like a waste.”

Well, you’re not making any progress anyway. What you’re doing is not working so it’s time to open your mind to something different.

And this simply represents narrow thinking and a lack of understanding of the bigger and long-term picture. Time at maintenance ensures you can keep progressing when you are in a deficit. Maintenance periods are really the key to long-term sustainable progress and the ability to lose fat at will when you want to, because your body, metabolism and hormones are healthy and responsive.

Case in point is Coach Holly. After Holly turned pro at the IFBB North Americans we decided to go on an extended build as Holly really wanted to add some quality muscle and bring her physique to the next level. So we obviously left the deficit and started to ramp calories up, paying attention to rate of gain or lack thereof, adjusting caloric intake accordingly and so on.

How long was this build? 16 months! Holly didn’t diet for 16 months! That is 16 months with no deficit. And the result of that? A very, very healthy and responsive metabolism.

We are now in prep for Holly’s IFBB Pro debut this summer and this prep is just easy. Yes she’s very compliant to her diet, she’s hitting the weights hard, etc., but fat is just falling off her. I’d argue even better than our last prep and she’s actually just as lean in some areas (arms) as she was on the day she competed. Her abs aren’t far off either … and we still have 11 weeks.

Why? A long time NOT dieting. The KEY to a very responsive and healthy metabolism and the ability to maintain full control over what you want your body to look like.

If you’ve been dieting for a significant amount of time, are compliant to it, and you’re not making progress? Then I would encourage you pay attention to the message of this post and stop dieting so that you CAN lose fat down the road without having to resort to extremes (and their consequences).