Should u take diet break if in long deficit?

[livindagym]

Started my cut in december at 185 lbs. probably 17-18% bodyfat. Now im only 10 lbs down but much leaner. During this whole quarantine/gyms closed mess i still tracked my calories, still in deficit but estimated alot and could have been in larger deficit. Lately ive just been ravenous hungry and tired and joints have been killing me. Should i take a week or two diet break or just drop calories some and force myself to hurry and get thro this cut? Jist dont wanna mess up metabolism,etc by being in a long drawn out diet but im eager to hurry and get the rest of this fat off.

[MeadxHole]

im eager to hurry and get the rest of this fat off.

Keep in a deficit if this is the case. Practice good discipline and know what you're working towards - this is what it takes!

Could do one cheat meal and get back on track but you already know the answer to faster weight loss is a caloric deficit.

It's all a mental game - you know what needs to be done. If your mind needs a cheat meal, go for it. If you think you can handle buckling down and continuing with your cut to see your expected results, do that.

[sunsean]

Started my cut in december at 185 lbs. probably 17-18% bodyfat. Now im only 10 lbs down but much leaner. During this whole quarantine/gyms closed mess i still tracked my calories, still in deficit but estimated alot and could have been in larger deficit. Lately ive just been ravenous hungry and tired and joints have been killing me. Should i take a week or two diet break or just drop calories some and force myself to hurry and get thro this cut? Jist dont wanna mess up metabolism,etc by being in a long drawn out diet but im eager to hurry and get the rest of this fat off.

What kind of a deficit have you been running? Sounds almost more like a recomp than a cut. 10lb lost over 6 months is VERY slow for a cut, but you say you've gotten much leaner. 10lb over 6 months would be a deficit of like .4lb/week or about a 200 calorie daily deficit.

So I'd say if you want to finish the cut, it's time to do a more aggressive deficit for a month or so to get to the finish line.

Or up your calories slightly. But sounds like you don't have a lot of wiggle room to up calories without going into a surplus.

[livindagym]

What kind of a deficit have you been running? Sounds almost more like a recomp than a cut. 10lb lost over 6 months is VERY slow for a cut, but you say you've gotten much leaner. 10lb over 6 months would be a deficit of like .4lb/week or about a 200 calorie daily deficit.

So I'd say if you want to finish the cut, it's time to do a more aggressive deficit for a month or so to get to the finish line.

Or up your calories slightly. But sounds like you don't have a lot of wiggle room to up calories without going into a surplus.

Well. My goal for a while was 2250 calories per day, the past few weeks i aimed for 2150 but im sure id go slightly over. I just dont wanna screw up my metabolism and what not by staying in deficit too long. If theres no danger of that then ill just push through the next month or so and try and get the cut over with.

[Luclin999]

Well. My goal for a while was 2250 calories per day, the past few weeks i aimed for 2150 but im sure id go slightly over. I just dont wanna screw up my metabolism and what not by staying in deficit too long. If theres no danger of that then ill just push through the next month or so and try and get the cut over with.

You don't say how old or tall you are but based upon what you have lost and how long it took to lose it, you have only been in a roughly 225 cal/day deficit and frankly there is no way in Hell that you should be "Ravenous" from that low of a calorie deficit much less have it "Wreck" your metabolism. You should be able to handle a daily deficit of at least 500 cal/day without any significant issues for an indefinite period or until you managed to get into the single digit BF numbers.

For comparison, I'm a 6' 0" tall 54 year old man who started out at 176 pounds on April 1st and as of yesterday am down to 164.2 pounds (basically an average daily deficit of 650 cal/day). Not ravenous (just hungry) and no "metabolic damage".

[sunsean]

I agree with the above ^^^

The thing that is probably making you feel drained isn't the diet itself, but the effort in having to do it over a long period of time. Could be beneficial MENTALLY to take a couple weeks off and then dive back in with a more drastic cut. I do this when I'm on an extended many-month cut, just for my sanity/mental health - eat whatever I want for a week or two then jump back on the diet.

But generally there was no reason for you to have cut so slowly. You are making it harder on yourself by drawing it out, you could have lost 10lb in 2 months, not 6, without any adverse effects.

[Tommy W.]

You're running to small a deficit to worry about anything.