What happens if you skip the diet during the holidays?

Summer is approaching, vacation time, and a time of overeating. But do you really know what happens when you break your diet for a few days? Well, here's some good news: it seems that not much really happens.

Why you should also watch your diet during your vacation

Now, we're not advocating for an unhealthy diet because, precisely, the most important thing for someone who wants to live a healthy life is their diet. But it is curious how sometimes we get obsessed and don't allow ourselves even a small break from the diet. Because it seems that nothing really happens.

The American scientific journal American Journal of Physiology published an interesting study that mainly concludes that short periods of excessive calorie intake don't affect you as much as we thought; and consuming 1000 extra calories for a few days didn't alter weight, body mass, or sugar levels of the study participants.

RECOMENDADO

The 2025 Vuelta a España kicks off: schedules, dates, favorites, and route

The best gravel tyres on the market

Everything you need to know about cadence

Easy ways to gain aerodynamics for free

Change wheels if you want to transform your bike's behavior

New or second-hand? Tips for buying your first road bike

However, doing it for a month does result in an increase in all those variables. But the interesting thing is that doing it for a short period of a few days doesn't worsen your health or does so very, very little.

These results are the consequence of a study on diet from Deakin University, conducted on a fairly small sample: 8 people, young adults aged 22, who consumed high-calorie foods for 5 days and then for a month. In the short period, not even body weight increased much more than a few grams. Metabolism, in those 5 days, changed and adapted to the diet change, something that changes the prevailing idea that short-term binges were much more harmful.

Diet and nutrition, basic pillars of performance

That being said, it should be noted that these misunderstood results can also lead to misunderstood excesses. Healthy eating is a lifestyle. In fact, it is the lifestyle that will allow you to take care of and prolong that same life.

But in any lifestyle, there are occasional, special occasions where it is very difficult to maintain a diet. Normally, you either face it and seem a bit out of the event, or you make small exceptions that allow you to relax for a few hours or days.

However, it is important to consider the limitations of a study of this nature. Firstly, because of the small sample size and, above all, because of the age of the participants. Age is a determining factor because as we age, our bodies find it harder and harder to recover, to renew cells and tissues, and to synthesize elements and nutrients. In other words, as we get older, breaking the diet has a worse outcome and doesn't metabolically synthesize as quickly.

In summary, the striking thing is that at least a break of a few days doesn't seem to be so harmful, and is very beneficial for the mental relaxation of following a strict diet. However, as we usually advise, more than a diet, it is optimal to have a healthy, varied, and nutritious diet. And delicious. Because if you enjoy what you eat, you won't even feel like you're reducing the intake of excessive calories or harmful foods.