Fat loss expert Tom Venuto believes that many dieters should break away from a diet, maybe for a week, in order to re-stimulate the metabolism by providing essential proteins and energy to build back. Once hormonal influences are stabilized, a calorie deficit can be reintroduced in order to shock the body into fat burning mode.

It will obviously mean no fat loss during the "break", but it helps boost fat loss when you go back to a newly adjusted calorie deficit.

Tom also believes it gives you a physiological break from the stress of dieting.

Tom's Burn The Fat eBook has an entire chapter devoted to breaking plateaus including a long checklist of fat loss plateau-breaking strategies (chapter 4). Chapter 12 explains the calorie and carb cycling strategy.