Signs of Yo-Yo Dieting (and what to do about it).
“The most profound mindset shift was making healthy decisions from a place of self love and wanting to feel my best on the inside and outside, rather than from a place of restriction and punishment.”
Everywhere we look, we see another quick and easy way to lose 10 pounds in 10 days, be summer ready in 30 days, or get our dream body by still eating the unhealthy foods we want. If we continue reading, we soon realize that these promises are held by having enough self discipline and willpower to follow a strict diet that will give us the perfect body and heal the parts of us that we don’t like. As someone who fell into the fad dieting trap and stayed there for the duration of my teens and early twenties, I promise there is a better way (and one that actually works!)
So, what is yo-yo dieting? By definition, yo-yo dieting is a pattern of eating where someone follows a restrictive diet to lose weight, stops the diet once they do (and if they do), and then gains back the weight lost, and usually more. They then begin the process over again… and again. Aside from eating the foods we restricted while dieting, there are other reasons most people usually gain the weight back after stopping a diet. Our metabolism slows, we tend to lose muscle and gain back fat, and when we stop dieting, our cells are on hunger overdrive. This is a vicious cycle, but one we can break!
3 Signs of Yo-Yo Dieting
You are able to lose weight, but can’t keep it off. You did it, you willed your way through the 30 day cleanse and lost 10 pounds before the holidays. Now we’re into the holiday season with an excess of delicious food, sugary treats, and alcohol. We ‘let loose’ for a couple of days and quickly fall back into old habits, and we’re shocked at how quickly the weight comes back. This may be an extreme case, but it’s the reality for many who are caught in the yo-yo dieting cycle.
I am eating a restrictive diet, but can’t lose weight. You have all the discipline and willpower in the world, but just can’t shed the stubborn fat. You have a perfectly clean diet with every calorie counted, you never miss a workout, and still, the number on the scale doesn’t move.
You have been dieting for a long time, jumping from one diet to the next. During my certification at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, we were provided with a list of 100+ different diets, complete with lists of foods that are ‘allowed’ and foods to ‘avoid.’ My point in saying this is there are plenty to choose from… one doesn’t work, so you jump to the next. If you’ve been consistently dieting for a long time with little changes, or big fluctuations in your weight, you are in the yo-yo dieting trap!
3 Tips to Break the Cycle
Practice Mindful Eating. Mindful eating is the #1 topic I cover with clients that are trying to lose weight, but something is out of balance. Data simply tells us that diets don’t work, and mindful eating provides us with a roadmap for long term, sustainable weight loss that can feel effortless.
Eat nourishing and filling meals full of whole foods. Highly processed foods are designed to make us want more. If we learn to listen to our hunger cues and fullness cues, it becomes very hard to overeat whole foods. Focus on protein and healthy fat to help you feel full even hours after eating, rather than processed and sugary foods that spike your blood sugar and cause a crash mid afternoon.
Shift Your Mindset. The most profound mindset shift for me was making healthy decisions from a place of self love and wanting to feel my best on the inside and outside, rather than from a place of restriction and punishment. Many of the foods I ate while on a ‘diet,’ I still eat regularly, but with a different attitude towards them. Today, I eat whole, nourishing foods because I know they’ll give me energy, and avoid processed, sugary foods because I know they’ll make me feel lethargic, not because there is a promise of weight loss.
Lastly, if you’ve caught yourself in this vicious cycle, get support! At Megan Kay Health, I work with clients every day that break through their yo-yo dieting habits and have been able to achieve and sustain food freedom and long term weight loss. If you’ve caught yourself in this cycle, let’s chat!
Sources:
https://www.piedmont.org/living-real-change/what-does-yo-yo-dieting-do-to-your-body
https://www.webmd.com/diet/ss/slideshow-diet-yo-yo-diet-effect