Tips to overcome triggers of the vicious cycle of Yo-Yo Dieting for healthy, permanent weight loss
"If I could lose ten more pounds," is a familiar wish that passes the lips of many a dieter nearing the end of a goal. But, obsessively focusing on the numbers on a scale can dangerously undermine long-term success.
Yo-Yo Dieting Industry
In the media today, there is a huge focus on weight loss and nearly as much on the dangerous cycle of Yo-Yo Dieting that undermines so many well-intentioned weight loss success stories. After all, Yo-Yo Dieting is what keeps shows like "Celebrity Fit Club" coming back for another season. It is also the driving power behind a multimillion dollar weight loss industry that obsessively focuses on unsustainable long-term weight loss "solutions" and unrealistic body imagery.
Permanent Weight Loss
For anyone who has recently surmounted a weight loss goal, it's difficult to imagine heading back up the scale. But, for many, long-term weight maintenance can be just as challenging, if not harder, than the initial weight loss itself. There are a number of reasons for this including: how the weight was lost, difficult to maintain diet and exercise routines, and negative body imagery.
Quality v. Quantity
Healthy weight loss involves patience and envisioning a long-term goal. It is not simply one diet or one ideal number. Rather, it is a lifestyle makeover involving small, healthy adjustments that can add up to big weight loss over the long haul. In fact, the medical community generally agrees that a one to two pound weight loss per week is healthiest and easiest to maintain over time. The quality of how the weight is lost is just as important as the ultimate quantity.
Realistic Changes
The staying power of a particular diet is crucial to overall weight maintenance. After all, changes to diet must be sustainable and realistically incorporated into everyday living. Crash diets, extremely low caloric intakes, and fasting may bring fast results, but the intense feelings of deprivation, drop in metabolic rate, and severe cravings could lead to even bigger issues like dieting obsession, eating disorders, and weight gain. People who have never had a problem with food in their llves, often report binge eating uncontrollably following intensely restrictive diets. It's not a lack of willpower. It's the body's way of avoiding what it thinks is a starvation scenario.
Boot Camp
While upping activity levels is a wonderful way to increase health, vitality, and complement a diet program, some dieters become obsessed with the scale and, therefore, exercise. Intense routines and strenuous exercise can be great (under medical supervision), but it is essential that the body have time to repair and renew following workouts. For example, it can take between 24 and 48 hours for a muscle group to recover following weight training. Drinking plenty of water, resting well to avoid injury and overuse, and eating to nutritionally support physical activity are all crucial aspects of fitness.
I Want Her Body!
Over the course of a weight loss program, seeing how the body changes and renews itself is extremely exciting. But, it's easy to become hyper aware of perceived "flaws" and "trouble spots" and forget about all the positive changes that have been made. This is definitely compounded by a media obsessed with body perfection. Instead of wishing for a celebrity's body (that the celeb probably doesn't even have without air brushing/lighting/etc.), remember why you decided to make healthy choices in the first place and how far you've come. Most importantly, focus on loving your body!
