Losing weight isn’t always easy-it can be a battle you fight for years. While some of us jump on the “lose weight fast” bandwagon, others avoid working out, while others force themselves to eat healthily. Unfortunately, whatever method you use, you’ll eventually hit a plateau. This is when your weight loss stops, no matter how much you diet and exercise.

What is Yo-Yo Diet?

The yo-yo diet (or weight cycling) refers to a pattern of weight cycling in which people repeatedly lose and gain weight quickly. While yo-yo dieting isn’t a health risk for most people, it can have long-term consequences that can impact their health.

Yo-yo diets occur most frequently in women who are trying to lose weight. Women who do a yo-yo diet may gain more weight over their lives compared to women who do not consciously have a yo-yo diet.

The yo-yo diet is a dieting fad that repeatedly encourages individuals to lose weight through unhealthy and drastic measures. Yo-yo diets tend to work in the short term, but long-term health problems tend to develop when the dieter regains the weight lost.

Tips on How to Avoid Loss and Regain Weight

1. Cut calories from your diet. The yo-yo dieting phenomenon affects nearly 40 million Americans each year. The cyclical nature of yo-yo dieting often results in various health issues, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, diabetes, and obesity. While the exact causes of yo-yo dieting are still unknown, some experts have called it a “chronic condition” – one that recurs despite repeated attempts to stop. The good news is that you can avoid this potentially life-threatening condition by dropping the calories from your diet permanently.
2. Exercise regularly. A yo-yo diet can be a frustrating and unhealthy way to attempt to lose weight. To lose weight and keep it off, exercise regularly. This might be easier said than done, but simply going for a walk each day will help! That said, sometimes people might have stubborn fat that can linger on even after considerable loss in weight. That does not mean that the exercise is not working, it is natural as the skin around those areas will not likely shrink along with the body mass. To get toned up, you can head to Southwest Michigan Plastic and Hand Surgery or similar clinics near you and undergo surgical or nonsurgical treatments for getting rid of the loose skin.
3. Keep a food diary. We have all experienced the yo-yo diet. We start out excited about losing weight, but along the way, our enthusiasm wanes, and before we know it, we are back to where we started. If you want to lose weight and keep it off, you need to understand how a diet works. Dieting can sound complicated, but it doesn’t have to be. By keeping a food diary, you can ensure you’re eating the right foods and proportions.
4. Buy clothes that fit you well. After losing some weight, you might go out and buy clothes a size smaller, ready to wear when you achieve your weight-loss goal. Then, you lose enthusiasm and return back to your old weight, making your new clothes seem like a fallacy. This vicious cycle can make you feel like a failure, so you only buy loose clothes that will fit no matter what weight you are. Instead of buying baggy clothes that hang off you unflatteringly, buy clothes that fit your figure. This will make you feel confident even when you’re a little larger than you want to be. This positive outlook will help to reduce feelings of guilt surrounding your clothes, which will encourage you to keep going with your diet.
5. Eat smaller meals more often. While diets that restrict eating are common among adolescents, adult yo-yo dieters have a hard time losing weight and keeping it off. Yo-yo dieting can lead to weight gain. The key to avoiding this common dilemma is to eat smaller meals more often rather than three large meals per day. This stops binge eating and helps to create a healthy attitude towards food. It’s also better for your digestive system, helping your body to process food more easily.

Yo-Yo diets can negatively impact your health and well-being and cause you to feel disillusioned about your weight-related goals. To regain control of your weight loss journey, it’s important to focus on setting long-term goals with realistic, attainable steps. In addition, it’s important to embrace your body, be positive and understand that life is beautiful and joyful when you can enjoy it at any weight.