

Yo-Yo Diets: Breaking the Cycle

How Much Do You Know About Yo-Yo Dieting?

  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

For some people, losing weight is a constant struggle that goes on for years. The weight is lost, life seems fine for a while, then the inches come creeping back, and the battle has to begin again. This type of behavior is "yo-yo dieting."

What is Yo-Yo Dieting?
The primary cause of yo-yo dieting is putting yourself through some kind of very low-calorie diet (what your body would interpret as starvation) or skipping meals, and then binging when the deprivation becomes too much to bear.

You might do well for a short while and begin to see results, but your body begins to catch on, going into survival mode by slowing the metabolism down to match the smaller amount of nourishment coming in. Your weight levels off and you can't seem to lose anymore weight, no matter what you do. Staying on the diet becomes a struggle as your body craves more sustenance. Discouragement sets in too, and before you know it, you're overeating again. It won't take much to regain the weight in a short period of time. Your body is already hording every bit of energy it can get and it's going to store whatever you take in, bolstering itself for the next "famine." This can actually cause you to gain more weight than you started with.

The lack of calories reduces muscle tone. The less muscle you have, the less calories you burn. It's a blow to the emotions, the psyche and the body. After you've picked yourself up, you decide to try again and the cycle begins anew.
Why do People Yo-Yo Diet?
Yo-yo dieting probably stems from deeper issues than just wanting to lose weight. My battles began when I was 12 or 13. Before I was diagnosed with a thyroid problem, I was skinny as a rail. Then the hypothyroidism slowed down my metabolism and I began to gain weight.

My mom, having grown up overweight herself, was always after me to watch what I ate and to stay thin. In high school, I remember existing on nothing but Dexitrim and skipping meals. When that didn't work, I'd end up getting so discouraged I didn't care what I ate and consequently regained all the weight (and then some).

After a while, I would try again, usually with the same methods I had used before.

It wasn't until only a year ago that I discovered I had an eating disorder called binge-eating disorder (BED). BED is binging without any of the purging of the disorder bulimia. I don't know if my early attempts and mental state of mind led to the disorder or if it was the other way around, but BED is fairly new on the eating disorder scene, and no one knows the causes of it yet.

Yo-yo dieting seems to be tied closely to emotional eating, a big part of BED. People who yo-yo diet constantly eat because the stress gets to be too much. Falling back on food is the only way to find a temporary comfort.

Dieting and the pressure to lose weight takes its toll. Finding another way to relieve stress is often difficult and very frightening. The binge might feel good at the time, but afterwards it leaves you feeling worse than before.
Other people might find themselves yo-yo dieting because they feel that once they have lost the weight, they are out of the danger zone and in the clear. They don't realize they have an addiction to eating. Like an alcoholic, they believe they can stop at "just one." Just one more potato chip, just one more slice of pie—after all, what can it hurt?

Well, those calories add up, especially if you've been on the equivalent of a starvation diet. Taking the weight off and keeping it off is a lifelong pursuit. After you lose the weight, you have to realize you can't go back to the same way you used to eat.

A good diet should consist of changing your eating habits and the way you think about food in general.

How to Break the Yo-Yo Dieting Cycle
Breaking the cycle of yo-yo diets requires commitment, total dedication and good dieting sense. The first thing to determine is why you are eating. To help pinpoint this, keep a journal for a few days. Write down when you eat, what you eat, and why you're eating. Note what your mood is. Are you eating because you are stressed or upset? Even good stress can be a cause that pushes us to overeat.

Much of our socializing revolves around food. Working in an office environment was the most difficult for me. There was always a lunch to attend or a celebration with a birthday cake or someone bringing in a box of doughnuts. If you refuse to go to lunch with everyone else or skip the cake, people take that as a sign you are anti-social. So you give in. No one really understands that, yes, a little taste can hurt.
When embarking on the quest to lose weight, start with reasonable goals. You may want to lose 25, 30 or even 100 pounds, and if you look at only that number, it will overwhelm you. Start with a small goal of 3-5 pounds. Little steps will definitely add up.

Lower your caloric intake gradually; don't cut yourself off cold turkey. The sudden drop in calories will send up a flare that the famine is coming, and your body will settle in for the siege.

Remove the word "diet" from your vocabulary. What you're doing is devising a healthy eating plan, one that will most likely last you for the rest of your life.

You have to change your lifestyle by eating better and exercising. If you don't know where to start, make an appointment with a nutritionist to help you form a plan. Learn what triggers your emotional center that starts the overeating and deal with the root of the matter. In addition to a nutritionist, a therapist can be helpful as well.

Breaking any weight-loss plateau involves exercise. The trick is to exercise smarter, not harder. If you haven't exercised in a while, walking is a good exercise to start with. You will also want to include some weight training to help build more muscle. Muscle requires a lot of energy to maintain. By building more muscle, you can burn calories even when resting.

Instead of starving yourself all day and eating a huge meal at the end of the day, eat several small meals throughout the day. Try eating five meals a day, spacing them out 2 - 3 hours apart. Keep them small and learn what a real portion of food is.
You will be surprised how little a proper portion looks at first. After a while, you'll get used to the portions and wonder how you ever managed to gobble down that super-sized cheeseburger combo. One trick I use is smaller plates and bowls. The plate doesn't look so empty.

Introduce fresh fruits and vegetables into your diet. Hey, if the worst you can do is an extra salad during the day, that's not so bad! Don't skip breakfast and drink a lot of water. You need at least 64 ounces of water a day. Water helps flush out your body, fight fatigue and makes you feel full.

I still have a ways to go, even though I've lost 40 pounds this year. I'm learning how to cope with yo-yo dieting to slowly break the cycle. It's still difficult at times; there are a lot of old patterns and negative tapes that start playing in my head from time to time. At least I've learned to recognize what used to drive me to eat.

I think the most important thing to remember when trying to stop yo-yo diets is to be forgiving with yourself. Don't punish yourself with more food when you feel you've slipped. It's okay. You'll get over it and life will go on towards healthier, happier living.

What’s Your Diet Downfall?
Rate This Article
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
(Votes: 1) (Avg: 3.00)
View Comments