A new year means a lot of new commitments by people to become a healthier, happier version of themselves, and whilst this can manifest in a lot of different ways, one of the most common is to set a fitness or weight loss goal.
These can in some cases be helpful, particularly if worked on with the help of a nutritional therapist to set an appropriate goal, a strong support network and someone to help motivate and maintain accountability, but they can also have unintended side effects.
One of the most unfortunate is weight cycling, often known colloquially as “yo-yo dieting”, which can put intense stress on both the body and the mind and can in some cases be worse than being consistently overweight.
It is often the side effect of the best of intentions, but by understanding how and why it happens, it can be easier to see a yo-yo cycle as it happens and alter your mindset to stop it.
Oscillation
The yo-yo cycle is one familiar to many people who try exceptionally hard and with the best of intentions to make a big change, only to become deeply distressed when it does not stick.
Whilst the causes of yo-yoing are deeply personal and the details will almost always be different, there are some common aspects to bear in mind.
People set a weight loss goal, one that is often unrealistic in terms of either time or goal weight in the long term but can be achieved through extreme levels of calorie control, intense exercises and restrictions on certain foods.
Initially, it feels good to have that level of control, but it is not sustainable to maintain a consistent level of weight loss. The Summermatter cycle takes effect and makes the body increasingly efficient with depleted energy resources, and the effects of low energy, fatigue and burnout take their toll.
Eventually, this leads to a tipping point where someone ends their diet and resumes eating, often eating more than before due to attempts to overcome the calorie deficit, as well as indulging in foods that have become taboo due to the nature of the diet.
This leads to weight gain, which is demotivating and can often lead to cases where people end up ending a diet attempt at a higher weight than when they started, as well as feeling physically and mentally worse at the attempt.
Yo-yo Tricks
It can feel inevitable, especially for people who keep trying and failing to maintain a healthier version of themselves, but much like how there are tricks you can do to keep a yo-yo spinning at the end of the string, there are ways to change your mindset to break the cycle.
The key to change is not to focus on restriction but instead on addition. Instead of focusing on what you need to lose, make sure that your diet contains the nutrients you need to thrive, add additional exercises to your routine and make sure your lifestyle sets you up to succeed.
Making sustainable, additive changes allows for consistent change that will gradually take you towards your goals and are far more likely to stick.
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