YO-YO DIETERS, ENDING THE CYCLE

HisStrengthCounselor

Hello, I looking to see people who are chronic yo-yo dieters to see how we can stop this vicious cycle. I have a few questions would like people to respond to.
1) What tends to be your falling off point? My fall off point tends to be after about 3 months
2) What tends to 'trigger' your falling off point? I call them "high risk situations", my triggers to falling off tend to be going on vacation. I don't go crazy on my vacation, it's just when I come back from vacation, I tend to slow down, then stop all together. Another trigger for me is pain, I have knee and back issues. I try to use modified exercises not to aggravate my knees/backs, but they still hurt.
3) What are some ideas to prevent falling off? I am thinking one thing I will do is to cotinue to login to mfp, and document my food even if I am eating over calories on vacation. Also, plan to committ to taking no more than 2 days to 'recover' from vacation, but then get back to exercise/clean eating.

I am interested in others ideas/situations. How we can help each other stay the course.:bigsmile:

Flyers1010

Hello TAGSSKEE1! I am a yo-yo dieter, too, but I haven't really thought about what my triggers are. Thank you for your post, because it's got me thinking that identifying those triggers would probably by very helpful in ending this crazy cycle.

I've spent a lot of my adult life gaining and then losing and then gaining back and then struggling to lose again. It's non-stop for the past 20 years, really. So let's see...

If I'm honest with myself, I think I just get lazy and that's coupled with an unhealthy love of fattening, greasy food. It's a lot easier to go through the drive-through and grab hash browns than it is to plan for and prepare healthy food. And although I like vegetables and fruit and exercise, I am easily enticed elsewhere. So keeping up the routine of making healthy choices gets old after awhile, and I think that's my major issue. I stop being accountable to myself and take the easy way.

I also have a family that has to be pushed to make healthy food choices (although they are all athletic and active). My husband, for example, is a personal trainer who expends a ton of calories every day. He's in deficit by virtue of the fact that he never sits down and is naturally active almost non-stop (whereas I sit all day for my job, commute, and grad school). He also doesn't like vegetables and is allergic to fish. And my kids, of course, would never choose those foods unless I prepare and insist they eat them.

My husband is home a lot more than I am and it works better for our routine if he does the cooking (but he is terrible at planning for meals and shopping). So if it were up to him, we would eat grilled cheese (with chips) or hamburgers (with fries) or pizza every night, and there would never be a vegetable on the plate. Anything on a roll makes him happy and he doesn't gain weight. So even though he is entirely supportive of all of us exercising and me making smart food choices, I still really have to push the healthy snacks, the healthy meals, and I feel sort of all alone in that. Once I get lazy about it, I just go with what's easier.

I feel like this all sounds like an excuse and I don't mean it to be. I'm glad that I'm thinking this through and writing it down so that I can pay attention the next time I feel like taking the easy way out!

As for helping each other stay the course, I am all for check-ins and making time for these community boards. They have helped me in the past (not at MFP but elsewhere), and I am going to keep talking to people like you who are similar to me: working hard to keep ourselves as motivated and accountable as possible!

Thanks again and have a great day!

Lizzy622

1) Having a finish line. I would reach the weight I needed to fit in the dress or for the vacation and then go back to bad habits. I no longer have a finish line. All my goals are intermediary and unless I achieve the perfect body and life I am not done.
2) My biggest trigger is stress. Stress just wore me down and I would reach for the comfort foods. I now try to exercise the stress away.
3) LOG LOG LOG- never stop. If you have bad internet write it down and log as soon as you can.

Good luck. I have kept the yo- yo heading down or at least steady for a few years and hope to lose a bit more this summer.

eewb42

I too am a Chronic Yo-Yo Dieter and desperately need to find a way to stop the cycle.

1. My falling off point is similar. I tend to do well in order to prepare for a certain event (vacation, wedding, birthday outfit, etc) but soon after that special event I fall back to the old habits.
2. My triggers are loneliness, boredom and complacency. Plus I have gotten so use to being on the diet roller coaster that falling off the wagon feels comfortable. Making changes in my diet and exercise is needed, but scary. I guess in my mind, I feel like I know change is needed, but I know I'm going to fail. I know! I need to work on my negative thinking.
3. Ideas to keep from falling off....."Work on Negative Thinking"! :-)

I have tried every diet known to man, but through it all I have found that a low-fat diet versus a low-carb diet works best for me. I don't feel deprived.

Well, my upcoming "Event" is my birthday and celebrating it in Miami, FL.!! Here lies the motivation and boy am I motivated!! The challenge is to keep the motivation going after this event, so hopefully teaming up with like minded people will give me the strength I need to keep going.

Connie7355

Christmas is one of my triggers...vacation is another. I've gained and lost the same 20 lbs over and over. I think you all are right in the most important thing is to keep logging on this site. It keeps me accountable and focused on what I'm eating. So this year I'm going to try that and hopefully I'll stick with it instead of yo-yoing and ending up having to lose the same 20 lbs again.

HisStrengthCounselor

Thanks for your response. It is hard trying to be healthy when your close family is not on the same page. I too have a spouse who doesnt really help with trying to eat healthy. I have had to just make up my mind and compromise when i can- I stay mentally committed to eating healthy, but I don't deprive myself if my spouse wants to eat something like pizza, I will choose to eat 1 slice instead of 3, with a side salad. A few little changes can help.

Also I have trigger point coming up this weekend is my family reunion. I will pretty busy, so I have to be sure to not over work myself. incr veggies to counteract the high fat food I know I will eat, I cant go to Stamford, TX and NOT eat me a Dixie Dog:ohwell:

neandermagnon

To get out of a cycle of yo-yo dieting, you need to not be in an all or nothing mentality. The all or nothing mentality sets you up not only for failure, but to give up the first time you fail.

Instead, adopt a "good enough" mentality. You don't have to be perfect, you just have to be good enough. You don't have to follow a strict diet, you just have to eat less than you burn off, while paying attention to getting the nutrients your body needs.

A diet plan that's too difficult is a recipe for falling off the wagon after a while........ instead, find the highest number of calories you can eat while still losing weight consistently (slowly, but consistently)... it may take some trial and error to find this magic number, but what it means is you have enough calories to eat all the foods you want (not necessarily every day, and not in the same size portions as before) and also enough calories to feel well fed and not deprived (paying attention to nutrients also helps you to feel well fed and not get tempted to binge... but you can do that and still enjoy a little ice cream for dessert or whatever it is you fancy). There is a thread "your guide on the path to sexypants" which has instructions for how to work out how many calories you can eat and still lose weight.

Focus on making long term changes that you can stick to - as well as having a diet plan that's easy to stick to long term, also choose exercise or physical activity that you enjoy and that's convenient, so it's easy for you to stick to that long term as well.

Change your goals - the goal is not to lose weight as fast as possible, the goal is to keep the weight off forever. It does not matter one little bit if you take longer to get there... if you've set up your eating and exercise plan so it's easy to stick to, and that will enable you to thoroughly enjoy life while losing weight, then it'll be much easier to stick with it forever and therefore keep the weight off forever.

Also, regarding all these trigger points like family reunions and holidays - it is okay to enjoy yourself on special occasions. Just stop eating when you're full and get right back on with the eating plan the next day. This is a long term commitment, i.e the rest of your life. You have to allow yourself to enjoy life in the process, including occasional days where you don't count calories, so that you can stick with this long term.

neandermagnon

1) Having a finish line. I would reach the weight I needed to fit in the dress or for the vacation and then go back to bad habits. I no longer have a finish line. All my goals are intermediary and unless I achieve the perfect body and life I am not done.

This is why you need to change your mentality.... lose weight more slowly, follow an easier eating and lifestyle plan, and aim to keep the weight of for life and also to enjoy the process of losing weight. Make it your lifestyle (and then maintenance for life as your lifestyle once you get to goal). Otherwise you will always fall down after you get pas the finish line. Losing fat does not need to be difficult or torturous, you need good habits (logging, regular exercise) - but your calorie goal should include enough food for you to enjoy all your meals and include the treat foods you want to eat, and whatever exercise you should do should be fun and convenient so it's easy to stick to - and plus, exercise gives you extra calories to be able to enjoy more food.

2) My biggest trigger is stress. Stress just wore me down and I would reach for the comfort foods. I now try to exercise the stress away.
3) LOG LOG LOG- never stop. If you have bad internet write it down and log as soon as you can.

Good luck. I have kept the yo- yo heading down or at least steady for a few years and hope to lose a bit more this summer.

these other tips are good :drinker: especially logging and exercising the stress away

usmcmp

I broke the cycle by:

1. Deciding that losing half a pound a week for a year was better than losing 2 pounds a week for two months and then quitting. That meant I had to change my goals on here, but it worked.
2. Going to bed every night telling myself I will try again tomorrow.
3. Finding an activity I really enjoy. It wasn't running.
4. Including treats. Nothing was off limits. I made a point to eat more fruits, more vegetables, and more meat.

HisStrengthCounselor

To get out of a cycle of yo-yo dieting, you need to not be in an all or nothing mentality. The all or nothing mentality sets you up not only for failure, but to give up the first time you fail.

Instead, adopt a "good enough" mentality. You don't have to be perfect, you just have to be good enough. You don't have to follow a strict diet, you just have to eat less than you burn off, while paying attention to getting the nutrients your body needs.

A diet plan that's too difficult is a recipe for falling off the wagon after a while........ instead, find the highest number of calories you can eat while still losing weight consistently (slowly, but consistently)... it may take some trial and error to find this magic number, but what it means is you have enough calories to eat all the foods you want (not necessarily every day, and not in the same size portions as before) and also enough calories to feel well fed and not deprived (paying attention to nutrients also helps you to feel well fed and not get tempted to binge... but you can do that and still enjoy a little ice cream for dessert or whatever it is you fancy). There is a thread "your guide on the path to sexypants" which has instructions for how to work out how many calories you can eat and still lose weight.

Focus on making long term changes that you can stick to - as well as having a diet plan that's easy to stick to long term, also choose exercise or physical activity that you enjoy and that's convenient, so it's easy for you to stick to that long term as well.

Change your goals - the goal is not to lose weight as fast as possible, the goal is to keep the weight off forever. It does not matter one little bit if you take longer to get there... if you've set up your eating and exercise plan so it's easy to stick to, and that will enable you to thoroughly enjoy life while losing weight, then it'll be much easier to stick with it forever and therefore keep the weight off forever.

Also, regarding all these trigger points like family reunions and holidays - it is okay to enjoy yourself on special occasions. Just stop eating when you're full and get right back on with the eating plan the next day. This is a long term commitment, i.e the rest of your life. You have to allow yourself to enjoy life in the process, including occasional days where you don't count calories, so that you can stick with this long term.

Thank you this very valuable advice

HisStrengthCounselor

I broke the cycle by:

1. Deciding that losing half a pound a week for a year was better than losing 2 pounds a week for two months and then quitting. That meant I had to change my goals on here, but it worked.
2. Going to bed every night telling myself I will try again tomorrow.
3. Finding an activity I really enjoy. It wasn't running.
4. Including treats. Nothing was off limits. I made a point to eat more fruits, more vegetables, and more meat.

This helpful as well