Have you been a Yo-Yo dieter. Change now!

santd
santd Posts: 234 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I'm 54 years of age, and always had a weight problem through my life. I have lost considerable amounts of weight (over 10-13 stones) four times in my life time, and lots of other diets where I've lost 2/3 stones, and gained every pound back on. I must have lost myself in weight, twice over by now. It ridiculous isn't it! to put so much effort into dieting and losing weight, to then do the total opposite afterwards????

You know I've done it so many times, it's become habit. I never once thought (until now), stop what you're doing and concentrate on maintaining what you've achieved.....NEVER!!!

I don't know if its due to me doing it so many times, you then start to question what the bl**dy hell are you doing to yourself. You then notice with age, health problems..... all related to your weight.

I have made a promise to myself this dieting time ...this will be different, this is it, NO MORE weight gain, and to focus and be mindfull of what I'm eating. Its a bit like being an alcoholic, I'm always going to be on the wagon with food stuffs. One never knows if i keep this up in 4 or 5 years my new changes will then become old habits. Either way, I'm not going to gain weight again.

My challenge at present is that; I've just had an knee operation and I'm immobile for 5 weeks. Not being able to exercise, sent me into panic, as I know sitting down doing nothing will cause weight gain. But I've kept my cool, reduced my calorie intake, and hopefully when i manage to get onto the scales they wont go the wrong way.

Replies

  • ktsmom430
    ktsmom430 Posts: 1,100 Member
    Sounds like you have a good plan. It is a lifestyle/eating habit change. That is a very good way to proceed going forward.

    I hope your recovery time is quick. Best of luck to you!
  • ChrisS30V
    ChrisS30V Posts: 157 Member
    I've been a victim of the yo-yo effect in the past. Where I always went wrong was returning to old habits as soon as I had achieved the desired results via the "diet" that I was on. It never took long for the weight to come back, either, as I usually started regaining within the first month or two of abandoning the diet. This time around, however, I have adhered to the habits that I learned from losing weight and logging my food on MFP and have been maintaining +/- a few lbs for four months as of today. It's not about going on a "diet," it's about completely changing the way you see food and yourself.

    I think you have a great plan for maintaining during your recovery from surgery and I think you will likely come out on the other side without gaining much, if any at all and will be ready to get back to business.
  • joann1948
    joann1948 Posts: 161 Member
    I am a victim of yo-yo dieting. I have battled my weight since I was a child. I always could lose easily but never maintained. I came on to this website in April of 2011 and I have lost 120 lb and have 40 to go. It saved my life. It is not a DIET......It is a LIFESTYLE change, It is all about eating clean, exercising, and being healthy. I will admit my journey has been difficult at times, but I never gave up or quit. YOU CAN DO THIS........Joann:heart:
  • Cheeky_and_Geeky
    Cheeky_and_Geeky Posts: 984 Member
    Great plan! I'm a yo yo dieter as well. This time I've lost weight slower & healthier & I know I will stick to it this time with all the support I have on here :)
  • TimElwis
    TimElwis Posts: 56
    I'm 54 years of age, and always had a weight problem through my life. I have lost considerable amounts of weight (over 10-13 stones) four times in my life time, and lots of other diets where I've lost 2/3 stones, and gained every pound back on. I must have lost myself in weight, twice over by now. It ridiculous isn't it! to put so much effort into dieting and losing weight, to then do the total opposite afterwards????

    You know I've done it so many times, it's become habit. I never once thought (until now), stop what you're doing and concentrate on maintaining what you've achieved.....NEVER!!!

    I don't know if its due to me doing it so many times, you then start to question what the bl**dy hell are you doing to yourself. You then notice with age, health problems..... all related to your weight.

    I have made a promise to myself this dieting time ...this will be different, this is it, NO MORE weight gain, and to focus and be mindfull of what I'm eating. Its a bit like being an alcoholic, I'm always going to be on the wagon with food stuffs. One never knows if i keep this up in 4 or 5 years my new changes will then become old habits. Either way, I'm not going to gain weight again.

    My challenge at present is that; I've just had an knee operation and I'm immobile for 5 weeks. Not being able to exercise, sent me into panic, as I know sitting down doing nothing will cause weight gain. But I've kept my cool, reduced my calorie intake, and hopefully when i manage to get onto the scales they wont go the wrong way.

    Amazing dedication from reading this! Well done and you will suceed!
  • 55in13
    55in13 Posts: 1,091 Member
    The problem is not being a yo yo dieter, it is that one time when you just do the single yo (up)...

    I am also 54 and have done the yo yo thing a few times over the years. One odd thing you have to consider is that staying at a stable weight is actually a somewhat recent development for humans and we are designed for yo yo, as many food sources tended to be seasonal as far as plants go and hunting always was feast or famine when we had no way to keep meat fresh. So we are fighting our nature, not just our own habits. That said, I am taking the approach that a shorter string that keeps me entirely below goal weight is the way to go (for me; not necessarily everyone). IOW, I will lose about 5+ pounds below goal then keep an eye on the scale and start eating at a deficit when I get to goal (which is where I am now, so I am starting a down cycle again).

    This worked for me for decades, BTW. In retrospect, I really don't know why I let it get out of hand the one time. I used to go up maybe 10-15 at most and then lose it on a New Years crash diet or whatever and keep it off for a year or two. Then in my 40s i let it go up and up until I had 55 to lose. I finally buckled down and lost that. So now I am not going to try to change my habits completely. I will just be more diligent about not letting it get past a lower cap than I had in the past. I got rid of all "fat clothes" so I can't start down the slippery slope of cutting myself just a little slack...
  • SlimmingMeDown
    SlimmingMeDown Posts: 63 Member
    I was the queen of Yo-Yo.

    I found that strength training is the only thing that maintains my weight, plus eating some raw food each day. Regulates blood sugar somehow.
  • mstukofski
    mstukofski Posts: 14
    You have to be committed to a new life style, and stick to it. By the way what is a stone?
  • santd
    santd Posts: 234 Member
    sorry...us Brits use old weights..14 stones is 196 pounds, LOST
  • vonnyliz
    vonnyliz Posts: 9 Member
    hi from a 50 year old British yo-yo dieter. Good luck with your efforts despite your injury. I had a shin/calf injury during June and had to limit my exercise to low impact (love running and anything cardio) but fortunately managed to stay on track. Maintenance is so hard and finding a sympathetic ear is difficult.
  • pinalety
    pinalety Posts: 37 Member
    Great post...I can relate to your journey. I'm amazed at how often I threw logic to the way side for emotional pleasure. Glad to know you are finding ways to maintain your weight despite not being able to exercise. Keep up the good work.
  • nytrifisoul
    nytrifisoul Posts: 499 Member
    I am what you would call a yo-yo dieter aswell. But i have never struggled to lose weight. It has always been very easy for me. I am also what you would call a foodie. I go into these spurts where i say F-it i want to eat what and when i want, when i get to a weight i dont like, i go into Nazi diet mode.
  • Siansonea
    Siansonea Posts: 917 Member
    I've sorta yo-yo'd over the years, but I've never gained back as much as I lost. My all-time adult high was probably in 1993, right before I switched to diet soda. Fortunately, every time I've swung the pendulum, it never went up quite as far as the preceding time. I was up in the 170s in 1993, my all-time high, and in 2001, I was up to about 165 after having spent most of the late 90s in the 130-140 range. Then I got down to my all-time low of 118 in 2003, and since then I've slowly crept up to 152, my weight in August. That's a lot of weight to gain in a decade if you look at the raw numbers, but 118 was never a realistic weight for my height, I'm 5'8". Currently I'm at 142. My weight all through high school was 135, and I was thought of as "skinny" then, so that's what I'm shooting for now, and only 7 pounds to go! I may decide to lose another couple of pounds after that, I'll see how I feel, but 130 is my "bottom line" weight, for sure. When I'm in the 120s I start to look stick-like. Here's hoping that this time it's real maintenance, I've got to be diligent about calorie counting, and shoot for realistic calorie totals going forward.

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