'YDA' Yo-yo Dieters Anonymous

I know it's not really anonymous but hey, I thought it was pretty funny. ;D

I guess the purpose of this post is to share my story of yo-yo dieting, the countless 'diets' that I have tried, and for other people to share their stories as well.

So I know that many of us have been there. We get on myfitnesspal for a while, lose some weight, and then get off the bandwagon for some reason. It's like a never ending cycle, that honestly gets very tiring. We (well at least I did) end up gaining back what we lost, plus another 10+ pounds, and after seeing that number on the scale, it makes me even less motivated to want to lose it again (I know, it would make sense, you see yourself so much bigger than before that you would want to lose the weight for good. Not my case.)

I started myfitnesspal a little over 2 years ago. I was newly married and I wanted to get more in shape. Everything was going great. I was counting my calories, exercising (if you even want to call Just Dance and Zumba on the Wii exercising. It was just fun!) So I ended up losing close to 30 pounds and was only 20 pounds to the weight I was actually supposed to be at. Well things weren't going well in paradise and I ended up separating from my husband. After moving in with my best friend (who I love to eat with, especially sweets XD) I gained the weight back, in a short few months, plus some added interest. So then starts the lovely yo-yo dieting. I tried the military diet (Effective, but I'm sure unhealthy, and left me hungry), Adkins (Best diet that worked for me, but once you start eating carbs again, the weight comes back quick, and I mean within like a 2 week period. It's also not good if you don't follow the diet "correctly" which I have read a lot of people don't do because it can lead to intestinal problems for the people who eat mainly the fats and meats, which sent me to the hospital at one point. Not a pretty subject.) I was also on the Adkins at two different points in the past 2 years. Even a few months ago, I got on a health kick; not counting calories, just eating a lot of healthy foods and we all know that even healthy foods in excess can lead to weight gain. I was even running on top of that and still gained a good bit of weight.

So here I am, at the end of my yo-yo dieting, not doing anything, just eating what I want; and then it clicked for me the other day. I'm 80 pounds overweight (although I don't want to lose quite that much, my goal is to lose 60) and have been on all these "diets" with nothing to show for it. Counting calories and exercising has always been the way to go! It's the most effective and healthiest way to lose the weight. And I will be honest with myself and with all of you that are asking, "Well why haven't you been doing that all along then?" Well it's simple. I have just been lazy.

So today, I prepared a meal plan for the week based on how many calories I am allowed to consume in a day.

So here's to me breaking out of my nasty yo-yo dieting habits and getting off my lazy butt.