Yo-yo dieting

I'm an admitted yo yo-er, looking to lose for the last time presently. It's about finding what works for you lifestyle wise. The first time I lost weight I was really active on MFP and going to the gym twice a day, but I was also out of work. And when I wasn't as free to gym and log, I slowly slipped back. The second time, I was on a strict IF plan but as months went by I slowly gained back. This time, I'm trying to find a middle ground where I'm accountable but I'm not just trying to lose x by this date and just trying to do things better

I quit trying "diets" and just started eating what I liked within my calorie target. I logged, and learned, and tweaked until it hit the right notes of happy and healthy.

Definitely was a yo-yoer for years. I think it ultimately came down to a certain maturation in my thinking. Eventually, I just accepted that everything I'd been doing for so many years wasn't going to ever work. I was lying to myself about how much I was eating and something else was always to blame. I had to stop living in denial. I had to accept that I was a lying *kitten* who was completely responsible for my health and well-being, and only I could change it.

I think it requires a certain degree of resignation and acceptance that it won't be quick or easy, but as long as you find something you can do for as long as it takes, you'll get there. For me, that was a reasonable calorie deficit, not villainizing any foods, not setting deadlines or complicating things and creating other imaginary reasons to excuse failure like I had in the past. I think humans have a tendency to over-complicate everything due to fear of failure. If we imagine and create all sorts of reasons why weight loss has to be difficult, how can we possibly succeed? Also, finding exercise I really enjoyed doing. Having fitness goals outside of weight loss really helped keep me going.

I shouldn't answer, because I was a (delusionally) happy fat person, not a yo-yo dieter. But a number of the women around me have yo-yo-ed for decades (they, like me, are around 60 years old, plus or minus 10 years, say). So, I have a perspective that those younger might want to think about. (It's something that truly makes me sad, when I think about it, which is why I'm butting in.)

The weight-loss phase of the yo-yo cycle has usually involved fad diets, and usually unsustainably low calorie levels to "blast that fat off fast!!!". Sometimes, unsustainable levels of exercise were added (usually all cardio, because "we don't want to get bulky"). Fad diets for women often involved low-balling protein in the extreme. So, maybe weight was lost, but an unnecessarily large fraction of it was lean tissue. Over-restriction and over-exercise sometimes lead to fatigue, thus help people get in the habit of a less active daily life (more sitting around, when not pushing exercise). The whole process is very unsustainable . . . so it was not sustained.

The regain phase of the yo-yo cycle usually involved IDGAF behavior, eating lots of indulgent/treat foods, totally dropping the exercise, etc. Sometimes, they were still low-balling protein even on increased calories, because for some reason women of my generation seem to do that (indulgence = carbs and fats and maybe alcohol, more commonly). If they got in the habit of a reduced-activity daily life when in the loss phase, sometimes those habits stuck. So, more food, less exercise, maybe less daily activity = regain, mostly fat.

So, play this over decades: Lose some fat and some muscle. Gain back weight (and maybe more pounds than before) in the form of mostly fat. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

Result? Truly reduced BMR (dropped incrementally in small increments with decreasing lean %, increasing fat %); decreased NEAT (daily life activity), because of habits and because weaker (less lean tissue, so less able to do things, let alone wanting to). Every round of loss, therefore, requires slightly more extreme tactics, because NEAT is lower every time, and exercise capability potentially reduced. It also creates a sense of dis-empowerment, and thinking "women our age can't lose weight".

Where does this get you by the time you're 60 or so? Odds are, something in the direction of overweight, inactive, not very healthy, not very strong, thus heading into retirement years with lowered odds of health and independence. This has truly happened, as far as I can see, among some of my friend-set.

Earlier in life, your current self wants to be thin now. But your future self wants to be healthy and strong.

As someone who was fat and happy for decades (but quite active for the last 15 years or so, even while obese), I luckily seem to be in a pretty good spot, now that I'm finally at a healthy weight. The women who stayed active and at a healthy weight for those decades are in a better spot, for sure (I know some women like that, too). But the women who yo-yo-ed over those decades mostly seem to be in the worst spot of these possible behavior groups.

Maybe I just know exceptions, though?