Breaking the cycle of yo-yo dieting
Following on from my Weight Cycling 101 article here I wanted to add a little more on breaking the cycle of yo-yo dieting.
In case you missed it, yo yo dieting is also known as weight cycling and means bouts of weight loss / regain - like a yo-yo going up and down. It is often triggered by dieting causing the weight loss, before inevitably it fails and you fall off the diet wagon before restarting.
The main way to break the cycle is to ditch the diets.
1. Ditch the scale - it’s no longer a metric of your worth, success or anything else. It’s not useful to you - and what it signifies. Move away from weight loss as a goal - what’s the aim now?
A side note here that this in itself can be a long process. Especially if weight loss has been a goal for a long time. It’s may not be as simple as ditching the physical scale as it signifies so much.
2. Clear your wardrobe - a common side effect of gaining / losing weight often is an accumulation of clothes that just don’t fit. And often after having gained weight trying to squeeze into too small clothes, or keeping old clothes as ‘motivation’ to work towards fitting into it again. This can negatively impact your body image, and how you see yourself. Comfortable clothes are key - could you do with some clothes that fit your body now? Or some adjustable clothing? Clothes that make you feel good…
3. Check who you follow - What we consume as media affects our outlook. Are you following people with one body type? Or do you follow a range of people? Are you following those constantly promoting weight loss or a more health at every size (HAES) approach.
4. Track the negative, track the positive - note the things dieting and focusing on weight has caused - weight cycling, any effects on your physical health, mental health, social life etc. whether it’s a thought exercise, written list or something you discuss out loud. And then think of the positives you can gain from moving away from weight loss and weight cycling.
5. Where have you been - and where are you going - Reflect on weight cycling, then imagine where you want to be. Visualise what you will gain from this - why are you doing it? Physical benefits, mental health, maybe it will impact your relationships or social life.
6. What’s success now? - You set the bar. What does success look like for you. Maybe it’s worrying less about food to the point it’s not a major point of your day. Maybe it’s food focused such as finding meals you love, or cooking more. Maybe it’s movement focused, social - possibilities are endless. And think as big as you want. Maybe you start small and think bigger and bigger - the possibilities are endless. See my recent post on measuring success in Intuitive Eating.
And maybe the above help, maybe they don’t and you need more help to ditch the diets for good. If you want some 1:1 help I’m here via the button in the corner.
Weight Cycling is also covered in my Intuitive Eating course - see the IE course button at the top of the page.
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