7 Ways to Stop Yo-yo Dieting for Good ...

One of the best ways to stop yo-yo dieting is by getting motivated. The first few weeks of a diet can be plain torture! Before you start making any changes to your eating habits, list out reasons why you want to get healthy/lose weight. Create an inspirational board and place it somewhere you can see it every day. That way, you will have something to refer to during moments of weakness.

Going cold turkey by giving up certain foods can make anyone chuck their diet out the window by about day 3! Instead, start out small. Have a piece of fruit instead of a brownie. Drink a glass of water instead of a soda. Use a fat-free dressing instead of cheese on your salad. Small changes do add up!

One of the biggest contributing factors to yo-yo dieting is that most people commit to something and then find out it’s too much to handle. It’s okay to try something and decide you don’t like it. But don’t bite off more than you can chew. If you want to try going dairy-free, try it for a week before committing to a lifestyle change or a 3-month diet.

Another thing that makes it easier to yo-yo diet is not preparing in advance. Make out a menu, go shopping, and do meal prep. Prepare healthy lunches and snacks for work and at home when you are just lounging. When hunger strikes, we are apt to reach out for whatever is around! If you have an apple and celery sticks washed and prepared with peanut butter to dip them in, you will eat those instead of the candy bars you have stashed in your desk!

There will always be some new fad diet craze. Fad diets don’t always work. What does work is eating healthy, working out, and drinking water. If you stick to this plan and avoid fad diets that often deprive you of nutrition or push a sugary meal replacement shake that costs an arm and a leg, you will see better results!

Something many yo-yo dieters will admit is that it’s hard not to cheat on your diet when you are totally cutting yourself off from sweets, carbs, sodas, dairy, or any other food item you really like. Allow yourself wiggle room. Pick a couple of foods and either choose healthier alternatives or allow yourself to have them once or twice a week. For example, frozen yogurt could replace ice cream 2 times a week, or you could have the real stuff once a week!

My best tip for avoiding yo-yo dieting for good, is to make it a lifestyle change instead of a diet. Try eating a salad for lunch every day instead of 4 weeks in a row while you diet to the extreme. Try using skim milk in your coffee every day instead of just on your diet. You will be healthier, and happier for it!

With these tips, you can start a new cycle of eating healthy and reaching your goal weight and staying there! It can be done! You will need to put forth a little hard work and self-control, but once you make the decision to eat healthy all the time, you will find that it is more rewarding then a cycle of yo-yo dieting and weight loss/weight gain. What are your tips to avoid yo-yo dieting?