How To Avoid The Yo-Yo
In order to maintain or achieve a healthy weight and lifestyle, many people go on crash diets in an attempt to get results fast. Usually the hippest fad in dieting advocates for an extreme food related behavior, such as eating only meat, or avoiding sugar all-together. It can also be related to excessive exercise. The problem with these diets is that after initial results (or sometimes no results), they can lead to increased weight gain and a redoubling of unhealthy habits, known as the Yo-Yo Effect.
Why Does This Happen?
When we quickly push our bodies to extremes they aren’t used to, it can backlash against our habits. If you’re used to eating a high number of daily calories, and cut it down to an extreme low, your body can go into shock and the diet will become unsustainable. When the structure of the diet falls away, someone who was heavily restricting calories may take in even more calories than before and regain the lost weight. Someone who has spent day after day in the gym might take weeks off between gym visits. This loss/gain cycle can cause serious problems within the body like depression and exhaustion.
It’s not always about failing at a diet or not having a sense of commitment to follow through. For some people a crash diet is a get-fit-quick plan designed to get them the body they want quick. Sometimes though, these changes are not sustainable. For example, consistently buying groceries that are way out of your budget makes it impossible to maintain the lifestyle over the long term.
How To Avoid The Yo-Yo
The key to avoiding the bounce back from a failed fad diet is to think about your plans ahead of time. Before diving in keep these tips in mind:
Do Some Critical Reading
Check up on the history of the diet. Who was involved in developing it, and does it have a vetted source to back up its claims? Is there documented proof? Who is advocating for this diet? How many other diets have they supported in the past? If a celebrity is lauding the benefits of a new diet less than 6 months after their last new diet, it might be worth waiting to see how this new one pans out.
Does It Fit Your Lifestyle?
While a new diet begins sweeping across social media and news sources, take it with a grain of salt. Critically look at what the diet is asking you to do, and consider if it’s something you can reasonably incorporate into your daily life. Adjusting your lifestyle in such a way that it’s done using smaller changes means you’re more likely to keep up with the diet.
Plan Ahead
It’s also important to look at the whole course of the diet. Does it change over time? On day 30, do you need to stop eating all grains cold turkey? A common reason people stop following diets is also because of an unforeseen challenge within the diet itself.
Talk To A Professional
As always, before you change your diet significantly, and especially before attempting any of these crash diets, seek out the advice of your doctor or a medical professional. This way, you can discuss your expectations and get a better idea about what you should be doing to achieve the kinds of effects you want from a lifestyle change. In addition, talking with a trained professional can shed some light on how to make significant changes to your diet and lifestyle stick beyond a few weeks.
In order to keep yourself on the right path, it’s important to note that no single diet has all of the answers no matter what they promise in their book or commercials. Talking with your doctor, a nutritionist, and critically looking into any new diets you’re considering is incredibly important before getting caught in a Yo-Yo situation.
We’ve all been there: you’re out eating with friends and someone orders the fried stack of onion rings for the table. Someone else gets that double-stacked burger with three different kinds of cheese. Looming at the end of the meal is the ever present temptation of dessert. It all looks so good!
How is it possible to maintain a diet when going out to eat presents so many opportunities to cheat on your diet? What can you do to better your chances of making it through to the other side while continuing to eat healthy? Here are some helpful healthy tips to keep in mind!
Make a Plan Ahead of Time
Most restaurants offer their menus online, so if you can, look ahead and try to find a healthy option that appeals to you. It’s easier to make these kinds of decisions at home and away from the influence of the “I’m hungry now” thoughts. If you pick your meal before you even get to the restaurant, not only will you probably save time once you get there, you’re more likely to stick to your decision.
Pass on the Pasta
While pastas are definitely delicious, they’re usually empty carbs and can lead to you feeling bloated and hungry later. Look for high protein options like leaner cuts of meat to offer a satisfying and filling choice. Chicken, especially chicken breast, is a solid choice when looking for lower fat protein selections, as are leaner cuts of steak. Make sure you pay attention to how the meat is prepared though. Restaurants often use excessive amounts of butter and salt to enhance flavors, which can eliminate the positive aspect of these lean options.
Avoid the Sugar Water
When going out, it’s common to splurge on yourself and get a sweet drink like a soda or sugary mixed cocktail with dinner. While it may not seem like it, these drinks are full of calories that stick with you long after the meal is done. Water or low sugar options like a dry glass of wine or beer are fine choices to accompany any meal.
Pre-Game Your Meal
Before heading out, maybe indulge in a light snack beforehand. This can help you avoid making hungry decisions at the restaurant. Some fresh-cut vegetables and dip, olives for the salty craving, or even some unsalted nuts to stay your appetite. Here are some other options!
Read the Menu Carefully
Menu writers know how to draw in the hungry consumer. By using words like “pan-fried,” “dipped,” “battered,” and “crispy,” menus are able to give you a clear idea about what you’ll probably be getting. While these words may be enticing, remember that they’re also indicators that those foods are probably not the best option. They all reference fatty food-prep practices that are a sure way to break your diet. Looking for words like “grilled,” “roasted,” or “steamed” for a better direction to go in.
You Don’t Have To Eat It All
Once you feel full, don’t force it! Restaurants have boxes for a reason; their portions are usually too large for a single meal anyway. Don’t let your food linger on the plate in front of you, or you might start thinking that you can finish it all at once. By letting the food you’ve already eaten sit for a bit in your stomach, you’ll realize how full you actually are without the extra portion on top. Plus, you’ll have a meal for later by saving leftovers now!
These are just a few steps that can go a long way towards maintaining healthy eating habits while eating out. Remember, just because you’re eating out, doesn’t mean you can’t stick to your diet plan! By following these helpful tips, you’re that much more likely to stick to your plan!
SP weight loss might sound like some scary science experiment that will leave you somehow thinner, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. SP weight loss, the Serotonin-Plus weight loss program is a medically managed program that will help you feel happier and healthier.
No More Yo-Yo Dieting
Maintaining a healthy weight is always a challenge, especially in our modern world filled with temptations no matter where you turn. And, sometimes it seems like no matter what you do losing weight is impossible. Taking on weight loss alone is a difficult task, and that’s where Renewed Vitality’s Serotonin-Plus Weight Loss Program comes in.
The Serotonin-Plus Weight Loss Program gives you the support you need to ditch bad habits once and for all. Our approach incorporates diet, behavioral changes, and professionally administered medication to boost your metabolism.
Happy and Healthy
Serotonin is the “feel-good” chemical that our brains produce whenever we do something that makes us happy. Unfortunately for all of us that means whenever we give into temptations and eat foods high in sugar and carbohydrates our brain is rewarding us with a little dose of serotonin.
With the Serotonin-Plus program, serotonin is used to our advantage in weight loss. You will get a custom diet that is packed with healthy foods and proper portions. The diet will help you make better choices when you get those cravings and with the support of serotonin your brain will start to make happy associations with all those healthy foods your body needs.
Okay, But What’s the Plus?
Better Diet
The Plus starts with a better diet and when you enroll in the program you will receive an entirely custom made diet plan that removes any guesswork from what you should be eating. Our emphasis is on education, we want to make dieting second nature, something you can do without anyone’s help. You will learn to balance food groups, plan out proper portions, and learn how to apply everything you’ve learned into real life.
Lifestyle Changes
Trained professionals at Renewed Vitality will teach you to become more aware of what you’re eating and how you eat it. You will learn how to eat healthy without interrupting your lifestyle; it will become a part of your lifestyle. Whether you’re eating out, celebrating the holidays with friends and family, or just cooking for yourself at home, you will know how to make the right choices! And, with monthly check-in appointments for a full year you will have the support you need to ensure lifelong changes!
Medical Supplements
Along with all of the other support, you will be administered a small dose of phentermine which is a stimulant that suppresses your appetite and jump starts your metabolism. Phentermine has been used as a weight loss supplement since 1959. Phentermine helps you lower your cravings by stopping them dead in their tracks.
Is Serotonin-Plus Right for Me?
Serotonin-Plus has helped countless people, both men and women, defeat the difficulties of losing weight and breaking unhealthy habits. If you’ve tried every diet, every exercise regiment, and everything in between with no results, then Serotonin-Plus is probably the perfect option for you.
Renewed Vitality schedules a consultation with every single prospective weight loss patient before beginning the program. You will go over medical history, current medications, and other important personal details to determine whether or not Serotonin-Plus is a fit for your needs.
Don’t take on weight loss alone, let Renewed Vitality help you every step of the way!
