The Yo-Yo Diet And What They Never Told You
The yo-yo diet is a very common phenomenon in the fat loss world, and one that many people have a very hard time dealing with.
And unfortunately many people in the fitness industry will give very “surface-level” questions when asked about this topic. They might say things like…well you must not be doing your goals right, or you should just be more focused!
But is that REALLY the reason the yo-yo diet exists?
I think not.
The True Cause Of The Yo-Yo Diet
The one thing that most people don’t understand about the yo-yo diet is that it has almost nothing to do with what you’re doing on the outside. I don’t mean working out or eating healthy doesn’t matter – I mean that goals or anything like that will NOT make a difference. You can have the best goals in the world but if this certain part of you isn’t aligned correctly (which I’ll explain in a second)…you’re still going to get sucked into the yo-yo diet world.
Ok, so what causes it?
It’s simple really. It’s when your mental image of yourself doesn’t match up to what your body looks like on the outside.
Let me explain.
Let’s say you’ve been dieting for a few months for an upcoming summer and you’re just starting to be able to see your abs. Or maybe you’ve just gotten your stomach flat, or whatever the case may be.
Well, if you still THINK of yourself as an overweight person – it’s impossible for you to stay slim because your mind simply doesn’t believe it.
Read that sentence again because it’s incredibly important.
I’m not saying it’s “hard” to stay slim…I’m saying it’s IMPOSSIBLE.
Now I realize a lot of people who underestimate the power of the mind absolutely will not agree with me on this, but I’ve witnessed with my own body exactly how powerful the mind can be so I know.
Here’s an example from one of my favorite personal development speakers, Jim Rohn. He said he’d been slightly overweight most of his life and his granddaughter called him “fatty” as kind of a joke – but on a regular basis.
(It may have been a different nickname but it was something saying that he was overweight)
Well, one day he told her not to call him that anymore and once she stopped – he immediately started losing weight and NEVER put it back on.
So basically what I’m saying is that if you’re the type of person who is suffering from the yo-yo diet syndrome, all you have to do is take 5 minutes twice a day and start visualizing what you want your body to look like. Get a very clear image in your head and FEEL the emotions as you look at your sexy self 
Do that…and the yo-yo diet goes away and you can finally learn to stay slim forever.
How Often Should You Workout?
This is a question that comes up ALL the time when talking to people. And I completely understand why people are confused about this because nearly everybody you talk to has a different opinion.
You talk to one person and they say only train 3 days per week so you don’t overtrain yourself and end up lowering your metabolism and injuring yourself.
Then you talk to someone else and they say the body needs to be moved every single day to keep the metabolism up and that it’s how we were designed.
So here’s my take on the subject:
Like nearly everything else when it comes to fitness, this all depends on YOU. It depends on your nutrition, your lifestyle, your goals, what you do in the other hours of you day, and a variety of other factors.
Athletes can work their butt off nearly everyday of the week and don’t seem to get hurt.
Why?
Because they eat perfectly and spend up to 2 hours after exercising to help their body’s recoup.
Other people can only work out for 3 days per week because if they do anymore they seem to get even more tired than if they didn’t exercise. And that’s simply the way their nervous system is set up.
It Also Depends On What You’re Doing…
Another huge factor is simply the type of exercising you’re doing on those 3 days. If you’re just going for a jog or hitting up the treadmill, you can probably do more than 3 days per week.
But if you’re training really hard for 30-45 minutes doing strength training with a lot of multi-joint exercises…that might be all you need to do.
Because after all, your diet is the ultimate determining factor in how lean you get. You’d have to workout for over an hour everyday 5 days per week in order to lose 1 pound per week. But if you simply cut 1 or 2 things out of your diet everyday, or fasted once or twice a week, that same amount of fat could come off with no extra exercising.
All You Really Need To Do Is Experiment…
Try working out 5-6 times per week and see how you feel. Do you feel more energetic, or sore and tired? Does working out that much fit your schedule? Do you enjoy working out that much? These are just a few of the questions you should be asking yourself.
Because when it comes down to it, it really is all about experimentation. I can tell you to do something but if it isn’t congruent with what you want or how your life works, it’s not going to work for you.
So if you’re worried about how much you should workout, just experiment with it.
There is no right or wrong answer, it all depends on YOU.
How To Banish The “Yo-Yo Diet” Syndrome From Your Life Forever
One of the main problems people have in dieting is that they go through what’s called the “yo-yo diet”.
I’m sure you know what it is. You lose weight and start looking much better, then all of a sudden you lose motivation and stop exercising, start eating worse and BAM…the weight piles right back on.
So how do you get past that dreaded point?
It’s easy actually. This is something I personally dealt with for most of my life, but I figured out a way that works incredibly well.
All you have to do is continually ramp up your goals and set new challenges for yourself!
You see, the reason you go on the yo-yo diet is psychological. Your mind likes a challenge, and once you hit the point where you’ve won the challenge (or came close), your mind essentially says “ok that’s good enough…time to go back to the old ways”.
So what you need to do is simply prepare for that and start increasing your goals. Maybe your goals will switch from getting a 6 pack or hitting a certain weight to getting a certain percentage stronger, or having arms a certain size, or being able to do a certain exercise or circuit without getting tired.
I know it sounds kind of elementary, but it works. And it’s a key piece of the puzzle that most people are missing.
You also might want to switch your goals up from time to time.
For example for the upcoming summer my goal is to lose a bit more weight and get in “summer shape”. That means being a little more strict and getting a little more “ripped”.
Although I don’t care about being in perfect shape like many people (being able to see every striation and vein in a person’s body looks disgusting to me) – I still like to stay lean for the summer.
Then in the winter you might switch it up to something like gaining as much strength as possible. Your diet would change, workouts would change, and it becomes “fresh” as you strive for new goals.
Anyway, I hope that works for you. Try it out the next time you feel yourself losing motivation and let me know how it works for you!
10 Ways To Lose The Last 10 Pounds
I recently got an email from someone a newsletter subscriber, saying (in regards to losing the last 10 pounds) “some experts say eat more to speed up your metabolism, then others say eat less, but don’t go below the 1,000 calorie threshold. What’s your experience?”
So instead of giving her a quick answer via email…I’m going to let you all benefit and give you 10 ways to lose those last dreaded 10 pounds.
- Eat Less Meals – Whaatt?!?!?! Yes, I said it. Eating 6 meals a day is a MYTH and I prove that it’s a myth in my Hassle Free Fat Loss book. This actually depends on the person but a lot of people I know who tried the 6 meals per day thing actually ended up gaining weight because they weren’t careful enough and overate.
- No Carbs After Dinner - This also depends on your own lifestyle. My theory is that you shouldn’t eat about 3-4 hours before bed. Once it starts getting dark your body becomes pretty pathetic at using the carbs for energy because it’s getting ready to sleep, so instead it stores it away as fat. If you’re going to eat anything at night, lose the carbs.
- Eat More Fat – This comes with a warning because although eating fat is necessary for fat loss (for various reasons) it’s also high in calories. Don’t be afraid of fat though, it fills you up and gives your fat-burning hormones a boost.
- Eat More Fiber – Fiber is AWESOME at filling you up plus it’s loaded to the brim in many great foods for you such as fruits, veggies, oatmeal,etc. Load up on fiber and you won’t feel as hungry which means you’ll eat less throughout the day.
- Exercise More – If you’re not doing strength training already, do it. If you are, add a little extra cardio into your exercise plan if you hav the time for it. If you can’t you’ll need to tighten up your diet even further, which is next.
- Tighten Up Your Diet – This is probably the most important thing you need to do to lose the last 10 pounds. On average people overestimate their calorie intake by 30%, so just watch what you’re eating and see what “little things” you can clean up. Trust me, 5-10 little things here and there adds up BIG TIME. This leads me to…
- Track Your Diet – Although this isn’t something I personally do because I really don’t need to anymore, it’s something I think everybody needs to try. Not really counting calories, but just keeping a journal of what you’re eating/drinking everyday. This will help with #6 tremendously because in the majority of cases you’re eating and drinking little things throughout the day that add up to huge numbers in the end.
- Start Fasting – If you need to lose those last 10 pounds and haven’t tried fasting yet, this will knock them right off pretty quick. Start with just 1 24 hour fast per week and you’ll see a HUGE difference.
- Have A Cheat Day – I’m not totally convinced on this yet but many bodybuilders swear by it. As far as I know there’s no real evidence to prove it, but many people swear by the theory that if you diet for 2-3 days then eat a higher than normal amount of calories the next day, your metabolism gets re-boosted and doesn’t slow down. Like I said I’m not convinced on it yet, but try it and see if it works for you. If nothing else it gives you a little mental break from dieting, which is always nice. Just don’t overdo it!
- Visualize - This is something that I can’t really prove either, but I think visualizing is a key component to any fat loss program. If you see yourself as not being able to get those last 10 pounds off, there’s no way you’ll ever do it – trust me. But if you can close your eyes for 5-10 minutes everyday and actually see yourself exactly how you want to look, eventually it’s going to happen. The key to making visualization successful is making sure you inject EMOTION into your visualizations.
So there you have it, 10 ways to lose the last 10 pounds! And to answer her question even more clearly – first of all don’t eat more meals to increase your metabolism because it’s a myth with absolutely no evidence. The 1,000 calorie threshold is just a general guideline, but it all depends on how much you weigh, what your daily activity is, your own metabolism, and other factors.
My advice is to follow these 10 guidelines to losing the last 10 pounds and if you’re still having trouble, feel free to email me or sign up for my online personal training program at www.JeremyReevesCoaching.com (you get a free month when you invest in my Hassle Free Fat Loss Book)!
Why Your Weight Loss Goals Should Be Getting Crraaazzyyyy
What kind of weight loss goals have you set for yourself?
First of all if you haven’t set any – are you insane? Seriously, setting up goals for yourself is going to make a dramatic impact on the amount of fat you lose as well as how fast you lose it. If you don’t already have some for yourself, I highly suggest making them.
But that’s not what this post is about.
What I’m going to talk about today is simply going craaazzzzyyy with your weight loss goals.
Well what if for example you made a fat loss goal to lose 5 pounds in the next month.
What if you DON’T hit that goal – then what happens? Anything? If not, you’re missing out on some extraordinary benefits.
When I mean you should go crazy with your goals, what I’m talking about is making yourself do something kind of crazy if you don’t hit the goals.
For example, say I wanted to lose 2 pounds this week. If I didn’t, I would tell my fiancee I’m going to do all the chores for an entire week – by myself.
Or maybe I would go into the middle of a WalMart parking lot in the middle of the busiest time of day and yell something embarrassing in front of all those people.
Or another thing I could do is force myself to give up my favorite food for an entire month, or even a week.
The more crazy you get with this, the better the results will be.
You see, when you set a goal like this and you force yourself to do something you really don’t want to do if you don’t hit it, it sets off kind of a trigger in your brain. Then the next time you see pizza all you’ll do is think about how you’re going to have to do that embarrassing thing if you eat the pizza.
Plus, it simply makes life a lot more fun!
I know this technique sounds kind of weird, but trust me – it’s a lot of fun and will actually help you stay on track much easier than simply having a regular weight loss goal and trying to accomplish it.
The one trick I should mention is that your “punishment” for not achieving that goal should be kind of equal to the amount of time you have to do it.
For example, don’t make yourself run a marathon if you only lose 1 pound in a week instead of 2.
Not accomplishing a weekly goal would have a small consequence. Not accomplishing a monthly would have a bigger consequence, and not accomplishing a yearly goal should make you have to do something really embarrassing (just make sure you get it on video and send it to me!).
So, what kind of crazy scheme can you come up with for yourself? Write a comment below and give other people some ideas that you’re going to use for yourself!
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Recent Comments:
- Johnine Bailey: You could mix it with water to make it less caloric. Or possibly substitute a cherry powder or herbal instead. There’s a Cherry Blossom herbal that is available, I’m not sure it would do the same, but maybe it would help.
- Darlene Siddons: great post and great 10 ways to attack those last few pounds….loosing weight is about attitude and feelings, when they are aligned right it is really easy…i use Vision Map Videos to keep my goal of correct body weight in a positive realm… darlene http://visionmapvideo.blogspot .com/
- Megan: great story, and so true! And i laughed a few times during this. keep up the good work!
- What Happens When You Stop Being “Healthy”: important if you’re doing workouts that are very intense and demanding on your body, such as High Intensity Interval Training or things like Tabata
- Weight Loss Excercise: You can also check out his post on weight loss goals here – http://hasslefreefatloss.com/b log/weight-loss-goals-getting- crazy/
- Johnine Bailey: You could mix it with water to make it less caloric. Or possibly substitute a cherry powder or herbal instead. There’s a Cherry Blossom herbal that is available, I’m not sure it would do the same, but maybe it would help.
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