Coach Monica’s 8 Steps to Help You Stop Yo Yo Dieting for Good!
Have you spent years losing the same 10, 20, 30 or more pounds over and over again? I may be a Beachbody Coach, but I’m a human first—so I can totally relate. Today I want to share 8 steps to help us all stop yo yo dieting.
We lose the weight and feel great. If you’re like me, sometimes you go out and buy some new clothes only to find yourself gaining the weight back and those new clothes start feeling tighter and tighter until finally they go up on a shelf.
Being a Beachbody Coach has helped me yo yo diet MUCH less, but huge (and emotional) life changes—like a divorce and remarriage—threw me off course within the last several years.
It’s a frustrating cycle, isn’t it?
I fought my way back to consistency and it’s my goal to help you stop yo yo dieting. You got this! I really want us all to get it for the sake of our health.
First, let’s take a look at what we need to do to make lasting change and then I’ll cover # ways to stop yo yo dieting for good.
A Different Perspective on Dieting
Changing my perspective on whatever it it that I’m stuck on has always been extremely helpful to me. (This is one reason I commit to a minimum of 15 minutes of personal development every day.)
To stop yo yo dieting, one of the most important perspective shifts you can make is to go from a “dieting” mentality to a “lifestyle” one. Instead of looking for the next fad diet, focus instead on making choices to support living more healthily.
Being on a “diet” implies an end goal and/or end date. Once the date or goal is reached, the “diet” will be over. Diets are also often drastic and unsustainable. This is why it’s difficult, if not impossible, to stick with them over the long term.
Here’s how it goes:
You see a new diet that looks interesting. You get excited. You do the legwork, make the recipes, and keep it up for a week or even a month.
You see some results and that makes you feel great. But, after hitting your goal weight, you stop the diet and soon fall back into your old ways…and, the weight comes back. Then, the excuses kick in.
If you continue to think and behave like this, you’ll be on the yo yo dieting merry-go-round for the rest of your life.
Instead, challenge yourself to live a healthy “lifestyle” and these changes have a chance of lasting for the rest of your life.
Making Excuses to Not Diet & Exercise
Don’t feel bad about it—we ALL makes excuses for ditching the diet and not exercising.
It’s deep-seated human nature to shield our self-esteem from shame and anxiety. Basically, excuses are a form of self protection.
When it comes to losing weight, health and fitness, here are a few of the most common excuses:
1. “I love food and eating too much to diet!” Most people love food and we all need to eat to survive. We’re surrounded by food, much of it unhealthy, so it’s challenging to make healthy choices.
What I love about the 21 Day Fix is that I can still enjoy food! I just take advantage of food swaps and adjust my portions. And, when you stick with the plan for several rounds and allow it to become a lifestyle, it becomes easier and easier.
2. “I don’t have time.” I’m calling us all out on this one—when we say we don’t have time, we’re really saying it’s just not a top priority.
Do you watch T.V.? Do you surf the Internet or scroll through Facebook or Instagram for hours? Do you go up and down every aisle in Target (or virtual aisle on Amazon)? Of course, you do…we ALL do. This is time that you can dedicate to your core commitments!
I highly recommend writing down your daily schedule and scheduling your daily exercise and weekly food prep. (Yes, weekly. I cover this in my Buffet Style Food Prep School!)
3. “It’s too hard, and I don’t know how.” This is a big one. Change IS daunting.
The awesome news is that the 21 Day Fix or Ultimate Portion Fix take all the guesswork out of eating healthy and teach you how to life a healthy lifestyle. It’s EASY to follow and you have me and a support group to answer any questions that come up!
8 Steps to Stop Yo Yo Dieting
If you’re ready to stop yo yo dieting, here are # tips to help you stay consistent this time:
1. Find your “why.” Why do you want to lose weight? Go deeper than wanting to look good for the upcoming special event or summer. Take some time to figure out what your core commitments are.
I won’t go into detail on core commitments in this post, because I already covered it in this post—The Importance of Core Commitments.
What I will say here is that it’s VERY likely that many of your core commitments would be significantly negatively impacted if your body wasn’t healthy.
For instance, maybe one of your Whys is to be a good mama or grandmama. You can’t do this if you’re emotionally and/or physically unwell! This is exactly why eating healthy and exercising need to be on your list.
Reading the above blog post is the very first step to take IF you’re truly ready to stop yo yo dieting!
Once you’re focused on your real core commitments, you can keep coming back to them when you feel like quitting. It really does help!
2. Stop calling it a diet. Words are powerful and “diet” is not the right one to use. Commit to shifting your perspective from “diet” to “lifestyle” that I discussed above.
3. Be mindful. Start a journal. The first thing to write in your journal are your core commitments.
When you slip from your healthy eating patterns, sit down and write about what happened. What triggered your eating? Were you stressed? Did someone criticize you?
After a while, the proof will be on the paper! You’ll see patterns emerge and you’ll be able to identify your eating triggers so you can work on changing your reaction to the trigger.
4. Set realistic goals. You didn’t gain the weight in one week, so it’s not reasonable to expect to lose it in a week.
Lifestyle changes take time. Set small attainable goals, such as adding one vegetable to every meal. Once each change becomes habit, set another realistic goal. Over time, these small changes add up to a healthy lifestyle!
5. Make a plan. Using the 21 Day Fix or Ultimate Portion Fix is an excellent plan for learning healthy and sustainable eating habits!
No more guessing. No more research. Just use the containers and stick to the plan.
6. Take time to get educated. You’ve heard the phrase “When you know better, you do better.”
When you start really understanding the science behind weight loss and good health, it will get harder and harder to eat crappy food or extra large portions.
Part of YOUR personal development can be spending 15 minutes a day reading our blog, which is FULL of helpful information. Start with this blog—How to Maximize Your 21 Day Fix Results—then, check out Our Blog
7. Use a coach and join an accountability group. Studies have found that people who are held accountable by a coach and or tribe have a much higher success rate.
Your tribe impacts your vibe! Join my Fix Family on Facebook and start reaping the benefits today.
8. Stop beating yourself up. Once it’s a lifestyle and not a diet, you can stop worrying and beating yourself up when you slip. Nobody is perfect—it’s just about being as consistent as is realistically possible.
Dave and I follow the 80/20 Rule—we give ourselves a 20% break!
When you have days that don’t go according to plan, don’t beat yourself up. Just get right back to your plan the next day.
It’s Time to Make a Lifestyle Change
Today’s the day to stop yo yo dieting and, instead, make healthy and permanent lifestyle changes.
Write down your core commitments and make sure your daily routine helps you focus on them.
Use the 21 Day Fix or Ultimate Portion Fix to swap your unhealthy eating habits for healthy ones.
And, take advantage of me as your coach! Click below and let’s start working together:
