The Yo-Yo Mentality

You have heard me talk about the yo-yo mentality before -- the whole idea of a very cut and dried, black and white, good or all bad mentality. When you are dieting you are either "on" the diet or "off" the diet -- and off means you're planning to start again later.

There are a number of problems with that idea but one I was reminded of the other day was that once you hit your goal weight, you get to be DONE with dieting!! HURRAY!!

The problem with that is, although you might be careful for a little while about what you are eating (so you can maintain your new fab weight), if you haven't changed your normal, everyday relationship with food -- you will be right back to your pre-diet weight (or at least creeping that direction) because your weight is a reflection of your behaviors.

There really is a need to change your relationship with the food you eat. If you want to lose weight, you have some options: move more, eat less, or a combination of both. But the important part, is to make changes that you can live with -- because whatever it takes to get the weight off -- it is going to take that much to keep it off (which is what you want, right?)

So if you are losing weight on Jenny Craig --great for you!! But unless you are going to live on that food forever -- you need to learn to eat more like that when you are "off" the program.

And if you are learning to be more mindful -- and eating to a lesser fullness level more often than not -- then you are making changes that will get you where you want to go and keep you there! No more yo-yo, on again, off again dieting! Free yourself from that! You are smart enough to figure out how to make this work for you. (and if you need some help putting all the pieces together -- send me an email and we can talk!)