how to break the YO-yo diet habit! Life changing tips for those who can't seem to reach their weight lose goals.

Have you heard the story about the guy who lost a ton of weight?... But then gains it all back in a few months later. I think we all have and we have all been through this at some point in our lives. The Yo-yo diet was a common theme for me from my 20's to my 30's. When I hit 40 I finally figured out how to drop the pounds I wanted to and keep it off. In fact, this was the first time on any of my diets that I actually bought new clothes! Once you do that there's no turning back!

I have compiled a few tips for those who are having trouble dropping that initial weight and then continuing to maintain or drop more pounds. I will be writing a guide for the entire program I use down the road, but for now I want to share the basics so you can get started losing weight today!

1. Don't try to do too much all at once! It's very difficult to go from a diet of pizza, fries, and beer to a diet of no carbs, no dairy, and only water. Making this kind of drastic switch in eating habits rarely works. You want to lose weight fast! I get it, but you also want to keep the weight that you lose off and not gain it back a few months after you lose it. In order to increase your odds of success you should slowly, week by week change your eating habits. If low carb is your thing then start with getting rid of breaded fried foods and French Fries. Now that you have done that for a week move on to giving up bread on week two. Keep repeating until you have reached your desired eating habits. This is crucial to keeping weight off! This method is the beginning of a life change, not a crash course in dieting and suffering! Dieting is not sustainable forever, which is why most people succeed in the beginning but falter in the end.

2. Exercise is a must, but only when your ready. Not to beat a dead horse but changing your diet and your exercise routine to suddenly and  drastically will most likely result in  lack of success. I recommend getting a week or two of diet change complete before you tackle the exercise routine. Once your comfortable ( don't put it off too long, two weeks should be an adequate time frame at  most) with the changes in diet, start to increase the exercise. If you don't exercise at all now, begin with 20 mins a day. You can start off with walking, then running, then on to lifting if you choose The key is to find and exercise you like and keep doing it! Always build on your prior weeks. If you walked for 20 mins a day week one, then you can do 30 mins week two, and then run/walk 30 mins week 3. So on and so forth. Again, making these tweaks to your life slowly helps to ensure they become habit, these habits will enable you to succeed long term.

3. Prepare, Prep, and Plan. The most difficult part of healthy eating is that most already prepared foods or "snacks" you can buy at the store aren't good for you. When hunger hits you tend to reach for the first thing that's readily available. It's really easy to grab a bag of chips and chow down when you get hungry. In order to avoid snacking on unhealthy food you must prepare ahead of time. If you dedicate a 1-2 hours of your time one day a week you can prepare yourself for the week. Cut up a bunch of veggies to have on hand in the fridge, hard boil some eggs, make a large salad. You want to ensure that whichever foods you are supposed to be eating on your plan are ready and waiting for you. No time to prep? Then double your meal size when you cook. This way when you make your healthy dinner you will always have leftovers to grab when the hunger comes! Plan ahead and you won't get caught with your hand in the cookie jar.

4. Lastly, when you get off track don't get frazzled. It happens to all of us. Those of us who are able to accept it, acknowledge it, and make a plan to avoid in the future will succeed in reaching our weight loss goals. Those who let a little slip up fester and boil over into a whole day slip up, then a whole week will not. A cookie  or piece of cake won't ruin all the work you've put in (in fact having a cheat window is quite beneficial to long term success). Walk an extra 10 mins the next day and get back to your healthy eating. 

While these tips may seem small, they are essential to begin a successful lifestyle change that will help you attain your weight loss goals and maintain them. Small improvements in diet and exercise will build the habits necessary for success. Start Now! A Happier healthy life is waiting for you, Go Get It!

Thanks for reading!

HappyHealthyHundreds.com



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