Are you a yo-yo dieter?

It is no wonder that with the pressures portrayed by the media these days, of visually perfect specimens of human beings, who appear flawless in appearance from the very hair on their head to the very manicure of their tone nails that we are continually feeling inadequate.

Inadequate in how we appear, and often inadequate as to how we feel emotionally. After all it is difficult to have to slap on the war paint every morning, or check that every inch of hair falls perfectly into the effortless look which says to others, “I haven’t really made much effort”, but the truth of the matter is you’ve spent hours to look effortless.

Then it would be no surprise that along with our daily mirage we create, that a greater percentage of people are embarking on diets in a desperate effort to recreate the “perfect image”.

The problem is, what is perfect? It is constantly reinforced with the help of social medial and glossy magazines that to be successful, respected, happy or healthy that we must achieve a certain image. We are always comparing ourselves to the latest celebrity, or visually perfect role model we see; but what we are not aware of (as the truth isn’t glamorous) is that quite often many of the stars we see gracing our screens these days are actually subjected to some of the most horrendous diet and workout regimes known to the human race. With diet plans consisting of less than an apple a day for a week, or exercising for 16 hours a day is neither healthy or sustainable for the long term. It seems to be these days that our way of justifying our value is through an image on social media that gets us more likes, or one that applauds us with our physical attributes and causes jealousy in others? But at what cost to our health and well-being are all these continuous and extended yo-yo deprivation diets causing?

A survey completed by Mintel, of 2000 UK adults identified that almost half (48%) have tried to lose weight in the last year. When just looking at the section involving women that figure rose to 57%. In addition to that almost two thirds (64%) said that they are on a diet “all or most of the time”. With the largest proportion stating that they have tried more than 4 different types of diet to achieve their weight loss goal.

So what is a yo-yo dieter? A yo-yo dieter is someone who bounces from one promotional or dieting program to another, never sticking long enough to make extensive and sustainable life changes to continue through their day to day life.

If you too have your “fat” and your “skinny” jeans, you have your handy rice cake and boiled chicken repertoire constantly on standby, and you’ve bookmarked all your favorite Drop-Weight -Fast workouts on your laptop so they’re there when it’s time to get serious. Then there is a good chance that you are one of million Yo-Yo dieters.

But why is this? Is it because to many people are trying to find resolve in a pill popping or potion mixing society with quick promotional adverts promising the world in a pill. Maybe it’s the latest tea of coffee mix, guaranteed to make you slimmer in just 14 days? Or could it be that potion promising to build your muscles giving you a rippling six packs in just 7 days.

But quite often it is a diet that is unsustainable due to the lack or calorie intake, resulting in you putting your body into starvation mode. Sure enough it will help you lose significant weight initially but eventually that will plateau too. And the weight loss you will see is often a result of water and muscle wastage.

I mean, why do we even entertain these ridiculous ideas? Its because the society in which we live demands everything now, you only have to look at your local town and notice the amount of take away outlets and fast food shops which have popped up. We no longer want to wait, and in many cases, lack the desire to really want to work for something as we are so often use to getting what we want now.

Additionally, and I hate to break it to you, but quite often it is a result of unrealistic goals, and time frames to achieve them in. Its often a case we want to look like the individuals genetically selected to pose for media campaigns and advertisement, but the harsh reality is quite often our DNA is not structured that way – and you know what – that’s ok?

Whatever the reason the fact remains the same, nothing comes for free! And by free I’m not referencing to the cost of the over inflated prices that these magical diets cost; I’m talking about the expenditure of time and effort.

People become yo-yo dieters often because they do not understand what is required of them to ensure sustainable life changes that will not only help them achieve their goals, but also ensure they are healthy. Yet It is so important to understand the fundamentals of nutrition and the mindfulness that goes along with it. Helping people to develop healthier lifestyle changes that they can continue to implement, even long after they have achieved their goal.

So why is yo-yo dieting bad for you?

Unfortunately, there are often many symptoms yo-yo dieters will suffer from as well as the increase of weight, by putting on all the weight lost and more within 6 months after reaching goal, and there is good reason for this…here is the science bit…

Our body relies on nutrients to be healthy, to function and to repair. Without a nutrient rich diet our body will start to shut down essential bodily functions and productions to re direct energy to parts of the body required to sustain life.

Many of these productions such as hormones, repair of cells, transportation of Nero information, physical strength are often the first functions to go. Which can lead to reduced sex drive, lack of concentration, loss of motor functions, headaches, nausea, fatigue and irritability to name a few.

Effect on our hormones

Have you ever felt that when you’re dieting you become “hangry” or highly sensitive? This is often because your hormones are out of balance – and yes this happens to men to. We often see this imbalanced hormone reaction in women during or just before their period – PMT. We often see this as well in younger adults and teenagers as their production of hormones increase, and they become sensitive, angry, hyper or down all in the course of an afternoon. This is because the adrenal gland, responsible for producing hormones runs from the fuel we put into our bodies. Following a diet restrictive of the diverse nutrients, it limits and restricts the building blocks or ingredients required to create hormones. This results in some hormones being produced and some not. This results in uneven hormones, which are now running wild around our body. Remember hormones are not just for women and teenagers, but they are part of every being. They are responsible for so many functions within our body and simply not having them is not an option, and can lead to some serious health complications such as infertility, reduced muscle mass, blood pressure, and sexual desire and most importantly when we are looking at diet it controls our feeling of hunger.

Another impact on hormones is the production called leptin. Your fat cells make a hormone called leptin. It tells your brain when you have enough fat stored up. As you lose weight, less fat means less leptin. That makes you hungry. Plus, your body slows things down to save energy. So once you quit the diet, you have an oversized appetite but you burn fewer calories. That’s partly why after several cycles of yo-yo diets, you might weigh more than when you started

Effects on cell repair

As we know we need food to repair our body, anyone who has ever followed a bulking program will know all about creatine and protein. And that is because they are essential for helping to repair and build muscle fibres. Creatine although is often added to the diet of those building large muscles, it is also something that is naturally created within our bodies. And it is created by piecing together different amino acids within our bodies.

As mentioned creatine, among others are essential for repair and building, however for many of us who do not desire to look like Arnold schwarzenegger, and will be happy simply for our body to regulate what we actually need. However this creates a problem if our diet does not provide the essential and diverse nutrients required to create these amino acids within our body. And like many other essential compounds required, can be left deficient and unable to create out own. Then here come the supplements.

Supplements (and I will create another blog about these in more detail) are essentially top ups, top ups to help support our body’s deficiency. Now many can find them self-deficient for a number of different reasons, for example when we are suffering from a cold, we will often claim ourselves as Vitamin C deficient and prescribe ourselves a tone of oranges and other liquors to try to regain what we think we need. When actually in fact being vitamin C deficient alone does not create a large enough depletion in our immune system to cause a cold. But it is more the absence of a number of different Nutrients which as a result has caused a suppression in our immune system.

So it stands with good reason that we require a balanced diet to enable us to draw the essentials nutrients to support the building blocks within our body. To help repair our body when we are ill, to prevent illness and a depleted immune system and to ensure that even if we are reducing calories within our diet, we are ensuring that the foods that we are eating are nutrient rich and diverse.

Feeling in the gut

Your gut’s loaded with germs. Don’t cringe. They help you digest food. And it turns out that yo-yo dieting can change the number and types of bacteria hanging out inside you. Since they play a role in everything from heart health to depression, that could affect your overall health, too.

By upsetting your gut microbe you are impacting how efficient your gut works, and bearing in mind this is where your food is digested and fermented you can understand why this might be important.

Each different microbe has a specific job, it breaks down particular nutrients and helps the absorption of these nutrients. Failing to maintain a diverse gut microbiology you are limiting the nutrients being able to be absorbed from the foods you are eating. And as we have already established nutrients are key.

Are you a free radical?

What are free radicals? Free radicals are toxins that we either put into our body or are produced by our body in response to stress and anxiety. When functioning properly, free radicals can help fight off pathogens. Pathogens lead to infections. When there are more free radicals present than can be kept in balance by antioxidants, the free radicals can start doing damage.

Things that we place into our body which act as free radicals can also be identified as stimulants and depressants. Things such as coffee, tea, sugar which stimulate our senses and give us the feeling of energy, or products such as nicotine or alcohol which are known as depressants and often used to relax or unwind. Others can come in the form of medication or pain relief such as paracetamol or codeine.

A number of the toxins or social liquor we are putting into our body act just like the name suggests. They buzz around the body, free and in their wake, they leave a biological stream of destruction.

You see free radicals are not complete, they are missing an electron and therefore they are unstable. So, whilst on their mind free journey around the entirety of our body they are looking for unexpecting cells do destabilise; to remove electrons from and in the process damage the protiens and DNA of the cells. Often they will look to target already vulnerable cells, ones that are already deficient and therefore will not put up too much of a fight with the radical.

In return the effectivity of the cell is decreased, and therefore a breakdown in function of the cell.

For example, lets look at a regular smoker. The toxin or free radicals are sucked in via the mouth, the mouth is full of capillaries and small veins which makes it easily absorbed into the blood stream.

Once the free radicals are into the blood stream they start their search for vulnerable cells, and the first they will come into contact with will be the facial, more specifically the mouth tissue. As the free radicals destabilise the cells in the mouth and facial tissues, over time we see a change in the face and around the lips of the individual. This is due to the skin cells no longer being able to hold their shape or elasticity and you’ll often see smoker lines along with ridge of the lips and in the cheek these are the result of something known as oxidative stress.

The reason I bring up free radicals in yo-yo dieters is this, often with diets we feel so restricted by the calorie intake that we begin to feel fatigue. This is when we will often seek out stimulants such as coffee and sugar, just to give us that little buzz, often found in the mid-afternoon. This on the odd occasion is fine; but over a longer period of time, and the continual breaking of stringent diets often not only cause us to consume more calories but it also has a psychological impact on us as well. “I shall start again tomorrow” “I’ve completely blown it now, so I might as well just eat the lot” – Does that sound familiar to you?

I guess the point I am trying to make is the difference between a balanced and sustainable diet to that of a crash restrictive one is, energy slumps. If we are not sustaining our blood sugar levels or increasing / kick starting our metabolism regularly we will find a decrease in our BMR, also know as the number of calories we burn when we are inactive. For weight lose to be stained we need to be increasing our BMR so that our body works hard, even when we are resting? Sounds delightful doesn’t it? Well this comes with increasing muscle mass and moving regularly and consistently and can not be achieved simply by restricting foods. Especially when the diet then leads to binge eating and drinking, to boost our energy slumps which in turn feeds into our levels of personal insecurity.

Stressing me out

Dieting isn’t easy. Every episode of weight gain and weight loss can toy with your mind. That alone might raise your level of cortisol, the stress hormone. And when you cut your calories? That does it, too.

That’s a problem because high cortisol means you’re more likely to add fat around your belly, which raises your risk for problems like diabetes and heart disease.

With an increase in cortisol levels you will also be prone to feeling anxious, and on edge, Irritable and lack concentration; the result, comfort eating. There has long since been a link between our emotions and our eating habits. As our cultures have evolved food is no longer seen as and essential part to survive but also a social and fulfilment method. Food for many has now become a crutch for dealing with deeper rooted issues. Maybe its loneliness, maybe it’s the element of feeling guilty or inadequate. And we believe by “treating ourselves” or giving ourselves that little boost of energy might just be enough to get us out of the emotional hole we are in.

The problem is when we have embarked onto a diet, this can be counterproductive to the rules of that particular fad diet. Which in turn leaves us feeling worse than before that chocolate bar or glass of wine, as now we have to contend with the guilt. Often leading us to restrict our diet even further “I shall skip lunch as I had a twix earlier”. And as a result our body is now going into starvation mode resulting in hunger, energy slumps, slowed metabolic rate and emotional destruction.

What is the solution?

Mindful eating and a balanced and diversely nutritious diet accompanied with regular movement or exercise. Focus on whole nutritious foods, rich in diversity and exercise which is sustainable and complimentary to us as individuals.

It sounds simple doesn’t it? But a simple fact many of us fail to grasp. Often resulting in us being deflated and judgemental of ourselves, hating our own self image and eating to curb every rebounding emotion. Struggling to keep the weight off, and looking for the next miracle diet in a bottle promising us the world and quite often a new fad diet which is not only damaging to our health but destruction to our emotions too. Diets gets us suck onto short-term thinking, and they can mess with your feelings around food.

So it helps to step back and reset. Why do you diet? If you want to be healthier, it’s really about changing how you eat for the long term. You’ll also need to exercise regularly to keep the pounds off. So ditch the idea of a quick fix and think about how to make changes that can really work for you.

To get healthy, you need a plan that fits your life. Set goals that are small, clear, and doable. Instead of aiming to lose 20 pounds, maybe start with a pound a week. Or practice mindful eating for a week. Notice when you feel hungry or full, chew with attention, and savour your food. Start small and add more goals as you go along. It’s easier to stay motivated when you set yourself up for success.