Tips on How to Avoid Yo-Yo Dieting and Stay Slim Forever

The bells should be ringing, the flags should be flying. You are there. You have arrived where millions of overweight people in the United States have never been since they were children, at your ideal weight. The psychological uplift must be considerable.

The only problem is that most people regain their weight after a series of weight loss program. What went wrong? Have you won the battle of the bulge? Or have you only graduated from boot camp, where you got in shape for the battle ahead?

In essence, the recurring “loss and gain" of weight brought about by extreme dieting is known as yo-yo dieting or “weight cycling". More people know it better as crash diets. Made up by Kelly D. Brownell, a doctor in philosophy at Yale University, yo-yo dieting is characterized by the ebb and flow of the results during the dieting process. Its name is patterned to the “up-down" movement of a yo-yo.

Most health and diet experts claim that losing considerable weight and gaining it back is such a well-documented fact that they highly recommend a maintenance diet and a determined approach.

The point here is that you have already invested a lot of effort and psychic energy in those lessons. In most cases, it is devastating to know that several thousand patients who have lost their goal weight for or more times, only to gain it back every time.

Yo-yo dieting is a result of going through the process of dieting the wrong way. Most yo-yo diets tend to initiate “skipping meals." What most people do not know is that whenever they skip meals, they only eat more when they eat and may only enlarge the stomach’s capacity to handle foods. Therefore, the main solution here is to avoid the things that trigger yo-yo dieting. The key is to achieve maintenance diet that will enable you to promote long-term results.

Here are some things that you can do to avoid yo-yo dieting:

1. Learn How To Maintain Your Weight

What you should be asking yourself is, “What amount of carbohydrate, fat and calorie intake do I consider the greatest before I start gaining weight again?"

Many people try to maintain a fairly low intake of carbs, maybe only 25 or 30 grams a day. Instead of trying to eliminate or restrict your carb intake, rely on carbs from 100% whole grain breads and veggies. By choosing complex carbs over simple carbs (white four and sugar) you can consume many more carbs and not have to worry about weight gain.

You should remember that a small amount of fat is necessary for the health of your brain and muscles, but again your fats should be coming from natural sources like lean meats and not from snack cakes or cookies.

Trying to keep your calorie intake lower than 1,200 calories is only setting yourself up to fail. Not only will be be hungry all day but when you restrict calories too much your metabolism slows down and won't burn off any fat deposits.

2. What To Do If The Weight Starts To Come Back

Ok, so you have seen the scale go up a bit or your clothes are getting just a bit tighter. Instead of going through your severe diet again just cut back a little from what you have been eating the last few weeks. Remember we are looking to maintain a good weight from good lifestyle choices and not to quickly lose the excess weight. The most suitable means to retain your most ideal weight at this time and avoid yo-yo dieting is to avoid letting the increased weight get too much out of control. If that happens, then, you may see yourself going down the bottom pit of success. Hence, the best way to cut yo-yo dieting out of your regimen is to know your goal weight and try to keep within 5 pounds of it..

If you see the scale go higher than the 5 pound weight gain, start cutting back on junk food first before you start cutting back on any healthy foods. Also ask yourself “what have I been eating extra to have caused this weight gain"? Or, “have I been skipping my exercise routine?" One you honestly answer these two questions you will know why your weight has begun to crawl back up. However, don't panic as panicking only leads back to the yo-yo dieting which you are trying to avoid.

Calmly re-evaluate your last few weeks. By staying calm and realizing that you are going to do something about your weight gain you can halt it before it goes too far. This is the best way to stop the yo-yo diet lifestyle you once were addicted to but have now overcome.

For more Dieting tips please visit www.The-WeightLoss-Guide.com and don't forget to pick up the Free special report "The Stubborn Fat Solution"