The yo-yo effect is the horror of anyone who follows a diet. More than half of all dieters have to deal with it, first losing many kilos and then regaining their old weight within a few weeks. The solution is not to eat even less, losing weight more slowly and exercising more seems to be the solution for anyone who would like to lose a few kilos. Following a diet again does not help here because the kilos come back just as quickly afterwards or sometimes a few kilos more.

Contents

• The cause of the yo-yo effect
• Preventing the yo-yo effect
• Lose weight slowly
• The misunderstandings surrounding losing weight

The cause of the yo-yo effect

The cause of the yo-yo effect is in your own body’s survival mechanism. If you put in little food, it becomes a bit frugal, your body switches to a lower metabolic level.You will lose those annoying extra kilos, but when you have finally reached the ideal weight you will want to start eating normally again. Many dieters return to old eating habits after losing weight. This is where things go wrong, your body is still in economical mode and starts storing all those delicious extras in the form of fat for less good times. This will cause you to gain weight again and within a short time you will have lost all the kilos again. The next diet will once again teach your body to be economical with the food supplied and it will lower the metabolism level again, the kilos will fly after the diet.

Preventing the yo-yo effect

Source: PourquoiPas, PixabayIf you want to prevent the yo-yo effect, you must ensure that your body does not switch to a lower metabolic level. That’s what the yo-yo effect is all about, you try to lose weight while your body tries to store as many calories as possible. But fortunately there is a solution for this: lose weight slowly, eat healthy and exercise more. As tempting as it is, losing five kilos in a week is not a good, healthy and sensible diet.

Lose weight slowly

• Lose weight slowly: It takes some patience, but cutting back about 500 calories per day is a great start. At this calm pace, your body will slowly get used to less food and your metabolism will remain normal.
• Exercise: An hour of exercise per day is often recommended, but this can also be done outside the gym. Take a brisk walk for an hour, cycle to work or give the windows a good cleaning.
• Other eating habits: If you have gained weight due to a wrong diet, it is necessary not to fall into the calorie trap again.
• Be realistic: Few people who lose weight lose a kilo per week with a healthy diet, unless they have exercised very intensively. Realistic goals keep people motivated. If you have a realistic target weight, you can handle a diet better.

The misunderstandings surrounding losing weight

Losing weight is a popular topic of conversation. Unfortunately, all those conversations usually also lead to some persistent misunderstandings about dieting.Some myths:Source: Jill111, Pixabay

• Better five meals a day than three if you want to lose weight: The number of meals per day makes no difference, only the number of calories matters. Sometimes it takes more self-control to eat five meals. But whether you divide the number of calories over three or several meals makes no difference.
• Skipping a meal is a good diet: No, you just get more hungry and you are probably tempted to eat more at the next meal.
• You gain more weight when you eat in the evening or just before bedtime: No, it’s about the number of calories throughout the day, the time at which you take those calories makes little difference.
• After the age of 40 you gain weight faster: It is true that the metabolism slows down as you get older, you gain weight faster. But here too, extra exercise can prevent many weight problems.