Why You Keep Putting the Weight Back on After Losing It

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Have you gotten caught in the cycle of yo-yo dieting?

You’re not alone.

Many people find themselves struggling to maintain their weight loss.

Here are the most common reasons why.

1) You reverted to your old habits

You can’t eat healthy for a few months or a few years, reach your goal weight, and then revert back to the old unhealthy habits that made you overweight to begin with.

The things you did to lose weight (i.e, eating right and not overeating) need to continue in order for you to prevent from gaining weight.

2) You’re miscalculating calories

Every once in a while, everyone needs to do a reset and go a month or two strictly counting what they are eating.

It’s easy to begin eyeballing things and just let things get out of hand.

You are likely eating more than you really, and perhaps over-eating carbs or another macro that is throwing your maintenance off balance.

Take the next few weeks and carefully track what you’re eating.

Be sure you calculate your TDEE correctly so you know how much you should be eating.

3) You let your gym membership expire

Sometimes, life gets out of hand and you have to take a break from the things that are important to you.

Unfortunately, when you “take a break” from caring about your health, it can quickly get away from you.

If you haven’t been as active as you should be, find a way to incorporate physical activity back into your life.

Even if it’s getting up every so often at work to do a circle around the office or using your lunch break to bike or walk.

Whatever the case may be, use your time and get more active during the day.

4) You’re facing an internal conflict

This is perhaps one of the most widespread yet most underestimated causes of yo-yo dieting.

So many people tell themselves how life will be different at soon at they lose ____ pounds.

For many, all their problems will be fixed if they just lose weight.

Of course, that’s not necessarily the case.

Your happiness has to come from within regardless of how much you weigh.

You may be yo-yoing because you hit or almost hit your goal weight and you freaked out internally because that happiness didn’t magically appear as you expected it to.

Have a heart-to-heart with yourself and figure out what the reason is.

Then, take a deep breath and address it.

How to Stay Accountable to Your Weight Loss Goals

Holding yourself accountable to the goals you set for yourself is by no means easy, and that’s why brining a friend in on your journey can help you stay accountable to your weight loss goals.

But, how else can you remain accountable on your way to a healthier you?

Know Why You’re Doing It

Figuring out your “why” is the first step to accountability.

At the end of the day, your motivation has to come from within and it has to go deeper than simply trying to fit someone’s idea of the perfect body.

While you may be motivated by a body that you consider slimmer and more beautiful, you should also consider your health, your confidence, and other aspects that are associated with weight loss.

Know What You’re Doing

Having a specific goal to strive for is important to keep yourself on track to your weight loss goals.

A weight loss goal of 50 or 100 pounds is specific, but it’s often better and more motivating to visualize your goal.

It’s hard to imagine what 50 pounds looks like, even if you have been 50 pounds lighter in the past.

Instead, consider buying a shirt that’s just a little snug and then working to make it lose. Wear it to the gym to keep you motivated.

Find ways to get visual about the goals you are setting and the progress you are making.

Tell Others About It

Bringing in your friends and family members really is a fantastic way to stay accountable to the goals you set.

It’s unfortunate, but most of the time, we find ourselves being harder working towards the goals other people set for us than the ones we set for ourselves.

That’s because, when we set goals for ourselves, we’re not going to let anyone else down.

At least, that’s how we often look at things.

When someone else sets a goal for you, they are holding you accountable.

If you don’t reach that goal, you aren’t just upsetting yourself, you are upsetting others who were depending on you.

That’s why bringing other people into your journey can help keep you on track.

Suddenly you have multiple people who are counting on you to reach your goal, and you’ll also have a whole new team of support to keep you on track to it.

How Often Should You Weigh Yourself When Trying to Lose Weight?

You’ve been trying to lose weight for (insert time that feels like forever) and, so far, the scale has only delivered disappointment.

You may have dropped a few ounces, or maybe even a few pounds, but now the scale is refusing to budge. Or, maybe worse yet, the scale has somehow crept up again.

A quick Google search for “Why aren’t I losing weight?” or any similar search phrase will bring up plenty of forum posts and desperate questions of frustrated people who are determined to get healthy, yet the scale isn’t cooperating with them.

Having a love/hate (but mostly hate) relationship with the scale is a trend that has taken off in recent years, and there’s good reason why.

The scale doesn’t matter!

That might sound very counterintuitive to your weight loss goal, but it’s important that you understand a scientific fact: your weight is always fluctuating, and those fluctuations have a lot more to do with uncontrollable water weight than they have to do with fat loss or gain.

Even if you were to weigh yourself first thing in the morning and then go straight back to bed, when you got up again, you’d find that the number on the scale is different–sometimes slightly and sometimes drastically.

That’s because your body is a complex system.

Water intake and internal levels can change your current weight by +/- 10 pounds or more, and that makes the scale a very inaccurate measure of your weight loss progress.

Instead of using the scale at all, most professionals recommend using measuring tape, progress photos, and the mirror itself.

That’s because these methods are much more tell-tale ways to measure how you are progressing on your weight loss journey.

Too many people get caught up with the number on the scale.

Some even get discouraged when the scale isn’t moving like they want, even if they realistically feel better or think they look better in the mirror.

Don’t become a slave to the scale!

If you do want to know your weight for some reason, weigh once a month so you can average out your progress.

While you may weigh on a day where your water weight is particularly high for some unknown reason, overtime, you’ll see your weight trending downwards.

Between weigh-ins, measure your progress by thinking about how your clothes fit and how much more energy you have.

That will be a hundred times more accurate and motivating than a near meaningless number on the scale.