Breaking the Cycle of Yo-Yo Dieting Through Behavior and Habits

There is a lot of discussion within the health and wellness industry surrounding habits.  This could be due to health professionals realizing there is more to losing weight than diet and exercise. Yes, your main objective may be to lose weight, gain muscle, run a marathon, stop smoking, or decrease your intake of processed foods; however, there are other factors such as stimulation, behaviors, and rewards that are often the driving force behind accomplishing the task.

Why are behaviors and habits important in regards to breaking the cycle of "yo-yo" dieting?  Behaviors are engrained in what are called "mental grooves" in the brain.  These mental grooves are long-term patterns in which our actions continuously follow. These mental grooves have been engrained in our brains for many years.  If we wake up one weekend and implement a plan to begin a new regimen to work out five days within the week, beginning Monday, how long would you stick to your regimen?   There's a reason why the gyms are jam-packed at the beginning of the year but slowly dissipates by the end of the first quarter. We're fighting against life-long behaviors and habits that have been mentally engrained for years and will take newly formed behaviors and habits to overcome those semi-permanent groves.  We have great expectations, but the realities are that we have a set of pre-formed deeply engrained ineffective behaviors and we need multi-faceted approaches to overcome these behaviors to be successful and meet our goals.

 So, how do we break the cycle of yo-yo dieting? Developing a set of new behaviors through habit formation decreases the chances of falling back into our pre-set habits and behaviors.  If we take the approach of attacking the root cause, behavior change and changing the action will become mostly automatic.  Beginning at the root of behavior change places the power back into your hands versus an undefeatable routine based solely on aspirations. Imagine having the power to truly overcome your addictions and ineffective habits by attacking the root problem. No longer would you rely merely on motivation, which has been shown not to be effective in reaching wellness goals; but, you will rely on newly created stimulations, behaviors and rewards tailored uniquely to reach your wellness goals.

What are your thoughts? Do you struggle with yo-yo dieting? Think about your current patterns and how many times have you tried and failed due to not attacking the root causes. Do you believe that modifying your behaviors and developing tailored habits could lead to success?  Take some time to identify behavioral areas that have caused you to enter the yo-yo or addiction cycle.

 Thank you for reading.

 Be true, be balanced, be well.