Do you alternate between following a meal plan and losing weight (being
"good") and falling off the plan and regaining weight (being "bad")?
It's a frustrating but common cycle. Nutrition experts Ellie
Zografakis, RD, and Dale Huff, RD, CSCS, co-owners of NutriFormance
Personal Training and Sports Nutrition in St. Louis believe that
behavior modification strategies--rather than diets--can help you break
this self-defeating cycle and make lasting lifestyle changes.
Enlisting the aid of qualified professionals (e.g., a registered
dietitian, a physician, a personal trainer and/or a psychologist) will
make it easier to interrupt old behavior patterns. You can also begin
to practice the following lifestyle change principles developed by
Zografakis and Huff:
1. Stop Dieting - How can you lose weight if you don't diet? Creating a
deficit of about 500 calories a day for one week should result in a
1-pound weight loss. Most people can incur a large part of this
500-calorie-a-day deficit by exercising and making moderate changes in
food intake. In choosing this approach you avoid the negative
consequences of rigid dieting.
2. Become Physically, Not Externally, Connected to Eating - Internal
hunger cues--such as a rumbling stomach, a slight headache, fatigue,
irritability and decreased concentration--are meant to remind you to
meet your energy requirements and maintain your natural set point
weight. Reconnecting with your physical signals of hunger and satiety
can help you acquire the internal power to regulate your food intake.
3. Use the Rating of Perceived Hunger (RPH) Scale - Using this scale can
make you more aware of your internal hunger and satiety cues. Think of
0 as indicating extreme hunger and 10 as signaling extreme fullness.
With the scale in mind, begin to read your body's signals. Your target
range should be between 3 and 8. If you go to 0, you may eat too much
too fast, particularly since it takes your brain 15 to 20 minutes to
sense that your body is full. You should begin to eat at 3 on the RPH
scale and stop at 7 or 8, when you're comfortably full and satisfied.
4. Distinguish Between Emotional and Physical Hunger - Physical hunger
is a physiological process that occurs every three to four hours. When
you don't listen to hunger cues, your hunger subsides and your body
begins to slow down to conserve energy. Emotional hunger involves
eating when you're sad, happy, anxious or bored. Understanding when you
are trying to satisfy emotional needs with food can help you find more
appropriate ways to meet those needs.
5. Neutralize Foods - There are no good or bad foods--all foods are okay
when eaten in moderation. Forbidding certain foods may simply make you
want them all the more. If portion control is a problem with particular
foods, try specific strategies with these items--for example, measure
out one serving of potato chips and put the bag back in the pantry.
6. Do Not Skip Meals - Eating frequently throughout the day (3 small
meals and 2-3 snacks) will stimulate your metabolism. Skipping meals
(including breakfast) can decrease your metabolism.
7. Dispel Myths; Do Not Create Them - A safe weight loss is 1 or 2
pounds a week, not 20. Be wary of supplements and meal replacement
products. Product testimonials may or may not be true; spokespersons
may or may not have any credentials. Remember, a healthy body comes
from healthy eating.
8. Be Supportive, Not Critical - People lose weight at different rates.
Weight may drop off quickly at first and then plateau, or vice versa.
The important thing is that long-term healthy behavior gets results.
Reassure yourself that you are working hard and remember that hard work
pays off.
9. Watch Your Language - Do you find yourself thinking "I will never
lose weight" or "I feel fat"? Watch for thoughts that are negative or
irrational, rather than supportive of your goals. See if you can
accurately describe your mood. Are you angry, sad, and afraid?
Understand that "fat" is not a feeling.
10. Change the Reward System - You are probably used to rewarding
yourself and being rewarded by others for losing pounds, rather than
for altering your behavior. Create a system of rewards for the positive
changes you make, rather than the numbers you see on the scale.