Weight Cycling Can Slow Metabolism

Imagine all the time and energy you could save if you stopped obsessing over highly restrictive diets and started living a healthy lifestyle with a nutritional balance of foods. After all, vicious cycles of body dissatisfaction could lead to an eating disorder instead of eating healthy. Deciding to make a permanent change in your life is never easy. However, breaking old habits and creating healthy new ones will be a lot easier with a positive outlook and a personalized plan that fits your specific lifestyle needs. After you decide that you are going to make a change, the next step is to adopt an outlook that supports your weight loss plan. Then, hold yourself accountable, remove all known negative triggers, and don't blame others for an occasional setback.

Be Honest with Yourself About Good Food Habits

If you are ready to lose weight, set small goals for how to do it and focus on one goal at a time to avoid overwhelming yourself. If you goal is to lose weight and keep it off, it is important to embrace:

• reasons why you should not nibble on food
• how to avoid thoughtless food habits
• why you need to throw bad foods in trash
• why not to be waste-conscious with bad foods
• importance of avoiding the clean plate club
• how natural foods help balance your hormones

A new and improved mindset will allow your goals to become part of your weekly routine and make permanent weight loss easier to achieve.

Maintaining a Positive Outlook Can Be Hard Work

One of the dangers of Yo-Yo dieting is that it leads to muscle loss followed by an increase in appetite that leads to additional weight gain and a higher body fat percentage with an increased risk of developing a chronic disease. If you are looking for a healthier lifestyle, start with your outlook and make sure you are allowing time to do things you enjoy every day. Rewarding yourself this way will make eating better and exercising more much less painful. Although scientists are not fully in agreement as to what yo-yo dieting does to your heart, the results so far are not promising. The more often your weight goes up and down, the more likely you are to have angina, heart attack or stroke. A recent study published in the journal Obesity concluded weight loss maintainers kept low-calorie foods readily accessible, followed daily menu plans to manage consumption, and worked hard to stay focused on maintaining a positive outlook.