Stop Yo-Yo Dieting

Yo-Yo dieting is a vicious cycle of losing weight, gaining it back, losing the weight again, and then gaining it back again.  Over and over again.  Like a yo-yo going up and down, the yo-yo dieter's weight goes up and down as well.

Traditional weight loss camps, or "fat camps", are one of the primary culprits of this yo-yo weight gain and regain.  These fat camps, many of which have been around for decades, thrive off return customers.  If you're in business, returning customers are fantastic, but in this case, if you're the customer returning to fat camp year after year, it likely means you have yo-yo'd-losing weight and regaining it.  This experience can be more than frustrating-it can be costly and unhealthy.

The financial cost of the yo-yo camp experience

Let's suppose your family decides to pay the expense to send you to a "fat camp".  As a camper going off for the first summer of fat camp you're hoping to lose weight and have some fun.  When summer ends, you might have lost 20 lbs.  This is great!  But if experience with fat camps is any guide, by the next summer you probably put those 20 lbs back on and more. 

Now what?  Returning means another expense for the family with a low probability of long-term success.  By the end of the second summer of fat camp, your parents paid money twice for you to maybe have some fun over the summer without keeping any weight off.

The emotional cost of the fat camp experience

When you leave at the end of that first summer, you feel pretty darn good about yourself.  And you should.  You accomplished your goal of losing weight.  But how do you feel 6 months later when you're even heavier than before you left for camp?  Probably even worse than before you tried.  Worse, the camp didn't teach you anything so that you can lose the weight again on your own.

Now what?  You can return to the "fat camp" again and lose some weight again, but isn't there a saying that "idiocy is doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result"?  You lost and regained at fat camp before, why would the second summer at fat camp be any different?  And, are you even sure you want to get your hopes up again?

The health cost of the yo-yo fat camp experience

Suppose the same thing happens again the second time (and the history of these fat camps says it will)-you lose weight and quickly regain. 

Now what?  Unfortunately, this yo-yo weight loss and regain is not only disappointing and frustrating, it is also dangerous.  During weight loss, dieters lose muscle and body fat initially.  After the dieting concludes, the body responds by going into a sort of panic mode, leading to rapid weight gain of only fat.  The body fat / muscle ratio is an important factor in a person's health, and the quick change in this ratio caused by rapid weight loss and regain is potentially harmful.

The solution is NOT do nothing

You want to be healthy, but yo-yo dieting and fat camp is not the answer.  So what is?

The answer is rather than going to fat camp go to a scientifically based camp where they have cognitive behavioral therapy along with plenty of exercise and healthy eating. 

So make the choice to find a comprehensive, scientifically based program to get you started on the road to good health.  You deserve it.  And let yo-yo's remind you only of toy stores, not of a financial, emotional, and health issues.