Oops I Yo Yo-ed Again

3 Quick Nutrition Tips for the Yo Yo Dieter

Maybe for one that is starting over like me 

Background Stats 

Today, 4/27/2021 

Height: 5’6 

Current weight: 222 pounds

Relative Low: 

185 pounds Summer, 7/2020

Relative High: 

260 pounds Winter 12/2019

When you find yourself back at the highest end of the scale again, or even towards the middle like me now, you have to actively figure out what to do to get back. Once the trend of gaining starts for me, it is a train that feels like it can’t be stopped.

Gaining is so easy. Once you start that train, you can’t fully stop it right away. The normal brakes don’t work like that and if you pull the emergency brake of shitty fad diets, you are going to DERAIL THE TRAIN. 

Instead you need to chip at it slowly. Some say trust the process, which really means wait it out because dammit it is slow. I could gain 30 pounds like the Flash and spend To Infinity and Beyond coming back a third of that. 

Chip, chip, chip– at it slowly.

Here are my 3 nutrition tips for the yo yo dieter: 

1. Self pep talk BEFORE and a little mindfulness DURING

When I am eating out or ordering out, I give myself a little self talk before my meal. In sports we call this a pre-game pep talk and well, we all know eating is basically a sport to me*. I remind myself that I don’t have to eat it all. I am the kind of person who chats at dinner… okay maybe more than chats. I am a motor mouth at dinner (and actually always but that’s besides the point.) This pep talk is really just a reminder to take notice of what I am eating, a reminder to be mindful.

You would think being a talker would mean that I DON’T eat all of my food at a restaurant, as I am busy talking, but it actually means I don’t think about eating. It is that lack of thought, that mindLESSness that causes me to eat all my food, not aware that I am full until I am almost sick– a feeling I am more than used to.  Mindfulness in this case entails thinking about what I’m eating and remembering to enjoy it. 

2. Actively eat slowly and find your rule of thumb. 

For my body weight and size (stats above), my rule of thumb for eating out without overeating is to eat half my meal. Usually that is about what makes me full and sometimes it is a little before that. Often, I won’t realize I am full because I eat super fast but half a meal makes sense for me at most restaurants. 

This portioning rule of thumb will be different for everyone depending on their body. Our bodies all need different amounts of food. We have different metabolisms, different ways our bodies react to foods, allergies, and the list goes on and on. Our diet should always be personal and that’s why you should always take into account how any new change in your eating affects how you feel. Something that worked for someone else might be awful for you– like Keto Flu, no thank you!

For me, it truly helped me to find this small rule to go by. I found the portion that worked for me by actively eating slower and truly feeling my stomach out to see how I felt. Now, I have that baseline to go by and visually it is easy to do. Math teacher lady can do halves! 

Eating slowly is extremely difficult for me. I work on enjoying my food and eating slower by taking time to sit and eat without many other things happening. If there are other distractions, it is easy to forget you’re even eating or notice how much you have eaten already. Food should be enjoyed solely by itself for it is precious. Consider food’s love language quality time. 

3. Get busy! Boredom is dangerous; FOOD IS FUN. 

If you are a lover of food like me, it is absolutely inevitable that you will eat if you let yourself get bored or again stop paying attention. Food should not be what you’re turning to when you are sitting around bored. Food should absolutely be loved, adored, and enjoyed— but not to the point of making yourself sick. 

DO SOMETHING! Find something you love (other than food in this case) and put time into it. Planning is key and I am not saying be psycho-busy like my part-manic brain. I am saying plan and again, chip at it. Make it a habit slowly. Not planning is planning for boredom and boredom is overeating for me. 

Right now, I have Thursday nights scheduled as my solo date night and I plan a thing. Just a thing. It could be absolutely anything as long as it is something I am enjoying that isn’t only food related. Often this is my read, write, run time. That planning makes it happen.  

The Non Negotiables 

These tips are intended to help you get a little healthier though weight loss goals, but I need you to remember to love yourself now. Absolutely right now– that means as you are, sweetheart. 

Remember to love yourself now, because weight is not what makes you the fabulous person you are. 

Planning for weight loss is planning for your health, but healthy people love themselves now. 

You can love yourself right now and also plan to be an even better you. 

I love this big, bad-ass body that helps me kick ass. I am always working on making it even better, even faster, and even more capable of kicking all the ass. 

So let’s get out there and get busy!!

*Winner of Countless Eating Contests including, but not limited to:

• 2008 Fountain Day Ice Cream Eating Content, First Place
• 2009 Meatball Eating Contest, Staten Island Italian Fair -Second Place (lost my gallbladder to that one)
• 2017 Pie Eating Boat Race, First place, as seen below