Do you ever feel like you gain and lose the same handful of pounds over and over again? Whether it’s 5, 10, 15 or more pounds, it can be really frustrating to feel like you’re perpetually in the cycle of starting fat loss goals over and over again.

I think there are two big mistakes that people make that keep them stuck in this cycle:  

The first is pursuing a quick fix to help them quickly reach their weight loss goals, rather than trying to build or return to a set of sustainable habits.

The second is thinking of their “goal weight” as a final endpoint, and any kind of weight gain as an inherent failure. 

BREAKING THE (WEIGHT CYCLING) CYCLE

If you feel like you’ve been in this cycle before, I want you to think about the time (or times) in your life when you were the healthiest or fittest or leanest. 

What did your nutrition look like? 

How much time were you dedicating to physical activity? 

How were your sleep and stress management?

Chances are that it took a significant amount of time, effort, and mental energy to get there.  

And I’d also guess that you had some kind of change in your ability to put in that same amount of time, effort, or mental energy around the time you started no longer feeling like your leanest or fittest self.  This is because your body’s fitness level and aesthetics are a side effect of your daily efforts and habits.

When people think of maintaining their fitness or weight loss goals, they often think of maintaining their leanest or fittest point.  But because our bodies are living organisms that respond to our nutrition, exercise, sleep, stress, and other circumstances, it’s more helpful and more accurate to think of maintenance as a range. It’s normal for your body weight to fluctuate over time. But when you work to establish sustainable habits, you lay the groundwork to keep your maintenance weight range narrower.  

So, how do you break the cycle?

• Remember that maintenance is a range!  If you’re at the upper end of your preferred range, take inventory of which of your previous habits have suffered and why.  Meet yourself where you’re at with respect. 

• Instead of doing a major overhaul or a crash diet, start by focusing on one area that feels feasible for your current circumstances.  Maybe that’s increasing your daily steps, adding an extra workout once per week, eating more protein, or getting to bed a little earlier.

• If you’ve been successful previously, use your previous experience and skills as a starting point.  We use tracking with a lot of our clients, and that’s a skill that they can pick up again to increase awareness or focus on eating at a deficit for a while.

• Add in extra habits over time as your current ones feel like they become automatic.  

• Have some rock solid “minimums” that you can rely on, even when stress levels are higher and your time and energy may not be as plentiful as you’d like.

As nice as it would be to get to a goal aesthetic or weight and never have to worry about it again, our bodies never stop changing. 

There will always be periods of time, whether it’s weeks, months, or years, where you may not be able to maintain your leanest or fittest point, and that’s normal. But if you take time to build foundational skills and habits, you can keep that maintenance range in a place that feels good to you. And you can always return to some of those more time-intensive skills and practices when capacity allows.  

We believe that the best way to achieve your fat loss goals is by working with a coach who creates a plan specific to you - your needs, your preferences, and your goals. A sustainable approach to our nutrition is essential to long-term habits and success. For high-support coaching and guidance, apply for our 1:1 Nutrition Coaching here.