End The Yo-Yo Dieting Trap With This One powerful Discovery

There are many things we expect to do during the holiday season: gather with friends and family, watch tons of holiday movies and gain weight. The first two are usually things we look forward to but the last one, gaining weight, we hate it. But it feels inevitable, right? We spend so much time throughout the year trying to control our weight, but then Halloween hits and we give in to the fact that we’re doomed to gain weight from October to December. But that’s not true. You can give up yo-yo diets and avoid weight gain over the holidays if you know how to maintain your weight.

Busy mamas fall into the yo-yo dieting trap because maintaining our weight feels like we’re stuck. 

I was just talking with a client who was frustrated with herself for not losing weight this week.

We looked at her data and saw that in one week she had three events that made it difficult to stick to her nutritional goals. She was beating herself up for having a social life and not losing weight.

But this mama loves to be social! She likes being with friends and family and I didn’t want her to lose that to lose weight. So we reframed her circumstances. Instead of looking at her progress and being upset about not losing weight, I pointed out that she had gone out three times in one week and she had not gained weight.

Most people when the holidays hit will go out and put on a pound. Then they go out the next night and put on another pound, and then they’ll go out a third night and put on another pound. That’s three pounds in one week.

If you do that every week from Halloween to the New Year, you’re bound to gain weight! But my client didn’t do that. She maintained her weight. She didn’t gain and she didn’t lose.

The problem is that we don’t see maintaining our weight as a win.

When you’re losing weight, it feels great. It feels like momentum; you’re going somewhere you’re making moves! On the other hand, gaining weight doesn’t feel good, but it’s at least movement. And humans, especially women, like to feel like they’re going somewhere. 

Maintaining your weight doesn’t feel you’re doing anything. It seems boring and useless, but it’s actually one of the most important skills you can have if you’re looking to live a healthier life!

If you can learn to maintain your weight during the holidays you don’t have to keep gaining and losing the same 5-10 pounds. Which means that you can start the new year in a much better place than you ever have before! Let me show you how to do just that.

Understand that weight can, and should, fluctuate

Before we dive into maintaining your weight you need to know that there are four phases of weight loss: reverse dieting, maintenance, a cut and a surplus. Most of us understand two: the cut (where you restrict calories) and a surplus (where you eat more calories than you’re burning.)

We’ve also been taught that one is good and one is bad. A cut is good. That’s where you’re actively restricting your calories to lose weight. Therefore, a surplus is bad because you’re gaining weight.

But the truth is that neither is good and neither is bad! They both have a purpose in your health journey. All four phases are important because your weight should change throughout the year! 

If you’ve been dieting for more than 3 months (think eating 1200 calories or feeling hungry every day) then you’ve been cutting for too long! Before I discovered the four phases of dieting, I assumed that eating 1200 calories every day of the year was how I was supposed to live!

So did my client Rebekah. she ate like that for years even though she was always hungry, didn’t have energy and wasn’t happy with it. 

She wanted to lose weight so she decided to track her calories. Her food tracker told her that she needed to eat 1200 calories, so she did. At first, she lost weight fairly quickly. But then her weight loss slowed down. She didn’t know what to do. She assumed she needed to cut more food, but that felt impossible! 

She was already so hungry. And she was secretly resenting her husband and anyone else who was eating more than 1200 calories because she couldn’t see how she was supposed to live the rest of her life on that little food.

When she came to me, I saw the problem instantly. She had stayed in a cut for too long! She couldn’t take any more food away because she was already eating a toddler’s amount! 

Instead of cutting, we reverse dieted - meaning we added more calories! And her weight started to come off again! 

After a few months of reverse dieting, and losing 10 lbs, she discovered her maintenance calories. Maintenance is when you’re eating enough food so that you don’t gain or lose weight. She was so much happier eating more food. She had energy to keep up with her kiddos, to run her business, to maintain a relationship with her husband. Not only did she hit her weight loss goals, but her life improved in almost every area! 

Maintenance is where you should spend most of your time! It should be comfortable. You shouldn’t feel hungry or overly full! You should feel good about your food, your body, your life!

Maintenance should be your holiday goal

Mama, I don’t ever recommend my clients go into a cut, or calorie deficit, during the holiday season because we all want to enjoy the holidays!

Instead, I teach my clients how to maintain their weight. When you can learn how to maintain your weight, then you can have grace and understanding for yourself.

You can eat your grandma’s Christmas cookies without feeling bad about it! You can sip champagne at a holiday party without feeling stressed about what the scale is going to say when you get on it tomorrow.

Maintenance isn’t just good for your body; it’s good for your mind, your heart and your confidence!

When you learn how to eat enough food to fuel your life without gaining or losing weight you can get out of the all-in or all-out mindset that yo-yo dieting teaches you. Which most mamas have been stuck in their whole lives. 

I want to help you learn this important skill! And I know that this year so many women have wanted to work on their health and nutrition but haven’t been able to afford it. Especially during the holidays when we’re already spending more than we normally do.

So I want to help you out. I’m offering a 30-day New Year Challenge where busy mamas can get a taste of what it’s like to work with me for 90% off my signature course! 

The best part of this challenge is the last time I ran it, the women in it lost 4-6 pounds in less than 30 days! (Side note: they lost weight while enjoying Thanksgiving right smack dab in the middle of the challenge. And if they can do that while enjoying the most food-centric holiday then you can definitely do it in January when you’re at your most invested in your goals!)

You’ll see the results, you’ll get the tools and you’ll save so much money! I’m not opening the doors just yet, but if you want to get more info and set yourself up to reach your New Year’s resolutions for 2024 check out the New Year’s Glow Up.

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