It is common to experience dieting setbacks. In fact, expecting and preparing for setbacks in your weight loss plan allows you to do damage control and get back on track with your goals before regaining too much of the weight you’ve initially lost.
Weight gain can be extremely frustrating for the person who has struggled to lose every pound, depriving themselves of food, spending extra time at the gym and developing healthy habits. Dieting setbacks can be devastating and commonly lead to binge eating and yoyo dieting.
Noticing weight gain on the scale, however, can mean a number of things and may not be due to overeating or falling off the band wagon. Regaining weight can be due to water retention, muscle growth or your body adjusting to the diet and lifestyle change. Taking your body measurements and noticing how your clothes fit are often better indicators of progress than relying solely on the scale for verification of weight loss.
What Causes Dieting Setbacks?
Everyone has things that act as triggers for cheating on their diet. Your set of triggers may be different than your spouses or coworkers, so you have to discover what triggers you to overeat and devise a plan to handle these triggers.
Common Triggers for Overeating:
- The smell or sight of baked goods
- Restaurants
- Going out with friends
- Holidays and other family get-togethers
- Stress and anxiety
- Loneliness
- Boredom
- Feeling overwhelmed
- Celebrations
- Seeing a gain on the scale
- Seeing a loss on the scale
- Anger and frustration
- Vacations
How to Deal with Dieting Setbacks
A gain is a gain, whether due to overeating or circumstances beyond your control and there are some things you can do to get back on track with your weight loss goals.
- Don’t blow a minor weight gain out of proportion.
- Analyze where your calories are coming from.
- Develop a positive attitude towards your healthy lifestyle plan
- Cut back on salty foods
- Learn from your mistakes
- Forgive yourself and move on
- Be accountable. Track calories in a diet diary, even on your bad days.
- Reset your weight loss goals
- Expect setbacks, realizing that no one is perfect
- Make a game plan to avoid setbacks in the future
- Focus on health and lifelong habits rather than weight loss
Dieting setbacks are a result of emotional and psychological issues. Losing weight is tough physically, but cutting back on calories and denying yourself your favorite foods can be even more difficult from a psychological standpoint. Avoid feeling deprived by allowing yourself the occasional treat when you feel the need and learning to have control over food so that you can be satisfied with a few bites instead of a whole plate.
Emotional eating can ruin your diet, postpone your weight loss goals and cause you to begin yoyo dieting, but you can gain control over food and reduce dieting setbacks.
Tracy Rose - Tracy Rose is a powerflifter who holds the state record in deadlifting and has had success in her own weight loss journey.
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