"I started my first diet after the birth of my daughter. I rapidly lost several pounds, but I then got careless and put them on again. With summer approaching, I started a new diet which was effective for a short time. Since, then I have been on diet after diet without succeeding in stabilizing my weight. I understand that repeated dieting can be dangerous for my health. What can I do to avoid putting weight back after a diet?"

Going on a very strict weight loss diet, losing weight very quickly, going back to a normal diet, putting back some of the pounds lost, starting a diet again to lose more weight…. It's all a very familiar pattern! Yet a succession of slimming diets often leads you to put on extra pounds which are increasingly difficult to lose. Such are the consequences of yoyo diets.

Are these weight variations bad for the health?

They do indeed represent a risk at different levels, as the organism is affected by unbalanced diets. After each diet, when you return to bad food habits (responsible for the original extra pounds) which not only lead you to put back on your lost weight but also add a pound or two, the organism tries to anticipate another period of deprivation by storing more reserves.
There are thus even more pounds to shed in the following diet which will be more difficult to shed and will force you to deprive yourself even more… In the end, these diets lead to excess weight gain.
This pattern however is not inevitable: the solution consists in following a balanced low-calorie diet which is not too restrictive or frustrating.

Some advice:

To avoid the yoyo effect, a diet should involve the durable adoption of new food habits.
The basic principle consists in rebalancing an excessively rich diet where nutrients are badly proportioned, which damages the figure and the health. It is therefore necessary to choose the quality of the food you eat. Often, our diet is excessively rich in fat and simple carbohydrates. To lose weight, it is therefore necessary to reduce their quantity and replace them by slow sugars, fruit and vegetables. This will help you maintain a varied and balanced diet without getting tired and avoiding deficiencies.
These new food habits will guarantee long-term weight loss and will avoid those mistakes that lead to excess weight.
The aim is therefore to lose weight without putting your physical and/or mental health at risk but also knowing how to avoid putting weight back on. It may seem difficult, but, in truth, it just takes a little willpower and a zest of patience! If your diet seems difficult to follow, it's probably because it is too restrictive. It causes hunger which makes you want to eat even fattier foods… i.e. the contrary of the desired result! Give yourself some time and set reasonable objectives, by focusing on light cooking, which allows you to treat yourself with delicious dishes.

"Yoplait" advice:

Prepare light sauces using 0% or 20% fromage frais seasoned with spices or garlic

Here is a day of balanced menus:

A small amount of bread (wholemeal, granary, country-style, etc.) and as much water as you want can accompany your main meals.

Breakfast:

• 0% Calin fromage frais
• An orange
• Two slices of wholemeal bread (50 g) + 10 g butter
• A cup of coffee without sugar

Lunch:

• Iced cucumber soup
• 120 to 150 g fillet of cod parcels
• 100 g potatoes
• Two 0% or 20% Petits Yoplait
• A Kiwi

Dinner :

• Gaspacho
• Peas -carrots
• A slice of cooked ham
• A 0 % Panier en quartiers fruit yoghurt