Adhering to a healthy eating plan can be a challenge, but it’s well worth the effort and sacrifice. Here are a few tips to help you lose those unwanted pounds and keep them off.
Men who are overweight face an increased risk of developing erectile dysfunction. But shedding those excess pounds is easier said than done. And even when you’ve managed to bring your weight down to a level that’s within the normal range, maintaining that weight loss can be a daunting challenge.
For many weight-conscious men — and women as well — what too often follows is a seesawing pattern of shedding pounds only to gain them back again, also known as the yo-yo effect.
Yo-Yo Dieting Can Be Dangerous
Yo-yo weight loss, also called weight cycling, puts you at increased risk of a heart attack, stroke, or early death, according to the findings from a study published in the November 2018 issue of Circulation.
Putting a slightly more positive spin on the effects of alternating between a healthy eating pattern (HEP) and one with few rules or limits is a study conducted by a research team led by Purdue University professor Wayne Campbell. That study was published in the November 2018 issue of Nutrients.
Campbell and his colleagues looked specifically at the effects of yo-yo dieting on the markers of cardiovascular disease. After a five- to six-week period of adherence to a HEP, such as the Mediterranean diet or DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet, study participants reverted to their usual diets for four weeks or so.
Health Markers Reflect Your Diet
Predictably, cardiovascular health markers moved into positive territory after each HEP and then turned less favorable after each period of less healthy eating. A return to healthy eating saw the cardiovascular health markers return once again to positive territory. Based on their findings, researchers recommended that “healthcare professionals . . . encourage individuals to consistently consume a HEP for cardiovascular health but also encourage them to try again if a first attempt is unsuccessful or short-lived.” In other words, don’t give up.
Psychotherapist William Anderson knows from first-hand experience how to achieve weight-loss success. Over a period of 18 months in the mid-1980s, he managed to lose 140 pounds and has kept them off ever since. In a recent interview with NBC News Better, Anderson shared some of his suggestions for lasting weight loss. Here are a few of those tips:
- Count the calories you’re consuming. If that’s the normal that got you into a problem with excess weight, you will be better able to estimate a lower daily caloric intake that will help you to start dropping those unwanted pounds.
- Don’t become fixated with a number on your scale. Too often, dieters keep depriving themselves of the foods they love until they can step on the scale and see a weight they’d envisioned as their goal. Once that magic moment occurs, they revert to the unhealthy eating habits that got them into trouble in the first place.
- Don’t deprive yourself of the foods you love. Try to incorporate some of the foods you love the most into your healthy eating plan. To do so and still lose weight or maintain your weight loss, you’ll have to reduce portions accordingly. But depriving yourself of these foods altogether can spell disaster for any diet.
- Time your meals. Anderson has found that he’s been able to maintain his 140-pound weight loss by adhering to a strict schedule for meals. He eats only at those specified intervals and fasts in between. He also treats himself on weekends by eating a bit more but maintains a balanced caloric intake during the week.
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