Why Yo-Yo Dieting Keeps You Stuck After 40

Nikkiey: Real quick, the only ask I could ever have of you guys is to help spread the word so we can help more women lose body fat, build muscle, reach their goals, and feel insanely confident. And the only way we can do that is if you rate, review, and share this podcast. So the single thing I ask you to do is leave a review. It will take you 10 seconds, and it will mean the absolute world to me and may change the world of someone else.

Because you guys know roller coaster dieting, yo-yo dieting, the pattern of losing the weight, gaining it back, and then repeating the cycle. So many of you guys have been through it. I know because I've heard it, and I've coached so many women that have been stuck in that ridiculous pattern and scary pattern. The approach is often driven by the fact that quick-fix diets promise these fast results, but they're not sustainable in the long term. And I want to dive into why that happens and the science behind it.

Yo, yo, yo. What is going on, you guys? Welcome back to The WarriorBabe Show with Nikkiey Stott, co-founder of WarriorBabe. On this podcast, we talk about mindset, methodologies, tactics, all of the things that will help you lose body fat, build muscle, be strong, and feel insanely confident. I am your host, Nikkiey Stott, and welcome to today's episode, episode number 179.

Today I'm going to dive into a topic that, I think all these topics are very important, but this one is especially important. It affects many of us. It affected me at the beginning of my journey. It affects all of the women that our team speaks to on a regular basis. It even affects the women that come into the program at the beginning of their journey. And that is the roller coaster of dieting.

What I want to talk about specifically in this episode today is a few things. One is the true cost of opting for those cheap, quick-fix solutions and how it impacts you over time. I always joke that women have sought programs where they hope to throw their body into a microwave and in 30 seconds out pops a toned body. Or we could even relate it to people who want instant gratification and don't have delayed gratification down. There are so many things I could relate it to. But what I want to talk about specifically, in terms of how it impacts you over time, is the hormonal impact and the metabolic adaptation that happens.

And also, what so many of you guys strive to accomplish, at least the women we work with at WarriorBabe and the women I think listen to this podcast: so many of you want to build a toned body and be stronger. You want more definition. You want lean muscle to show. But the programs you opt into and follow for a short-term fix or a quick-fix solution are completely counterproductive to that goal. They result in a lot of muscle loss over time.

So I'm going to talk about the physical and the mental toll that yo-yo dieting takes on you. And I'm going to compare some things to bring to light the hidden costs of what these cheap dieting options are actually costing you.

But first, let's talk about roller coaster dieting, also known as yo-yo dieting. So many of you guys know this pattern. So many of you have done it. So did I. I did it at the beginning of my journey for two years. I think I shared in episode number one that I was trying so many different things, and they probably would have worked. But personally, on my journey, I wasn't allowing enough time for these things to adapt to my body. I was the one trying something every two to three weeks, and if I didn't see the results I wanted in two to three weeks, I would try something different.

For those of you that have that same mentality, now knowing after nine, ten years of my journey: doing things that way is not going to get you the results you're seeking in that short amount of time. If you really want something to be a long-term solution, three weeks is not it. Three weeks isn't going to give you what you want.

And if I pause periodically and need to think about my thoughts, which literally just happened, I want to be totally transparent with you guys. As I shared in the previous episode, I'm still in the last couple of days leading up to my egg freezing journey and the retrieval of the eggs. I filmed that podcast two days ago, and I'm filming another one because I had to get two podcasts in this week to keep up with our schedule. I had to get this done and record it for you so that we can keep the cadence.

I just wanted to show up for you guys. I have this promise I've got to keep to myself to show up for you. And after this, I'm going to crash. But it's the last couple of days. I got word this morning that we're going to retrieve on Sunday. This will be released next Friday, so it'll be almost a week past retrieval day. I'll probably do a follow-up podcast to let you guys know, or just keep you posted at the beginning of every podcast. Anyway, sidetracked from the topic. But if my brain goes in and out and I'm trying to think and then my thoughts finally catch up, that's because my estrogen right now is over 3,000. It's freaking wild. Every single follicle that keeps growing to a certain millimeter size produces X amount of estrogen. So that's where I'm at, guys. Okay?

Anyway, back to the topic. You guys know roller coaster dieting, yo-yo dieting, the pattern of losing the weight, gaining it back, and then repeating the cycle. So many of you have been through it. I know because I've heard it, and I've coached so many women that have been stuck in that ridiculous pattern and scary pattern. The approach is often driven by the fact that quick-fix diets promise these fast results, but they're not sustainable in the long term. And I want to dive into why that happens and the science behind it.

When you follow these types of restrictive diets, your body initially loses weight, often rapidly. The reason keto works so well is because of what carbohydrates do, and I've talked about this in previous podcasts: carbohydrates hold on to water weight. For every gram you eat, they hold on to an X amount of water. I'm probably not saying that entirely right, but that's essentially how your body breaks down, utilizes and stores carbs. For every gram of carbs you have, it also holds on to water in your body.

So why keto works so well, and why a lot of restrictive diets work so well, is because one of the main things people eliminate is carbohydrates. When people start these types of diets and get on the scale seven days later, they see that they've dropped weight. But it's really because you've dropped water weight from eliminating carbohydrates. And you can't eliminate carbohydrates for the rest of your life. It is a key essential macronutrient that you have to have in your diet.

All these diets deprive you of these essential nutrients and these essential calories, and it leads to muscle loss and a slowed metabolism. I'm going to dive into that a little more in a second. But when you inevitably return to your regular eating habits, your slower metabolism means you regain the weight quickly. This often leads to those extra few pounds coming back on, if not the same amount of weight you lost being regained over time.

And this cycle that so many people are on, yo-yoing off and on for years, can have severe consequences for your physical and your mental health. One is the hormonal impact. Repeating these cycles of weight loss and gaining it all back disrupts your hormonal balance. For instance, your thyroid gland, which regulates your metabolism, can become less efficient, and that leads to a slower metabolic rate. So when you're losing weight and gaining weight back, one of the key things that controls and regulates your overall metabolism, and has a huge role in you losing weight, period, is your thyroid. And that gets affected every single time you go in and out of yo-yoing, losing the weight and gaining the weight back.

Along with that, your insulin sensitivity decreases. This increases the risk of you being hypersensitive to anything that's going to make your insulin spike. And when your insulin spikes, that makes you gain weight, but it also puts you at risk of type 2 diabetes.

At the same time, your stress hormones like cortisol rise. I can't tell you. You guys know that we partner with Equal Life. On the way in, every single woman gets stress, mood, and metabolism tests done. We test their thyroid. We test their A1C, their blood sugar. We test their sex hormones. We also test their cortisol. If I had to pick one thing out of all of those markers that most frequently comes back elevated, it is cortisol.

Women's cortisol is through the roof. And this is not only because of the stress people face on a daily basis in their regular lives, but also because most women yo-yo diet and go on a roller coaster throughout years of their life, gaining and losing the same weight over and over and over again. When that happens and cortisol rises, it leads to unwanted fat storage that is really, really, really freaking hard to lose over time.

What women experience, especially when they're 40 or 50 years old, is they deem this menopause. But it's because your cortisol is elevated, which is leading to increased fat storage, especially around your abdominal area. So if you're having unwanted fat gain, it's because your cortisol is elevated and fat is being stored in your abdominal region, which gets deemed menopause, or what you experience as unwanted belly fat. All of a sudden, this extra fat is holding on in one area. It's because your cortisol is through the roof. And it could be one of a couple of different things, but one of the factors I'm talking about today is this: think about how many years you've gone yo-yo dieting. How many years have you gone roller coaster dieting? How many years have you lost and gained the same weight back?

Not only that, when you drastically reduce your calorie intake, your body adapts by slowing down your metabolism to conserve more energy. This process is known as metabolic adaptation. I've talked about it in previous podcasts, and it makes it harder to lose weight over time. When people go on these quick fixes, they basically eat little to nothing. They're eating around 1,000 to 1,100 calories, or even less. People experience this in the bodybuilding world as well. I experienced this on my journey and shared that with you in episode one. Your metabolism is adapting to this lower calorie intake, and it's slowing down so it can conserve energy to help you basically exist as a human and survive.

And when you resume normal eating patterns, the body stores more fat in preparation for future calorie deficits, because it doesn't trust you yet. It's like this human is going in and out, in and out, of calorie deficit, calorie surplus, calorie deficit, calorie surplus. It recognizes that and prepares for future calorie deficits, perpetuating the cycle of weight gain.

Hey, hey, I just want to drop a huge appreciation to you guys listening to the show. It means a lot. I hope you're enjoying it, and there's so much more to come. If you are enjoying it, hit the subscribe button. I'd appreciate that tons, and it would help this podcast reach others who need to hear these messages too. Thanks so much, guys. Let's get back to the show.

So this is what happens, guys. And what I said at the beginning of the podcast is what's so counterproductive for a lot of you who want to gain more muscle, be more toned, look more defined, be strong, all the things a lot of people come to WarriorBabe for. These quick fixes do the complete opposite. They lead to muscle loss instead of fat loss. Since muscle tissue is metabolically active, which I've talked about so many freaking times in previous episodes, losing muscle reduces your resting metabolic rate, making it even harder to maintain weight loss. Maintaining muscle mass is so freaking critical for a toned physique and for having a healthy metabolism overall.

Your muscle mass is active tissue, as I just said. It's metabolically active. It doesn't turn off. It's always operating. And if you're constantly going through quick fixes and your body doesn't have anything else to tap into, guess what it's going to tap into first for energy reserves? Your muscle. So as you lose more muscle over time, you're not only making your body adapt to a slower metabolism because you've slashed your calories, your resting metabolic rate is lowering as well, reducing that overall number, which I've talked about in previous podcasts.

You want your resting metabolic rate to rise, and it will over time with the more muscle mass you have on your body. But you have to give your body what it wants, which is food, in order for all of that to happen internally. And if your resting metabolic rate is lowering, which it will as you lose more muscle mass, it's going to be even harder for you to maintain weight loss over time.

So these three things are the biggest, most severe consequences that you basically sign up for when you go through the cycle of losing and gaining the same weight over time. When you're doing these quick fixes, when you go into a program and want to experience some X result in three months' time, and you want it to be drastic and life-changing, this is basically what you're signing up for.

This is why at WarriorBabe, we don't believe in this. This is why one of our values is long-term permanent solutions instead of short-term temporary fixes. It's future-focused. And we want every single babe to align with that value, because if you come into WarriorBabe and you're frustrated after three months that you haven't had a drastic, life-changing result in your body, you're not going to get that with us. There's something, whether it's physical or mental, that we have to break at the beginning of your journey, whether it's some story or limiting belief you're telling yourself, or habits you've tacked on over years of cycling back and forth. We have to break those and establish new habits, and that's not going to happen in the first three months. We have to create new habits that will give you long-term permanent solutions.

So that's a little bit of the consequences you're signing up for. Now I want to talk about the impact of roller coaster dieting. Jesus, I can kind of talk. It extends beyond just weight gain and weight loss. It can have a huge impact not just on your body, as I talked through, but even more so on the mental side of things.

I talked about the physical consequences like muscle loss and metabolic damage, and the hormonal aspect as well. Not to mention the nutrient deficiencies you're signing up for. Restrictive diets deprive your body of essential nutrients, and those deficiencies can seriously affect your energy levels, your immune function and your overall health. Going back to the example I gave you, if you're not giving your body the carbohydrates it needs, your body's not going to perform optimally in your workouts. You're going to feel like you're not performing well, and you're going to feel like you can't do this. And that's going to lead to you not taking the future actions that get you to the ultimate outcome you want for your body. You have to give your body carbs. You have to give your body all the nutrients it needs to internally get you the results you want on the exterior.

So those are a couple of the physical consequences. The mental consequences you experience are, one, stress and anxiety. The constant battle with weight gain and weight loss increases the stress and anxiety you experience, and that impacts not just the physical results you want but your overall health. The pressure to lose weight, and the fear of gaining it back, creates a chronic cycle of stress. Think about it: you already have so much stress in your life. There are so many responsibilities and things you have to do every day, your job, your kids, your family, whatever is producing stress. Now you're tacking on another thing that adds to your stress levels. That's not giving your body the right nutrition, maybe not moving your body and exercising, but also the constant weight gain and weight loss. And then when you do lose the weight, you have this fear that you're going to gain it all back. So stress and anxiety is a mental consequence of roller coaster dieting or yo-yo dieting.

Another big one is body image issues from the repeated failure to maintain weight loss.

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The amount of negative self-image and decreased self-esteem that people experience is truly wild. Just think about it. You lose the weight. You feel really good. You're so happy with the progress. You're so proud of yourself for the journey you've been on. But because you did it so fast, or you cut things out, the second you return to your normal eating habits, you gain the weight back. Think about the negative self-image and the decreased self-esteem that produces. Now you're like, I'm a loser. I can't believe I did this. I can't believe I gained all my weight back. And you just don't trust yourself anymore. You don't believe in yourself anymore.

Then the social pressure to maintain a certain body image can exacerbate these issues and lead to even more feelings of inadequacy, or even deeper emotions, when you've lost the weight and now have to maintain it. You have to say no to a lot of things, and keep saying no to a lot of things you used to do. That's pressure on yourself to try to maintain it. And if you don't, and you start gaining the weight back, you're going to end up with more body image issues than you most likely had before you even started this journey.

The last mental consequence is disordered eating. Yo-yo dieting contributes hugely to the development of unhealthy eating habits and disordered eating patterns. That can include binge eating, food restriction, and an unhealthy obsession with food and your body weight. You eliminate all the things and start looking at food differently, like, I can't have that food because it does this. But it doesn't really do that, because it's the behavior behind the food. There are so many mental aspects of these restrictive diets and quick fixes that people don't really consider before signing up for them.

What I'm honestly hoping with this whole podcast, as I share all these things with you, is that the next time you want to pursue a result really fast, this episode clicks in your head. Or you end up sharing it with somebody who needs to hear it. Because I want you to really assess what you're signing up for. These are the consequences that come if you lose the weight and gain the weight back, and lose the weight and gain the weight back. You're messing up your body internally, and you're causing all these mental consequences to be provoked and to worsen.

So the next time you think, I want to lose 15 pounds in two months, think about what that actually does internally to your metabolism and your hormonal profile, and to the overall goal a lot of you have, which is having more muscle. You're not going to lose 15 pounds and have it be 15 pounds of fat. You're also going to lose muscle along the way, especially if it's more restrictive.

So that covers the consequences, the cost of what happens internally and externally to your body. Now I want to talk about the hidden costs of cheap dieting: how these things seem appealing because of the promise of quick results, and how you can experience them super, super fast. However, there are two main hidden costs. The first is the financial cost, because you're repeatedly spending on multiple quick fixes and multiple supplements over time. Don't even get me started on the supplements being pushed out there right now saying they're going to give you quick results. They only come with a hidden cost. The hidden costs outweigh the short-term benefits because, as I said, you're repeatedly spending money and repeatedly signing up for these programs.

Think about it. Take a second with me right now and think about the costs you've invested. Not even invested, because you haven't really had an ROI from it. Think about the costs you've put into your journey: the multiple programs you tried, the quick fixes you've done, the supplements over time. Come up with a ballpark number in your mind. How much has that added up to, to date? What is it? I've heard 10 grand, 15 grand. I've heard 50 grand. I've heard people who are just starting their journey say only a couple thousand dollars. It's astronomical what I've heard that number actually is over time. And it's costing more than a sustainable long-term approach to achieving your goal.

So when women come to our program thinking the cost is so exponentially high to be a part of it, think about it for a second. All of the things you've done and tried are short-term temporary fixes, and what we're offering you is completely different. We offer you long-term solutions. The initial cost savings are quickly negated by the need for repeated purchases due to the lack of lasting results. So think about the financial cost, the repeated spending, how much you've spent up until this point, what you've gotten for it, and where you currently still are.

The last hidden cost of these cheap dieting options is your quality of life. The physical and mental toll of these roller coaster quick-fix diets decreases your overall quality of life because it affects your energy levels. It affects your mood. It affects your ability to enjoy daily activities. It creates chronic fatigue, irritability and mood swings. These are all side effects of the poor dietary practices these quick fixes give you.

If you're still not where you want to be, it's most likely because you've indulged in these quick fixes over time and you're still not there. It's time for you to consider a different approach. That's investing in something that's actually going to give you a return on your investment. Something where in six months you may start to see some tangible results, but know that you still have six months to go, and maybe even longer.

The average lifespan of a WarriorBabe is far beyond the 12-month program we offer women when they come in and join us. The average lifetime is about two and a half to three years that women spend with us, which is huge, because they know that in this 12-month journey they're going to make a lot of strides in terms of habits and embedding new things into their lifestyle that weren't there before. They know that's going to happen in the first year. They're going to see some type of tangible results. Some of them experience a lot. You hear Carrie's story, you hear Lisa's story. Everybody is on such a different journey, but they know by the end of the year they're going to have some type of tangible results, and also intangible ones, like the habits they've created. Which I guess you could argue are tangible as well, if we're talking about results and non-scale victories, right?

So with this podcast today, think about what the quick-fix things have done for you. Hats off to those of you who have experienced some result with them and been able to stick to it. But that's a very, very low percentage. A lot of the women listening to this podcast right now are not happy with where they are, and they've spent so much of their time yo-yo dieting, losing the weight and gaining it right back.

Like I said in the middle of the podcast, I just want you to think about the next thing you enter into. I can toot our own horn here, and I'm also biased, but I've interviewed tons of coaches and a lot of women who have been part of other programs. We're one of the biggest in the fitness space right now, and it's because we maintain the quality of the relationship with the clients we're working with. A lot of the programs people sign up for are like, here's your meal plan and here's your workout program. At WarriorBabe, it's vastly different. We put the meal plan and the workout program kind of secondary. We put first the human we're working with and understanding: What is she struggling with? Where is she in her journey? How can I meet her where she's at and give her what she needs right now? What can we assess in terms of habits, limiting beliefs or thought processes that I can address right away? That's the relationship-building aspect. So that's how I think we do things a lot differently at WarriorBabe than the other programs out there.

Anyway, the next thing you sign up for, think about this podcast and the consequences you may be signing up for. I think they outweigh the benefits, for sure. The benefits can totally get you tangible results, but at what cost? That's really what I wanted to talk about in this podcast: the cost of doing the cheap options over time. Think about the time you've spent yo-yoing or in these programs and you aren't where you want to be. That's a lot of time. I've heard 10 years, 15 years. So the next time you sign up for something, ask: is this a short-term fix or a long-term solution?

All right, guys. With that being said, I appreciate you listening to this podcast. I appreciate every single one of you. I get behind this mic even in moments where I'm like, man, I can't show up today. But I was like, I've got to show up for the people. I've got to keep the schedule as well. But most importantly, showing up and bringing you this type of value is what lets me finish this podcast and say, all right, I showed up for the people. Let's continue on. So I hope you found value in this episode, I appreciate you listening, and I'll see you in the next one. Peace out.

Hey, everyone. Thanks for sticking around to the end of the show. I hope you really enjoyed that podcast. Really quick, if you're a woman aged 45 through 65 and finding menopause challenging, listen closely. WarriorBabe is here to help you reclaim your body and your confidence. At WarriorBabe, we've empowered over 18,000 women to lose stubborn body fat, build toned muscle, and understand their bodies better. Our personalized plans based on hormone and thyroid testing and more ensure you get exactly what you need to see real results, and real results that last. Imagine feeling stronger, more energized, and in control of your health. Don't let menopause hold you back any longer. Head over to warriorbabe.com/apply and join our amazing community today. That's warriorbabe.com/apply. The link is in the show notes below. Thanks again for listening to the episode, and I'll see you in the next one.