The Yo-Yo effect

Do you know a yo-yo dieter? This is someone who needs to shed a few kilos, so they instill changes in their diet and lifestyle designed to quickly bring about results. As long as they stick to a healthy plan the weight will start to come off. At the first sign of weight loss, however, they begin to grow content and abandon the very strategy that helped them in the first place. At this point their weight balloons up again and the whole cycle starts over.

What these people fail to realise is that healthy living is not an event, but rather a lifestyle. Until they make a lasting commitment to finally follow through with and maintain a program of healthy eating and exercise, they will always bounce up and down like a yo-yo.

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People who utilise acupuncture merely for symptom relief are much like yo-yo dieters. At the first sign that their symptoms are gone they back off their care, only to find themselves with the same painful problem a short while later. They then go back to the acupuncturist, feel better, slack off on their care, and start the same unfortunate cycle all over again. 

Not only is this ineffective from a corrective standpoint, but the full benefits of acupuncture are never realised. In addition, the longer a condition is left to worsen just under the surface, the more potential it has to develop into something more serious. It is typical to find that each time the problem resurfaces it is a little more severe than the previous incident, until finally, a more comprehensive schedule of care is no longer an option, but a necessity.

Lasting results, whether in acupuncture, weight loss, or any other of life’s endeavors, come from committing to a set of long-term goals and then having the discipline to follow through. 

Make the commitment to maintenance acupuncture care and a preventative wellness program, and avoid the painful ups and downs of the yo-yo syndrome.