It's a very common thing with Hollywood celebrities and with us "normal" people. It's the invisible tie that binds the big, bold and the beautiful with the regular everyday folks. It's called yoyo dieting and it's no fun at all. Exactly what is this phenomenon and how come so many seem to fall into this deadly trap?

Yoyo dieting occurs when people significantly lose weight one day only to gain it all back months or even weeks later. It's unhealthy, both physically and psychologically. Physically, because it wrecks havoc to your body systems that have to attune different metabolic, circulatory and gastrointestinal processes in between relatively short periods of time. It is psychologically damaging since you will naturally feel embarrassed receiving compliments on their svelte figures one day and face the wondering and bewildered look from the same people a couple of weeks later. Many individual's weights tend to see-saw when they engage in fad diets and focus on short-term fast lose weight schemes rather than on overall healthy lifestyle changes.

Here are some tips to help you avoid yoyo dieting:

1. Don't go on a diet that you cannot abide with for life. Many go on fad diets that severely restrict the kinds of foods they can eat or those that take intensive calorie-counting to prepare. Others buy diets that are pre-cooked, packed and delivered right to their doorsteps. The problem with fad diets and these other diet schemes involving prepackaged meals is that they're only good for a certain time. They are also marked by severe calorie restriction that your body feels deprived of the necessary nutrients that after the diet, you tend to eat more, making you even gain more weight than before. The solution? To eat healthier food choices and to engage in a diet that is in keeping with a person's natural way-of-life.

2. Make dietary changes part of an overall program to lead a healthier life. When you focus on diet alone, it will be difficult to find the motivation to sustain it. However, when coupled with a sound exercise program and healthy living, then it becomes a commitment to overall health and wellness.

3. Favor slow but sure changes. Most go into the trap of yoyo dieting and ultimately fail in their weight loss efforts because they want instant results. They want to lose 10 pounds in a week when it's not healthy! They are lured by the promise of 'fast results' that they buy diet pills whose long-term safety has not been established.

There is no walk-in-the park solution to weight loss. Diet plays a crucial role in the success to win over those excess fats. However, success can't be won overnight and neither can it be done by keeping the weight on and off. Focus should be on incremental lifestyle changes that have tremendous impact on your health for the long-term.

By thinking of lifestyle changes that can be done slowly but surely, losing the weight can be healthier for our body systems.