The Hidden Consequences of Yo-Yo Dieting
Written by Kyle Ligon - MovementLink.FIT Head Coach
Choosing a Sustainable Fat Loss Strategy is Vital
With about 82% of Americans being clinically overweight (1), yo-yo dieting is a major trend. Crash and fad diets just sound better, “You don’t have to change anything forever, just simply following this 4-12 week diet to lose weight and you’re good.” But, logically, what happens after that time period is that is people simply go back to their old ways - the ways which had them gain the excess weight the first time around. The rate of people that regain all or more of their weight back after a weight loss intervention is 50-75% within the year, 85% within 2 years, and 95% within 3 years (2).
Ok, so you reginan some or all of your original weight…no biggie, just go on another crash diet - Well, there is some really scary stuff that accompanies yo-yo dieting. Weight cycling can actually add to the risks associated with being obese, meaning that if you’re obese, you are at higher risk of disease if you are someone who has lost weight and then regained it (3).
It seems that after your first crash diet, you will tend to regain weight 2x as fast as you were able to lose it. On your second diet, you will tend to lose weight 1/2 as fast as the first time and regain weight 3x as fast and so on (4). But why??? There are many factors at play here, but the biggest ones seems to be your metabolism can slow down, long-term, when you diet (5). Additionally the number of fat cells we have tends to be fixed, but you may actually increase the number of fat cells you have with yo-yo dieting (6).
You can’t change anything you have done in the past, but what this means going forward is that we should not be choosing crash diets and should instead be choosing a sustainable approach that works for you and your life is critical. Being healthy is a lifestyle and leanness is not something that can be yo-yo dieted into in the long run.
References
(1). National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) - Overweight and Obesity Statistics (https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-statistics/overweight-obesity)
(2). Fat Loss Forever: How to Lose Fat and KEEP it Off - Dr. Layne Norton, PHD and Peter Baker
(3). Consequences of Weight Cycling: An Increase in Disease Risk? - NCBI - NIH (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4241770/).
(4). The effects of repeated cycles of weight loss and regain in rats - NCBI - NIH (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3823159/)
(5). Metabolic slowing with massive weight loss despite preservation of fat-free mass - NCBI - NIH (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22535969/)
(6). Long-term prospective and controlled studies demonstrate adipose tissue hypercellularity and relative leptin deficiency in the postobese state - NCBI - NIH (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16131581/)
