If you're like many people, losing weight is easier than keeping the weight from coming back. This can lead to a cycle of repeated weight loss and weight gain, sometimes called yo-yo dieting, that can lead to low esteem and may even harm your health in the long run.
Identification
Yale University professor and obesity researcher Kelly D. Brownell, Ph.D. coined the phrase "yo-yo dieting" in the 1980s, but it's also known as weight cycling. A small weight-loss cycle may include a weight loss and regain of 5 to 10 lbs., but with a larger cycle, the numbers can change by 50 lbs. or more, according to the U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Weight cycling occurs primarily if you go on a "diet" to provide quick results without making lifestyle changes that will help keep the weight from coming back. Age is another factor, since your metabolism slows down as you enter your 30s, 40s and 50s.
Significance
The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2000 found that more than 64 percent of U.S. adults are either overweight or obese, a 36 percent increase since 1976. With increased body mass index also comes an increased risk of death from all causes, including cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In 2004, Americans spent an estimated $46 million dollars on diet products, but Traci Mann, UCLA associate professor of psychology, reports that 83 percent of dieters regained all the weight they lost within five years.
Effects
There is controversy over whether or how much weight cycling leads to health problems. Several studies have suggested a link to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, gallbladder disease and other health issues. A study of 485 female heart patients, led by Dr. C Noel Bairey Merz at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, and published in 2000 in the "Journal of the American College of Cardiology," found that yo-yo dieters, especially those who'd lost and regained at least 50 lbs., had relatively low levels of the good HDL cholesterol that helps prevent heart disease. On the other hand, the researchers didn't find a direct link between low HDL and heart disease in any of the women. The Mayo Clinic warns that if you go on repeated starvation diets of less than 1,000 calories a day, you'll probably lose weight and muscle temporarily, but once you begin eating as you did previously, your body may react by storing the fat faster and more efficiently, and you could actually add more pounds than before.
Prevention/Solution
To avoid weight cycling, you should try to achieve and then maintain a modest weight loss, often recommended as losing 10 percent of your body weight. You should focus on lifelong changes by eating more fruits and vegetables and cutting down on junk foods that are high in saturated fats or trans fats. You should also participate in regular physical activity, preferably something that you enjoy. Studies show that many yo-yo dieters don't get any exercise, according to the National Institutes of Health. Other helpful strategies include weighing yourself daily and enlisting the support of friends and family.
Expert Insight
Dr. Michael L. Dansinger, an assistant professor of medicine and obesity researcher at Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston, believes that making the attempt to lose weight is still important, even if it's you're fifth or sixth time, adding that it's the people who never give up who often succeed. The U.S. National Task Force on the Prevention and Treatment of Obesity found that even though conclusive data on the long-term health effects of weight cycling aren't available, the potential risks of yo-yo dieting do not outweigh the potential benefits of weight loss if you're significantly overweight or obese.
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