Yo-yo dieting, also called weight cycling, is the bane of many dieters. After weeks or months of hard work losing weight, it's no fun to watch the number on the scale rise again to bring you right back where you started. Fortunately, healthier dieting habits can help prevent yo-yo dieting and lead to effective permanent weight loss.
Description
A yo-yo diet isn't a single diet, but instead refers to the process of losing large amounts of weight and then regaining the weight back over and over again. Like a yo-yo that bounces up and down, the number on the scale of a yo-yo dieter bounces from a healthy weight to an unhealthy weight and back again. Yo-yo dieting commonly occurs as the result of crash or fad diets, since these types of diets usually don't teach the dieter how to keep the weight off long-term.
Weight Regain
In some cases of yo-yo dieting, weight regain occurs soon after the dieter has stopped following the diet. In other cases, the weight gradually creeps back on over a period of months or years. In many cases, an individual who weight cycles finds that he ends up weighing more than he did before starting to diet.
Health Risks
The link between yo-yo dieting and health problems remains under investigation, but preliminary research has linked weight cycling to high cholesterol, high blood pressure and gallbladder disease. A 2004 study by Fred Hutchinson Research Center scientists published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association found that yo-yo dieting can lead to a weaker immune system. Weight cycling can take a psychological toll as well, making the dieter feel depressed and unsuccessful.
Risk Factors
Women who do not include physical activity as part of their weight loss plan are more likely to regain the weight and start a cycle of yo-yo dieting than women who exercise in addition to eating healthy, according to the Weight Control Information Network. Women who tend to binge eat, eating large quantities of food at one time and feel unable to stop eating, are also at risk for yo-yo dieting.
Healthier Dieting
To avoid yo-yo dieting, choose a diet plan that includes a maintenance phase that teaches healthier eating techniques you can use once you have completed the diet. A healthy diet should also offer realistic weight loss goals, typically between 1 to 2 lbs of weight loss a week. Losing more than this can set you up for failure and lead to massive weight regain later. Also, include exercise as part of your overall weight-loss plan, aiming for 30 to 60 minutes of physical activity every day.
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