{"id":52823,"date":"2016-09-28T07:15:50","date_gmt":"2016-09-28T11:15:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/?p=52823"},"modified":"2021-11-18T11:26:38","modified_gmt":"2021-11-18T16:26:38","slug":"yo-yo-dieting-what-happens-body","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/health\/yo-yo-dieting-what-happens-body\/","title":{"rendered":"What Really Happens When You Yo-Yo Diet"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Yo-Yo
Photo: Michal Kulesza<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s so tempting: You\u2019ve got something big coming up on the calendar that you want to look your best for. Why not diet hard and exercise a ton to get some weight off<\/a>? Inevitably, though, even if you succeed, studies<\/a> show you\u2019ll gain it all back<\/a> as soon as you go back to your normal eating habits. But what\u2019s all this yo-yo dieting really doing to your body \u2014 and psyche?<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/strong>12 Things Nobody Told Me About Losing Weight<\/a><\/p>\n

What Is Yo-Yo Dieting Anyway?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

First, let\u2019s talk about the two types of yo-yo dieting. One happens when you\u2019ve lost weight in the past through smart, healthy eating and moderate exercise and then something knocked you off the wellness path and you gained it right back<\/a>. (Annnd\u2026 repeat cycle.)<\/p>\n

There is nothing wrong with this, says Tiffany Wright, PhD, founder of Skinny Coach Solution<\/a>. \u201cEvery minute that you\u2019re at a healthy weight is beneficial for you<\/a>. It\u2019s less stress on your heart and arteries, reduces your risk of disease, and increases your lifespan tremendously,\u201d she says. In fact, one study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology <\/em>found that there was no increased risk of cancer<\/a> in people who \u201cweight cycled\u201d (the official term for yo-yo\u2019ing).<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> Why Regaining Weight Is So Common and How to Deal<\/a><\/p>\n

Other research on widely held weight loss myths disproved the commonly held belief that yo-yo\u2019ing boosts odds of mortality<\/a>. There just isn\u2019t enough evidence to say that\u2019s the case. The ultimate takeaway, say researchers: Don\u2019t stop trying to lose the weight.<\/p>\n

When Yo-Yo\u2019ing Is a No-No<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In the second type of yo-yo scenario, you\u2019ve made the decision to crash diet and live off of kale and almonds, stick to 1,000 calories a day, or try one of those weird juice detoxes<\/a>. Inevitably, that\u2019s not sustainable. When you go back<\/a> to eating again, you regain the weight \u2014 and then some. Here\u2019s what\u2019s happening to your body:<\/p>\n

Your metabolism: \u201c<\/strong>When you drop your calories, your metabolism will slow down,\u201d says Charlie Seltzer, MD<\/a>, a medical weight loss expert in Philadelphia. Then, you go back to eating normally, but this time with a slower metabolism, which will cause you to gain fat. Fear not, the metabolic slow-down is not permanent, but by the time those calorie-torching engines return to normal, you may be 10 or 15 pounds heavier than before, he explains. Worse yet, you may be tempted to try another crash diet, lose the weight, regain it (and more again). That\u2019s one reason dieting can make people gain even more weight.<\/p>\n

Your muscles:<\/strong> Severely restrict calories and you\u2019ll lose fat \u2014 and muscle. The latter is not such a good thing. \u201cWhen you eat normally again, you\u2019ll regain more of this weight as fat. So your body composition<\/a> can actually get worse,\u201d says Dr. Seltzer. The fix here is moderately cutting calories while continuing to exercise. That way you\u2019ll maintain muscle mass while trimming fat.<\/p>\n

“When [your body is] stressed out, the increase in cortisol (the stress hormone) will prompt your body store fat and prevent weight loss.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Weight loss:<\/strong> Simply being hungry and not getting the nutrients necessary to function properly sends a 9-1-1 call to your body \u2014 that\u2019s stressful in itself. And when it\u2019s stressed out, the increase in cortisol (the stress hormone) will prompt your body store fat and prevent weight loss, explains Wright.<\/p>\n

Your heart:<\/strong> If you\u2019re regaining mostly fat, that\u2019s a drag on your ticker. It may be one reason<\/a> why yo-yo weight loss has been shown to affect factors like cholesterol<\/a> and triglyceride numbers, which can increase heart disease risk. Diet severely enough, and this can mess with your hydration and electrolyte balance, something that can be fatal, adds Wright.<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/strong>Must-Read Book: One Woman\u2019s 135-Pound Weight Loss Success<\/a><\/p>\n

Your psyche:<\/strong> Restricting calories mucks up the hormones<\/a> your thyroid releases. Problem is, says Dr. Seltzer, this also ups cortisol production, which has the unhappy effect of fueling a raging appetite. (Can you see why excess cortisol is often no good?) \u201cThe first thing you\u2019ll do when you\u2019re stressed, tired, or sad is overeat,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

How to Break the Cycle <\/strong><\/h3>\n

If you struggle with yo-yo weight loss, it\u2019s a good tip off that what you\u2019ve done in the past hasn\u2019t worked, so you need a different approach, says Dr. Seltzer. \u201cI try to get patients away from solely thinking about the scale and instead focusing on health factors, like how much can you deadlift? Are you sleeping better?\u201d (Check out these awesome non-scale victories<\/a> as inspiration.) And, it\u2019s also about identifying and addressing underlying issues with food, like emotional eating. \u201cWithout that, the likelihood of long-term success is almost zero,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The promise of losing weight fast is tempting \u2014 there\u2019s no doubt about that. But there\u2019s a dark side to yo-yo dieting, and it can have lasting effects. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,7,18],"tags":[291,41,71,341,380,285],"class_list":["post-52823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diet-nutrition","category-health","category-weight-loss","tag-clean-eating","tag-diets","tag-nutrition","tag-tax1living-well","tag-tax2diet-advice","tag-weight-loss"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52823\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}