Yo-Yo Dieting
Many people who are struggling with dieting do so in attempt to lose weight. However the statistics are that 95-97% of diets fail, so it reality of pursuing weight loss though dieting leads to failure, diets do not work. Most people go on diets will gain all the weight back + more (over time) and then feel the need to re-start a new diet. The act of starting and failing, then starting a again a new diet is called yo-yo dieting. Yo-yo dieting leads to a pattern of weight cycling, recent studies have shown that yo-yo dieting is more harmful than having a higher BMI, and can lead to a variety of health issues.
Your body responds to yo-yo dieting to protect itself from future starvation modes (or diets), it protects itself by slowing down your metabolism, which can make it difficult to lose weight in the future. Moreover, yo-yo dieting can also lead to an increased risk of heart disease. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that weight cycling was associated with an increased risk of heart disease, independent of other risk factors. The study followed 10,000 men over the course of 12 years and found that those who experienced weight cycling were more likely to develop heart disease than those who maintained a stable weight. In addition, yo-yo dieting can also have a negative impact on mental health. The constant cycle of losing and gaining weight can lead to feelings of frustration, disappointment, and failure, which can contribute to the development of depression and anxiety. Furthermore, the focus on weight loss can also lead to an unhealthy preoccupation with food and body image, which can lead to the development of eating disorders.
Despite the negative effects of yo-yo dieting, many people continue to engage in this practice. This is largely due to the influence of diet culture, which emphasizes the importance of thinness and weight loss, often at the expense of one's health. Many diet programs and products also promote quick weight loss, fad diets and harmful nutrition “education” however if 95-97% of diets fail, it should be considered malpractice for a provider to tell you to lose weight. The fact is that diets are not designed to be sustainable, so it is not YOU who is failing, it is the diet who is failing YOU (and diet culture who is failing all of us).
To break the cycle of yo-yo dieting, it's important to focus mending your relationship with food and your body by leaning toward body respect/body neutrality and self-compassion. The truth is that the journey to healing your relationship with food and your body is not an easy one and can be hard to navigate when all you ever knew was diet culture. Always look for the source of information when dissemination between nutrition advice and if it “feels off” to you, then it probably is. I will post a new blog about how to decipher if nutrition education is valid in the next few weeks to come. Thanks for reading, if you are interested in possibly working together, feel free to click this link to schedule a free discovery/introduction call.
1. Montani JP, Schutz Y, Dulloo AG. Dieting and weight cycling as risk factors for cardiometabolic diseases: who is really at risk?. Obes Rev. 2015;16 Suppl 1:7-18. doi:10.1111/obr.12250
2. Dalle Grave R, Calugi S, El Ghoch M. Lifestyle modification in the management of obesity: achievements and challenges. Eat Weight Disord. 2013;18(4):339-349. doi:10.1007/s40519-
