In an era where Ozempic has dominated the news cycles and the Kardashians are shedding weight by the pounds, it can seem like there’s more pressure than ever to lose those pesky few inches around the waist before the in-laws come round for the next big event.
However, as most people who have tried to lose weight will be able to tell you, the hardest thing about losing weight is not necessarily losing it all in the first place, but keeping it off in the long term. For many people, weight loss becomes an unfortunate cycle where they lose the weight, only for it to come back for the cycle to repeat all over again, in what has become known as yo-yo dieting.
Some people also undergo yo-yo dieting purposely, when they have particularly big events coming up, and they lose weight for these events specifically, before losing motivation and gaining it all back after. However, yo-yo dieting in this manner can have detrimental side effects on your physical and mental health, especially in the long term.
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More weight and fat gain over time
Unfortunately, while yo-yo dieting might lead to short-term weight loss for temporary events, messing around drastically with your body’s weight like this can actually make it progressively harder for you to lose weight in the long term. Studies have found that during the weight-gain period of a yo-yo diet, fat is gained back faster and more easily than muscle. This means that over time, your body gains back more fat than muscle as a baseline, leading to a higher long-term body fat percentage and more belly fat.
Further, as you lose weight in the dieting process of the yo-yo diet, leptin — the hormone that makes you feel full — decreases in your body, meaning that you experience an increased appetite. Along with this, your body tries to cling to its energy storage as your body enters a calorie deficit. As a result, 30% of dieters actually not only gain back the weight that they lost, but end up heavier than what they originally weighed.
On top of this, the change in your hormones (especially in the ones that govern your body’s response to hunger and metabolism of food) means that you can drastically change your body’s metabolism rate entirely. This can mean that even after the end of a diet, you might feel hungrier for longer and or more intensely than before you went on the diet in the first place.
Potential risks to your organs
Several studies in mice have found that multiple cycles of weight gain and weight loss have led to fatty liver, which is when the body stores excess fat inside liver cells. This changes the way the liver metabolizes fats and sugars, and can lead to increased risk of type 2 diabetes and chronic liver failure, also known as cirrhosis. Other studies have found that yo-yo dieting has been associated with coronary artery disease, where the arteries that supply blood to the heart become narrower than what is healthy.
In a country where the leading cause of death is heart disease, with diabetes and chronic liver disease not too far behind, it’s important that we try to improve our quality of life by trying to make long-term, sustainable changes to our health, rather than following the latest dieting fad sold by celebrities, or trying to find the miracle one-stop cure two weeks before a cousin’s wedding.
Mental frustration and heightened emotional stress
Beyond the physical harms of yo-yo dieting, there are also heightened emotional stressors. Because yo-yo dieting can often lead to a temporary sense of joy at successful weight loss, only to then bring about the crashing disappointment of weight gain, people who suffer from weight cycles like this can report feeling generally dissatisfied with their lives and health. It also makes many people feel like they have less control over their weight and their bodies.
At the end of the day, weight is not the only indication of health, and as any healthcare professional, whether it’s your local GP or nurse with the requisite qualification from direct entry MSN programs, can tell you, your happiness and health is ultimately more important than fitting into that one dress for someone’s birthday party. The best way to lose weight is to find ways to fit meaningful changes into your lifestyle that you genuinely agree with, whether that be picking up a sport as a hobby with friends that you love to spend time with, or finding ways to eat healthier that also allow you to eat foods that you enjoy. We’re all different, and we’re living different lives, so find what works for you and give it a shot!
