Is Yo-Yo Dieting Really the Answer?

Marlene Rice

Is Yo-Yo Dieting Really the Answer?

Yo-yo dieting is also known as weight cycling – a term fittingly coined at Yale University by Kelly D. Brown to refer to a diet-powered cyclical gaining and losing of body mass. The name itself clearly describes the way it works: in an alternating up-and-down motion.

The simple process involves dieters who struggle a lot to ultimately slim, and then grow fatter over a less restrictive phase of normal eating. Its adherents are almost always striving against rather stubborn odds to regain their former lighter frames…eventually creating a somewhat perpetual cycle of dwindling and soaring bodyweight digits.

Although there are some who deem it a great dieting approach, many fitness doyens frown upon its overall effectiveness. Discussed below are some top reasons why yo-yo dieting isn’t really the answer to your rapid weight gain woes.

Increased Body Fat

Yo-yo dieting is quite far from being the ultimate answer to anyone’s weight management hurdles. The weight loss technique leads to increased fat in most cases – instead of helping people burn excess cholesterol.

Its worrying reverse outcomes are the exact opposite of what overweight dieters strive for. Recent practical observations showed a large percentage of pursuers of the controversial fitness idea actually grew heavier over time.

During its weight gain stages, most participating volunteers acquired more mere flesh than muscles. They ended up with higher percentages of fat after multiple rising and falling of pounds.

More recent reviews unmasked marked increases in cholesterol and belly fat in 11 out of 19 separate comprehensive studies. This pretty demoralizing pattern appeared more pronounced among those who exclusively relied on diet as the only fitness enhancement technique.

Although the above-cited surveys didn’t delve beyond the fundamental research objectives at hand, health experts are unanimously convinced this dieting methodology may portend numerous other disadvantages…effectively scuttling allegedly cholesterol-burning purposes for which it’s designed.

Fatty Liver Incidents

Now that it’s a consistently established trend that ‘yo-yoing’ may cause one to add weight instead of lose it, fatty liver incidents might similarly increase. This fairly obscure complication occurs when liver cells accumulate unhealthy fatty deposits with a gradually swelling body mass.

Obesity is one of the most notorious causes of these, particularly dangerous fatty solids in the liver.

Critical cases of the resulting health menace can make the vital internal organ outright incapable of metabolizing sugars and fats – inviting type 2 diabetes and a host of other fatal medical conundrums. It may also occasion worse health issues such as chronic liver failure, more commonly known as cirrhosis.

Scientific experiments conducted in mice portrayed intermittent turns of weight loss and weight gain as a consistent risk factor harbingering significantly higher risks of fat-clogged liver. More painstaking studies would have to be undertaken to verify any analogies between rodent species and humans, though.

Higher Risk of Cardiovascular Issues

Weight cycling heightens the dieter’s chances of suffering various cardiovascular issues. In particular, it increases chances of the coronary artery disease – narrowing of key arteries that convey blood to the heart.

Given the sheer delicateness surrounding this fragile organ, every unerring caution must be observed to cushion it against unwarranted strain. Meticulous precautionary measures to guard the blood-pumping organ make a lot of economic sense, too…managing cardiovascular complications is a grossly costly and perilous gamble between life and death.

Obese people stand generally greater odds of coming down with some serious cardiac problem or other. And it’s thus important to note that such literally heart-wrenching complications become all the more probable among weight-cycling fitness zealots.

Yo-yo dieting fans have a common difficulty maintaining kilos within the same range and, consequently, possibilities of ending up with heart diseases rise accordingly. It would be far healthier to be simply obese and stay within that steady gamut…than to be lighter but then keep restlessly fluctuating across the scale.

Cardiovascular illnesses might come knocking pretty sooner than you expect.

Hypertension & Diabetes

The risks of hypertension and diabetes heighten markedly with cyclically alternating bouts of dieters growing lighter and heavier over extended durations. Since both blood sugar and blood pressure keep rising and falling as pounds wildly fluctuate, the two conditions present an indeed substantial threat.

The very ‘yo-yoing' pattern renders slimming and gaining weight far too sudden to allow the body adequate time to adjust physiologically. Someone exploring such regimens is more vulnerable to diabetes and hypertension than a plain obese counterpart who maintains their weight.

An in-depth study involving 66 adults who had pursued this evidently lopsided fitness ideology depicted hardly any blood pressure improvement after getting slimmer. It implied an unsettling lack of reverse ameliorative benefits as yo-yo dieters enter the dieting technique's weight-reducing phase.

Longer-term research findings, however, arrived at more inspiring conclusions: these health detriments rarely persisted beyond two decades after quitting the entire weight cycling fad. Any currently hypertensive or diabetic yo-yo fans may thus heave a well-justified sigh of relief, ultimately…and positively anticipate an unendurably healthier near-distant future.

Guest post: Jason Coote

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Marlene Rice is the founder of Palm Beach Coach. When she’s not serving her clients, she loves to travel. She calls West Palm Beach, Florida her home.

To get more information and about Herbalife products and expert advice email marlene@palmbeachcoach.com or call: 561-932-2938