Yo-yo diet, also called weight cycling, is fraught with dangers, both physical and psychological, and should be avoided at all costs, emphasizes Sherin Thomas, Chief Nutritionist, Aster MIMS Hospital, Calicut.
Could you tell us a little about Yo-yo dieting?
Yo-yo dieting is known as weight cycling. It is a cyclical loss and gain of weight same as like the up and down motion of a yoyo. In this diet, by having a hypo caloric diet (diet low in calorie), a person loses a good amount of weight, but is unsuccessful in maintaining the loss long term and begins to gain the weight back.
Why is Yo-yo diet harmful to health?
Weight cycling is not healthy and is dangerous to health as well. When you go on a fad diet and exclude necessary nutrients, you are putting yourself at risk for becoming ill. Getting too little of any nutrient may not cause immediate problem but in long term, you may find health issues.
Do you think repeated cycles of weight loss and regain makes one predisposed to obesity?
There are many studies showing that there is a strong association between weight cycling and increased weight and body fat, specifically belly fat, subsequently increasing the risk of obesity.
How does a rapid increase of weight affect metabolism?
Rapid/ Sudden increase of weight can cause gain in fat and loss of muscle. This increased adiposity can cause insulin resistance. Sudden weight gain happens when there is excess intake of calories and less physical activity; this can slow down your metabolism.
Do weight cyclers often have an enhanced preference for fatty foods – Why is it so?
Craving for fatty foods may be just be a kind of emotional release from the restriction - we always want but we can’t have. If a person has eaten a lot of low fat, low calorie food, there may be a biological drive to seek out some calorie dense high fat food.
Does sudden weight loss in women lead to hormonal imbalance and menstrual disturbances as well?
Yes, extreme weight loss can cause disturbances in the menstrual cycle. Not consuming enough calories can interfere with the production of the hormones needed for ovulation. Sudden and significant calorie restriction paired with strenuous exercise may cause a stress response that alters hormone levels, interrupts ovulation and causes missed or delayed periods. This results in lower estrogen level in the body which is harmful for bone health.
How does repeated weight loss and gain affect blood sugars?
Drastically cutting back on calories can lead to dangerously low blood glucose and over eating after weeks of deprivation can raise blood sugars. Research shows that, Yo-yo dieting may increase insulin resistance, a condition that occurs when your body can’t efficiently utilize the insulin in the natural way.
Weight cycling is also known to have negative impact on psychological and behavioral consequences. Could you comment?
The psychological effect of yo-yo dieting can be severe, leading to depression and lack of confidence, because you are never truly satisfied with how you feel. Yo-yo dieting makes you feel good when your weight is down and vice versa, causing very real and unnecessary mood swings.
So considering yo-yo diet is detrimental to health on so many counts, could anybody benefit from it?
No, it only gives short term satisfaction when you lose weight.
What is the best and safest diet plan for losing weight?
The ideal diet for treatment of overweight and obesity is defined as being safe, efficacious, healthy, nutritionally adequate, culturally acceptable, and economically affordable. It should further ensure long term compliance and maintenance of weight loss effect. A healthy balanced diet is rich in vegetables and high quality proteins with moderate amount of whole grain products and poor in added sugars, refined grains, fat and processed foods. Physical activity and energy expenditure plays significant role in weight management.
Tips for healthy weight loss programme include
- Reduce body fat and maintain muscle mass
- Skipping meals must be strictly avoided
- Restrict amount of diet intake
- Eat more low-calorie foods
- Avoid eating high-calorie and fatty diets cooked by using oils such as deep fried or pan-fried foods
- Exercise regularly with diet modifications.
- Start dietary self-monitoring tools e.g. diary of daily diets and weight reduction trends to improve long-term success in weight control.
- It is highly recommended to have a monthly consultation with nutritionists and dieticians in order to ensure healthy weight management programs are appropriately used for sustainable weight loss with no negative effects to general health.
