UP, DOWN, AND ... OUCH! It goes something like this: “Summer’s coming! Time to slim down.” Then, “Dessert? Yummy!” Followed by, “I can’t fit in my pants! Gotta cut back.” This is yo-yo dieting, when your weight has more ups and downs than a hotel elevator. It catches women and men, the young and the old. And it’s not just your waistline that takes a hit. It may hurt your long-term health, too.
FRUITLESS
CHASE: Atkins. Paleo. Whole360. Fruitarian. Skip gluten on
Wednesdays unless it’s a full moon. No matter which diet you try, the data is
in. And the message is clear: Diets don’t work. At least not in the long run.
Sure, you can lose weight, but after a year, at least 1 in 3 of us gain it
back. After 5 years? Almost no one keeps it off.
YOUR
HUNGER ON OVERDRIVE: Your fat cells make a hormone called leptin. It tells
your brain when you have enough fat stored up. As you lose weight, less fat
means less leptin. That makes you hungry. Plus, your body slows things down to
save energy. So once you quit the diet, you have an oversized appetite but you
burn fewer calories. That’s partly why after several cycles of yo-yo diets, you
might weigh more than when you started.
MORE
FAT, LESS MUSCLE: When you drop pounds from your body, you lose both fat
and muscle. When you gain it back, fat gets the fast lane and builds up first.
But your appetite stays in high gear until your muscle returns, which means you
keep adding fat, too. Oddly, this seems more of a problem for lean people than
those who are overweight. Repeat the cycle over and over, and you get the
triple whammy of more weight and fat and less muscle.
DEEP
CHANGES INSIDE YOUR BODY: Just a few extra pounds can set off huge changes in your
body. You get more inflammation, which normally helps you fight disease. And it
can harm your heart and make you more resistant to insulin. Genes that can lead
to an enlarged heart get switched on, too. Lose the weight, and you mostly
erase these changes. But you don’t totally reset, and the long-term health effects
are unclear.
LINK
BETWEEN STRESS AND FAT: Dieting isn’t easy. Every episode of weight gain and
weight loss can toy with your mind. That alone might raise your level of
cortisol, the stress hormone. And when you cut your calories? That does it,
too. That’s a problem because high cortisol means you’re more likely to add fat
around your belly, which raises your risk for problems like diabetes and heart
disease.
A PATH
TO BINGE EATING: Not everyone who yo-yo diets ends up bingeing, but it can
set you up for it. It’s like stretching a rubber band too tight. When you
finally let go of all the tension around short-term, gotta-lose-weight-now
thinking, it’s a perfect storm to let loose. And it’s very harmful for young
people, especially girls. Teens and preteens who call themselves dieters are
more likely to binge eat and become overweight.
LINKS TO
HEART DISEASE: Scientists aren’t yet sure what yo-yo diets do to your
heart over time. But the results so far don’t look good. In the short term,
regaining weight stresses your heart and blood vessels. A large study showed
that the more your weight goes up and down, the more you’re likely to have
problems like angina, heart attack, and stroke. And the bigger the swings, the
bigger the risk.
LINKS TO
GALLSTONES: You’ve heard of kidney stones. Well, your gallbladder can
get stones, too. Being overweight can make you get them. Tricky thing is, so
can losing weight too quickly, like on a crash diet. As you repeat the weight
gain-loss cycle, your chances for having a gallstone keep going up. And the
odds rise higher the more weight you lose and regain.
MESSES
WITH GUT BACTERIA: Your gut’s loaded with germs. Don’t cringe. They help you
digest food. And it turns out that yo-yo dieting can change the number and
types of bacteria hanging out inside you. Since they play a role in everything
from heart health to depression, that could affect your overall health, too.
VARIETY
IS YOUR FRIEND: Skip fats. Never mind. Skip carbs. Go high in proteins?
When you swing from one fad to the next, your body’s going to feel like a,
well, yo-yo. And the more extreme you get, the more problems might arise. Food
is a necessity, but it can start to feel like the enemy. If you don’t eat a
healthy assortment, you may not get all the nutrients you need. And that can
lead to serious health issues.
GIVE
YO-YO A SHOVE: Scientists are divided on what yo-yo dieting means for
your long-term health. Some say it’s not an issue. Others say that it affects
everything from your bones to your risk for diabetes and cancer. The
upshot? It’s complicated. We do know this. If you’re stuck in a yo-yo pattern,
something isn’t working. And if it might harm you to boot, it’s time for a
different path to a healthy weight.
SHIFT
YOUR MINDSET: Diets suck you into short-term thinking, and they can
mess with your feelings around food. So it helps to step back and reset. Why do
you diet? If you want to be healthier, it’s really about changing how you eat
for the long term. You’ll also need to exercise regularly to keep the pounds
off. So, ditch the idea of a quick fix and think about how to make changes that
can really work for you.
SET
REALISTIC GOALS: To get healthy, you need a plan that fits your life. Set
goals that are small, clear, and doable. Instead of aiming to lose 20 pounds,
maybe start with a pound a week. Or practice mindful eating for a week. Notice
when you feel hungry or full, chew with attention, and savor your food. Start
small and add more goals as you go along. It’s easier to stay motivated when
you set yourself up for success.
GET TEAM
SUPPORT: It’s not a matter of willpower. Your body doesn’t want to
shed the weight, and it’s got all kinds of ways to hang on to it. That means
you, too, need to pull hard. Gather up a team. Talk to your doctor and a
dietitian. Get friends and family involved or find an online community. You’ll
need them. And tap into technology, like apps that help you track what you eat
and how much exercise you get.
REVIEWED BY: Melinda Ratini, DO, MS, WebMD on April 07, 2020
International Journal of
Exercise Science:
“Consequences of Weight Cycling: An Increase in Disease Risk?”
Obesity Review: “Pathways from dieting to weight regain,
to obesity and to the metabolic syndrome: an overview,” “How dieting makes the
lean fatter: from a perspective of body composition autoregulation through
adipostats and proteinstats awaiting discovery.”
Hormone Health Network: “What
Is Leptin?” “What Is Cortisol?”
Cell Systems: “Integrative Personal Omics Profiles
during Periods of Weight Gain and Loss.”
Psychosomatic Medicine: “Low Calorie Dieting Increases Cortisol.”
Yale News: “Study: Stress may
cause excess abdominal fat in otherwise slender women.”
International Journal of
Obesity: “Association of weight
change, weight control practices, and weight cycling among women in the Nurses'
Health Study II.”
National Centre for Eating
Disorders: “The Psychology Of Dieting.”
Pediatrics: “Relation Between Dieting and Weight
Change Among Preadolescents and Adolescents.”
The New England Journal of Medicine: “Body-Weight Fluctuations and Outcomes in
Coronary Disease.”
National Institute of Diabetes
and Digestive and Kidney Diseases: “Dieting and Gallstones.”
University of Washington,
Center for Ecogenetics and Environmental Health: “Fast Facts about the Human
Microbiome.”
Current Opinion in
Gastroenterology:
“The gut microbiome in health and in disease.”
Clinical Psychopharmacology and
Neuroscience: “The Gut-Brain Axis: The
Missing Link in Depression.”
Obesity Action Coalition: “The
Risks of the Crash Diet.”
Mayo Clinic News Network: “Mayo
Clinic Q and A: Planning for Successful Weight Loss.”
Mayo Clinic: “Weight loss: 6
strategies for success,” “Weight-loss goals: Set yourself up for success.”
HelpGuide.org: “How to Lose
Weight and Keep It Off.”
Harvard Health Publishing: “7
habits to help you lose weight and keep it off.”
Much Love,
Dr.Shermaine, #InformativeRead #PleaseShare #HealthyBodySoulAndSpirit
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