What Happens to Your Body When You Follow Yo-Yo Diet

Are you interested in losing weight? Then you must know about weight cycling procedures. Weight cycling is an effective pattern of losing weight, regaining it and then going on dieting again. Through this procedure, you can lose weight in a short time with simple efforts. This weight losing plan is known as the Yo-Yo Diet. A large number of people follow yo-yo- diet plan to lose weight. This is a common dieting plan that is followed by around 40% of people including men and women.

This article includes all necessary details about the yo-yo diet, its effects and problems related to this diet.

Yo-Yo Diet: Up, Down and Ouch

Like a large number of people, you may also experience weight maintaining problems especially during summer. Summer needs a shedding of extra weight but in the hot weather it is difficult to resist eating cool, yummy desserts to kick off the harsh effects of hot weather. That’s why you may not fit into your pants after a few weeks of summer. This is the time you have to cut your extra mass. Now you’re going towards a yo-yo diet. 

Yo-yo diet is like an elevator that remains in motion between gaining and losing weight. All men , women, old and young people get caught in this up and down cycle. But the point to ponder is that it not only affects your waistline but also damages your overall health.

Fruitless Chase

No matter what type of diet you follow, your weight loss management depends on your consistency not on diet. That’s why they would fail to get desired results. So the message is clear that you shouldn’t depend only on diets to lose weight.there are more factors that affect your weight loss or weight gain. Even if you strictly follow a diet for a longer duration, you may get it back again after a slight carelessness. 

Therefore,it’s essential to note the factors that make your efforts useless in weight loss management.

Problems Related to Yo-Yo Diet

A Yo-yo dieting is not an effective way of losing weight because a slight distraction brings you back to zero. But if you learn about the factors that make your efforts bill, you can lose weight by following this up, down cycle. If you want to save yourself from punch moments, keep on reading and learn about problems related to yo-yo diet.

Increased Appetite and More Weight Gain

A hormone, leptin, is found in your body that makes you feel full. When you are on diet, you lose your fat. The decrease in fat reservoirs leads to decrease in the leptin levels and as a result you feel more hungry. This explains that the fat reservoir actually traps the leptin released into your bloodstream and uses it to make you feel full after eating smaller portions. The stored fats signal your brain that there is enough energy in your body and you don’t need more food. That’s why you feel fuller and eat less. 

But when you cut fat due to following a diet, the decree in leptin increases your appetite. Your body signals that the energy reservoirs have been depleted and the body needs more energy. This is the reason you feel more hungry and eat more to satisfy your hunger. 

In addition, you also lose your muscle mass during dieting leading to conservation of energy in the body.  If you follow a diet strictly, you usually lose 50 to 60% of your body mass or weight that can be regained after a few months. Sometimes, you gain more weight after leaving a diet plan than you have before.This is the top phase of a yo-yo diet where you have gained more weight than you ever have. It’s the time when you need another weight loss cycle. 

Studies show that weight loss is a trigger that increases your appetite and alarms about the depletion of energy stores. That’s why most yo-yo dieters gain more weight after a great weight loss.

Higher Percentage of Body Fat

Research showed that people following a yo-yo diet often experience an increased percentage of fat storage in their body. But you know body fat is regained more quickly and feasibly than muscle mass. This is the cause of more body fat percentage within a few days. 

Several studies have explained with proof that after following a yo-yo diet people get a higher percentage of body fat, especially a greater amount of belly fat. Unlike other weight loss diets, yo-yo diet effects are more intense. Because you get a higher percentage of belly fat than any other diet risks. Fat gain is harder to lose again in many cases. That;s why it is good to discuss with your dietitian before following a yo-yo diet. 

Muscle Loss in Down Phase

Like all other dieting plans, people following a yo-yo diet also lose muscle mass after dieting. This is the down phase. But you know that fat gain is easier than muscle mass gain. Muscle mass loss leads to more loss of muscle if you continue dieting over time. The loss of muscle mass leads to decrease in physical endurance, strength and overall health.  

As a result, you experience many health related issues. The only way to reduce these bad effects is to engage yourself into a light exercise routine. You can try cardio or strength training exercises for this purpose. Exercise is the best way to grow your muscles without disturbing the remaining body parts. The rest of the body will remain  slim and your muscles can grow by doing exercise.

In addition, during dieting, your body also needs more protein to maintain muscle mass. so, it is good to add more protein rich food into your diet to reduce muscle loss.  

Moreover, studies show that people following a diet eating more protein often show less muscle loss. These studies also claim that weight loss actually leads to severe muscle loss that can harm your muscle mass percentage. Eating more protein and taking exercise are the effective ways to reduce your muscle loss.

Regaining of Weight Leading to Fatty Liver

Yo-yo diet is the cycle of losing and regaining weight. So when you are in its up phase you regain weight. Gaining weight leads to storage of more fat in your body. More fat storage means your liver is storing more fat inside, leading to fatty liver. Thus,  fatty liver is the indicator of obesity and weight gain. These factors put you at risk. Fatty liver is the greater cause of harmful changes in the metabolism of sugar and fats. Disturbed liver metabolism leads to type 2 diabetes, and chronic liver failure, known as cirrhosis.

In addition, an old mice study showed that  weight gain  and weight loss cycles often cause fatty liver. The studies also claimed that fat storage in the liver leads to permanent liver damage or liver failure.

Increased Risk of Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes developing risk is another dark aspect of a yo-yo diet. Although all studies do not agree with it but many of these found that practicing a yo-yo diet is closely associated with type 2 diabetes. 6 out of 20 studies conclude results after research that most of the participants regained weight after a weight loss journey and they got most of the weight around their belly i.e. belly fat. Belly fat is linked with higher risks of developing type 2 diabetes. Fat stored in other parts of the body like hips. Legs or arms are not as dangerous as belly fat. 

In addition, another 2018 animal based study found that rats who were subjected to weight cycling gained more weight as compared to those who gained weight constantly. The reason is increased levels of insulin. Higher concentration of insulin is the indicator of diabetes. 

However, this study is not applied to humans. More research is needed to prove that a yo-yo diet causes the increased risk of diabetes. 

Increased Risk of Heart Disease

Yo-yo diet is a weight cycling procedure that often leads to cardiovascular diseases. This type of disease often damages the heart tissues or blood vessels. In this condition the arteries and veins become narrower and cannot supply blood and other materials to body and heart respectively. Yo-yo diet, if not followed strictly, causes side effects in the form of being overweight that is more than the weight you had before dieting. This weight gain that is even more than being overweight often ends in a heart disease. 

Several studies show that increased weight after a weight loss cycle is the leading cause of heart disease. It means more weight gain after a great weight loss results in greater risk of cardiovascular disease.

In addition, many studies suggested that large variations and abrupt fluctuations in weight over time increases risk of death due to a heart disease. 

Increase in Blood Pressure

Weight gain after dieting through a yo-yo diet plan is closely associated with an increase in blood pressure. Weight gain after a weight loss is a matter of concern because yo-yo dieting hides all the healthy effects of weight loss if it causes high blood pressure. The matter becomes worse when the high blood pressure causes other serious life threatening health conditions.

Another longer-term study showed that a yo-yo diet doesn’t affect you during youth time but afterwards in middle age it starts showing its side effects. Its greater use effect that was shown in late ages is high blood pressure. Most side effects fade after 10 to 15 years but high blood pressure is the only side effect of a yo-yo diet that gets worse over time. 

Moreover, many research baked studies found that the yo-yo diet dined a decade before has more harmful effects than that is done in the present. This means more the time passed in losing and gaining weight cycle, more will be the risk of increased blood pressure in future life.

Leads to Frustration and Stress

Yo-yo diets need a lot of hard work for losing weight. You put great efforts to lose weight but regaining weight after intense efforts causes frustration and stress. The frustrating situations often end in anxiety disorders. Studies show that people who practiced a yo-yo diet in part felt dissatisfied with their oriental life and health status. These people also complained about lack of self-efficacy regarding their health and body. They felt that they had lost control of their body. This thought makes them frustrated and hopeless. That is not only a disturbing aspect of their life but also leads them towards a miserable life. 

However, research still doesn’t support the idea that a yo-yo diet is the cause of depression or negative thoughts. Researchers suggest that yo-yo diets never cause self-restraint and negative personality traits. This means, if you had trouble during a yo-yo diet in the past, you shouldn’t dominate those thoughts in your present life. You shouldn’t allow yourself to feel guilty, hopeless or defeated. Instead you should think that the diet you were following was not helpful in achieving your goal and does not fit for long-term results according to your desire. Never take it a pedal failure and always get ready to try something else.

Conclusion

A cycle of short-term changes in your physical activities and eating habits is the other name of the yo-yo diet. That’s why its effects are also short-term and temporary. When you practice a yo-yo diary, you lose weight after a strict dieting but it also increases your appetite and when you go through light mode of the diet cycle your body hangs on to fat. The fat often accumulated around your belly. This weight gain is worse than your actual weight. Sometimes this weight gain is more than being overweight. Therefore, often people who follow a yo-yo diet end up back where they started the weight loss journey. 

Yo-yo diet also causes an abrupt increase in your expense of strength, muscle mass and body fat percentage leading to type 2 diabetes, heart disease, fatty liver and high blood pressure. Weight gain  after weight loss causes frustration that makes your life dull and miserable. Doing some lifestyle changes can help you break the frustrating impact of a yo-yo diet.