"Weight cycling" refers to the repeated process of gaining and losing weight multiple times over a period.
Full definition
I've seen countless friends, family and clients struggle
with weight cycling or what is typically called yo - yo dieting.
Weight cycling studies suggest this process ends up making a body with more inflammation and higher insulin levels 1, 2, 3, 4.
Weight cycling in the normal - weight women was also associated with a 66 percent increased risk for coronary heart disease deaths.
And while data
on weight cycling is sparse, some experts say it can take a physical and psychological toll.
However, they fail to warn you about the increased risk of eating disorders and
weight cycling among dieting women with PCOS.
The goal isn't to use a huge amount of weight and «max out» every time you're at the gym; rather, the goal is to add a small amount
of weight each cycle so that several weeks or months down the line you'll be using substantially heavier weights.
Repeatedly losing and regaining weight, known
as weight cycling or yo - yo dieting, may increase the risk of death from heart disease among postmenopausal women who were of normal weight at the start of the study, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2016.
Many times, those who go
through weight cycling are increasing * their risk of cardiovascular disease, type two diabetes and increasing * their chances in maintaining a high BMI indicative of obesity per the study conducted at the Department of Health and Human Performance through the University of Houston.
This group of people «should not worry
about weight cycling or fluctuations in body weight, because basically they are not increasing their risk,» Dr. Rasla said.
In fact, most of the research out there actually suggests that dieting just
creates weight cycling, which in a nutshell is the yo - yo effect so many people are familiar with; you diet, your cravings feel out of control, you end up overeating and feel the heavy waves of guilt, and then find yourself on another diet soon thereafter.
Physically recent studies have correlated this lose weight -
gain weight cycle - lose again cycle also called yo - yo weight loss to high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and depression.
This yo - yo weight loss also
called weight cycling is defined as a weight loss of more than 10 pounds and then you rebound and gain 10 or more pounds.
If diets are actually harmful long term...
promoting weight cycling, higher insulin levels, higher tryglycerides, higher blood sugars, depression, and negative body image....
Research has shown that if you're overweight when you're young, you'll probably be heavier as an adult — and more discouraged than ever by yo -
yo weight cycling.
But this pattern creates a less - than - productive cycle that can result in increased guilt, body distrust,
harmful weight cycling — basically, an unhealthy relationship with food instead of a sustainable, long - term healthy lifestyle.
Jen KL, Lu H, Savona L, Watkins A, Shaw M. Long -
term weight cycling reduces body weight and fat free mass, but not fat mass in female Wistar rats.
Mann and Tomiyama recommend that more research be conducted on the health effects of losing and gaining weight, noting that scientists do not fully understand how
such weight cycling leads to adverse health effects.
He quickly learned through periods
of weight cycling that if he was going to accomplish his fitness goals, it would have to be through a steady, healthy diet, complemented by hard work in the gym.
Losing and regaining weight repeatedly, known
as weight cycling or yo - yo dieting, may increase the risk of death from heart disease among postmenopausal women.
«
With weight cycling, there's this constant love - hate relationship with food,» notes Riley Thornton, RDN, a dietitian and wellness specialist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Because weight regain is the rule not the exception,
weight cycling studies — the research word for yo - yo dieting — come in handy.
Weight cycling, with both increases and decreases in body weight, was also observed in more than a third of patients.
«
Weight cycling is an emerging global health concern associated with attempts of weight loss, but there have been inconsistent results about the health hazards for those who experience weight cycling behavior,» said Somwail Rasla, M.D., study lead author and internal medicine resident at Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island, Alpert Medical School, Brown University, in Providence, Rhode Island.
Researchers classified self - reported weight history from 158,063 post-menopausal women into four categories: stable weight, steady gain, maintained weight loss, and
weight cycling.
«More research is needed before any recommendations can be made for clinical care regarding the risks of
weight cycling, since these results apply only to postmenopausal women and not to younger - aged women or men,» Rasla said.
«Normal - weight women usually have less adaptive mechanisms in their body, compared to overweight and obese women, when they [are] exposed to... the hazardous effects of
weight cycling,» he said in a video on the American Heart Association website.
But Dr. Rasla says that often,
weight cycling is tied to stress eating and crash diets.
This type of «
weight cycling» was also linked to a 66 % increased risk for death related to coronary heart disease in those women.
Data shows that most people do have
a weight cycle that involves losing a bit on weekdays only to gain it back over the weekend.
Have you struggled with yo - yo dieting,
weight cycling, and weight gain?
If we let judgment control our food choices, it only leads to
weight cycling and a tumultuous relationship with food.
Losing weight and then regaining it, known as yo - yo dieting or
weight cycling, can make subsequent weight loss more difficult as well as more rapid weight regain.
If you're yo - yoing, say, 20 pounds with
each weight cycle, eventually your skin goes slack, especially as you age, says Alan Matarasso, MD, clinical professor of surgery at the Hofstra / Northwell School of Medicine in Hempstead, New York.
After a binge, people go back to dieting, «and that's how
that weight cycling starts.»
The vicious down - again, up - again pattern — known as
weight cycling or yo - yo dieting — can really be demoralizing.
Weight cycling may also change your physiology and affect your hormones by increasing the hormone gherlin, which is a hunger hormone.
Those that tend to fall into
this weight cycling conundrum are those who follow very strict or calorie restrictive diets.
Obesity is a very real issue and unfortunately for most who lose * weight initially are unlikely to maintain, and more likely to go through periods of weight loss * and gain known as
weight cycling.
As a dietitian with a weight management certificate I have used these techniques with much long - term success which puts an end to fad diets and
weight cycling.
Weight cycling may also have negative psychological and behavioral consequences; studies have reported increased risk for psychopathology, life dissatisfaction, and binge eating.
Sometimes it is called «
weight cycling».
The more we diet, or
weight cycle, the more we weigh.