Yo-yo diet can be classified as one among several types of popular diets. It is often called as “weight cycling” due to its cyclical pattern of recurring loss and gain of bodyweight. Some of the most popular manners for this are skipping meals and consuming very few calories. Despite the fact that it is very popular among dieters, it is proven unsuccessful and even harmful means of weight reduction program. Dieters often gain initial hit in the first several days, but because the body needs much more in return, the weight loss obtained from the process often becomes hard to endure for long. The result is clear, dieters regain their lost weight.
The name Yo-yo diet was taken from the nature of a toy yo-yo. It was first coined by Kelly D. Brownell, Ph.D, an American scientist and esteemed expert on obesity and weight control at Yale University. The up-down action of the toy resembles the reactions of the body toward starvation. When the body feels that it is running out of energy, it kicks on its famine response, i.e a defense mechanism that aims to protect fat stores by using up lean tissue and muscle for energy instead. This, in turn, weakens the stability of muscles. Because the amount of muscle in the body is directly proportional to metabolic rate, a loss of muscle also means the loss of metabolic rate. While this process seems natural in the case of actual famine, it is not acceptable for being a regular basis for weight-loss diet.
The yo-yo diet operates in a similar manner that it becomes harder each time a dieter wants to lose weight. As the yo-yo comes closer to the end of its string, the plastic spool starts spinning less rapidly. In the similar process, the yo-yo diet follower may find the goal of reducing weight more and more difficult to maintain, leading him towards depression and low motivation. As soon as the dieter starts making an effort to eat normally again, all the weight regained will be amassed in the form of fat. The yo-yo diet essentially gets in the way with a healthy body’s normal fat-to-muscle ratio, which is the most important aspect of good health.
In order to prevent the side effects of yo-yo diet, excessive irregular diets should be avoided. Very strict diet is not only harmful for health but also hard to maintain. Unstable bodyweight tends to lower good cholesterol (the LDL) and disrupts the bloodflow to the heart which, at the end, may trigger heartattack. WHO sources state that safe weight reduction ranges around 2-3 lbs per week. Experts agree that the yo-yo diet is not a healthy way to lose weight in the long run. However, alternatives that help dieters lose their excess poundage without altering the body’s fat to muscle ratio do exist.
