Some obese people have decided to quit trying to lose weight out of fear that yo-yo dieting is worse for their health than just staying fat.
For a long time, weight cycling has been described as unhealthy, with some claims suggesting it might even be worse for body health than simply remaining at a weight that’s actually higher.
But the science behind this claim was never really in-depth and crystal clear.
However, a new scientific review challenges that idea pretty directly.
A major paper published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology argues that the evidence behind those warnings is actually pretty weak.
Researchers Scoured Through Decades of Studies on Yo-Yo Dieting
Researchers from the University of Copenhagen and the German Center for Diabetes Research, along with teams at University Hospital Tübingen and Helmholtz Munich, went through decades of studies on the topic.
They examined both human and animal research, including observational studies and controlled clinical trials.
Their focus was on whether repeated weight loss and regain actually causes lasting harm to metabolism, body composition or overall health.
After reviewing the data, they didn’t find strong or consistent evidence that weight cycling itself is harmful to obese individuals.
What’s to fear about yo-yo dieting?
For years, yo-yo dieting has been blamed for negative outcomes.
These include losing muscle mass, slowing down metabolism, increasing fat gain over time, and raising the risk of conditions like type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Strength training to build lean muscle tissue wasn’t part of these concerns — you’re not going to lose muscle tissue if you train with weights and get in an adequate amount of nutritious calories.
Your metabolism won’t slow down with your new muscle, either.
None of the above claims against weight cycling were never tightly sealed.
Nevertheless, some people have been discouraged from persevering with weight loss attempts — even those who are morbidly obese — worrying that large fluctuations in weight could backfire and damage their health.
What the Deep Dive Shows
Across the studies they reviewed, the researchers found that once you take into account factors like aging, pre-existing health conditions and overall exposure to obesity, most of the supposed dangers of weight cycling tend to disappear.
Yo-yo dieting, in and of itself, is not the enemy.
There was also no clear pattern showing that weight cycling leads to permanent metabolic damage or major long-term muscle loss.
What leads to muscle loss is the absence of resistance training!
- This loss normally begins at around age 30 — whether someone weight cycles or not.
- The prevention of this deficit is that of building lean muscle, not the giving up of fat loss attempts.
In many cases, when people regain weight, their body composition ends up looking quite similar to where they started rather than becoming progressively worse.
The review also failed to find strong evidence that weight cycling is what drives gradual long-term fat gain.
Instead, other factors tied to obesity itself appear to be way more relevant.
Don’t Confuse Weight Regain with Harm
The harm with gaining back the weight is that of becoming fat again, rather than the fluctuations.
When weight is regained, people often lose the improvements they had achieved during weight loss, such as better blood sugar control, improved cholesterol profile, lower blood pressure, reduction in back or knee pain, more ease of movement and improved stamina.
But losing those improvements does not automatically mean a person is worse off than before they lost weight in the first place. Instead, they’re just simply back to “square 1.”
Putting the weight back on mainly brings health markers back toward their previous levels rather than pushing them beyond them in a harmful direction.
Several large studies support this. When researchers adjust for average body weight over time, the link between weight cycling and higher risks of disease largely disappears.
This suggests that excess body fat itself, rather than the pattern of losing and regaining weight, is the main driver of chronic illness risk.
The Point of Losing Weight if “I’m just Gonna Gain It All Back”
The point in any endeavor is to KEEP TRYING. Never give up.
Even temporary weight loss can still provide meaningful health improvements while it lasts — the knees and back will feel so much better; no more acid reflux; more energy for the activities of daily living; lower blood pressure.
Overall, the authors suggest that people with overweight or obesity should not avoid weight loss attempts out of fear that yo-yo dieting will damage their metabolism.
The investigation makes it clear that the idea of repeated dieting permanently harming metabolic health is not backed by strong scientific evidence.
