Choosing to Yo-Yo May Mess with Your MoJo
The adverse effects of weight cycling on physical and psychological wellness
It’s Monday evening. You buoyantly step onto the scale and squeal in delight when it tells you what you already suspected based on your daily body inspection in the mirror. You’ve lost weight! A whole 3.5 pounds, to be exact. The diet pills are working. You skip off the scale in celebration of your success. You’re headed in the right direction, and nothing can bring you down.
It’s Saturday. The number on the scale takes you aback. It looks like you’ve gained those 3.5 pounds back, and then some. Remember when you said nothing could bring you down? Well, as it turns out, you were wrong. How did this happen to me? Then it hits you. Perhaps you took your celebration too far when you ate that decadent triple-layered chocolate mousse cake on Thursday. I deserve it, you told yourself at the time. But surely you don’t deserve this setback. Just like that, the effervescent feeling you had just days ago has fizzled away.
It’s Friday, the following week. The scale records that you’ve lost those 3.5 pounds again due to significant restriction and calorie counting. This time, you don’t know whether you should laugh or cry but one thing is certain: you’re back at square one.
The experience above is a fortnight in the life of a weight cycler. Weight cycling, more commonly known as yo-yo dieting, is the phenomenon of rapidly losing weight only to regain it shortly afterward. When this cycle of losing and gaining weight repeats itself, again and again, it’s sure to leave you feeling stuck and exhausted. The first step to breaking free from this roller coaster ride is to realize just how detrimental yo-yo dieting can be to both your body and your psyche.
The physiological effects of weight cycling have long been the subject of study by researchers. One such research study found that constant weight fluctuations can cause spikes in heart rate, blood pressure, cholesterol, and triglycerides which in turn apply abnormal pressure on the cardiovascular system, thereby increasing the risk of suffering from hypertension or even a heart attack or stroke. Although not all researchers agree on the magnitude of these risks, the fact that such health conditions might be exacerbated by weight cycling, should be enough to give anyone pause.
While the thought of putting your body through that kind of strain is definitely less than stellar, the toll that the yo-yo effect has on your mind is just as concerning. When your weight is swinging like a pendulum, the dizziness and constant hypervigilance can lead to feelings of disappointment and frustration bordering on depression.
Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be that way. After serving hundreds of clients over the past few years, I know there is a better way to feel strong in your body, make wiser choices and ditch the weight cycling. Devon, Allie and I work diligently with every client we have to provide the support and accountability they need to feel good physically and attend to themselves emotionally.
It IS possible, and we can do it together.
Foreyt JP, Brunner RL, Goodrick GK, Cutter G, Brownell KD, St Jeor ST. Psychological correlates of weight fluctuation. Int J Eat Disord 1995; 17: 263–275.
Lahti-Koski M, Mannisto S, Pietinen P, Vartiainen E. Prevalence of weight cycling and its relation to health indicators in Finland. Obes Res 2005; 13: 333–341.