Yo-Yo Dieting

Question:

"We have been told that yo-yo dieting is unhealthy. But is gradual weight loss followed by gradual weight gain really more unhealthy than just staying obese?"

Answer:

Perhaps not. Medical authorities agree the losing excess weight slowly and permanently, through reasonable calorie cuts and increased exercise is the ideal. But the experts say the perils that have been associated with rapid weight cycling through fad diets may not attach to a slow loss followed by a slow regain, especially if the dieter exercises.

A major review of three decades of scientific studies on weight cycling, published in the American Medical Association in 1994, concluded that the available evidence was not "sufficiently compelling to override the potential benefits of moderate weight loss in significantly obese patients" and said the majority of studies did "not support and adverse effect of weight cycling on metabolism."

The review conceded that many observational studies showed an association between variation in body weight and increased illness and death , but it said most of these studies did not examine intentional versus unintentional weight loss. and were not designed to determine the effects of weight cycling in obese patients, as oppose to those of normal weight.

"Therefore," the panel of experts concluded, "obese individuals should not allow concerns about hazards of weigh cycling to deter them from efforts to control their body weight." C. Claiborne Ray