Yo Yo Dieting Not as Bad as We Once Thought…..

Yo yo dieting used to be akin to eating badly all the time, at least in the way that we humans perceived it’s drawbacks.  But now, new research has come out that shows that yo yo dieting is actually better than never dieting at all, and that yo yo dieters (at least in mice) kept the same good benefits of eating right while they were doing it.

Those benefits kept during the correct eating times were lower blood sugar, blood pressure, and other associated health benefits with eating low fat and eating lower calorie intake.  It is commonly thought that those who go on and off dieting actually forfeit the health benefits of eating correctly when they frequently go off the diet.

However, this new research shows that it doesn’t make a difference. They still maintain those health benefits while they are eating right. Now, once they go off the diet, those benefits disappear, but the life span and other important elements are not changed.

In other words, it is better to diet and try to lose weight, take it off, and put it back on over and over like so many of us do, than to never take it off at all.  Dieting frequently doesn’t really throw your body off, or anything like that, although it may negatively influence your metabolism, which is probably reason enough alone to not yo yo diet frequently.

The hormones that are circulating in the body when there is more weight on the body are actually harmful to you.  When you reduce your weight and your body fat, these hormones instantly go down in proportion to the weight lost, so you get a proportionate benefit along with each time you lose weight.

This whole body of research blows holes in the theory that yo yo dieting is worse than not dieting at all.  There is really no reason for one to just throw their hands up and go “well I can’t keep it off, so I might as well just not try dieting any more”. The mental and physical benefits of losing that body fat are still there, even if you keep going in cycles.

Of course, the preference is that you keep your body weight steady at all times, but that’s not always practical, especially around holidays or times when we just don’t get as much physical activity in our lives (such as the long winters here in NE Ohio).