A recent qualitative study highlights the adverse psychological and interpersonal effects associated with "yo-yo dieting," or weight cycling. This research sheds light on the harmful nature of this practice and the challenges individuals face in breaking out of this cycle."Yo-yo dieting - inadvertently gaining weight, dieting to lose weight, then gaining weight again and starting the cycle all over again - is a pervasive phenomenon in American culture, with fad diets and quick weight loss plans or drugs being normalized as people pursue beauty ideals," said Lindsay Romo, associate professor of communication at North Carolina State University and corresponding author of the study.
"Based on what we learned through this study and on existing research, we recommend that most people avoid dieting unless medically necessary. Our study also sheds light on how people can address the hidden dangers of weight cycling and challenge weight cycling."
For the study, researchers conducted in-depth interviews with 36 adults -- 13 men and 23 women -- who had experienced weight cycling, losing and regaining more than 11 pounds. The goal is to learn more about why and how people get into the yo-yo dieting cycle and how, if at all, they can get out of it.
All participants in the study said they wanted to lose weight because of social stereotypes about their weight and/or because they compared their weight to that of celebrities or peers.
"The vast majority of participants started dieting not for health reasons but because they felt social pressure to lose weight," Romo said.
Study participants also reported that they adopted various weight loss strategies, resulting in an initial loss of weight but ultimately gained it back.
The negative cycle of yo-yo dieting
Gaining back the weight can lead to feelings of shame and further internalize weight-related stigma - leaving study participants feeling worse about themselves than before they started the diet. This, in turn, often leads people to take increasingly extreme actions in an attempt to lose weight again.
"For example, many participants engaged in disordered weight management behaviors such as bingeing or emotional eating, restricting food and calories, memorizing calorie counts, stressing about their diet and the number on the scale, relying on quick-fix weight loss methods (such as low-carbohydrate diets or weight-loss drugs), overexercising, and avoiding social activities with food to lose weight quickly," Romo said. "Inevitably, these dieting behaviors became unsustainable and participants regained weight, often more than they had initially lost."
"Nearly all of the study participants were obsessed with their weight," said study co-author Katelin Mueller, a graduate student at North Carolina State University. "Losing weight became the focus of their lives, distracting them from spending time with friends, family and coworkers, and reducing temptations to gain weight such as drinking and overeating."
"Participants refer to this experience as addiction or a downward spiral," Romo said. "People who are able to understand and address their harmful dieting behaviors are more likely to break the cycle. Strategies people use to combat these toxic behaviors include focusing on their health rather than the number on the scale, and exercising for fun rather than counting the number of calories they consume. Participants who were more successful at challenging the cycle were also able to embrace healthy eating behaviors, such as eating variety and eating when hungry, rather than treating eating as something that needs to be closely monitored, controlled, or punished."
However, the researchers found that the vast majority of study participants fell into this cycle.
"The combination of entrenched thought patterns, social expectations, toxic dieting culture and pervasive weight stigma makes it difficult for people to break out of the cycle, even if they really want to," Romo said. "Ultimately, this study tells us that weight cycling is a negative practice that can cause people real harm. Our "The findings suggest that it is harmful for people to start dieting unless it is medically necessary. Dieting to meet a certain social standard can inadvertently set participants up for years of shame, body dissatisfaction, unhappiness, stress, social comparison and weight-related distress." "
Compiled source: ScitechDaily