Hey! I was searching on the net about dieting and came across this article called “yo-yo dieting.”
What in the world is YO-YO dieting? That’s what I thought to myself.
Well, it has absoluting NOTHING to do with yo-yos!
Apparently, Yo-yo dieting, also known as weight cycling, is a repeated loss and gain of body weight due to excessive dieting. This is happening to many of the teens in the world today. What happens is that many girls nowadays are SO into losing weight, and losing it FAST may I add….
Therefore, they starve themselves for days and eventually lose some weight though starvation. However, by doing this, their meatbolism decreases. What happens after that is that once the person starts to consume food again as they cannot withstand the hunger, the food is immediately stored as fats since it cannot be broken down as efficiently as before. So the person puts on more weight once again and seeks to lose the regained weight and the cycle continues……..
The term “yo-yo dieting” was coined by Kelly D. Brownell, Ph.D., at Yale University, in reference to the cyclical up-down motion of a yo-yo.
This is a particularly ineffective method of sustaining weight loss which leaves the yo-yo dieter feeling lethargic and fatigued. In addition, after completing the diet, the dieter is likely to experience the body’s famine response, leading to rapid weight gain of only fat. This is a dangerous fat-cycle that changes the body’s fat to muscle ratio, one of the more important factors in health.
If one of us is an unfortunate yo-yo dieter, how should we solve this problem you ask?
Well, metabolism can be restored to a higher level with exercise and a sensible weight-loss diet. This diet is defined by the minimum safe daily caloric intake of 75 percent of the basal metabolic rate or 4200 kilojoules (1000 Calories), whichever is greater. Once an ideal weight is attained, a weight-maintenance diet is essential. This requires limiting excess caloric intake and making small changes in caloric intake in response to physical observations of one’s weight and appearance.
So, to all those out there who wish to lose weight, a balanced diet and exercise is essential. Don’t become a yo-yo dieter as it will only lead to a sad ending!
