AFP – Starting a diet is no small undertaking, and certainly not one to be taken lightly.
In fact, a new American study urges people to think twice about dieting, pointing to the notorious yo-yo effect, the result of medically unnecessary diets. The findings of this research alert people to the importance of making informed choices, rather than succumbing to societal pressure.
“Yo-yo dieting – unintentionally gaining weight and dieting to lose weight only to gain it back and restart the cycle – is a prevalent part of American culture, with fad diets and lose-weight-quick plans or drugs normalised as people pursue beauty ideals,” said the study’s corresponding author, Lynsey Romo, an associate professor of communication at North Carolina State University, quoted in a news release.
This was the starting point for a team of American researchers to investigate why and how men and women enter this vicious cycle, and what the harmful effects are.
For the purposes of their research, the scientists conducted in-depth interviews with 36 adults who had suffered the torments of the yo-yo effect, having first lost weight before regaining more than five kilogrammes (kg).
Importantly, the vast majority of participants had not started dieting for medical reasons, but because of societal pressures, whether to look like their favourite celebrities or to achieve certain beauty ideals.
The adults involved in this research said they had tried various strategies to lose weight, with satisfactory results at first and then failure in the long term.
Published in the journal, Qualitative Health Research, the results of this research highlight the harmful effects of such diets, which generally lead to the yo-yo effect.
In particular, the researchers observed a feeling of shame, as well as a tendency to internalise the stigma associated with weight, in participants who had regained weight following their diet.
As a result, the adults concerned felt even worse about themselves than before starting the diet in question, and consequently… started dieting again. “Many participants engaged in disordered weight management behaviours, such as binge or emotional eating, restricting food and calories, memorising calorie counts, being stressed about what they were eating and the number on the scale, falling back on quick fixes (such as low-carb diets or diet drugs), overexercising, and avoiding social events with food to drop pounds fast. Inevitably, these diet behaviours became unsustainable, and participants regained weight, often more than they had initially lost,” continued Associate Professor Romo.
But this “vicious circle,” as many of the participants called it, also had harmful consequences for the social relationships of the people involved.
“Almost all of the study participants became obsessed with their weight,” said co-author of the study and graduate student at NC State Katelin Mueller.
“Weight loss became a focal point for their lives, to the point that it distracted them from spending time with friends, family, and colleagues and reducing weight-gain temptations such as drinking and overeating.”
While the majority of participants were unable to overcome the yo-yo effect, some were able to break the vicious circle.
And they did so by focusing more on their health than on the number on the scales, say the researchers.
“Ultimately, this study tells us that weight cycling is a negative practice that can cause people real harm.
“Our findings suggest that it can be damaging for people to begin dieting unless it is medically necessary.
“Dieting to meet some perceived societal standard inadvertently set participants up for years of shame, body dissatisfaction, unhappiness, stress, social comparisons, and weight-related preoccupation.”
