A study reveals weight cycling, a form of yo-yo dieting, can lead to negative psychological effects and social stigma. The study recommends avoiding the diet unless medically required.
A new qualitative study examined the negative social and psychological impacts of “yo-yo dieting,” or weight cycling. The article discusses the risks of yo-yo dieting and how hard it is to stop.
“Yo-yo dieting—unintentionally gaining weight and dieting to lose it 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 normalized as people pursue beauty ideals,” says North Carolina State University associate professor of communication Lynsey Romo, corresponding author of the study.
“Based on this study and other evidence, we advise most patients to avoid dieting unless medically necessary. Our work also reveals ways to overcome weight cycling’s insidious effects and disrupt the cycle.”
In the study, researchers interviewed 36 adults—13 men and 23 women—who had lost and gained more than 11 pounds through weight cycling. The goal was to understand why and how people entered the yo-yo dieting cycle and how they could break it.
All study participants wanted to lose weight owing to societal stigma and/or comparing their weight to celebrities or peers. “Overwhelmingly, participants did not start dieting for health reasons, but because they felt social pressure to lose weight,” Romo adds.
Regaining weight caused shame and internalized weight stigma, making study participants feel worse about themselves than before dieting. To reduce weight again, people often resort to drastic measures.
“For instance, many participants engaged in disordered weight management behaviours, such as binge or emotional eating, restricting food and calories, memorizing 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,” Romo says. “Inevitably, these diet behaviours became unsustainable, and participants regained weight, often more than they had initially lost.”
“Almost all of the study participants became obsessed with their weight,” says NC State doctoral student Katelin Mueller, co-author. “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.”
“Participants referred to the experience as an addiction or a vicious cycle,” Romo adds. People who understood and addressed their harmful dieting behaviors broke the cycle better. To overcome these poisonous behaviors, people focused on their health rather than the weight and exercised for fun rather than calories.
Participants who were more successful at disrupting the cycle were also able to adopt healthy eating habits such eating a diversified diet and eating when they were hungry rather than perceiving eating as something to be tightly monitored, restricted, or punished.” The researchers observed that most study participants were locked in the loop.
“The combination of ingrained thought patterns, societal expectations, toxic diet culture, and pervasive weight stigma makes it difficult for people to completely exit the cycle, even when they want to,” Romo adds.
“Ultimately, this study tells us that weight cycling is a negative practice that can cause people real harm,” Romo adds. “Our findings suggest that dieting without medical necessity can be harmful. Dieting to fit social standards led to years of humiliation, body dissatisfaction, unhappiness, stress, social comparisons, and weight-related preoccupation. Many people struggle with weight for life after starting a diet.
Conclusion
Yo-yo dieting, or weight cycling, can harm relationships and mental health, according to a qualitative study. In-depth interviews with 36 adults who cycled weight found that most started dieting owing to weight stigma or comparisons to celebrities or peers. Shame and internalized weight stigma caused rigorous weight management. The study suggests that most people avoid dieting unless medically essential and provides tips on how to break the weight cycling cycle.
