Planning to shed a few pounds fast? Naturally, you may try trendy yo-yo dieting. But unfortunately, you will end up in an unhealthy trap of weight cycling with this diet. In yo-yo dieting, you lose weight and then regain it. But still, you may feel happy because with the diet you could achieve your weight-loss goals faster. Well, you have to realize that the shelf life of your happiness is very short. The fact is that after a tough diet, soon you will begin to pack back on the lost pounds. Your weight goes up and down like a yo-yo and it may pose hazards to your health. Here is why.
Causes Greater Weight Gain
Yes, you read it right! The diet, which you embraced to lose weight, may also lead to greater weight gain. As you go the yo -yo dieting way quite often, your body reads your extreme diet as a food shortage. Given its functioning style, the body will take precautions to fight such frequent famine. Your brain tends to assume that the food supply is unreliable and thus, it makes a move by storing more fat to use in case of emergency or next food shortage. This precautionary move by your body is definitely not good news for you. Because as soon as your dieting episode gets over, you will be back to gaining pounds.
Increases Heart Disease Risk
The trend of repeatedly losing and regaining weight is not a good move for your heart. According to a research presented to the American Heart Association, the yo-yo dieting increases the risk of heart disease among post menopausal women. It is found that women with normal-weight who lost and regained weight had about 3.5 times higher risk of sudden cardiac death compared to those who had a stable weight. Weight cycling in normal- weight women was also associated with 66 percent increased risk of dying from coronary heart disease. However, overweight or obese women who weight cycled found to be safe from heart disease linked deaths compared to others. Moreover, weight cycling will have a negative influence on hypertension, heart beat, visceral fat accumulation, insulin resistance, and dyslipidemia. Any disruption in these factors will eventually increase your cardiovascular risks.
Affects Your Gut Health
The good gut flora is another victim of yo-yo dieting. The gut microbiota contribute to metabolism and immune function. The act of cutting down calories and restricting the food intake may deny the body of many essential nutrients. And it may adversely affect the good gut bugs. The healthy balance of good and bad bacteria may get damaged by this, leading to many infections or diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease.
Denies You A Healthy Lifestyle
You often begin dieting with short-term goals in your mind. Most times, whenever a party is in sight, you tend to adopt a diet to look perfect in your favorite party wear. But these practices will deny you a healthy lifestyle. Making permanent lifestyle changes like eating healthy foods, getting good sleep, limiting junk food intake, and starting regular exercise will go a long way in maintaining your body fit and fine. This is the key to healthy living. When you tend to adopt dieting practices often, you forget to look at the brighter side. A lifestyle intervention always works better than a diet, which aims at short-term goals.
