Yo-Yo dieting or the 'yo-yo effect' is a term coined by Kelly D Brownell at Yale University, in reference to the cyclical loss and gain of weight resembling the up-down motion of a yo-yo.
What is the Yo-Yo Effect?
Yo-yo dieting, also called weight cycling, is a pattern of losing weight and then regaining it. It's commonly thought that yo-yo dieting leads to long-term struggles with weight and a greater risk of obesity.
What is the 'yo-yo effect'? In this process, the dieter is initially successful in attaining some weight loss but is unsuccessful in maintaining it long-term and begins to gain the weight back.They then seek to lose the regained weight and the cycle begins again.
Why does this happen? Many times someone embarking on weight-loss goes to an extreme in reducing their daily calorie intake. They're very excited at the prospect of losing weight and want to lose it as fast as possible and they feel a sense of pride when they reject food.
Over time though, this extreme diet causes depression and fatigue, making the diet impossible to maintain, so the old eating habits begin again; only now there is the added emotional effect of failure. This then leads to eating more than before, causing more weight gain.
Losing Weight
Losing weight is not always a simple task, but it is definitely doable. Taking in less calories than you spend every day might sound simple, but counting calories accurately takes understanding and practice. You need to count not only the calories you eat, but you also need to know how many calories you burn.
And then there's the matter of what the calories are made up of. For instance, eating 500 calories of a rich, sweet, delight like a big piece of chocolate cake is just plain 'empty' calories. These 'empty' calories from foods like solid fats and/or added sugars only provide your body with calories but offer few or no nutrients.
The Right Calories
Eating the 'right' calories is one of the most important ways to manage weight. Eating the right calories is a life-style change.
It's easy to think that because veggies are typically the lowest calorie food out there, one should try to get through the day with little else. However without enough protein in your diet, you'll be hungry in no time.
Protein satisfies hunger more than carbohydrates or fat and protein is essential for the body to ensure it gets all the necessary amino-acids. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein, and muscle tissue.
Many physiological processes relating to bodybuilding from energy, recovery, muscle hypertrophy, fat loss, and strength gains are linked to amino acids.
Then there is also the matter of getting calories from eating enough of the 'healthy' carbs. Healthy carbs that are antioxidant-rich like fruits and vegetables. These healthy carbohydrates help fuel your activity level while also helping to maintain your hunger level because of their fiber content.
Tracking and Consistency
One of the easiest ways to cut calories is to skip a meal. But is this really a good idea? It's basically a given that if you skip a meal, you'll get overly hungry at the next one. Then it's easy to say, "I've hardly eaten all day" justifying to yourself to go ahead and overeat.
Successful, long-term weight-loss is dependent on regular meals and healthy snacks between meals if the interval is longer than 4 hours or so.
Tracking what you eat, at least until you have become aware of how much you really are eating daily, is another good way to manage weight. You may feel you know how much you're eating, but it's very easy to forget about all the little extras.
Things like the little nibbles throughout the day, or the slightly larger portions, or the dressing on the salad. All of these add up and can amount to hundreds of extra calories daily.
Overestimating
Exercise is definitely an important part of a healthy lifestyle. It helps prevent health problems, builds strength, boosts energy and can help reduce stress. It also can help you maintain a healthy body weight and curb your appetite.
However, over-estimating how many calories you burn through exercise is a challenge. Studies have shown that people overestimate the number of calories they burn by as much as 25%. A jog around the block will not burn off the calories in a hot fudge sundae. It actually takes about 2 hours of singles tennis to do that. So be careful about estimating how many 'extra' calories you deserve just because you did some exercise.
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