Yo-yo Dieting
As a child I enjoyed playing with the toy yo-yo. The toy was entertaining, and I could do tricks with it that my friends could not do. The toy goes up and down on a string. Yo-yo dieting describes a person’s weight going up and down just like the toy yo-yo. When a person looses weight and gains it all back plus some, this is called yo-yo dieting or weight cycling (Schlomer, 2000). Much controversy has risen on if yo-yo dieting is dangerous for a person’s health or not.
Dieting, body image, and weight have always been a concern for many people. Americans have set a standard for men and women to have perfectly slim bodies like the models on the cover of magazines and the celebrities on television. However, everyone is not as fortunate as others, and many people have slow metabolisms and genetics against them. With endless amounts of diets to choose from such as the grapefruit diet, soup diets, sugar busters, and more, one would assume that a magical diet would help people lose weight and keep it off. There is no such diet and the struggle for most people is keeping the weight off, and this is where the term “yo-yo” comes from. According to the American Dietetic Association, weight management is more difficult for a person that constantly loses and gains weight. They also state that yo-yo dieting may lead to a slower metabolic rate, eating disorders, and poor self-esteem (Schlomer, 2000).
Yo-yo dieting has been associated with many severe medical problems and suggested to be more dangerous than being over weight. In Framingham, Massachusetts, there was a long-term study performed on residents who had repeatedly lost and regained weight. Compared to those whose weight remained the same, the yo-yo dieters had an increase of incidence of heart disease and early death (Schlomer, 2000). However, the opposing side suggests that no concrete evidence reports that yo-yo dieting or weight cycling is harmful to a person’s health. It also suggests that many problems studied on overweight or obese people such as high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and est. are medical conditions associate with obesity (“A Summary”).
After reading all the evidence I concluded that yo-yo dieting could be harmful to a person’s health in my opinion. When a person goes on a diet, he or she usually tries not to eat a certain food group, whether it is carbohydrates or sugars and fats. By eliminating certain foods, the dieter is not getting the vitamins and proper nutrition that the body requires. Dieting and then expecting the weight to stay off when the diet is over is unrealistic, and staying on the diet forever is impossible. One reason that dieters gain their weight back is because they want a quick fix. Diets that require no effort, such as taking a pill that promises to shed pounds, are quick fixes. The American Dietetic Association reports that every year Americans spend more than $30 billion in the weight loss industry. This number is outrageous and people should only rely on themselves to help them lose weight and only buy healthy foods in effort to losing weight. I think people should try to maintain a healthy weight by exercising, drinking lots of water, and eating well-balanced meals that includes all the food groups.
Schlomer, Darby. (2000, April 14). “Yo-yo Dieting Does More Harm Than Good.” Retrieved
February 4, 2003, from http://www.angelfire.com/folk/therapy/yoyo.html
“A Summary of Issues Regarding Yo-Yo Dieting.” Retrieved February 4, 2003, from
http://www.mhhe.com/hper/physed/clw/webreview/web17/yoyo_summary.html