Dieting & Weight Gain
I hate to break it to you but, constantly dieting can cause weight gain and it is completely normal.
So you’re probably wondering why this happens. I’ll break it down for you! When we stray away from our normal eating habits like going on a diet that restricts caloric intake, it’s going to cause us to lose weight. BUT as soon as we get off the diet and start eating normally, that weight is going to come back.
Our Body’s Response to Dieting
When we diet, our body will fight back to maintain our weight. Our body can fight back by slowing down our metabolism in order to stay at our normal weight. Restricting food decreases our fullness hormone, leptin. Leptin tells us when we have had enough to eat, and when we lose weight this hormone becomes less noticeable to us. This means that we might frequently overeat as a way for our body to compensate for the caloric deficit. Our hunger hormone, ghrelin increases during times of dieting and weight loss. Which means we may notice being hungrier during times of dieting and this is another way that our body compensates for being in a caloric deficit.
Dieting not only messes with leptin and ghrelin hormones but also cortisol and insulin. Cortisol is a stress hormone released from the adrenal glands. During times of extreme caloric restriction or excessive physical activity, cortisol can increase. Studies show that increased cortisol levels can slow down our metabolism which makes it difficult to lose weight. A 2010 study found that low calorie dieting such as 1200 kcal/day can increase levels of cortisol. Cortisol is negatively associated with insulin. Increased cortisol levels can desensitize insulin's response to rising blood sugar levels, which can contribute to high blood sugar levels in our body.
Long Term Impact Of Dieting
Dieting does not work in the long term. Studies show one year after weight loss about 30% is regained, three years after weight loss about 65% of weight is regained, and five years after weight loss, about 80% of weight is regained. Regaining weight after dieting can lead to feelings of guilt, depression, anxiety, disordered eating, and body image dissatisfaction. All these feelings can start the unhealthy trend of weight cycling. Weight cycling usually results from the diet cycle (see figure 1) which is a period of dieting, not dieting, dieting again, etc. Weight cycling (also known as yo-yo dieting) is when we repeatedly lose and regain weight.
Figure 1: The viscous diet cycle not only has negative impacts on physical health but also mental health. People who repeatedly diet, may develop unhealthy eating behaviors such as disordered eating and having a preoccupation with food.
The Problem with Diet Cycling and Weight Cycling
Dieting and weight cycling have negative physical and mental health consequences. Frequent fluctuations in weight are connected to decreased muscle mass, increased fat mass especially around the abdomen, dyslipidemia (abnormal lipid levels), hyperinsulinemia (abnormally high insulin levels), and insulin resistance (IR). A 2016 study, found that adults on calorie restriction diets had decreases in “whole body and lower extremity lean mass, suggesting skeletal muscle atrophy, and reduces absolute aerobic capacity, suggesting catabolic activity on the cardiovascular system.” This study suggests that decreases in muscle mass is likely while following a calorie deficit diet. What I thought was interesting is how a low-calorie diet can affect the cardiovascular system. A meta-analysis looked at 19 publications regarding weight cycling and metabolic risk factors. This study found that 11 out of the 19 publications had correlations between weight cycling and increased fat in the lower abdominal area.
Weight cycling can cause fluctuations in blood sugar levels. Studies show that hyperinsulinemia and IR are consequences of weight cycling because it decreases insulin signaling. Animal studies show a significant decrease in one glucose transporter, GLUT 4, that responds to insulin and is responsible for transporting glucose to adipose tissue, skeletal muscle, and cardiac muscle. This study suggests that weight cycling can result in high blood sugar levels since the insulin mediated glucose transporter activity is significantly decreased.
Lipid levels are also affected by weight cycling. One study collected data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey aka NHANES from 1999 to 2014. Out of the data collected from 82,091 individuals, they found a significant increase in lipids in female weight cyclers compared to females who had a stable weight. They also found that males who weight cycled, had decreased HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol, we want HDL to be high) compared to the men who were at a stable weight. What I found extremely interesting about this study is that people who weight cycled BUT were still at a normal weight had significantly worse HDL (good cholesterol) and LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) than those who maintained a stable weight. This suggests that maintaining our weight may be more beneficial to our health than dieting to lose weight and risking entering the diet and weight cycle.
How Dieting Can Negatively Impact Mental Health
Dieting to lose weight and weight cycling can have consequences on our mental health. Studies show that weight cycling is correlated to negative psychological and behavioral consequences (e.g., anxiety and depression). Dieting to lose weight and weight cycling can lead to poor eating behaviors such as disordered eating and being fearful toward food. One study showed people with poor eating behaviors also had symptoms of anxiety and depression. This evidence suggest that dieting to lose weight and weight cycling has consequences towards our mental health.
As a society we still have a weight loss focused approach to improving our health BUT according to the evidence, dieting to lose weight isn’t improving our health in the long term and that’s what matters, right?
How To Improve Your Health Without Dieting
Chance are if you have been dieting for awhile your metabolism is probably TANKED and your relationship with food is probably not so great.
So let’s fix those two first. Let’s start by chipping away at your current fear foods and food beliefs. We need to start with a clean slate and work on your mindset around what health actually means. We also need to work on getting rid of the feeling of deprivation. So let’s start reintroducing food into your diet and get on a consistent meal pattern.
Next let’s start incorporating some intuitive eating principles and work on mindful eating techniques. Both of these frameworks are shown to benefit your mental and physical health.
Overall we need to start thinking about how to ADD nutrition into our diet and not RESTRICT our consumption.
How does this plan sound?
It can be a bit tricky to do alone and you may hit some road blocks. I always recommend working with a dietitian because we can help you navigate those roadblocks and help you achieve your goals faster.
What do you say? Are you ready for some nutrition coaching?
Watch my program video to learn a little bit more about me and what I offer. From there you can fill out my application form and I will be in touch shortly!
Or you can follow this link to book a session with me!
Let’s build a balanced lifestyle that you can ACTUALLY stick to for a lifetime ❤️🥳