A recent study, published in the journal Qualitative Health Research, details the serious long-term effects of weight cycling, and diets that are not “medically necessary.” Weight cycling, also referred to as yo-yo dieting, is when a person regains the weight they lost, or possibly more, motivating them to pursue increasingly “unsustainable” dietary methods.
The small study, carried out at North Carolina State University, consisted of 36 adults—13 men and 23 women—aged 18 to 70 who had experienced weight cycling. “Nearly every participant acknowledged they were not motivated to lose weight to improve their health, but ‘[due to] societal pressure,’” Lynsey Romo, a co-author of the report, told Men’s Journal, quoting one of the participants.
“Our findings suggest that it can be damaging for people to begin dieting unless it is medically necessary,” she said in a statement. “Dieting to meet some perceived societal standard inadvertently set participants up for years of shame, body dissatisfaction, unhappiness, stress, social comparisons, and weight-related preoccupation.”
Romo shared quotes from several participants, all of whom used pseudonyms to protect their privacy, with Men’s Journal. Patrick, 23, said his reason for shedding pounds was “so I look good with my shirt off and so I feel good about myself.”
“Family and friends also significantly influenced participants’ views of their appearance,” Romo said. “A loved one or peer attempting to lose weight made participants think they too should shed pounds.”
Romo continued: “Many interviewees reported learning weight attitudes and behaviors from the media (especially social media), family, and peers. Consequently, they compared their bodies to others, felt dissatisfied about their appearance, and thus began their weight loss journey.” She also noted that most “participants spoke of social media as a driving factor behind their body dissatisfaction.”
Participants reported undertaking “disordered weight management behaviors” in pursuit of slimming down. These included episodes of emotional and binge eating, greatly restricting the amount of food and calories they allowed themselves to consume, as well as “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), [and] overexercising.”
Romo explained that the behavior is hardly limited to one gender or age group. “Males as well as females talked about the pressure to conform to societal beauty standards, via dieting,” she said. “The dieting inevitably led to weight loss, then weight gain, and the cycle continued. This is definitely not a 20-something, female phenomenon.”
The researchers also found that almost all participants suffered from weight-loss-related anxiety. They admitted to avoiding social events they knew would have food in order to keep weight off or shed pounds quicker.
“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,” Romo said.
Many of those profiled referred to their erratic dieting as “an addiction or a vicious cycle.” While “the vast majority of study participants [remained] stuck in the cycle,” according to Romo, she told Men’s Journal that “others challenged weight cycling by becoming more self-aware and lessening toxic dieting behaviors.”
Rose, 22, said she changed her process “by not sticking to a specific diet plan, not being too strict, and [not] following crazy fad diets.”
But even those who are able to break the cycle report the feeling never truly goes away. Kaylee, also 22, told researchers she was in “recovery” from weight cycling. “It’s still on my mind like a lot throughout the day,” she admitted. “It’s still something that I’m anxious about, and I still kind of obsess over.”
According to Romo, “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 really want to.”