Avoiding the Yo-yo Effect of Diet
Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Isa. 55:2, NIV.
"I've lost hundreds of pounds and I'm still fat," the frustrated dieter exclaimed. The problem was that she lost four or five pounds at a time, then regained it, only to have to lose it again. We call this the yo-yo effect. And it's the reason diets don't work.
It's not hard to lose a few pounds during the first couple weeks of a diet. You watch your calories and eat significantly less. But your body doesn't know you are trying to lose weight and it thinks you're starving, so it kicks into "starvation mode." Your metabolism slows so you use less energy, which means you burn fewer calories. Once your metabolism slows, it's difficult to lose any more weight. The bad news is that your metabolism can stay depressed for a couple months after you return to normal eating. That's why after you diet, it's very easy to gain weight again.
Researchers have demonstrated the yo-yo effect in animals. They fatten them, and then place them on a restricted-calorie diet. The animals lose weight, but their bodies become more efficient at storing fat, so after they resume the original high-fat diet, they regain their lost weight easily. The second time the researchers restrict their diet, it takes them substantially longer to lose weight. And when the animals start to regain weight the second time, they do it much faster and end up gaining more.
The answer to your weight problem is not to starve yourself. Instead, get on a good lifestyle program. The combination of fewer fat calories and more exercise will keep your metabolism up, and the pounds will drop off and stay off.
Think about it in still another way: if the yo-yo effect has such a negative influence on your body, what kind of an effect will a yo-yo spiritual life have on your soul? Wouldn't a steady diet of God's Word be better than dieting one day and trying to make it up the next?
Lord, grant me the self-discipline to maintain a healthy lifestyle, physically and spiritually.
Used by permission of Health Ministries, North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.
Previous | Today | Next