Strahil's Tips: The Yo-Yo Effect of Following a Diet. How to avoid it?

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Yo-yo effect! We often hear this term and many people know what it is about, but not why it is obtained and how to avoid it. If your goal is to lose weight, you may have heard of the yo-yo effect, and you may have experienced it. It manifests itself when you lose weight, but eventually after a while you regain weight.

What causes the yo-yo effect?

If you want to avoid this problem, it is good to know what is causing it. And it usually occurs after weight loss diets that drastically reduce your daily caloric intake (the popular 90-day diet is a good example of this).

When you deprive your body of energy-boosting calories, it adapts to change, slowing your metabolism. Metabolism is the metabolism - the biochemical processes that take place in the body.

But after you finish your diet and return to your normal diet, slowing down, due to the high calorie deficit, metabolism cannot handle the processing of the substances and begins to store much of them as an energy reserve. For us, this is reflected in the well-known yo-yo effect - weight loss.

Yo-yo effect and muscle loss

The amount and density of muscle mass affect the rate of metabolism, because muscle is the most metabolically active tissue in the body. This means that it requires a lot of energy (calories) from the body to maintain itself (i.e., while functioning, the muscles burn calories). And the more muscle mass you have, the more calories you burn, because your body needs more energy. That is why strength training is an important factor in a weight loss regimen - they maintain and develop muscle tissue in the body and thus improve metabolism.

However, after completing the drastic diet in question, one feels the body's response to hunger - rapid weight gain, and only from fat. This process changes the ratio of fat to muscle tissue in the body, and this is one of the key factors for health.

Muscle tissue loss is another problem associated with the yo-yo effect. When your daily calorie intake gets too low, your body starts eating muscle cells, and as you lose muscle tissue, metabolism slows down. This is the reason why low-calorie and "extreme" diets lead to weight gain rather than long-term weight loss. Low-calorie diets just temporarily slow down metabolism and are impossible to maintain.

Once the body goes into starvation mode, the metabolism (metabolism) slows down to conserve the little energy available. Thus, every calorie taken is used efficiently. Your body tries to store fat reserves and instead burns muscle. Ultimately, the result is less calories burned and loss of valuable muscle mass.

Despite the tempting promises of drastic diets for rapid weight loss, in the long run it is very possible, and even inevitable, to regain the lost weight, and a few pounds on top…

The effect of yo-yo diets on health

Yes, you may lose weight initially, but most of the weight lost is water and muscle mass. But besides weight loss is temporary, yo-yo diets have other bad effects - they can lead to depression and the development of eating disorders. Hormone levels increase as well cortisol, and in the long run, this can have serious health effects ...

In addition, reduced food intake also means a lack of vital foods vitamins, minerals, Omega 3 fatty acids and other substances that we should get on a regular basis with food. Due to the lack of energy, you will most likely feel constantly tired and find it difficult to cope with daily tasks.

How to repair the damage to your metabolism?

The good news is that fast diets do not delay your metabolism forever. Once you stop and switch to a balanced diet, your metabolism will slowly return to normal. It is also important to restore lost muscle mass with the help of regular workouts and well-structured diet.

Avoid sharp and excessive calorie restriction. Instead, get yourself a controlled and moderate calorie deficit. You can do this online calorie calculator. This will give you control over how many calories you are consuming per day and their amount of hem will be tailored to the target, and the ham will not endanger your health.

In summary:

If you don't want to be one of the many victims of the yo-yo effect, you need to rush your metabolism instead of slowing it down! You can achieve this by increasing your level of physical activity! You need to forget about fast diets, and instead aim to lose weight smoothly and safely! This is the recipe that will bring you lasting results.

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