What Is Yo-Yo Dieting? Experts Share The Potential Dangers And How To Break The Cycle

If you’re constantly going on and off new diets to lose weight, you’re probably caught in a cycle of yo-yo dieting. Also known as weight cycling, yo-yo dieting is a cyclical pattern of weight loss and weight gain, resembling the rise and fall of weight like a yo-yo. The term was purportedly coined in the 1980s by Kelly D. Brownell, a professor of public policy at Duke University. Although the concept has been around for a while, it has resurfaced on social media this year, with RDs calling out how yo-yo dieting can hurt your gut health and new research highlighting the link between weight cycling and social pressures.

Yo-yo dieting is when you purposefully restrict food to lose weight, then stop the diet after a while, and start again, which leads to weight regain, says Brooke Aggarwal, EdD, assistant professor of medical sciences at Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.

But yo-yo dieting doesn’t actually work—nor is it healthy or sustainable. Most people who weight cycle fail to maintain their weight loss and regain weight within the first year of trying the diet, per a 2019 study published in Frontiers in Genetics. Plus, yo-yo dieting can harm your metabolism and make it harder for you to maintain your weight loss long-term.

Although the promise of quick weight loss might be tempting, experts caution against yo-yo dieting and sticking to more sustainable diet and lifestyle habits instead. Here’s what you need to know about the dangers of yo-yo dieting and how to break free of the cycle.

Meet the experts: Caroline Apovian, MD, is a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the co-director at the Center for Weight Management and Wellness at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Brooke Aggarwal, EdD, is an assistant professor of medical sciences at Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Lynsey Romo, PhD, is a professor of communications at North Carolina State University and a lead researcher on yo-yo dieting.

What is yo-yo dieting?

Weight cycling is a pattern of weight loss and gain, with people repeatedly regaining as little as 10 pounds or as much as 50 pounds or more, according to a 2014 review in Obesity Reviews. People don’t necessarily intend to start yo-yo dieting. It just happens when people try new diets, says Lynsey Romo, PhD, a professor of communications at North Carolina State University and lead author of a 2024 study on the effect of yo-yo dieting on the body. People tend to go on and off diets for a number of reasons, one of which being that society encourages the idea of losing weight for special events like weddings, high school reunions, or simply in response to thin beauty standards, per Romo’s study.

But as a result of not being able to maintain weight loss, people can experience increased frustration, says Romo.

Is yo-yo dieting harmful?

Yes. Since yo-yo dieting involves drastically reducing calories and regaining weight back, it’s not considered a healthy option, according to Caroline Apovian, MD, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the co-director at the Center for Weight Management and Wellness at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

It slows your metabolism.

Weight cycling disrupts metabolism, particularly the hormones that regulate the body’s appetite (ghrelin) and fullness (leptin). “Following diet-induced weight loss, there is an increase in levels of ghrelin and a decrease in levels of leptin,” says Aggarwal. When ghrelin increases, people feel hungrier, making it hard to stick to meal plans and diets. Leptin, the “satiety hormone,” signals to the brain that the body is full. When leptin levels decrease, the brain never receives the signal that it’s full, making it harder to resist overeating—and further contributing to the yo-yo dieting cycle.

Fluctuating between gaining and losing weight can also cause you to crave less-than-healthy foods. When you re-gain weight, you might notice a hunger spike, since your metabolism and hormones have changed, says Dr. Apovian. This can lead you to crave foods that are high in sugar and fat, she says. Long-term, yo-yo dieting can slow down your metabolism, Dr. Apovian says—which can make weight loss even more difficult to achieve and maintain in the long run.

You may be at higher risk of developing chronic health conditions, including heart disease.

People who yo-yo diet tend to have an increased risk of death and developing chronic diseases like stroke, heart disease, and diabetes, per a 2018 study in Preventive Medicine. This is because yo-yo dieting causes people to gain back more fat than muscle, Dr. Apovian says. The less muscle you have, the fewer calories you need to maintain your weight. For some people, this can lead to insulin resistance, she says. Excess fat releases inflammatory substances that can interfere with the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar, which increases a person’s risk of developing diabetes and other chronic conditions, she says.

Some early studies warned people that yo-yo dieting can lead to significantly increased risk of type 2 diabetes. Weight cycling has been associated with hyperinsulinemia, a condition where too much insulin circulates in the blood, per a 2024 study in Nature. Hyperinsulinemia can lead to chronic high blood sugar (hyperglycemia), which can then lead to prediabetes and type 2 diabetes, per Cleveland Clinic.

Yo-yo dieting from a young age may set the stage for future cardiovascular risk, Aggarwal says.

The more episodes a woman had losing and gaining at least 10 pounds within a year, her overall cardiovascular score worsened, Aggarwal’s 2019 study found. Women with a poor cardiovascular score have three times the risk of coronary heart disease than those with an ideal score, research has shown. People with low scores also have an increased risk of stroke and heart disease, per the American Heart Association.

And the effects can linger for decades. For example, if a woman in her 50s began yo-yo dieting in their 20s, she might still be at significantly increased risk for heart disease later in life, says Aggarwal.

It may lead to eating disorders or disordered eating.

The process of weight cycling shares many similarities with disordered eating and eating disorders, according to Romo and her 2024 research study on yo-yo dieting. Both weight cycling and disordered eating involve episodes of binge or emotional eating, restricting foods, counting calories, over-exercising, and falling back on quick fixes for weight loss, Romo says, which can be harmful to your health. It may also trigger patterns of disordered eating, or even a diagnosed eating disorder, per Dr. Apovian.

You might lose muscle.

When you drop calories suddenly, the body thinks it’s starving, so it goes into “battery-saving mode” to conserve energy, which can sometimes lead to muscle and fat loss, she says.

If you’re yo-yo dieting and not exercising, you might end up gaining more fat than muscle,” Dr. Apovian adds. Your strength, stamina, and resting metabolic rate can diminish if you lose muscle after rapid weight loss, per UCLA Health. Over time, muscle loss can make it difficult for you to keep up with daily activities like walking and climbing stairs, and you may be more prone to poor balance and falls, per Cleveland Clinic.

How to Stop the Yo-Yo Dieting Cycle

While there’s no single solution for stopping the cycle, focusing on sustainable diet and lifestyle practices that support long-term well-being and weight management can help, Aggarwal says.

“Prioritizing protein in your diet and doing resistance training can help you retain lean muscle mass,” she says. This can make weight regain less likely in the future. High-protein diets have been shown to induce weight loss by increasing satiety and energy expenditure, according to a 2020 study in the Journal of Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome, so it can help to add more protein to your plate whenever possible.

Low-impact exercises like walking and practicing good sleep hygiene can also help you stop the yo-yo dieting cycle, Aggarwal says. Poor sleep may lead to overeating and making unhealthy food choices, she says, so your goal should be seven to eight hours of quality sleep per night.

Exploring intuitive eating and mindful eating practices can be a game-changer, too. Although it’s not a weight loss plan, intuitive eating is about listening to your body’s physical and emotional needs in real-time and honoring your hunger and fullness cues, per Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Remember: Your ability to lose weight is impacted by age, activity level, diet, and other factors that may not be in your control, like genetics. Consider working with a registered nutritionist, dietitian, and healthcare provider to develop a nutrition and health plan that works best for you. And if you’re caught in the yo-yo dieting cycle and can’t get out, know that hope is possible.

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