If you’d like to reach a healthier weight, you’re not alone: About three in four adults (73.6%) in the United States are overweight or obese. More than half of Americans (55%) say they’d like to slim down — and one in four people (26%) are actively trying to shed extra pounds.
But weight loss isn’t always a straightforward process, and many people face unexpected pitfalls and roadblocks along the way. Common weight loss struggles include:
If you’re frustrated by chronic weight fluctuations, weight loss management specialist Heather Kennedy, PA-C, and our team at Refine Medical are here to help. Read on to learn how healthy, sustainable weight loss can help you stabilize your weight long-term.
If you step on the scale every day, you know that your weight can change in a short amount of time. Influenced by what you eat and drink, your activity levels, your bowel patterns, and even how much sleep you get, daily weight fluctuation of up to 5 pounds is normal.
Normal daily weight fluctuation is often tied to water retention changes. For example, carbohydrate-rich meals and high-sodium foods prompt your body to retain water, causing your weight to increase temporarily. Exercise sheds some water weight through sweating.
Weight fluctuations can also have a weekly or monthly cycle. Certain medications, the female menstrual cycle, and weekend binge drinking can all lead to times of increased water retention and weight.
Normal daily and monthly weight fluctuations can feel frustrating when you’re trying to drop a few sizes, but they’re generally not cause for concern — especially if your weight loss efforts keep trending in the right direction over time.
The real weight fluctuation problem is body weight cycling, or losing weight only to regain all the pounds you lost — or more — not long afterward.
Weight cycling is the term used for the excessive weight fluctuation that often occurs when a period of dieting (weight loss) is followed by a full or partial return to previous dietary and activity habits (weight gain). Yo-yo dieting is another term for this kind of weight fluctuation.
Body weight cycling typically consists of a 5-20% weight change, followed by a reversal of course that leads to a 5-20% weight gain, or more.
Weight cycling is usually a result of fad dieting. Based on limited or faulty research — or no research at all — fad diets promote an initial period of rapid weight loss through restrictive, inflexible diets that are impossible to sustain long term. Examples include:
Drastic dietary measures are strongly associated with early weight loss plateaus, feelings of deprivation, uncontrolled cravings, and ultimately, “fad diet failure” and weight gain.
Unfortunately, the yo-yo effects of the typical fad diet — rapid weight loss followed by weight gain — often make long-term weight management even more difficult. Even more worrisome, extreme weight cycling has been linked to an increased risk of serious health concerns like Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cardiac events.
When you quickly lose 5 or more pounds a week on a fad diet, most of what you’re losing is “water weight” and lean muscle mass. Why? Fad diets aren’t nutritionally balanced, and they don’t emphasize exercise as a key driver of weight control.
Our weight loss management plans take the opposite approach, combining optimized nutrition and regular exercise with expert guidance and individualized support to help you achieve your goals in a safe (gradual) and sustainable (doable) way.
Successful weight control has many facets, including:
Above all, our approach recognizes that you’re an individual with unique support needs.
Whether that means you may benefit from short-term metabolic support (i.e., appetite suppressants) or you need help breaking unhealthy behavioral patterns surrounding food, we’re here to give you the support you need to keep progressing toward your goal.
If you have a history of yo-yo dieting, we can help you break the weight fluctuation cycle. Our healthy, sustainable approach to weight loss leads to healthy, sustainable long-term weight control — and brings dangerous weight cycling to an end.
To learn more, call or click online to schedule a visit with the weight loss experts at Refine Medical in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, today.