Yo-yo Dieting: why it is harmful

Have you been on a diet in the past few years? Benefitted from it, perhaps, only to lose the plot? If you have, listen up.

Yo-Yo dieting can affect your ability to maintain your weight.

Actually, let me back up. Everything affects your ability to maintain your weight. Mood, stress, sleep, exercise and obviously how you eat.

So it is not surprising that dieting will affect your metabolism.

In the simplest way to explain this, if you put your body through a period of scarcity, when the scarcity goes away, your body will seek to compensate.

Compensation, in this case, means hedonic eating. Eating for pleasure, not for hunger or need. It is almost like your body is telling you I dislike starving.

In the past, this meant feasting on good food because that was all there was. Fruits, vegetables, fish caught from the river, perhaps.

Today this means beer, chips and salsa at your local bar or club.

But then we are in a bit of a bind aren't we?

We cant seem to lose weight without dieting and we cant diet and keep the weight off.

So what should you do?

First, reframe your timelines. We all want to lose weight by the afternoon, as far as possible, thank you very much. There is dinner at the Grewal’s tonight.

But change in the human body does not take place like this. Imagine waking up fifteen kilograms heavier. By the same logic, the pounds and curves will not magically disappear.

Second, denying your body tasty or healthy food is not a sustainable business model, to use a business analogy.

So to use a hindi slogan, "swaad bhi, sahet bhi" [tasty and healthy] has to be your motto. Combine taste and health with the right quantity and you have a sustainable way to live.

Frankly, after so many years, I dont know any other way to achieve your ideal weight.

Reach out to me on twitter @rbawri Instagram @riteshbawriofficial and YouTube at www.youtube.com/breatheagain