The Problem with Weight Loss, Fat Cells, and Yo-yo Dieting

Losing weight is probably the most common goal in health and fitness and many people struggle to lose fat and have an even harder time keeping it off. Some of this difficulty results from focusing too much on quick weight loss schemes instead of following proven strategies, involving a well-designed nutrition and exercise program. However, even when eating healthy and exercising, you can still run into problems due the way long-term behaviors affects your fat cells.

When trying to lose weight using quick weight loss programs, it is important to realize they are usually only designed for short-term weight loss and do not give you the tools you need to maintain your positive results. In many cases, preventing future weight gain is not even possible, due to the way and type of weight that was lost.

Much of the lost weight is often from water or even muscle (especially if you are not exercising), which is weight you actually need, so your body will try to gain it back as soon as possible.

In the end, these quick weight loss schemes cause people to gain back most or all of the lost weight they lost, if not more. This process of losing weight and gaining it back happens frequently and many people go through multiple phases of losing and regaining weight. This is commonly known as yo-yo dieting and it is one of the worst things you can do for long-term fat loss because of how your fat cells respond to weight fluctuations.

Before getting to the fat cell problem, it is important to note that people who follow healthy eating and exercise programs can also experience weight fluctuations, although they are usually not as drastic. If you are someone who has used a combination of diet and exercise to lose weight/fat in the past, then chances are you have already experienced this to some degree yourself.

One of the difficulties with maintaining long-term fat loss is having to keep up with your exercise and nutrition. Consistently eating healthy and exercising can be a challenge and it is certainly easier to let yourself slack a bit over time. This usually happens after people experience some positive results and begin to feel content with they way they look and feel.

In general, the closer a person gets to their ultimate goal, the more likely they are to lose some dedication and stray from the program that got them to where they are. This is really just human nature, because is harder to maintain the drive and discipline to improve when you are somewhat content with your current weight. When it comes to fat loss, this is problematic, because eating more or exercising less usually leads to gaining some fat or losing some muscle.

After a while, the negative changes to your exercise and nutrition add up and you will eventually gain weight until you get to a point where you become unhappy with your body. This is when people typically rededicate themselves to consistently eating healthy and exercising in order to lose their recently gained fat.

These weight fluctuations are generally less than those of people who follow quick weight loss programs and they take longer to happen, but they can still have a significant impact on your ability to lose fat over the long run. The underlying issue with weight fluctuations is each time you gain weight it becomes a little more difficult to lose it next time. This is because of what happens to your fat cells whenever you gain fat.

When you lose fat, your existing fat cells shrink to a smaller size, thus decreasing your total amount of body fat. However, when you gain fat, your fat cells not only increase in size, but they also replicate and form entirely new fat cells. Therefore, each time you lose weight and regain it, you actually have more total fat cells than before you lost the weight in the first place.

Unfortunately, once you gain new fat cells, you are stuck with them forever and no amount of weight loss or fat loss will decrease your number of fat cells. Naturally, the more fat cells you have, the easier it is for your body to accumulate fat and the harder it is for you to lose it.

The message is clear that minimizing weight fluctuations by being consistent with you exercise and nutrition is definitely a key to losing fat and being able to keep it off. If you have gone through many weight fluctuations, it does not mean you cannot be successful, but you may have to work a little harder and be more consistent with your eating and exercising.

Always remember that in order to achieve real long-term health and fitness success, eating healthy and exercising must be integral parts of your lifestyle and they cannot be things you only do from time to time.

Source:

14 years of experience and education in health and fitness