Three Ways Dieting Hurts Your Health
Contrary to popular belief, going on a diet is NOT the magic key to “being healthy” that we are taught it is. It may even be counterproductive to achieving the easy, healthy lifestyle of your dreams.
Not only do we get constant messaging from the media about how healthy dieting supposedly is, but many of us have received weight-loss recommendations from a trusted healthcare provider, only cementing our decision to try and lose weight “for health”.
The problem is, there are some very serious negative health effects that come along with dieting and weight loss that seem to be ignored by our weight loss obsessed culture and medical community. The recommendations we are constantly bombarded with are doing a lot more harm than good, and I’m here today to tell you how.
As a healthcare practitioner, I no longer feel comfortable recommending dieting or weight loss goals, so I wanted to share a three well-researched reasons why I came to that decision:
*A note: I discuss weight gain in this article but I do not mean to imply that weight gain is an inherently bad thing, I am just discussing it as it is a function of human physiology.*
- Dieting can cause weight cycling, which may increase your risk of chronic disease
First, let me define weight cycling. Weight cycling is the back and forth cycle of weight loss and weight gain, typically a product of on and off or “yo-yo” dieting. While you may think that the weight loss and dieting you participate in are beneficial to your health enough to outweigh the negative effects of this cycle, think again.
Research shows us that about 80% of people who diet end up regaining weight within the first year, and the number typically increases from there the further from the initial weight loss you go. If this is you, know you’re not alone and you’re not failing: diets don’t work in the first place for the overwhelming majority of people! Once people regain the weight, they feel the need to find another way to lose it again, or at least try, and the weight cycling process begins. Has this been your experience?
With that being said, what are the side negative side effects of weight cycling? Weight cycling has been shown to increase risk for type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and even show an increased risk of mortality. Not to mention the mental health side effects which I will discuss later in this article.
- Dieting slows down your metabolic rate, making weight regain easier and future weight loss attempts more difficult
Have you ever felt like the more times you’ve tried to lose weight, the more difficult it gets each time? This is not your fault, it’s your body’s natural biology at work!
We each have a basal metabolic rate (BMR), or the amount of energy (calories) your body needs to function at rest. After dieting, BMR has been shown to decrease due to the decrease in calories associated with the majority of diets. Eating too little or waiting too long between meals can also have this slowing effect on your metabolism, as your body might feel the need to conserve energy just in case there is a food shortage. When you take in less calories, your body must become more efficient and learn to function at the same level with less energy. While this might sound great, let’s think about what happens when the diet ends…
Once BMR is decreased, it is unclear how long it takes to fully recover, if it ever does! At the end of your diet when you start eating regularly again, or even rebound eating (which is a natural response to restrictive dieting), your metabolism doesn’t snap back. Your energy needs remain lower while your energy intake increases, and the excess energy is stored as fat likely leading to weight gain. When you’ve regained some weight and decide another diet is in order, it will be more difficult to restrict enough to lose weight, especially the more times you’ve been through this cycle. Crash diets and very low calorie diets are particularly hard on your metabolism, and the severity of restriction plays a role in how much your metabolic rate is affected.
- Weight loss and dieting are harmful to your mental health
The final way dieting negatively affects your health that I will cover today is your mental health. I don’t know about you, but for the longest time I prioritized weight loss and dieting over my mental happiness and satisfaction. Once I learned that I could quit dieting and just pursue the healthy lifestyle I enjoyed without the pressure of weight loss and dieting, I became much happier and my relationship with food and body improved exponentially.
We are encouraged by diet culture to set our mental health aside for the sake of meeting society’s physical beauty standards. No pain, no gain (er… loss I guess), right?
First of all, chronic stress is a risk factor for weight gain and can be a direct result of trying to stick to a diet that is restrictive and tedious to maintain. Remember that stress can be a signal to the body that it is not safe in a primal sense (think fight or flight response), so chronic stress also makes losing weight in general more difficult as your body is preparing itself for potential dangers (like lack of energy). Restriction itself causes your body to feel stressed, so you might be fighting a losing battle from the beginning.
Secondly, chronic dieters show higher rates of anxiety, depression, lower quality of life scores, more body dissatisfaction, poorer body image, and increased risk of developing an eating disorder. In my opinion, your mental health needs shouldn’t be ignored and must be considered in order for you to set sustainable, enjoyable health goals.
Although there are a few more points I could cover to explain why I no longer recommend dieting for weight loss, like the negative health effects of weight stigma (which you can read more about here), I hope this was a good introduction to the philosophy I now maintain: Focus on healthy behaviors and a positive relationship with food and body instead of weight loss for greater health benefits.
If you want to learn more about what ditching dieting and pursuing your health from a weight-neutral approach could look like in your life, CLICK HERE to schedule a FREE 45-minute discovery call with me. Let’s get to know each other better and see if we might be a good fit to work together!
Until next time,
— Lauren