Does your weight fluctuate constantly? Here’s why, says new study

Here’s the thing about weight: getting it under control is not easy. If you’re struggling with weight loss, you’re probably someone who also has trouble keeping it off. What does it mean? You may have managed to lose some weight through rigorous workouts and a strict diet. But once you loosen your grip on the leash a little, and bam! The scales are in reverse again!
So, weighing in is always a little nerve-wracking. Some fluctuation is natural, but if you constantly see that number going up and down, commonly known as the “yo-yo effect,” it can take a toll on your motivation as well as your self-esteem.
There may be more to the yo-yo effect, according to a new study. According to findings recently published in the journal Nature, the body can “remember” excess weight, keeping it in this cycle!

What is the “yo-yo effect”?

The yo-yo effect is a very common situation where people have difficulty maintaining their target weight during exercise. weight loss programs. At first, people begin to lose weight, but then, after weightlessness, they regain all the lost weight.
Researchers from ETH Zurich studied the yo-yo effect on mice, analyzing fat cells from overweight mice and those losing weight through diet. They noticed that the obese mice also showed changes in their fat cells, and after they lost weight, these changes remained in place. When they ate the high-fat diet again, they gained weight faster than those whose cells didn’t have that memory.
Ferdinand von Meyenne, professor of nutrition and metabolic epigenetics at ETH Zurich, explained in a press release outlining the findings, saying: “Fat cells remember the overweight state and can return to that state more easily.” He added that the fat cells’ “memory” of their obese state then prepares them to “react more quickly, and perhaps in an unhealthy way, to fatty acid sugars.”

Researchers have even found evidence for the “molecular basis of the yo-yo effect” in humans. They analyzed fat tissue biopsies from overweight people who had undergone gastric reduction or gastric bypass surgery and compared them with fat from healthy-weight people who had never been obese. As it turned out, reports The Guardian, fat cells that experienced obesity responded differently to food during testing, growing faster and absorbing nutrients faster.
Von Meyenne mentioned in an interview with The Guardian that in addition to fat cells having “memory,” other parts of the body may contribute to the yo-yo effect. He added that future research is needed to find out whether cells from the brain, blood vessels or other organs may play a role.
While researchers may have made a breakthrough in understanding why people’s weight won’t stop fluctuating, it’s unclear how long fat cells remember obesity. However, they know that fat cells do not renew themselves that quickly. Study author Laura Hinte, a PhD student at ETH Zurich, explained in a press release: “Fat cells are long-lived cells. On average, they live ten years before our body replaces them with new cells.”

Reasons for the yo-yo effect:

The causes of the yo-yo effect are varied, but generally include:
Unhealthy weight loss methods: Inappropriate weight loss methods end up increasing your chances yo-yo on a diet such as lack of proper exercise and use of diet pills. Especially in healthy young people, the yo-yo effect is not usually observed during the first weight control program. However, if these unhealthy weight loss habits continue, it becomes increasingly difficult to lose weight and very often it ends up in a yo-yo effect.
Calorie restriction and fasting diets: Although restricting calorie intake quickly promotes weight loss by reducing muscle mass instead of fat. When muscle mass decreases, the body automatically adapts by slowing down its metabolism. In fact, researchers suggest that this lower metabolism may partly explain why people gain weight after they give up a calorie-restricted diet. Eventually, it becomes more difficult to continue losing weight due to decreased metabolic function.

How to deal with the yo-yo effect?

The researchers noted that it is currently impossible to change or erase memories of obesity. According to Hinte: “Maybe we will be able to do this in the future, but for now we will have to live with this memory effect.” This reinforces the need to maintain a healthy weight, von Meyenne says. He said: “It is because of this memory effect that it is so important to avoid being overweight in the first place. Because this is the easiest way to combat the yo-yo phenomenon.”