Yo-Yo Dieting is Better Than Obesity

Lose the weight, no matter what! That's the take away from a new study that says even yo-yo dieting, which has always been frowned upon, is better than staying obese. Nobody wants to see their weight go up and down; i's immensely frustrating and can eat away at your self-esteem. But even with all of the negatives, being obese all of time is much worse.

A study presented at an annual meeting of the Endocrine Society in Boston compared mice who were fed a low-fat diet with those who were intentionally given a yo-yo diet regimen. What they found was the yo-yo diet group lived just as long as the low-fat diet group. There was also a group of mice fed a high-fat diet (more on that later).

This is certainly not an endorsement of fad diets or extreme weight fluctuations.

"People should not stop trying to lose weight if they are, like I am, a person who gains weight frequently and tries to lose it," said study researcher Edward List, a scientist at Ohio University's Edison Biotechnology Institute.

When comparing the yo-yo diet group of mice to those put on a high-fat diet, both exhibited the unhealthy characteristics of higher body fat and high blood sugar. However, when the yo-yo diet group lost weight these characteristics were absent.

"Given what we're learning about obesity and its impact on disease, it makes sense that yo-yo dieting not only doesn't hurt, but could help," said Dr. Louis Aronne, an obesity expert at Weill-Cornell Medical College in New York City.

Don't think of this as an endorsement for crazy ups and downs in weight, as much as confirmation that you should not fear failure since even temporarily losing weight has its benefits.

Maybe what's most important to note is that even small weight loss reaps benefits. A study from 2002 found that just a seven percent weight loss reduced the chance of developing diabetes by 58 percent.