Article written for InShapeNews. See the original article here.

Reader Question:

This month’s question is asked by reader Shanaka Kalajer UK: “My girlfriend and I have been trying to lose weight for years. We have tried every diet known to man without any great success. My mum says this is because we are yo-yo dieting. Is this true? “

My Answer:

Eight years ago I weighed more than 143kg (315lb) and was on the verge of being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes – if only I’d had the courage to go to the doctor. But then I had a light bulb moment.

Having tried almost every diet under the sun before I found something that worked, I can personally verify that yo-yo diets place a huge amount of stress on the body and its systems. In addition, they also can be mentally exhausting and weaken your immune system making you more susceptible to sickness.

In fact, an explanation on yo-yo dieting can be found in my book, “Half The Woman I Was – How I lost 70kg naturally, reclaimed my life … and how you can too!” This is as follows:

When we go on a conventional or fad “diet” the reduced intake of calories is usually radical. During the first few days the body is operating according to its usual instructions where there was an overabundance of high calorie, high fat foods. The body has a high metabolism and is burning a high rate of calories, therefore you lose weight.

But then, the metabolism and the body swings into starvation mode. It adapts by lowering your basal metabolic rate (base metabolism) so you don’t burn as many calories as you were previously. Worse still, severe calorie restrictions trigger the body to begin eating its reserves. Muscle converts to energy more easily than fat so the body begins to consume this and you waste away. This leaves your body with a lower percentage of lean muscle mass (the bit that actually helps you lose weight), and all the fat you were trying to get rid of in the first place.

Restricted eating plans often involve a radical change in food as well. Highly processed and refined packaged food full of tasty salt, sugar and fat (not to mention artificial flavours and colours) are swapped for healthy options of fruit, vegetables and lean meats. But, like a junkie the body continues to crave the additives that it had and this makes it difficult to stick to the diet.

The mental aspect of dieting is probably worse. You are asked to “give up” those foods which we associate with enjoyment and this can then trigger mood swings and depression. Plus, a decrease in calorie consumption brings on lethargy and tiredness and, at times, a self-inflicted isolation where social outings are avoided and ‘temptation’ put aside. Of course, this all makes a recipe for disaster.

So what’s the end result? We end up breaking or cheating on our diet because it’s not sustainable. Days, weeks or months later we try it all-over again and the result is the yo-yo diet cycle of losing weight, gaining it back plus a little more, losing, and gaining again.

I know it sounds boring, but a calorie moderated diet in conjunction with regular exercise and mental cleansing is really the best approach. It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen.