Nutritionist Shares Why Yo-yo Dieting Could Make It More Difficult to Lose Abdominal Fat
Nutritionist and author Brad Pilon recently commented on several studies that explore why some people may struggle more with losing body fat around our abdominal region after gaining weight, even when they shed the same amount of weight through dieting.
In a post shared on his Instagram, Pilon commented that this was a study he “doesn’t like,” adding that this was not due to the methods used in the study but because he simply doesn’t like the implications of the findings.
'They took a bunch of people and overfed them for 10 days,' he says, 'their body fat went up, no surprises there. Then they sent them home and told them to eat normally.'
Pilon explains that the researchers then brought the subjects back to the lab to measure any changes. However, he notes, 'this is where it gets weird.' After 10 days of overeating, everyone gained weight, including fat in their trunk, visceral fat, and subcutaneous fat. When the subjects were recalled to the lab after two weeks of normal eating, the researchers observed that they had lost the weight gained during the overeating period. But, as Pilon pointed out, 'you know what they didn’t lose? They didn’t lose trunk fat. They lost body fat, their total body fat went down, but their trunk fat didn’t.'
Pilon notes that the interesting and concerning takeaway from this study is that it suggests that gaining and losing weight and body fat isn’t simply a case of uniformly expanding and shrinking, but that different areas may hold onto gained body fat, even when weight is lost post-overfeeding.
'Different areas of your body can react differently, and some are harder to slim down than others,' says Pilon, adding that his concern is that frequent yo-yo dieting could eventually lead to a buildup of potentially harmful trunk fat, even if you’re losing weight each time. 'Overeating then going back to your normal way of eating, then overeating, then under eating may actually cause you to slowly increase fat mass in your trunk each time.'
Visceral fat is fat located in your trunk around organs, and while it's healthy and normal to have some visceral fat, too much has been linked to a higher risk of medical issues such as heart disease, diabetes and strokes. Pilon added that the research showed that a short period of fasting was able to reverse the trunk fat gained, but this is another study highlighting that the previously popular practice of yearly ‘cutting and bulking’ could lead to a steady gain in stomach fat if too much excess body fat is gained during each bulking period, even if the weight is then lost.
A better approach, especially for those looking to gain muscle mass, may be a more moderate calorie surplus, featuring adequate protein, aiming for a slower rate of weight gain resulting in a smaller amount of body fat gained during the process.
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