Diet culture has turned body weight into a kind of personal report card. Numbers that go up and down on the scale become judgments, successes, failures. Within this narrative there is a phenomenon that everyone knows very well: the yo-yo effect of diets, that sequence of weight loss and weight regain that often accompanies the life of those who try to change their diet.
For a long time, science considered this a negative sign. Losing weight and then regaining weight, according to various research, could increase the risk of heart attack, stroke, diabetes and high blood pressure. A picture that consolidated the idea of a body stressed by continuous attempts to lose weight.
Yet, by looking more deeply at what happens inside the organism, a more complex story emerges. Research published in the scientific journal BMC Medicine suggests that repeated cycles of weight loss can produce positive effects in the long term, especially with regards to the reduction of abdominal visceral fat, the most dangerous adipose tissue because it accumulates around the internal organs. The interesting fact is that these benefits can appear even when the weight goes back on.
Repeated weight loss can improve metabolic health
The study was called by researchers the largest long-term MRI-based trial dedicated to repeated weight loss. The researchers analyzed approximately 300 participants involved in two consecutive clinical studies, each lasting 18 months.
The food program was based on an intervention inspired by the Mediterranean diet accompanied by physical activity, compared with control diets. Participants were followed over time with checks carried out after five and ten years.
The peculiarity of this research concerns the method used to observe changes in the body. In addition to body weight, the scientists used detailed MRI scans, performed before and after each surgery, to analyze fat distribution and key metabolic indicators.
When the participants began the second dietary cycle, many of them had a body weight very similar to that recorded at the beginning of the first intervention. In other words, they had completely regained the weight they had lost. A classic example of the yo-yo effect of weight. Despite this, the scans revealed something surprising. The metabolic profile of the participants was more favorable compared to initial values, with improvements estimated between 15% and 25%.
These findings included increased insulin sensitivity and improved lipid profile, signs that indicate a more stable metabolic condition. The weight on the scale, in short, showed a return to the starting point. The body, however, was experiencing more profound changes. According to Professor Iris Shai, head of the study, these results indicate the existence of a sort of cardiometabolic memory.
When a person changes their diet and introduces physical activity, the body reacts by creating metabolic adaptations. Some of these changes may remain active even if, over time, the weight increases again. The study’s first author, Hadar Klein, a doctoral candidate at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, explains that the success of a diet should not be measured solely through body weight.
The reduction of visceral fat and the improvement of metabolic biomarkers tell an important part of health that often escapes the most superficial evaluations. Another interesting element concerns the second dietary cycle. Participants lost less weight than in the first intervention, but the cumulative benefits on abdominal fat and metabolism remained evident.
In the follow-up carried out five years after the conclusion of the second program, participants who had undergone two weight loss cycles showed less weight regain and less accumulation of abdominal fat compared to those who had participated in only one intervention. The study is the result of an international collaboration involving the Department of Nutrition at Harvard University, the University Hospital Leipzig in Germany and the School of Public Health at Tulane University in New Orleans.
The research suggests an idea that may change the way we look at our relationship with body weight. Food pathways rarely follow a straight line. Attempts, pauses, restarts are part of the experience of many people. Yet, even in these imperfect trajectories, the body continues to record and retain part of the positive changes we introduce into our lives.
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