You may have heard stories in the press claiming that weight cycling may be harmful to your health. You also may have heard that staying at one weight is better for you than weight cycling, even if you are obese. However, no convincing evidence supports these claims, and most obesity researchers believe that obese individuals should continue to try to control their body weight. People who repeatedly lose and regain weight should not experience more difficulty losing weight each time they diet. Most studies have shown that weight cycling does not affect one's metabolic rate.
Metabolic rate is the rate at which food is burned for energy.
Based on these findings, weight cycling should not affect the success of future weight loss efforts. However, everyone, whether they have dieted or not, experiences a slowing of the metabolism as they age. In addition, older people are often less physically active then when they were younger. Therefore, people often find it more difficult to lose weight as they get older. Weight cycling has not been proven to increase the amount of fat tissue in people who lose and regain weight.