Yo-yo dieting, crash dieting, skin laxity and cellulite

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• Crash dieting / Yo-yo dieting means less muscle and skin firmness and more fat and cellulite

• Yo-yo dieting / crash dieting: the royal road to cellulite

• Men, yo-yo dieting and cellulite

• What can I do to prevent or reverse the effects of yo-yo dieting?

• Check our professional consultancy, for a masterclass in radiofrequency, ultrasound cavitation, cellulite and skin tightening

Crash dieting / Yo-yo dieting means less muscle and skin firmness and more fat and cellulite

• Crash dieting is defined as very fast weight loss, usually with a daily intake below 500 calories a day

• Yo-yo dieting is defined as the cyclical weight gain and loss

Cyclical weight loss and gain unavoidably leads to increasingly higher body fat content, loose skin and cellulite. This is because:

• When we put on weight, we mainly put on fat

• When we lose weight, we do lose fat but we also lose quite a lot of protein: muscle protein, skin protein and even bone

• This is especially true when we crash diet and severely deprive the body of protein

• When we put on weight again we mainly put on fat and almost never regain the full amount of previous muscle, skin and bone. This is because:

  • For muscle building, resistance exercise is needed for myocyte (muscle cell) stimulation. Unless you do weights AND take lots of protein after your diet effort, you will be left with less muscles.

  • For skin building, a lot of movement/vibration is needed for fibroblast (collagen cell) stimulation. Unless you run, walk, swim, dance etc AND take lots of protein after the weight loss effort.

  • For bone building, both resistance exercise and movement/vibration is needed for osteoblast (bone cell) stimulation.

  • If the above are not present after the weight loss phase, and if protein intake is lacking during that phase, the previous level of muscle, skin and bone will not be regained

After a few cycles, fat largely replaces the previous skin firmness, muscle and bone density (yes, fat also replaces bone).

In addition to the above, every time we put on excessive weight, the skin stretches and expands to accommodate the extra fat volume. When we lose the weight, we are left with the excess skin, which ends up looking loose.

Yo-yo dieting / crash dieting: the royal road to cellulite

All in all, yo-yo dieting and crash dieting are the best ways to accumulate what people call “flab” (the combination of fat and skin looseness).

As hypodermal fat accumulation and skin looseness are the hallmarks of cellulite, it is obvious to see that crash dieting / yo-yo dieting are great ways to develop cellulite.

Men, yo-yo dieting and cellulite

In fact, yo-yo dieting is so effective in creating cellulite, it is the most common cause of cellulite in men.

Some men may develop cellulite due to hormonal imbalances or due to excess estrogen in older age.

However, the main reason for seeing cellulite in men at our clinic is yo-yo dieting, usually at the ±20 kg weight loss/gain level.

What can I do to prevent or reverse the effects of yo-yo dieting?

Firstly, never do such dieting.

Of course, sometimes this is harder than it sounds, but as the causes of yo-yo dieting are mainly psychological, the first thing to do is find a good life coach / nutritional coach to help you get out of the cycle.

However, if you do find yourself in the yo-yo cycle again, or if you stopped yo-yo dieting for good but need to gain some skin firmness and lose some cellulite, there are a few things you can do to beat skin laxity and cellulite:

• Walk, swim and run a lot, if you can: this type of exercise stimulates collagen synthesis and burns fat - including some cellulite fat

• Do resistance, training, which also has an overall anabolic effect on the body and helps with muscle, bone and - to a lesser extent - skin strengthening

• Do vibration platform training, which is the best way to stimulate collagen synthesis on bone, skin and muscle

• Have enough protein - 50+ grams of pure protein per day

• Have a lot of polyphenols and carotenoids (what people call antioxidants) as they also assist with collagen production. Think coloured vegetables and berry fruits.

• Apply a good (i.e. multi-active ingredient, highly concentrated) cellulite cream (the usual single ingredient, diluted creams do not work). Anything between 3-6 months of application are recommended for good results.

• Have a course of deep-acting, high-power radiofrequency and/or deep acting, high-power ultrasound cavitation treatments. These are the best possible technologies for cellulite prevention and reduction (the usual low power, superficial, bipolar/tripolar treatments do not work). Anything between 6-24 sessions may be needed for good results, depending on severity (and no, there are miracle treatments that will eliminate cellulite in 1-4 sessions, don’t fall for the hype).

Check our professional consultancy, for a masterclass in radiofrequency, ultrasound cavitation, cellulite and skin tightening

Do you want to deeply understand radiofrequency, ultrasound cavitation, cellulite and skin tightening? Attend a half-day, 1-day or 2-day or 3-day professional consultancy / one-to-one training and confidently offer your clients the safest, strongest and most effective treatment possible. Service available via Zoom or at our central London practice.