ReviewCurrent obesity reports2024
The Physiological Effects of Weight-Cycling: A Review of Current Evidence.
Review in Current obesity reports, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- How effective is rejoining a long-term weight loss program? The 5- and 10-year MRI-assessed Follow Interventions Trial (FIT) project.BMC medicine · 2026Trial
- Obesity-Associated Osteoarthritis: Mechanical-Metabolic Pathogenesis, Obesity Memory and Dual-Target Therapy.Current obesity reports · 2026Review
- Causes and consequences of discontinuation of GLP1RAs or tirzepatide.Nature reviews. Endocrinology · 2026Review
- Psychological Determinants of the Weight Cycle: A Review of Perceived Stress and Self-Efficacy.Current obesity reports · 2026Review
- Mitigating bias in the analysis and inferences from using longitudinal EHR data in disease outcomes research.BMC medical research methodology · 2026Article
- Screening, Diagnosis, Evaluation, and Staging of Obesity in Adults: Standards of Care in Overweight and Obesity-2026.BMJ open diabetes research & care · 2026Review
- Maternal History of Weight Loss and Prospective Gestational Weight Gain.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Translational Perspectives on Binge-Eating: Insights from Animal Models.Current psychiatry reports · 2026Review
- Pharmacological intervention: Challenges and promising outcomes for fat loss and preservation of lean body mass in the treatment of overweight and type 2 diabetes.Diabetes, obesity & metabolism · 2026Review
- Experimental Models of Weight Cycling: A Narrative Review of Protocol Design and Metabolic Outcomes.Journal of obesity · 2026Review
- Muscle Loss in Obesity Therapy as a Therapeutic Target: Trial Design and Endpoints for Regulatory Discussions.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2025Article
- Weight cycling and its effects on muscle mass, sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity.Reviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders · 2025Review
- Sarcopenic obesity and weight loss-induced muscle mass loss.Current opinion in clinical nutrition and metabolic care · 2025Review
- Beyond Calories: Individual Metabolic and Hormonal Adaptations Driving Variability in Weight Management-A State-of-the-Art Narrative Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Debating Weight Loss vs. Weight Neutral Strategies for Improvements of Health.Current obesity reports · 2024Review
- Recent achievements and future directions of anti-obesity medications.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2024Review
- Weight Loss Programs: Why Do They Fail? A Multidimensional Approach for Obesity Management.Current nutrition reports · 2024Review
- Cohort profile: The Obesity and Disease Development Sweden (ODDS) study, a pooled cohort.BMJ open · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purpose of reviewThere is a common perception among the public that yo-yo dieting, defined as repeated cycles of weight loss followed by weight regain, results in accumulation of fat in the body and lower metabolic rate, thus hindering subsequent attempts to lose weight. We evaluated the effects of weight-cycling on body weight and body mass index (BMI), body composition including fat mass (FM) and lean body mass (LBM), and resting metabolic rate (RMR), by systematically reviewing existing scientific literature. RECENT
findingsTwenty-three cross-sectional and cohort studies (including subjects with a history of weight-cycling compared to those without such history) and interventional studies (evaluating physiological effects during one or more cycles of weight loss and regain) were identified, conducted in generally healthy adults across various age groups, races, and both genders, who had normal weight, overweight, or obesity. Eighteen studies investigated the association between weight-cycling and body weight or BMI, and thirteen of them found no significant association. Fifteen out of twenty studies also found no increase in FM, and none of eighteen studies found a decrease in LBM. Twelve out of fourteen studies reported no adverse changes in RMR either. The overwhelming majority of evidence suggests that weight-cycling (yo-yo effect) is not associated with any adverse effects in body weight, body composition, and metabolic rate. Accordingly, healthy individuals who struggle with overweight or obesity should not be discouraged from repeated attempts to lose the excess weight.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.