It’s Not Just Fat: Yo-Yo Dieting Might Mean Losing Muscle, Too
I have spent enough time around diets to recognize the opening ceremony. It usually begins on a Monday morning after a weekend of eating as if every restaurant in town were about to be demolished. I step onto the scale, stare at the number, and react as though the machine has betrayed me personally. Never mind that the scale has no emotions, no agenda, and no ability to sneak cookies into my kitchen. Clearly, it is the villain. Then comes the declaration. This time, I am serious. The refrigerator gets reorganized. The vegetables are moved to eye level, where they can watch me ignore them. Bread is treated like contraband. I download an app, buy a water bottle large enough to supply a small village, and begin measuring foods that no emotionally stable person has ever wanted to measure. For a while, everything works. The number on the scale falls. My clothes fit better. I feel lighter, more disciplined, and dangerously qualified to give health advice to everyone within speaking distance....
