"How Dieting Makes the Lean Fatter" (Article Review)

In athletics, there is much focus on body fat percentage and weight. Whether it's to lose weight, gain weight or maintain weight everyone puts a lot of emphasis on these numbers, especially in the weight sensitive sports (wrestling, gymnastics, etc.). Many athletes restrict their diet to lose weight so they can possibly run faster, jump higher or push harder but do they really need to lose weight? Are they doing more harm than good? Are they losing the weight the right way?
A recent review published in Obesity Reviews found that lean people that restricted eating (dieting) to lose weight ended up not only gaining back the weight, but actually gaining more fat and weight compared to where they started. Interestingly, the leaner the person the more effect it had on fat and weight gain. Moreover, a single episode of dieting or more in adolescents increased the risk of becoming overweight by 3-5 times by the time they reached young adulthood when compared to non-dieters. So, if someone was dieting or "weight cycling", the leaner they were the more odds they had of gaining weight and possibly becoming overweight or obese. Gaining more fat and weight compared to what was initially lost is defined as "fat overshooting".

Taken from leanmansystem.com

The article notes that as the energy intake decreases (semi-starvation) and there is loss of fat mass (FM), there is also a loss of fat free mass (FFM = muscle, water and bone). When re-feeding occurs and weight is gained back, it takes more time to regain FFM compared to FM. This in turn causes what we call hyperphagia (abnormal increase in appetite to help reach previous levels of FFM). However, at that point FM is back to where it was before weight loss. By the time FFM is completely restored, FM has increased significantly. The leaner the individual is initially, the higher the fat overshooting will be (more FM). Higher FM is a result no one would want from "weight loss".

This article is a wake up call to those who are trying to lose weight when they shouldn't or to individuals that are over restricting their intake, especially if they are at a normal weight. Dieting or weight cycling can be detrimental not only to your body composition but also to your health. If weight loss is needed or if you are considering it, consult with a sports registered dietitian or a medical professional.


Dulloo AG, Jacquet J, Montani JP, Schutz Y. How dieting makes the lean fatter: from a perspective of human body composition autoregulation through adipostats and proteinstats awaiting discovery. Obes Rev. 2015 Feb;16 Suppl 1:25-35