Also known as weight cycling, yo-yo dieting is a cyclical pattern of weight loss and weight gain, resembling the rise and fall of weight like a yo-yo. Yo-yo dieting is when you purposefully restrict food to lose weight, then stop the diet after a while, and start again, which leads to weight regain, says Brooke Aggarwal, EdD, assistant professor of medical sciences at Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Most people who weight cycle fail to maintain their weight loss and regain weight within the first year of trying the diet, per a 2019 study published in Frontiers in Genetics.