Q. Is there a way to maintain my weight without experiencing the yo-yo effect?
The key is not simply starving yourself, but recovering your metabolic function to preserve and maintain your basal metabolic rate.
📝 Detailed Answer
Regaining weight after a diet is often not a matter of willpower, but rather due to a decrease in the basal metabolic rate. When you restrict calories excessively, the body perceives it as an 'emergency' and attempts to conserve energy by slowing down metabolism.
In Traditional Korean Medicine (TKM), this is viewed as Bi-heo (脾虛), a state where the Spleen function is weakened, leading to inefficient energy metabolism. If this is coupled with Dam-jeok (痰積)—the accumulation of phlegm-fluid or metabolic waste—the metabolic rate slows down even further.
💡 Maintenance Goal
Instead of forcing weight loss, the goal is to create a 'metabolic environment' where the body can naturally burn energy on its own.
- Boosting Metabolism: Supplementing weakened Spleen function to normalize energy expenditure.
- Removing Waste: Clearing Eo-hyeol (瘀血) (blood stasis) and phlegm-fluid to improve blood circulation and systemic metabolism.
- Correcting Dietary Habits: Allowing for an adaptation period to gradually lower the body's internal 'set point.'
Ultimately, you must first recover your body's innate metabolic capacity to break free from the cycle of the yo-yo effect. I recommend first assessing your current metabolic state to determine the best approach.
Expert Verified
Dr. Yeonseung Choe
Chief Director
Last reviewed 2026.04.26