Experts have warned for years that repetitive dieting, especially with quick loss diets, can be dangerous for your health. However, now there is an argument that may finally convince people to stop dieting and simply eat sensibly to achieve a healthy weight.

That argument is that repetitive dieting can make you even fatter than you had been before. The problem with diets, as many of us have experienced first-hand, is that when someone comes off a diet, he or she tends to gain back the weight lost -- and then some. This leads to an even more unfortunate situation.

When someone diets and lose weight, it is a loss of both fat and muscle tissue. When that weight is gained back, it is mostly in the form of fat, with little in the way of muscle. Even if that person weighs the same as before, chances are the weight differential is due to fat. That is, the ratio of lean mass has shifted so that a person has more fat and less muscle and lean tissue than he or she had prior to the diet, even with the same weight.

Take, for example, someone who weighs 115 pounds, with 25% of that body weight fat -- a healthy percentage for an average woman. After several weight gains and losses, that body fat percentage may go as high as 40%, even though the weight has returned to around 115 pounds. The more someone diets, loses weight, gains it back, and then loses it again, the fatter he or she is likely to become.

The extra body fat can also increase one's risk of heart disease, and plunging along that disastrous route of yo-yo dieting, the body is losing vital muscle tissue.

Further, the loss of muscle and lean tissue leads to other health problems. Muscle tissue burns more calories than fat tissue does. When someone loses muscle and lean tissue, then he or she also loses the those muscle cells' capacity for fat burning. As a result, after dieting, the body tends to gain weight faster because it burns fewer calories than before.

In one study, a group of rats was put on a low-calorie and then a high-calorie diet, so that their weight fluctuated. On the weight loss diet, the rats took 21 days to lose a certain amount of weight, and then 46 days to gain it back. The second time they were put on the low-calorie diet, it took twice as long (45 days) to lose the same amount of weight they had lost the first time. However, they gained back the weight in less than one-third the time (14 days).

 The body, which fortunately has evolved for survival rather than popular fashion, doesn't like diets. Simply put, give the body too few calories and it will think it is being threatened with starvation. It will cope by lowering the rate at which you burn calories so that you can survive on fewer calories.

So, if weight loss is a goal, achieve it sensibly: Avoid fad diets that promise quick weight loss. A ten pound weight loss in 10 days may be very tempting, but such losses are usually achieved by water loss, not fat loss. Just as muscle tissue has more mass per given volume than fat, so too does water. Each pint of fluid lost weighs approximately one pound. Remember that one pound of fat equals 3500 calories. In order to lose 10 pounds in 10 days one would need to decrease calorie intake by 3500 calories per day, while the total caloric intake each day for many adults is only 1500 to 2000 calories Learn to eat a variety of nutritious (nutrient dense) foods and avoid "empty calorie" foods (those high in calories and low in nutritive value).

So often we dilute the nutrient density of a food with fat, sugar or alcohol. Take, for example, the humble potato: a baked potato is nutrient dense, while the potato chip is an empty calorie choice. Set a reasonable weight loss goal of 1/2 to 1 pound per week! As a person slowly loses, he or she can adjust habits that will help to maintain that loss.

An excellent way to help evaluate dietary changes is to keep a daily journal. This a great way to record what was eaten and when it was consumed. Along with those quantitative data, mood and the circumstances add a qualitative dimension to the endeavor. One might find, for example, that he or she uses food as a comfort. This process can also lead to an awarenes of the amount of empty calorie foods consumed each day.

Identify some non-caloric rewards and try switching from the empty-calorie, high fat foods (such as the morning donut) to a more nutrient- dense choice (such as a bagel). The changes will help achieve a weight goal. They may also lead to new, healthy, lifetime habits.

Finally, don't forget that exercise an important key to successful weight loss and weight maintenance. Find ways to increase the number of calories your body burns. Discover the stairs at work. Enjoy the extra walk when you can't find a parking spot in the front row, and develop an exercise routine that you enjoy.

When it comes to weight loss, regular, enjoyable exercise is more important than maximum intensity exercise.

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