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> Specifically, that weight loss in the long term is not only practically impossible but also actively harmful.

Depends what you mean by “long-term” but now at 30 I am both lighter and more muscular than I was at 18. Based on the results of a recent physical exam I don’t see any harm having been done.

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There is a theory that repeated weight loss is harmful, because dying or shrinking fat cells release toxins that they’d been holding. That the obese are mainly harmed by having their fat cells cycle more as they gain and lose fat, voluntarily or not.

a more persuasive theory imo is that yo-yo dieters that don't do serrious resistance training, have repeated cycles of sarcopenia and osteopenia -- i.e. lose 'good stuff' along with fat on the diet phase and gain back disproportionately fat after. The negative effects compound over time with each cycle.

That sounds plausible to me.

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