In addition to the general increase in weight across the lifespan, many individuals also experience fluctuations in weight. That is, regardless of whether the weight change is deliberate (e.g., dieting) or not, some people lose and gain weight more often than others. Such cycling is associated with a variety of health conditions, such as metabolic syndrome (Zhang et al., 2005) and cardiovascular disease (Diaz, Mainous, & Everett, 2005), and health outcomes, including mortality (Diaz et al., 2005; Rzehak et al., 2007; but see Field, Malspeis, & Willett, 2009).
