IT’S likely you’ll put on weight over the festive season - and equally likely you’ll struggle to lose it. But many people will still embark on New Year diets, possibly losing a bit of weight, and then putting it back on again, in classic yo-yo fashion.

However, although such yo-yoing is very common, new research suggests it could also be dangerous. A US study found women in the ‘normal weight’ range who lost and regained weight had about a three-and-a-half times higher risk of sudden cardiac death – than women whose weight remained stable.

Yo-yo dieting was also associated with a 66 per cent increased risk of death from coronary heart disease, where blood vessels to the heart become blocked with fat, in the normal weight women. However, if you’re overweight, it’s not wise to completely abandon diets either.

The best solution, nutritionists suggest, is to be to embark upon a healthy diet which aims to achieve a steady, regular, weight loss, rather than the rapid, major loss that a crash diet aims for.

Nutritionist Cassandra Barns points out that crash diets followed by weight gain can affect mental health, leading to guilt and low self-esteem.

She said: “This can result in an unhealthy relationship with food.”

* Don’t starve yourself: If you miss meals or starve, your body will think there’s a shortage of food and its response will be to slow down your metabolism and hold onto fat stores.

* Skip fad diets: Fad diets may work temporarily but are usually too difficult to maintain for more than a couple of weeks.

* Add protein to each meal: Protein slows down the rate the stomach processes food, and slows the passage of the carbohydrates with it.

* Don’t eat on the run: Eating while rushing gives your body the message that time’s scarce, you’re pressured and stressed.

* Never Skip Breakfast: Sleeping makes your metabolism slow right down, and breakfast gets it going again. It’s important to choose healthy breakfasts, such as wholegrain cereals, or natural dairy products like yoghurt, eggs and fruit.

* Eat little and often: Eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, plus a mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack. Try not to eat carbohydrates after 6pm.

* Don’t cut out all fat: Fat is an essential part of the diet, but fat needs to be the right kind, from oily fish, nuts and seeds, to get essential omega-3 and 6 fats which are necessary for health.