リバウンド

• Reading: リバウンド
• Romaji: ribaundo
• Kanji breakdown: From English 'rebound' → katakana adaptation リバウンド (meaning specialized to weight regain in health context)
• Pronunciation: /ɾi.ba.uɴ.do/

Meaning

Weight rebound; regaining weight after a diet, often ending up heavier than before.

リバウンド is the dreaded enemy of every dieter in Japan. The term, borrowed from basketball, vividly captures how weight 'bounces back' after extreme dieting. It's such a common phenomenon that it's become a standard part of diet vocabulary. Health experts frequently warn that crash diets lead to リバウンド, and the concept is central to marketing for sustainable diet programs like RIZAP.

Examples

1. せっかく5キロ痩せたのにリバウンドで7キロ増えた。 I worked hard to lose 5 kilos but rebounded and gained 7.
2. 急なダイエットはリバウンドしやすいから気をつけて。 Crash diets make you prone to rebounding, so be careful.
3. リバウンドしない方法ってないのかな。 Isn't there some way to avoid rebounding?

Usage Guide

Context: diet, health, daily conversation

Tone: frustrated, cautionary

Do Say

• リバウンドが怖いから無理なダイエットはしない。 (I don't do extreme diets because I'm afraid of rebounding.)
• リバウンドしたくないなら食事制限だけじゃなくて運動もしなきゃ。 (If you don't want to rebound, you need exercise too, not just food restriction.)

Don't Say

• リバウンドした人に「また太ったね」は絶対禁句 (Saying 'you got fat again' to someone who rebounded is absolutely off-limits)

Common Mistakes

• Using リバウンド for general weight gain — it specifically implies regaining weight after intentional weight loss, not gaining weight for the first time

Origin & History

From English 'rebound' (basketball term). Adopted into Japanese diet vocabulary to describe weight regain after dieting. Has been widely used since the diet boom of the 1990s-2000s.

Cultural Context

Era: 1990s-2000s diet boom onward

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal

Regional notes: Used across all of Japan. RIZAP's famous marketing specifically addresses リバウンド fears, and the term appears constantly in diet content.