Sensible Diet
Why Is Fast Weight Loss Bad?
So, you may have made the decision to lose weight as quickly
as possible. You have your diet at hand and you expect to
follow it religiously. Now, you may be wondering how much
weight you can lose in a given week and whether or not fast
weight loss might harm your health.
Before you start, you should know that there are several
factors to determine your weight loss progress, such as family
history, or genetics, they all play an important role. Also,
your weight loss may depend upon how much exercise you have
been doing, as well as your stress level. Your metabolism,
or how fast do you burn calories, can also have a major effect.
Theoretically, it is possible for you to lose as much as
20 pounds a week. But, most of that weight could be water
weight. This also means that once you stop your diet, you
are likely to gain much of that weight back. You will also
have to engage in strength training, or you will be losing
muscle as well as fat, since about ¼ of the body’s
weight consists of muscle. It is interesting to point out
that, you can probably lose at most four pounds of fat in
a given week.
The nature has a way of protecting the body against excessive
weight loss. For example, if you suddenly reduce your calorie
intake, your body will compensate for the fact by reducing
your metabolic rate. As a result, you’ll need fewer
calories to maintain your weight. This is also why some people
lose weight up to a certain extent and then cannot lose any
additional weight, no matter how hard they try.
If you lose weight too quickly, you might be also at the
risk of jeopardizing your health. Fast weight loss has been
linked to the formation of gall stones. Besides, you may experience
loose skin as your weight goes into free fall. Most importantly,
there is a chance that you will regain your weight back very
fast. This is because it is very difficult to maintain a healthy
diet recipe. You may find yourself falling back into your
bad eating habits after a period of deprivation.
By engaging in fast weight loss, you might be at greater
risk for an eating disorder. You might tend to starve yourself,
leading to anorexia. Or, when you cannot overcome your food
cravings, you may want to binge and purge, leading to a case
of bulimia. This is why it is extremely important to lose
weight under a physician’s care. If not, you could be
doing more harm to your body than good.
Although our body has the capability of shedding great amount
of weight over a period of time, but, most medical experts
agree that we should not expect to lose more than one or two
pounds a week in order to stay healthy. This is of course
a disappointing news to a dieter, especially for those who
need to lose 50 pounds. Most of the doctors believe that the
go-slow approach is best for long-term weight loss to avoid
other health problems.
There are several ways to help you to lose weight effectively.
For example, you can choose follow the Atkins plan, the Zone,
or the diabetic diet. You might also be interested to try
Sugar Busters or the Carb Addict’s prescription for
losing weight. But, you should accompany your diet plan with
an effective exercise routine. By simply walking, it has been
said that you can lose as many as two pounds a week..
As we have discussed it, rapid weight loss should be hadled
with caution. It is much better to lose a few pounds each
week and maintain that weight loss over the long term. Or
in other words, good things take time to happen, especially
when it comes to weight loss. Perhaps the best advice is to
be patient. By following a reasonable diet, get plenty of
exercise, and drink a good amount of water will help you to
lose weight slowly but surely.
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