The idea that losing weight slowly is better for you is an old wives’ tale. Slow and steady is the way to go when it comes to losing weight. Rapid weight loss comes with health risks and it leads to yo-yo dieting – a cycle of slimming and regaining weight.
METHODOLOGY
With Crash diets you’ll experience rapid weight loss, these fad diets shock your body, sending it into starvation mode, it responds by lowering the metabolism to burn fewer calories. You will experience weight loss but you’re not actually losing any fat, instead, you’re using your body’s stored supply of the carbohydrate glycogen. As your body burns glycogen, you lose water as well, making it seem as though you’re losing a lot of weight. When you participate in multiple cycles of crash dieting, your body begins to break down muscle faster than fat. The more weight you lose on a starvation diet, the more your metabolism slows. The slower your metabolism, the more weight you gain when you start eating again. Eventually it become a never-ending cycle of rapid weight loss followed by rapid weight gain.
ADVANTAGES
Loosing weight quickly, of course motivates people to persist with their diet and achieve better results. Cutting down your food intake can be helpful as a kick-start because fast results get you motivated. low-energy meals are easier to follow because fewer choices have to be made than for a diet consisting of regular foods. It can help initially, but it still needs to be combined with adequate protein and nutrients, and exercise to maintain muscle. However, these kinds of diets should be followed for a short period of time and that too with proper guidance from a Nutritionist.
INDICATIONS AND LIMITATIONS
With drastically low calorie diets one can found to be suffering from malnutrition. It slows down the metabolism. One feel irritable, tired and lethargic, because body isn’t getting the nutrients it needs to make energy. Crash dieting can even lead to depression and eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia. It carry both long and short term health risks. The most common short term risk is nutritional deficiency. Long term risks include osteoporosis, as your body leaches calcium from your bones to make up for calcium deficiencies in your crash diet plan. Other long term risks include damage to the brain, kidney, heart and other vital organs. To conclude, long-term commitment to a lifestyle change, involving a healthy, balanced diet with regular exercise is the best way to achieve a healthy weight and its maintenance.