The Dangers of Crash Dieting
Perhaps in your thinking of losing weight, you have come across several probable methods. Aside from proper exercise techniques that require quite some time and effort, you may have encountered several diets which would seem beneficial but hard to do. Because of these difficulties, maybe the only option for you is to resort to crash dieting.
What is crash dieting?
Crash dieting is basically a quick solution many people come up with to lose weight. People may look at a mirror and notice their unwanted figure, so they think that by not eating literally starving themselves, they will lose the extra pounds. It’s a quick solution because it usually occurs for only a few days (usually less than a week), afterwards it’s back to regular meals.
Difference from other diets
The main difference between crash dieting and other forms of diet (e.g. Atkins, South Beach, etc.) is that crash diets are usually short-term. Most diets are programs that are designed to help you lose weight and keep it off, encouraging you to make that particular diet a lifestyle instead of simply a weight loss method. If in crash dieting you are avoiding food (or eating very little), diet programs have specific foods to eat and to avoid, which you are expected to act on for the duration of the program, normally for the rest of your life.
Is it a healthy way to lose weight?
If you’re asking yourself this same question, the answer is a flat-out NO. There are many different reasons why crash dieting is unhealthy, while there are few to no experts who believe that there are health benefits. Basically, if you are looking to lose weight, crash dieting is not a good way to do it, and here are several reasons why.
One, by not eating, or drastically cutting down on your food intake, you deprive your own body of natural nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates, etc. We all know what will happen when the human body lacks nutrients, the risks of getting ill are higher. This is aside from generally feeling weak throughout the crash diet period.
Two, in crash dieting, you are slowing down your body metabolism, which is what allows you to burn fat and calories effectively and efficiently. You are doing the exact opposite of what you set out to do. You may not be gaining weight, but you aren’t burning fat and calories either. When you eat normally again, you will most probably gain some weight since your metabolism is already slow.
Third, you might notice that you are becoming skinnier as the time passes in your crash diet period, but don’t take it as burning fat, you are actually losing some muscle mass. This is not a good thing as this is what makes your body a fat burning machine.
Because you lost muscle mass, the next time you eat is going to be worse, you will gain back the weight plus more pounds.
To sum it up, crash dieting will make you lose some pounds, but not those unwanted ones, which are excess fat and calories. It’s an unhealthy way of losing weight and is the start of the “yo-yo” process (lose weight, gain more, lose again, and so on). For the benefit of your health, crash dieting should not be taken into consideration.
What are the alternatives to lose weight?
The best possible way to lose weight, as suggested by both nutritionists and fitness experts, is a combination of a healthy diet and exercise. Exercising while not having the proper diet will lead to inefficiency in weight loss, while diet without exercise will prevent you from gaining weight, but will not do as much in terms of losing it. By integrating the benefits of both a healthy diet and exercise into your lifestyle, you will turn your body into a fat burning machine, allowing you to lose weight and keep it off.
The next time you take a look at the mirror and frown at what you see, don’t worry too much, there are various ways to beat the battle of the bulge. Crash dieting is certainly not one of them, as this presents more potential risks than benefits. A healthy, proper diet, combined with exercise is the best way to go about it.
Tags: Fitness, Health, weight loss
June 17th, 2010 at 9:29 pm
Crash diets are probably the worst diets there are as you will regain all your lost weight before you know it. Losing weight is the easy bit and keeping it off is the hard bit.
If you want to avoid regaining all your lost weight you should lose no more than 2 lbs or 1 kg per week as haste leads to waste (a wasted effort). Slow and steady wins the race.
June 17th, 2010 at 9:50 pm
Crash diets aren't only a poor way of losing weight and maintaining healthy weight loss, but they are also very dangerous for your body. There are both short-term and long-term health effects that you could experience by following a strict crash diet.
Mental Health Problems
Crash diets are extremely hard on your overall mental and emotional health. Not only do crash diets cause extreme food cravings, but they can also wreak havoc with your mood: you may find yourself feeling more irritable or depressed than usual when you are on a crash diet. Crash diets can also set people up for serious mental health disorders, particularly eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia.
Nutritional Deficiency
Low calorie diets tend to be very restrictive, and you will find that you will be unable to eat healthy foods. In fact, long-term crash dieting can result in serious nutritional deficiencies, as a result of eating a poor variety of foods. In particular, crash dieters are putting themselves at risk for:
iron deficiency anemia
vitamin B12 deficiency
potassium and sodium deficiency
Potassium and sodium deficiency is particularly dangerous. These electrolytes are used by your body to ensure proper nerve and muscle function. They play a particularly important role in regulating the way that your heart beats. If potassium and sodium levels become low enough, you could suffer from a heart attack.
Vital Organ Damage
Crash diets are extremely dangerous for your vital organs, including your heart, kidneys, liver, and brain. In order to perform their daily functions, your vital organs rely on energy from your carbohydrate intake. During strict crash diets, carbohydrate and calorie intake is so low, that your organs cannot get enough energy from these sources. As a result, your organs begin to burn muscle tissue in order to get adequate amounts of energy to perform vital functions. If your calorie intake becomes low enough, your body will even begin to burn the muscle tissue that makes up your actual organs in order to provide your brain with sufficient energy to function. This can result in serious health problems, including:
liver failure
kidney failure
heart attack
stroke
Osteoporosis
Long-term crash dieters frequently suffer from osteoporosis, a disease that causes the bones in your body to become extremely brittle. This is because fast crash diets severely limit your intake of calcium. As a result, calcium begins to leach out of the bones in your body, leaving them particularly fragile. Many crash dieters suffer broken bones, particularly hips and wrists, as a result of their osteoporosis.
Avoiding Crash Diets: Losing Weight the Healthy Way
If you are intent on losing some weight, it is best to avoid crash and yo-yo diets at all costs. Instead, engage in healthy weight loss methods by following these tips:
Don't cut back on calories too quickly. Instead, slowly reduce calories so that your body's metabolism doesn't slow down.
Focus on limiting portion sizes and choosing healthier food options. Pair this with regular exercise and you will find that the weight drops off!
Look at your weight loss plan not as a diet, but as a healthy new lifestyle. This will encourage you to continue to with healthy eating habits on a long-term basis.
June 20th, 2010 at 5:57 pm
Crash dieting will upset your body balance, sudden drop in calorie intake will slow down your metabolism and make the body go on "survival mode" by shutting down some "not so important" function in your body to reserve energy. It will also try to save as much as energy as possible to fat to prepare your body for the next "famine/starve". If you were anorexic you maybe experience this : hairs fall of, dry skin, hormonal/menstruation problems, internal organs failure at extreme cases. And when you eat normal again, your weight suddenly gain rapidly, maybe even more than the first time you start.
Just eat heathy and controlled and exercise regularly, that will balance the body, the result maybe slow, but permanent because you're also change your way of live.