You’ve seen hundreds of them – catchy promotions offering the promise of easy weight loss. Many of these feature dramatic testimonials from people who swear they have found the magic weight loss solution. The simple truth is that some of those crash diets may work for the short term, but most also come with health risks such as the following:
Gallstones
Rapid weight loss, considered 3 pounds or more per week, may cause gallstones to form. As many as 25% of people that go on diets that are 800 calories or less develop gallstones. The changes in fat metabolism, which may easily occur with rapid weight loss, may be the cause of the gallstones’ formation. There is also a higher incidence of gallstones if you are rapidly losing and then regaining weight.
Muscle Loss
When you lose a large amount of weight, it is likely that you may lose some muscle mass. For people that choose a very low calorie diet without doctor or practitioner supervision their chances of losing muscle mass are greater. Muscle mass is difficult to build back up once it is lost. The best advice is not to lose muscle in the first place.
Unhealthy Nutrition
We consume nutrition including protein, fats, vitamins and minerals primarily through the food that we eat. When you dramatically reduce the consumption of food, you are typically reducing the amount of essential nutrients needed to be healthy. Nutritional deficiencies may cause both short-term and long-term health issues some of which are very serious or even deadly.
Rebound
Losing weight is hard, keeping the weight off is even harder. Research has proven that people who lose weight using very low calorie diets have a greater chance of not only gaining the weight back, but for gaining back more weight than they had lost. With yo-yo dieting your body is very good at self-preservation and becomes accustomed to the effects of starving making losing weight more and more difficult.
Although I know that you don’t want to hear it the reality is that safe, steady weight loss (about a pound per week) is the key to good health and lasting effects. Marketing gimmicks and quick fixes are just that….gimmicks. They are not sustainable. Please consult a healthcare practitioner if you are considering weight loss so that they may assist you with your weight-lose journey.
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