Why Quick Weight Loss Diets Are Bad for You
3rd May 19
Losing weight quickly has always been a viral topic when it comes to fitness. Unfortunately, a lot of people think it is a requirement to lose as much weight in as little time as possible once the warm weather hits. It’s a standard that’s been put into place in society for generations, and it’s normalised. At Exercise, we’re all about promoting a healthy and balanced lifestyle, being happy with your body, and having a good level of overall fitness. And quick weight loss diets don’t reflect that.
Quick weight-loss diets are awful in most cases. They promote unhealthy body standards and terrible expectations. Ultimately, the result will be harmful. They are encouraged because they make money and promise the impossible, but they are just not right for you. Here’s why:
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Tactics
Typically, to give you the kind of rapid weight loss that you might be looking for, these diets will suggest several common tactics. Before anything else, it is vital that you take a good look at what methods you are encouraged to use to reach your goal. It will shine a light on why these diets are so bad for you.
Shakes and smoothies are often a common way to start. These prevent you from getting a balanced diet, and they often leave you constantly fatigued and hungry. Your diet needs to be balanced! Other ways to do it revolve around starving yourself or even cutting out substantial food groups like carbohydrates. Life is a lot harder when you have literally no energy, and it’s not safe or sustainable. Food groups are there for a reason!
Weight Lost
Things become detrimental to your health usually when you look at the weight you have lost. Your body is made up of a lot of different types of tissue, and fat isn’t always the only kind, which means that losing weight does not always mean that you’re losing fat. This is something that is crucial to understand if weight loss is your goal and you want to do it healthily and sustainably.
When you starve yourself or deprive yourself of vital, healthy nutrients that come from all food groups, you’re creating issues. While you’re losing many pounds per week and thinking you’re improving your health, you may just be shedding water weight or muscle mass. This is a result of a lack of food. In the long run, this could damage not only your weight but your health as well.
Wellbeing
The standard of living during these diets is another thing to consider. It is something that can be just as awful to your health, especially mental health. Outside of the diet itself, it’s essential to consider how these changes are going to affect your body and your mindset. You need to be making a positive change that you enjoy in some way if you want to have a chance at turning it into a habit. Otherwise, you’ll fail and likely feel even worse than you did when you started.
If your diet is causing you to be constantly hungry, skip meals or just substitute food in general, your overall wellbeing will take a hit. You’ll begin to miss out on the fun things in life and even possibly make social occasions less enjoyable for yourself. You may be happier that you’re losing weight, but you’ll be miserable watching everyone else have a good time while you’re resisting a little treat or even feeling too hungry to join in. You need to be happy and healthy!
After The Diet
So, we’ve looked at the effects that quick weight loss diets can have, but even after the diet has ended (probably way earlier than expected), they can give you grief. Not only will you probably have lost a lot of necessary mass and feel worse for it, but things turn sour quickly.
When you start going back to previous habits, which are much easier to sustain anyway, your body comes out of the starvation mode you’ve put it into. This usually happens through hormone production like leptin. Your metabolism has taken a huge hit. And that is why all the weight that you lost comes back. Not to mention the fact that a lot of these diets might ruin your relationship with food. No food group is ‘evil’; the key is having a balanced diet overall.
Mental Health
Finally, we’ve brushed over the mental health effects, but nowhere near enough. Your mental health is just as important as your physical health. These diets don’t just have a harmful impact on your body; they have an awful effect on your mind too, and for a range of reasons.
Not only will you be messing with your metabolism and your hormones, but you’ll also be affecting your general satisfaction too. Usually, and this is harsh but true, you’ll end up worse off than when you started. Because your body will be going from starvation to eating normally again, you’ll likely erase the results of the diet. In turn, this will make you feel like you have failed, even if you were bound to! This will demotivate you massively. It is important to note that following quick weight loss diets one after the other and never stopping to check in with yourself might lead to long-term health issues.
Ultimately…
Quick weight-loss diets very rarely fulfil their purpose. And the methods you use will end up negatively affecting your wellbeing long-term. If you are going to have a chance at becoming a healthier person, it must be in a way that can work for you.
Weight loss is not a bad goal, but it should be done in a way that does not sacrifice your well-being. Fitness should be for life, not just for summer, and the purpose is to become both a happier and healthier version of yourself in the end! Fitness is for you, not for other people or a way to conform to harmful societal pressures. If you need more information on losing weight in a way that is healthy, check out our fundamentals of weight loss article here! More importantly, remember to be happy, be healthy, and be yourself.
Before beginning any exercise or nutrition program, consult your physician, doctor or other professional. This is especially important for individuals over the age of 35 or persons with pre-existing health problems. Exercise.co.uk assumes no responsibility for personal injury or property damage sustained using our advice.
If you experience dizziness, nausea, chest pain, or any other abnormal symptoms, stop the workout at once and consult a physician or doctor immediately.
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