“Anyone on a weight loss quest demands just one thing – fast results. Fast weight loss is the strongest motivating factor that often drives people to try the most extreme means of losing weight. The most common among them is going on crash diets, where you survive on tiny meals that do nothing but make you crave more food in the long run.”
“So what’s the problem with rapid weight loss? Getting thinner should make you healthier, right? Here are some reasons that reveal why losing weight too quickly may not be the way to go.
1. Slows Down Your Metabolism…Your metabolism is likely to wind down significantly with extreme weight loss. Your body enters starvation mode when deprived of adequate calories because it strives to conserve needed energy. As soon as you start to eat a normal diet again (and you will), the pounds will pile right back on. And you may end up weighing more than when you started dieting in the first place.
2. Muscle & Water Loss…First of all, when you lose more than a couple of pounds per week you lose muscle and bone tissue along with fat. Bone mass is something you want to preserve or increase, not diminish, in order to keep your frame strong and avoid osteoporosis as you grow older. Muscle burns calories 24 hours a day, so the more muscle tissue you have, the faster your resting metabolism becomes. While losing muscle may lead to a temporary dip in the scale, it could slow your metabolism enough to make weight maintenance more difficult later on.
3. Vitamin Deficiencies…Not having enough food deprives you of many nutrients which are important for your body to function properly. For example, not having proper intake of calcium or Vitamin D can reduce your bone strength and cause diseases like arthritis or osteoporosis.”
A pound of fat has 3,500 calories. So in order to lose one pound per week, you need to burn 3,500 more calories per week than you consume.
That said, you need to be careful not to go below the recommended daily calorie intake so you can lose weight in a healthy way. The lowest recommended daily calorie intake for women is about 1,200 calories, and 1,800 for men. Gradually losing weight is one of the best ways to get rid of the weight for good, because it allows your body to easily adjust to calorie changes, instead of losing a lot of weight in one week and gaining it back the next. Losing anywhere from ½ a pound to three pounds per week is acceptable.
To avoid losing weight too fast, most diet experts agree that a moderate reduction in food intake combined with a moderate increase in physical activity works best! If you are looking for an eating plan where you can eat large portions of the foods you love while still lose weight; check out my plans HERE!