Ginnette needed to lose a lot of weight quick. Her sister was getting married in two short weeks, and she'd never fit into her bridesmaid dress at her current weight. She decided to go on a crash diet, and she looked great for the wedding! However, her body was tired, she could barely dance, and when she started eating again, she gained back twice the amount of weight. Ginnette came to regret her choice to crash diet.
At the time she made her choice, crash dieting seemed like the best idea to Ginnette. The concept seemed real simple. She would:
Quit eating.
Eliminate the daily calories.
` Drop the extra pounds quickly.
However, she did not realize how exhausted and hungry she would feel. Nor did she realize what her dieting methods would do to her metabolism. She also did not realize how quickly she'd regain her weight once she started eating again. She may have lost the extra pounds in time for the wedding, but was it worth it? To Ginnette, it was not.
Crash dieting only differs from outright starvation slightly. When you restrict your body from food intake for great amounts of time, it can lead to malnutrition, as well as eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia. And while calorie intake levels are decreased, you will not be losing the right kind of weight.
These quick fix crash diet programs tend to miss the most important point of weight loss. When we diet, we are hoping to lose excess body fat. However, when we go on crash diets, the weight loss is mostly from the loss of water, or even muscle. Losing our excess body fat cannot happen within the blink of an eye. Healthy weight loss takes time.
When it comes to rapid weight loss from crash dieting, there is something that is very important for you to remember and consider. Crash dieting can cause your body to be affected by dehydration, as well as cause you to lose important muscle tissue. All of this together will likely decrease your body's metabolism, not only causing you to feel tired and horrible, but it will also cause you to gain any lost weight back rapidly, when you begin to eat regularly again.
The process our bodies go through after crash dieting are similar to what people went through during times of famine and starvation. After not eating for long periods of time, the body has found a way to yearn to regain any weight it has lost. This is true with crash dieting, as well as back in the days of famine outbreaks. In addition to gaining back the lost weight, the body will also crave to gain even more weight, in efforts to protect itself against another long time period without food.
In conclusion, you are likely to lose some amount of weight if you choose to crash diet. However, crash dieting can be harmful to your health, as well as help cause you to gain even more weight after the diet is discontinued. Before you decide to go on a crash diet, you should contact your physician or local dietician.
Dieting isn't always easy. There is no magic formula that enables us to lose weight as we eat junk food, and sit on our behinds. By concentrating on the dieting "Do's", you will have a better chance of having a positive attitude, thus increasing your chances of achieving healthy weight loss.
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