Having thought about losing weight is very normal and a positive step. But as we say “Slow and steady wins the race”, the weight loss process completely fulfils the purpose of this statement. The urge to lose weight in less time may have some severe consequences on your health. The weight loss process needs to be effective but not too fast. Every individual responds to this process subjectively. It depends on the body to body that how it reacts. Some people may face side effects, some may not. But prevention is better than cure. Hence, before putting your body through any process, you should know what is it, what it can cause (both positively and negatively), will your body be able to handle it or not. So here are some pointers on How can your body reacts if you choose a faster way to lose weight.
When to know that you are losing weight a bit too fast?
Many experts say that losing 1-2 pounds (0.45-0.90 kg) per week is normal. If you are losing more than that, it is considered to be fast weight loss. This can result in some health issues like muscle loss, gallstones, nutritional deficiencies, and drop-in metabolism.
People usually do “heavy exercise” and “crash dieting” for fast weight loss. But this can result in loss of nutrition and unintentionally, you could take in much lesser calories than normally required to stay healthy (800 calories). The majority of people focus more on diet than an exercise in the weight loss process because it seems easier to lose weight through a strict diet than to take out time for exercising. Although, if you are starting your weight loss process with low calory dieting, then you may lose much more than 2 pounds in your first week. But this is okay. In the initial days, losing weight quickly is pretty normal. This weight is known as “Water Weight”. Any extra weight in the body due to extra water is known as “Water Weight”.
When you burn more calories than consuming, your body depends on “Glycogen”. Glycogen is the energy-storing element in your body. But it is bounded with water. So, when the body starts consuming energy from glycogen, water also releases. That’s why you lose more weight in the initial days.
Also Read: How small changes help in weight loss?
Maintaining fast weight loss
Fast weight loss can be fascinating, but the question is, how long will you be able to maintain this fast weight loss?
Majority of people who lose weight through a quick process with diet, regain half of it in a year only. Even people who follow the diet, regain all the weight they lost, in 3-4 years. That’s why it is said that this process should be slow and steady. Research shows that people who lose weight slowly, are more likely to maintain it for a longer term.
Slow weight loss plans encourage healthy eating habits like cutting sweet beverages, drinking more water, eating more fruits and vegetables. Habits like this can help you in maintaining your weight loss for a longer-term.
But again, it totally depends on the body and the person, that whether the slow weight loss process will last for the long term or not.
Risks you invite with fast weight loss process
As mentioned above, fast weight loss can be fascinating but is not recommended. Diet plans that ensure rapid weight loss are very low in nutrients and calories. This may put your body in a complete change, that too suddenly. Risks that you invite with rapid weight loss process are:
You may lose muscle
Losing muscle is not a good sign. It’s different from losing fat. Diets planned for rapid weight loss plans may help you lose weight quickly, but most of the weight you lose in this process comes from muscles and water.
A study was conducted in which the researchers put 25 people on a very low-calorie diet, that is, 500 calories per day for 5 weeks. On the other hand, put 22 people on a low-calorie diet, but for 1250 calories for 12 weeks. Results stated that people of both the groups lost a similar amount of weight but the group with 500 calories per day diet lost 6 times more muscle than the other group.
So diets that promote in-take of low calories per day may help you losing weight rapidly, but will cause serious muscle loss, which is not at all healthy.
It may slow down your metabolism
Your metabolism controls how many calories you burn every day. Rapid weight loss may slow down your metabolism. Slower metabolism means you lose fewer calories in a day. Studies show that losing weight with a very low-calorie diet may result in you burning 23 per cent fewer calories per day.
Metabolism slows down with a low-calorie diet due to two major reasons, first is muscle loss, and second fall in hormones that regulate metabolism, like thyroid hormone. And this drop-down effect in your metabolism may last even after you stop dieting.
You may experience nutritional deficiency
If you don’t sufficient calories in a day, you may face nutritional deficiencies in your body. Your cut-on calories may result in cutting down some of the most important nutrients like iron, vitamin B, folate, etc. And as we know, nutritional deficiencies can result in damaging your body. Some of the consequences are:
Extreme Fatigue: Not getting enough Vitamin B, folate and iron can result in fatigue and anaemia.
Hair loss: When you intake fewer nutrients, your body may not get enough nutrients to support your hair growth., this will ultimately result in hair loss.
Weak immune system: Immune system helps you to fight any virus or disease in your body. Not getting enough nutrients, may result in damaging your immune system. This will make your body prone to infections and hard to fight.
Weak bones: Lack of nutrients affects your bones. so lack of Vitamin D, calcium, and phosphorus may result in weakening your bones.
You may get gallstones
A harden deposit within fluids formed in your gall bladder is called gallstones. Gallstones are painful. Basically, the gall bladder releases digestive juices so that it can breaks down the fatty food. Breaking fatty food results in easy digestion. But if you are not taking enough calories, the gall bladder will stop releasing digestive juices. This joining of substances in digestive juices will result in forming gallstones.
Other Side effects:
- Hunger
- Irritability
- Muscle cramps
- Dizziness
- Constipation
- Diarrhea
- Dehydration
- Fatigue
Also Read: Weight loss with this 28-day meal plan.
Points to keep in mind for losing weight at a healthy rate
- Eat Protein rich diet: It will keep you feel healthy, and will maintain your metabolism.
- Cut down on Sugar: avoid sugary beverages and food.
- Eat slowly: Chewing your food properly is very important.
- Green Tea: Green tea have many nutrients that can keep you healthy
- Take rest: You should take rest as much as workout you are doing.
The conclusion is that weight loss should be at a slow and steady pace. This will help you to make it long-lasting and avoiding any health damage. A slow weight loss process will be effective with safety. So don’t jump onto fascinating tricks to lose weight. And remember, Slowly and steady wins the race.
