Crash Diets - A Guide to Risks, Recognition, Alternatives to Crash Dieting, and Smart use of Quick Diets
In a society that spends over $40 billion dollars each and every year in an attempt to lose weight, it's certainly no surprise that crash diets are in abundance more than ever before as everyone is in desperate search of a quick fix to their weight problems.
Recognizing a Crash Diet
Crash diets are well known for their low calorie count, which in turn, as we now know, causes a number of changes to take place within the body, some good, and others not so good. Fad and crash diets are also largely responsible for the "yo-yo syndrome" where one loses and then regains weight only to repeat the process over and over again, usually ending up heavier than when started.
Remember these four points when it comes to recognizing a typical crash diet:
1. Allows for eating only one type or group of food, or eating only at certain times of the day.
2. Calls for eating an unusual amount of one particular vitamin, herb, mineral, or supplement.
3. Exercising, but only using a very specific set of exercises.
4. Features extreme calorie restriction, usually between 700 to 1,200 calories per day.
The Possible Risks of Crash Dieting
Given the name "crash" because after stopping this type of diet, one usually "crashes" and immediately regains the weight back when resuming their usual eating habits. What many people are rather surprised to learn is that they can actually gain even more weight while on a crash diet if they aren't careful.
But how is it possible to not drop pounds while eating far less than normal, when we all know that to lose weight you must take in less calories than you burn?
The answer to that is a matter of simple science. Once the first few pounds of weight loss occurs shortly after going on a crash diet, which is usually water weight, most people hit plateaus, as well as gaining back more than they initially lost. This is because of the severe caloric restriction and the body's natural inborn reaction to it. Thinking it is being "starved," the body switches gears and instead of losing weight, goes into panic mode and quickly stores any calories that aren't burned to save for future use.
Some of the other possible ramifications of following an unhealthy crash diet, or restricting your caloric and nutritional intake include:
- Low Blood Sugar
- Decreased HDL (good) cholesterol
- Depression
- Dizziness
- Loss of lean muscle mass
- Increased risk of osteoporosis
- Organ damage, temporary or permanent
- Vitamin/mineral deficiency
Crash dieting should not be viewed as a long-term solution, but rather as a way to kick start your weight loss and enable you to head down the right path to achieve a healthier lifestyle overall in addition to losing pounds and inches of body fat.
See also: Crash Diet
