Weight loss ranks among the most discussed health topics. With so much focus on losing weight, many people turn to quick-fix solutions and crash diets. At first, crash diets appear to work because the number on the scale goes down rapidly, but the American Heart Association warns that rapid weight-loss diets can undermine your health and cause painful flatulence, or gas. Seek the advice of your health care provider before beginning any weight loss program.
Risk of Nutritional Deficiencies
Rapid weight loss frequently results from following a severely restricted diet. According to the American Heart Association, severely restricted diets lack variety, which increases the risk of nutritional deficiencies.
Muscle Loss
Healthy weight loss rids your body of fat and does not deplete your muscle mass. If your caloric intake becomes low enough, your body uses the actual muscle of your organs to function. Liver failure, heart attack and stroke can occur due to rapid weight loss and severe caloric restriction.
Mental Health Strain
The information website Epigee cautions that the crash dieting associated with rapid weight loss can cause depression and irritability, in addition to setting the stage for serious eating disorders like bulimia or anorexia.
Osteoporosis
Long-term crash dieters often suffer from osteoporosis, a disease that causes bones to become brittle. The National Osteoporosis Foundation defines osteoporosis as a disease causing brittle bones, often resulting in fractures of the hip, spine or wrist.
Slow Metabolism
Your body eventually adjusts to your reduced caloric intake and slows your metabolism in an effort to survive. When you give into food cravings or begin to eat normally again, weight gain occurs because of your slowed metabolism. To combat this, you might go on another rapid weight loss binge, and you begin a cycle of losing and gaining weight. This fluctuation in weight results in a strain on your body and disruption of your metabolism.
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