Maintaining your weight is an essential part of staying healthy. Being overweight can increase your risk for serious health problems, including heart disease, stroke, cancer and type 2 diabetes, warns the Mayo Clinic. However, losing weight too fast can also cause problems. The Weight-Control Information Network recommends losing no more than 3 pounds per week, even if it seems painfully slow. It is important to understand the health issues and problems associated with rapid weight loss so you can develop a safe and sustainable weight-loss plan. Consult your doctor before beginning any new diet.
Sustainability
To get the health benefits of maintaining a proper weight, you have to lose extra weight and keep it off over time. However, highly restrictive diets and weight-loss methods are difficult to maintain for long, and dieters often regain the weight when they return to normal habits, the American Heart Association reports. Maintaining a healthy weight requires changes in your lifestyle to help you avoid a cycle of weight gain and weight loss. Worse, University of Iowa researchers caution, the rapid weight loss you experience with these methods may mean you are burning lean tissue instead of fat.
Malnutrition
Following restrictive diets or fasting to lose weight rapidly can leave your body dangerously malnourished. Fad diets that force you to eat specific foods, such as cabbage soup or grapefruit, do not offer the nutrients your body needs to function properly, warns the American Heart Association. Extremely-low-calorie diets, liquid diets and fasting can promote serious malnutrition, which can be dangerous or even fatal, warns the University of Iowa. Symptoms of malnutrition include brittle nails, fatigue, heart problems and gall-bladder problems.
Additional Issues
Individuals attempting to lose weight fast may be tempted by unsafe weight-loss products, such as diet pills and supplements. According to the Weight-Control Information Network, even products that claim to be natural can be dangerous because they are often not tested for safety before they are released on the market, and have been linked to deaths of users. In addition, low-calorie diets can sap your strength and energy, making it difficult to maintain the appropriate level of activity necessary for a healthy heart, warns the American Heart Association.
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