With obesity being a topic of concern in every region across the United States, it's no wonder that the health and fitness market has been flooded with hundreds of different dieting and weight loss plans to help people lose weight. Unfortunately, many of these diet plans, especially fad diets, can be unhealthy and even dangerous if followed without the recommendation and supervision of your doctor.
Starvation Diets
Starvation diets are weight loss plans that rely on severe calorie restriction to help people lose weight. Although some doctors may put their patients on restrictive calorie diets, such as physician-supervised very-low-calorie-diets, or VLCDs, severely restricting your calories on your own should be avoided. Many restrictive diets, such as popular fad and "celebrity" diets including the cabbage soup diet or lemonade diet, have taken hold in the market. These diets drop calorie intake substantially lower than healthy levels, which can lead to starvation.
Limiting Diets
Removing specific macronutrients completely from your diet, such as proteins, carbohydrates or fats, can also be an unhealthy way of dieting. For example, your body needs carbohydrates for energy and a source of fiber. Your body needs protein to repair damaged tissues and create important structures, such as your blood's hemoglobin. Fat is needed to absorb certain fat-soluble vitamins, such as vitamins K, A, E and D. Cutting out or severely restricting one or more of these macronutrients can result in malnutrition.
Laxatives
Using laxatives to assist you in weight loss is another unhealthy way to lose weight. Laxatives accelerate your body's production of bowel movements and are typically used to help those who are constipated. However, some people try to use laxatives to reduce the time food spends in the large intestine to reduce how many calories are absorbed into the body. Unfortunately, misuse of laxatives more often results in loss of vital nutrients and water instead, leading to dehydration and bowel problems as well as internal organ damage with extended use, states the National Eating Disorders Foundation.
Sweat and Heat
Saunas and sweat suits are another method that should not be used for weight loss. The thought behind these methods is that the additional sweating can burn more calories. However, the weight loss from theses methods is mostly just a loss of water weight and electrolytes, which can result in severe dehydration, heat stroke, or even more severe health consequences, such as kidney damage or death if emergency treatment is not provided, states the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Purging
Purging, or throwing up, the food that you eat is also not a safe way to lose weight. This disorder is also known as bulimia nervosa, and can result in serious health problems including tooth decay, heart problems, digestive problems and even death, states the Mayo Clinic.
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