For many people, weight loss and maintenance are constant struggles. This leads people who are desperate to lose weight to resort to unhealthy or unrealistic ways of achieving weight loss. Doing so leaves them vulnerable to associated risk factors. Losing weight too quickly by crash dieting or even starvation can lead to complications such as malnutrition and eating disorders. Even without these complications, many people inevitably gain the weight back.
Malnutrition
Starvation or crash diets can lead to malnutrition, which occurs when the body lacks one or more nutrients or has an imbalance of nutrients. According to MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia, malnutrition ranges in severity and may cause little or no symptoms. On the other hand, malnutrition may cause irreversible damage to body tissues. When malnutrition causes symptoms, they typically consist of fatigue, dizziness and weight loss. This makes malnutrition difficult to distinguish from other conditions.
Anorexia
Constant dieting and worrying about weight can lead to a warped body image. This can lead to eating disorders such as anorexia, which is characterized by starvation or eating very little due to a fear of gaining weight. The sufferer continues to lose weight even when she is obviously underweight. Anorexia can cause complications such as osteoporosis, anemia, constipation, low blood pressure and lethargy.
Bulimia
Bulimia is another eating disorder that can occur because of an unhealthy preoccupation with weight or body image. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, bulimia is characterized by binge eating, or eating very large amounts of food, followed by extreme behavior to compensate for overeating. This can include purging, or causing vomiting, as well as the use of laxatives, fasting or excessively exercising. Bulimia can cause complications such as chronic sore throat, gastroesophageal reflux disorder, intestinal irritation, kidney problems and severe dehydration.
Regaining Weight
Extreme dieting is often a temporary fix. The results are quick, providing immediate gratification, but most crash dieters eventually gain back the weight they lost. Some will gain back even more than they lost. Starvation diets and crash diets typically leave dieters hungry and frustrated, leading them to overeat once the diet has stopped. Finally, crash diets often lack the essentials for maintaining a healthy weight, such as a realistic diet and exercise regimen.
Member Comments