The Dangers of a Diet

Eating a nutritionally balanced diet and going on a diet are two different concepts. While the former can improve your vitality and reduce your risk of health problems, the latter may have the opposite effect. The word "dieting" commonly conjures up feelings of guilt and failure because it refers to a lifestyle change that is difficult or impossible to maintain.

Nutritional Deficiencies

Many diets brag "fast results" and call for dramatic changes in what you eat, such as consuming only cabbage soup or grapefruit. Unless you are obese and going through a doctor-supervised very low-calorie diet program, you can develop serious nutritional deficiencies if you limit your calorie intake too much. Some health conditions linked to crash dieting are anemia, bone loss, low immunity, poor concentration, gum infections, infertility and decreased thyroid function, according to Health Services at Columbia University.

Weight Regain

Ultimately, crash dieting isn't worth the health risk it poses because it rarely results in long-term weight loss. You may drop 5 lbs. in the first few days of your diet, but this is generally due to extreme deprivation of calories and lost water weight, according to the Epigee website. Soon after, you are likely to give up because you can't live with it or your body thinks it's being starved and your metabolism slows down to conserve calories. Alternately, the diet you choose is intended to last only two weeks and you have trouble keeping up healthy habits to maintain the weight loss. In any of these scenarios, you typically gain back all the weight and then some.

Further Health Risks

You are at risk of becoming a "yo-yo dieter" if you try a temporary or dramatic diet plan. This means your weight constantly fluctuates as you bounce from from one diet to the next. The more you diet, the more likely you are to decrease your metabolism's efficiency. Yo-yo dieting is linked to increased levels of estrogen and metabolic hormones such as insulin. These changes in your body can increase your girth and boost your chances of developing diabetes and heart disease. Frequent yo-yo dieting may also damage your body's immune system cells, which increases your susceptibility to disease, according to 2004 research at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Healthy Goals

Making permanent lifestyle and behavioral challenges is the best way to shed excess pounds and keep them off. Set reasonable weight-loss goals, such as 1/2 lb. to 2 lbs. per week, to boost your chances of staying healthy and seeing long-term results. To do this, you would need to exercise enough and cut enough dietary calories to drop 250 to 1,000 calories each day. Set your goals with help from your doctor. She may recommend you stick to the lower end of that range if you already follow a low-calorie diet because most people should never dip below about 1,200 to 1,500 calories a day.

Reaching Your Goals

Avoid obsessing over every calorie you eat or worrying about minor fluctuations in your weight. You will be more likely to stay successful if your stay focused on getting healthier and feeling better. Set small goals such as, "drink one less soda per day," "eat five servings of vegetables per day" and "walk the kids to and from school" and the positive internal changes -- such as lower blood pressure readings and increased energy levels -- will pave the way to further weight loss success. Reward your accomplishments with non-edible rewards such as massages and new rollerblades.