When you decide to embark on a weight-loss plan, a desire for quick results often trumps rational expectations. Marketers appeal to your sense of urgency and promise that their program will bring you the fastest results. Fad diets, fasts and cleanses usually fail in the long run--setting you up for yo-yo dieting, frustration and low self-esteem.
Significance
Quick weight loss usually comes about when following an extreme diet plan that forbids entire food groups or severely restricts calories, rather than from sound nutritional principles and exercise. Fad diets such as the grapefruit diet, the Master Cleanse or the cabbage soup diet put forth unbelievable claims based on little science. Reality shows, such as the Biggest Loser, make people believe that it is possible to lose over 20 lbs in a week.
Considerations
If you cut calories, weight loss will occur. If you cut too many calories too quickly, your weight loss will be made up mostly of lean muscle mass and water weight. When you return to your pre-diet meal plan, most of the weight usually returns and a greater proportion of it in the form of fat. If you lose muscle each time you lose weight, but regain weight in the form of fat, you end up with a greater proportion of body fat overall in the long run. Quick weight loss can also cause cosmetic problems such as excessive loose skin that may have to be surgically addressed.
Misconceptions
In reality, if a quick weight-loss program, pill or formula existed, obesity would not plague our population. People forget that it took them weeks, months and years to put on weight---it will take just as long (and usually longer) to take it off. A reasonable rate of weight loss is really only one or two pounds per week. This rate is sustainable, manageable and encourages adherence for the long term.
Expert Insight
Some dieting techniques do encourage quicker weight loss. The January 2008 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reported on a study that showed high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets encourage faster weight loss in the short term. Scientists at Aberdeen's Rowett Research Institute studied 17 obese participants and found that a high-protein diet helped reduce hunger and lowered overall food intake significantly more than a moderate carbohydrate diet. Nutritionists warn against the possible health implications of a long-term high-protein diet on the kidneys and heart.
Most nutritionists still encourage a balanced approach to weight loss that emphasizes proper portions of healthy carbohydrates such as whole grains and vegetables, lean proteins like fish and chicken and mono-unsaturated fats found in nuts, olive oil and avocados. Members of the National Weight Control Registry, a group of over 5,000 individuals who have lost significant weight and kept it off for over five years, report simple techniques like eating breakfast, keeping track of their weight, watching minimal television and regular exercise helped them lose weight and now keeps it off.
Warning
Seeking quick weight loss may cause nutritional deficiencies if you follow an extreme low-calorie diet or fast for more than a few days. Expectations of quick weight loss also set you up for frustration and low self-esteem. Any weight you do lose quickly is likely to return, and you may actually gain more overall.
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