Many people may wonder if quick weight loss is the safe way to go about losing unwanted weight, or if losing too rapidly rather than a gradual loss might pose serious health problems for them.
Television programs that show doctors who promote diets for quick weight loss and other means of dropping a lot of weight in a short period of time as being safe may contribute to the confusion. For instance, in the span of a short tv program, you can watch someone who weighs 500 pounds seemingly lose an incredible amount of weight overnight, thereby improving their health. However, we don’t always see or hear what all is going on behind the scenes to bring about the loss.
In many cases quick weight loss may be encouraged due to serious health issues that already exist. If a person suffers from diabetes or heart disease, they may be told to lose the weight quickly to save their life, but this needs to be done correctly and under the supervision of a physician.
A relatively active person needs more than 2,000 calories daily just to function normally. If a person who is severely overweight suddenly cuts their food intake to less than they need to maintain a healthy weight, their body is going to use what is available to keep them alive. Unfortunately, the body does not always choose just fat to burn. Muscle can be lost as well.
As the body uses stored tissue for the extra calories it needs, more muscle is lost. At the same time, through the natural aging process, most people who are inactive lose muscle tissue. The end result might be that although you finish your weight loss program weighing less, you now have a higher percentage of body fat. In other words, muscle mass weighs more than fat tissue, so the scales will show a loss but the loss may be contributed to the heavier muscle mass and not fat.
Losing weight too fast can also upset the body’s metabolism. This is what causes a person to regain the lost weight easily. The body thinks it is being starved and tries to protect itself by going into a starvation mode and holding on to the pounds you are trying to get rid of.
Keep in mind that during rapid weight loss a person will also lose valuable fluids very quickly. This might account for a larger loss reflected on the scale, but is not true weight loss. Rather, this could mean you are becoming dehydrated, and dehydration is something that should be avoided during the process of losing weight.
If you are under the care of a physician who insists quick weight loss is a safe option for you due to health concerns, consider getting a second opinion just to be on the safe side. If the second physician agrees that quickly dropping the weight is what is best for you, you may be on the right track.