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Rapid Weight Loss Diets:
Are You Really Losing Fat?
Lose 10 pounds in just 10
days! Lose 40 pounds in less than one month by following one simple rule!
Almost every day, it seems, there is a new diet which promises rapid weight
loss – magazines and internet ads continuously promote the latest
super-foods or detox programs which presumably help you to
burn pounds of
fat off your belly, thighs and hips in just a few weeks.
Those of us who are anxious to get rid of unsightly fat in order to fit into
a fantastic holiday dress, or hit the beach wearing a hot new swimsuit,
eagerly grasp at one fad diet after another, hoping the “guarantees” that we
will be slimmer and more attractive in almost no time will pan out.
But do these promises hold up under scientific scrutiny?
When weight loss occurs
rapidly, are we really
getting rid of fat?
And what is the likelihood
that the weight will stay off?
Do rapid weight loss diets work?
In the U.S. alone, consumers spend over $30 million dollars per year on
products that are supposed to help them lose weight fast. Fad diets such as
the lemon-juice-and-maple-syrup detox program, made popular by pop star
Beyonce, promise to cleanse your system and help you to
burn calories more
efficiently.
Over-the-counter weight loss products are not regulated by the FDA, and
there is no proof that any of them are truly effective (with the exception
of prescription medications that are taken under medical supervision by
patients who are severely obese).
However, diets which drastically restrict the number of calories consumed,
such as the lemon juice diet, the cabbage soup diet, and the extremely
low-carb
diets, can cause an initial rapid loss of weight. If you are trying to lose
five or ten pounds in a few weeks to look great for a special event, chances
are you will lose the weight on one of these
diet regimens.
The bad news is that this type of “crash” diet rarely results in
permanent
weight loss; the vast majority of people who lose weight in this manner gain
everything back in short order.
Is the initial weight loss from a crash diet really fat?
When you first start a new diet which reduces the number of calories you
consume, the weight you are losing is unfortunately almost definitely not
fat. Before your body can begin burning fat, it turns to the
glycogen
(essentially a blood sugar reserve) stored in your body for the
fuel it
needs to function.
Because glycogen molecules are attached to water molecules, the
initial
weight you lose actually comes from water. Next, your body turns to another
energy source – your muscle tissue. After losing water weight initially, you
begin to lose some of your lean body mass before your body finally turns to
the energy stored in your
fat cells.
On average, it takes at least 2 weeks of dedicated
calorie counting and
exercise to truly begin burning fat. Even though a crash diet can help you
to trim down in size, it does not help you get rid of the
fat tissue that
you really want to lose.
Why do most people regain the weight after a crash diet?
Rapid weight loss diets are not meant to be maintained for more than a
couple of weeks, except in extreme cases and under close medical
supervision. It is dangerous and unhealthy to severely restrict calories
over a long period of time – even if you can keep it up (most people can’t).
When you drastically reduce the number of calories you consume, your body
switches into what is often referred to as “starvation mode.” This is an
evolutionary adaptation that is meant to help us get through periods of
famine; when there are not enough calories present, the body
slows down its
metabolic rate and conserves as many calories as possible – in the fat
cells.
Even when you begin eating normally again, your body continues to preserve
the calories you consume, causing you to
regain the weight you lost. What is
worse is that even though your initial weight loss was not from fat, the
weight that you put back on is fat – so you are actually worse off than when
you started.
Most nutrition experts recommend losing weight slowly – no more than a
pound
or two per week. By doing so, you allow your body to adjust to the
changes
it is experiencing and fine-tune your metabolic rate accordingly. By
following a healthy diet and
exercising regularly, you can get rid of your
unwanted fat and maintain your weight loss for the long term.
!!Before beginning any diet or exercise program, it is
important that you talk to your doctor and make sure that you are following
an appropriate nutrition and exercise plan!!
Fat Burning Workouts during exercise
You must seek approval from your doctor
before starting any new diet.
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