Extreme Weight Loss is Real, But Are Your Expectations?
The Extreme Weight Loss Craze
Extreme weight loss has received a great deal of media attention over the years. It seems as though each week, a new story surfaces claiming to hold the key to shedding the lbs. Every awards season, we’re inundated with the latest celebrity weight loss fads . However, so much is lost under the gloss and glimmer of pop culture that the truth may be hard to stomach.
Rapid Weight Loss and Extreme Weight Loss
There are no hard and fast rules for extreme weight loss. Losing weight fast comes down to burning more calories than you ingest by the widest possible margin. Supplementing your diet with exercise is a great way to promote rapid weight loss. Getting a full night’s sleep is another easy way to burn hundreds of calories. Beyond that, strategies shown to be effective include:
- Limit your daily caloric intake to around 800 calories per day.
- Cut out alcohol and other vices.
- Eat about 5 small meals a day.
- Take a vitamin supplement (high fiber is best).
- Use protein shakes for meals as often as possible (for best results).
- Low-calorie foods (celery, lettuce, etc.) can make you feel full without packing on pounds.
Pros
Taking an extreme approach to lose weight fast may help you get the most out of your diet right out of the gate. Without bogging you down with science jargon, the human gut has a variety of bacteria working to keep it healthy. Heavier people tend to have gut bacteria that’s best-suited for digesting a large amount of calories. Thinner people, on the other hand, carry bacteria capable of breaking down a lower calorie diet.
This is, in part, why people tend to lose more weight at the start of a diet than they do after a few weeks. Your gut bacteria needs time to adjust to your new diet. This means that there’s a window of time where you’re burning a larger amount of calories at a lower level of intake. You can get the “most bang for your buck” by putting in the extra discipline up front. A week of extreme weight loss dieting may provide a temporary solution for those looking to stun at a wedding or turn heads at a high school reunion.
Cons
While an extreme weight loss diet is a realistic short-term strategy, it is by no means sustainable in the long term. Real weight loss requires a lifestyle change. It’s incredibly difficult to follow the strict dietary demands extreme weight loss often entails. It’s arguably more difficult, however, to face your own free will and exercise discipline through portion control. Few following such a strict diet will develop the healthy habits for sustained weight loss. On top of this, it’s easy to push yourself too far.
As you cut calories drastically, you put yourself at risk for daytime drowsiness, difficulty concentrating, dizziness (especially upon standing), and a myriad of other symptoms. Significant muscle loss and severe digestive issues are also common. Maintaining a daily caloric intake below 300 calories (as is often the case in overzealous dieters) can lead to severe mental impairment and hair loss. Prolonged periods of extreme dieting can alter your resting metabolic rate (the number of calories the body burns in a resting state). This may cause you to gain weight faster in the future.
The Takeaway
Let’s be honest – we’ve all wanted to pull an Anne Hathaway or a Christian Bale and lose dozens of pounds seemingly overnight. In the world we live in today, it’s unreasonable to say that “slow and steady” is the only way to win the race. With the right diet, you can achieve extreme weight loss in an amazingly short time frame. Expecting to keep that weight off, however, is a bit of a stretch. It is believed that over 65% of us regain the weight lost after extreme weight loss.
If you want to lose weight fast and keep it off, it’s probably time to call for some backup. Extreme weight loss should be monitored by a medical professional to reduce the risk of serious health problems. Contact the experts today to take control of your diet. Call (832) 532-0050 or contact us online.
