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Why crash diets are so dangerousHeart problems, gallstones, etc. – this is what happens to your body when you lose weight too quickly
If you lose weight too quickly, you risk damaging your health (symbolic image).
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Lose more than 1.5 kilos per week? Not a good idea!
While many people want to lose weight as quickly as possible, losing weight too quickly is anything but healthy – and can have serious consequences. We'll tell you here what happens to your body if you lose weight too quickly and how many kilos per week are really recommended.
Consequences of losing weight too quickly? Body switches to “emergency mode”
Reaching your dream weight as quickly as possible is often the top goal of anyone who wants to lose weight. Health is often put aside – a fatal mistake! Because if you lose weight quickly, you may be happy about the number on the scale, but you will quickly be overtaken by the limits of your own body.
This doesn't cope well with rapid weight loss and initially goes into emergency modeas the Apotheker-Umschau reports in an interview with Antje Gahl, spokeswoman for the German Nutrition Society, and the nutritionist Kerstin Dobberstein.
According to Gahl, crash diets mean pure stress for the body. If there is a lack of sufficient food intake, the metabolism slows down. The body then only works on a “low flame,” says Dahl. The consequences are fatigue, frequent freezing and reduced energy consumption – the latter causes the dreaded yo-yo effect.
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Yo-yo effect after losing weight quickly: Crash diets reduce the basal metabolic rate
If the body doesn't get enough energy, it simply reduces its needs: The Basal metabolic rate decreases – increased by the loss of muscle mass, explains Dobberstein. During short-term diets, the body not only loses water and fat, but also valuable muscles. As a “combustion engine”, these are crucial for calorie consumption. Less muscle also means a significantly lower basal metabolic rate. However, the latter promotes rapid weight gain as soon as the person returns to their old eating habits.
Anyone who dares to go on crash diets over and over again also risks a permanent reduction in their basal metabolic rate – up to 40 percent, as the consumer advice center warns. In such cases, the body needs a lot of exercise and muscle building in order to increase its basal metabolic rate in the long term – and to avoid the yo-yo effect.
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Deficiency symptoms! Why fast diets are dangerous in the long term
Crash diets do not lead to a slower metabolism and a lower basal metabolic rate. Malnutrition is also a serious risk. According to the consumer advice center, a crash diet is often accompanied by an extremely one-sided diet. The result: deficiency symptoms! With low-protein crash diets, there would even be a risk of health damage within a very short period of time.
Next to Fatigue and headaches can cause difficulty concentrating, reduced performance and circulatory problems appear. Kerstin Dobberstein also sees the dangerous consequences of malnutrition caused by crash diets, as the Apotheker-Umschau reports. Bone loss, immune deficiency as well as sleep and even cardiovascular problems – all of these are possible consequences of a restrictive diet.
Important: In addition to the symptoms of malnutrition, crash diets can also promote psychologically-related eating disorders such as binge eating or bulimia, according to the consumer advice center.
Gallstones, heart and kidney problems: According to studies, crash diets really are that dangerous
In the past, the effects of drastic weight loss and crash diets have been examined in various studies – with worrying results.
According to the online portal Wissenschaft.de, for example, it was found that Losing weight too quickly can lead to gallstones. If people trying to lose weight lose more than seven kilos per month, the rate of development of new gallstones increases by almost 50 percent.
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A study presented in 2018 by Dr. Jennifer Rayner from the Oxford Center for Magnetic Resonance at the University of Oxford revealed another Deterioration of heart function as a result of drastic weight lossas the specialist portal SpringerMedizin reported. In the test subjects who only consumed 600 to 800 kcal for eight weeks, the overall fat content of the body decreased, but in the heart it increased by an incredible 44 percent. The heart's pumping function became weaker.
A study on rats, which was published on the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) news site EurekAlert, also shows frightening consequences of drastic diets and the subsequent yo-yo effect: impaired heart and kidney function and increased insulin resistancewhich may be related to diabetes.
The studies mentioned unanimously show that radical crash diets with rapid weight loss can cause serious health damage. According to SpringerMedizin, people with previous illnesses in particular should exercise caution when following crash diets.
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Lose weight healthily and sustainably? This is the maximum recommended weight per week
Although it doesn't sound like much at first, the expert recommendation for healthy weight loss is: 0.5 to 1 kilogram per week, according to Barmer. This means that if you want to lose weight healthily in the long term, you should aim to lose a maximum of four kilograms per month. This not only prevents the annoying yo-yo effect, but also doesn't cause long-term damage to your body.
Sources used: Pharmacy survey, consumer advice center, SpringerMedicine, EurekAlert, Science, Barmer
