Very fast weight loss is what many people looking to lose weight hope to accomplish. So they go on a very low-calorie diet, which is the fastest way to lose weight. But this is a big mistake, according to mensjournal there are four major problems with very low-calorie diets.
The first problem is that very-low-calorie diets, especially very low-carbohydrate diets, are dehydrating. This means that when you drastically reduce your calories you’re going to lose a lot of water. This is why the initial weight loss on very-low-calorie diets is deceiving because you lose more water than you do body fat.
The second problem is that very low-calorie diets cause your metabolism to slow down, and this causes you to lose lean muscle mass. When you drastically reduce your calories, your body thinks it’s being starved. Your body reacts to this perceived starvation by slowing down your metabolism.
Since muscle is very metabolically active tissue, your body starts using lean muscle mass for energy instead of body fat, which is metabolically inactive tissue.
The third problem is that very low-calorie diets cause fat loss to come to a stop. This happens because when your body thinks it’s being starved, it starts storing body fat. This is why people on very-low-calorie diets reach a point where they can no longer lose any more weight no matter how low they drop their calories. The lower they drop their calories, the more their body stores fat.
The fourth problem is that no one can stay on a very low-calorie diet for an extended period of time. The combination of hunger, lack of energy, and fat loss coming to a stop is what causes people to give up on very-low-calorie diets. And once the diet ends, people go back to their old eating habits and gain back any weight that they lost – only now they have a slower metabolism and less muscle.
You have to forget about very fast weight loss if you want to lose weight (body fat) and keep it off permanently. Slow and steady is the way to go instead. A good weight loss goal is 1 to 2 pounds of body fat per week, or 1% of total bodyweight per week if you’re extremely heavy (e.g., 3 pounds if you weigh 300 pounds).
The slow and steady way to lose body fat is by following a fat-burning nutrition and exercise program. Following a fat-burning nutrition and exercise program enables you to lose body fat without being constantly hungry, without slowing down your metabolism, and without losing muscle. It’s also the healthiest and safest way to lose body fat.
If you stick with a slow and steady approach to fat loss by following a fat-burning nutrition and exercise program, you’ll not only end up with a leaner body, you’ll end up with a healthier, fitter, better-looking body.
