Say NO to Crash Dieting
January 12, 2010
We all in the process of losing weight at a faster pace must have come across the quote “Eat Less and Reduce Weight Fast”. Many believe this and stick ardently to this to shed the extra pounds. However, as it would be experienced, this quote does not stand true and do not lead to rapid weight loss.
All it does is to leave us in amazement that in spite of consuming fewer calories, why we are still the same size. The quote stated above is one of the biggest myths. Ideally, one indulges in consumption of low calorie food, no carbs diet and lean food without giving due consideration to the balanced diet.
There are a series of biochemical reactions responsible for utter failure of weight loss agenda. Our body mechanism is conditioned in a manner to survive in the extreme conditions. Hence, when the foods supply is reduced drastically the body goes in the survival mode and adjusts itself to the low availability of food. Precisely, two biochemical processes are triggered when the food levels are low.
Initially, the body not knowing the duration of starvation starts preserving the energy. Fat are the energy molecules of body and instead of burning the fat at normal rate, body would cut the rate of metabolism drastically and conserve the fat molecules to sustain body for longer duration. Hence, the calories you expect to burn while crash dieting is cut to almost half.
After starting to conserve fat for instant energy, body mechanism start to eat the protein present in body in the form of muscles. Muscle tissues are built with difficulty and require huge expense of energy while building. However, due to survival mode, body starts breaking down these muscle tissues and utilizes protein for energy. During crash dieting, body burns all muscle mass and conserves fat for future use.
All in all, crash dieting produces the exact opposite effect on your body. It does not promote the weight loss rather it pushes your body in survival mode. You cut off the nutrient supply to body and it starts eating away the muscle mass. To avoid this counterproductive reaction of body, one should opt for a balanced diet and plan out a gradual decrease in calories starting with ten percent reduction in calorie intake in the first week of dieting.
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