Rapid Weight Loss Side Effects

Weight loss is alright, but is losing weight too quickly going to harm your body? The answer is yes. To put it simply, the fast loss of weight will go unchecked by the body and it won't be able to control what it's losing and what it needs to gain. You just might end up putting your health at risk.


Some people unfortunately fall to the fad that they can lose weight fast. While this may be possible theoretically, it is not the best thing to do. The problem is that people who try to go for rapid weight loss end up causing damage to their bodies because they may be tempted to excessively use diet pills, without being aware of the dangers of diet pills. Even those who go off food completely are not aware how much harm they may end up causing their bodies in the long run.


Problems With Losing Weight Too Fast

1. While most side effects may be temporary, one of the most severe problems arising out of rapid weight loss is Gallstones. If you suddenly stop eating, there may be a shift in the balance of bile salts and cholesterol. This may turn out to be a lethal concoction for the body. The cholesterol will then form lumps, called gallstones. Gallstones lodge themselves in the bile ducts and can be extremely painful. In some situations, it may also result in inflammation in the liver, pancreas and bladder. Sudden reduction in eating also reduces contractions in the gallbladder which aids the process of gallstone creation.
2. Another problem is the loss of muscle mass. If the body does not get the necessary food to fuel its daily activities, it's going to turn to other sources for energy. And ironically, research suggests that it will not use up the fat reserve as the body is programmed to use fat reserves as the last resort. So, before eating up the fat reserve, your body will first consume the muscle mass.
3. Loss of muscle tissue will lead to loss of water content in the body. The muscle mass comes from protein, which has a significant amount of water. Muscles also store most of the water, so loss of muscle from the body will lead to loss of muscle mass.
4. One problem that will really get you in a tizzy is hair loss. Hair needs protein for its growth. In fact, hair itself is made of a protein known as keratin. Hence if you decide to go off food, your protein consumption will reduce and there will be no protein available for hair growth, as the body will try to optimize whatever protein it gets. So hair basically pulls out the short straw and is left as the last in the hierarchy functions that protein needs to perform.
5. Other side effects include shivering. This is temporary and occurs if you have resorted to weight loss surgery. Surgery dramatically cuts out all the fat from the body. Fat insulates the body and stops the loss of body heat. Once all the fat is lost, the body heat will be lost quickly, leading to shivering.
6. The most unsightly side effect is hanging skin. When you lose weight, the skin, stretched due the fat, takes some time to tighten itself around the body. In some cases, especially ones related to obese people, there have been instances where people have lost weight too quickly, but their skin still hangs lose because it wasn't given enough time to adapt and wrap itself around the body tightly enough again.
7. Some people consume weight loss pills without being aware of the dark side of excessive intake. Consuming diet pills may lead to various medical complications such as increasing your heart rate and causing palpitations.

While losing weight may be important from the point of view of fitness, you have to remember to do it step by step. Losing weight too fast can bring on the above problems

Posted in: Health