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Do you have a special occasion (a wedding, a vacation on the beach, …) coming up, and are intending to lose 15 pounds (6.8 kg) in 3 weeks!!!??? DON’T.

Crash diets can be very harmful for your health. Dieting can become a bad habit of trying to lose weight in a matter of a few weeks for a particular event. In the long term, dieting is very ineffective if you are after permanent weightloss and a healthy lifestyle.

In this article, I want to go over why crash dieting is so bad for your body, and what hope there is for the yo-yo dieter.

5 Ways In Which Dieting Is Bad For You

1. You lose muscle and not fat. When you starve your body of nutrients that it requires, with the intention of losing weight, you do lose weight on the scales. However, it is usually muscle which you lose and not fat. So, in the end you would have lost about 5 pounds (2 kg) – most of it would be muscle, and most of the fat would still be stored in your body.
2. Your metabolism suffers. Your body needs regular but small meals every few hours. Like this you will keep the body constantly working – including your metabolism. If you starve yourself, then the body copes by slowing your metabolism. In the long run this effects your long-term weightloss goals – as it becomes harder to lose weight as you continue different diets.
3. You gain all the weight back, if not even more. After 3 weeks you get fed up of dieting, and start eating ‘normal’ again. However, now your metabolism is slower and you have lost muscle mainly instead of fat. So when you start gaining weight again, first you gain it faster because your metabolism is not working properly, and second you end up gaining more fat because now your muscles have atrophied and are not working at top condition. And muscle mass is needed because in a way it helps us to lose weight, as for muscle to grow it takes energy from fat.
4. It’s not long-term. Trying every latest fad diet is not going to make you achieve your ideal goal. Fad diets come and go – every diet can be good or bad in its own rights. However, remember that it is you who makes a ‘diet’ work or not for you. In addition, diets which are too restricting e.g. eating just carbs or eating just liquids, are not long-term – you are never going to stick to such a restrictive diet, plus it’s not good for your body, as your body needs a bit of everything. So, don’t blame yourself it one diet does not work. There is no ‘miracle diet’ – for permanent weight loss, you have to change your life-style and attitude towards dieting.
5. You end up with stretch-marks and flabby skin. Yo-yo dieting, in the sense of losing weight and gaining it back again, then starting all over again and on and on, wrecks havoc on your body. You will end up with stretch marks and flabby skin – which looks worse than a person with a nice full-figure. Now when losing weight you might still end up with stretch-marks and loose skin, but it can be minimized by the way you chose to lose the weight.

What is the Answer to Losing Weight The Right Way?

There is still hope if you would like to lose weight permanently. You need to look at weight loss as a healthy lifestyle choice and as something long term. Aim for losing 1 pound a week, and controlling your portions and your meals. The body needs regular but small meals and healthy snacks every 3 hours.

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