How to Avoid Extreme Weight Loss Diets and Steer Clear of Complications
If you have a lot of weight to lose – more than 75 pounds – then you might be tempted by the extreme weight loss diets that promise that you can lose all of your weight in just a few short months. They promise short cuts that will allow you to shed the weight and look great in record time with almost no effort.
While such claims sound wonderful, if it were really that easy then everyone would be supermodel thin. The truth is that losing weight and keeping it off takes a lot of work and a good amount of time. Any extreme weight loss diet that promises short cuts that sound too good to be true should be avoided in favor of those will more moderate – and realistic – weight loss goals.
It is not so much that these diets will not help you lose weight, but a healthy diet is more than just losing weight. After all, you could never eat another bite of food again, and you’d surely lose weight, but you wouldn’t be at all healthy.
An extreme weight loss diet may cause you to lose several pounds a week, but will the weight still be gone a year from now? Five years from now? Studies show that when weight is lost slowly, at a rate of about one to three pounds per week, the dieter has a much better chance of keeping that weight off for the long term.
Another point to consider about an extreme weight loss diet is that key nutrients are often excluded. There are some diets that completely exclude an entire food group. Sure, you will be encouraged to take a supplemental vitamin (which, by the way, is often a good idea whether you are on a diet or not) but that is not as ideal as eating fresh fruit, vegetables, whole grains and lean protein.
When a diet causes you to lose weight, but excludes the nutrients you need for a healthy diet, then that is not the best choice.
Instead of choosing an extreme weight loss diet, concentrate instead on changing the way that you look at food. Change the way you eat day in and day out and before long you will notice that the weight will start to come off.
As mentioned earlier, it will not come off quickly, but it will come off the right way, and you will be much less likely to gain it all back.
Remember, you didn’t gain all of the extra weight overnight, so you won’t be able to lose it overnight. Apply diligence and patience and you will be able to lose weight the healthy way and thus be able to keep it off for the rest of your life.
