Every person who is obese, or who has at least 4-5 extra pounds, dreams of an effective weight loss diet. It sounds simple, affordable and effective: you can eat anything, in any amount, and at the same time, the weight will melt away quickly. Too bad it's just a dream. According to experts, rapid weight loss is dangerous for health, especially if 10-15 kg or more are lost in a short time. This can lead to serious problems with metabolism, hormones and internal organs. Of course, there are many diets that are balanced, reduced in calories and adequate in nutrients, but lead to gradual weight loss. Let's try to find out how a good diet differs from a dangerous one and which ones are the most effective?
Fast Weight Loss on a Diet: Why is it Dangerous?
Of course, significant weight loss in a short time is the most anticipated result for anyone overweight. But doctors do not tire of repeating that rapid weight loss can seriously harm physical health and psyche.
First, the pounds lost after the weight loss program ends can be regained. Also, as a result, the weight can become even greater than it was originally. The ideal rate of weight loss is believed to be no more than 1. 5-2 kg per week. So, to lose 10 kg, you need at least 5-7 weeks, or even longer.
Second, rapid weight loss is usually achieved through severe caloric restriction, fasting, or a combination of both with strenuous exercise. But these life changes are not permanent, and once the "ideal" weight is reached, a person returns to their usual eating and activity habits. As a result, your body weight comes back and you need to lose weight again.
So, to achieve true success, you need to change your entire lifestyle, eating style and activity, creating conditions for constant caloric expenditure and lower food intake.
An effective diet for weight loss: does it exist?
If we ask if there is a universal and effective diet for weight loss that helps everyone, the answer is no. The reasons for weight gain can be various factors, ranging from banal excesses, inactivity and laziness, ending with serious endocrine disorders and neurological diseases, pathologies of internal organs. For example, weight gain is typical of type 2 diabetes, Cushing's disease or hypothyroidism, Pickwick syndrome, pancreatic tumor (insulinoma), and many others.
So, for relatively healthy people, almost any balanced diet is suitable, which somewhat limits the calorie content of the diet, while providing the body with all the nutrients it needs. If you add regular training to this, expand your daily activities - the weight will gradually disappear. But for patients with serious diseases, a special therapeutic diet is required, taking into account the peculiarities of metabolic changes, as well as the parallel treatment of the underlying disease - tumor removal, correction of hormone levels, hypoglycemic drugs or insulin injections for diabetes .
Good diet: characteristics in men
In addition to health status, gender differences also play a role in weight gain and weight loss. In men and women, the body stores and metabolizes (breaks down) body fat in different ways, which is associated with evolutionary mechanisms. Therefore, a good ideal diet for men may not work and not reduce a woman's body weight. But, why?
Men, as in ancient times, must hunt to provide food for their family. Therefore, they need strength, endurance and muscle mass to run, drag mammoths and evade predators. Although times have changed today, the characteristics of male body metabolism have remained the same. Therefore, they lose weight faster and easier if they reduce the calorie content of food and exercise. The male body burns fat faster than the female body and builds muscle mass. Testosterone helps with this. As testosterone levels decline with age, men also gain weight faster and lose it worse.
Men need more calories, more protein and fat, they are consumed more quickly. But they can eat less sugar, it gives quick energy, but it is not enough, and it will not be enough for long-term active muscle work, it is better to give preference to complex carbohydrates from cereals.
Diet "Woman"
The main objective of a woman, from the point of view of biology and evolution, is the successful delivery and birth of children. In order for the fetus to actively develop, you need a lot of energy and nutrients. Therefore, the female body initially stores fat in the hips, partially in the waist and chest, back and arms. In addition to costs during pregnancy, energy costs during breastfeeding are equally important. Therefore, all women gain extra fat during pregnancy. This is an emergency supply during lactation if food is not enough.
Due to these characteristics, women need less protein - their muscle mass is smaller, but the beautiful half of humanity has an "evolutionary" craving for sweet foods. It is from carbohydrates that you can easily and quickly obtain a lot of energy that can be stored in the form of subcutaneous fat. The total calorie content of the female diet is lower. Evolutionarily, women were involved in gathering and household chores, their body didn't need as many muscles as men. A woman's diet should include saturated fat, some protein and complex carbohydrates. If light carbohydrates prevail, the thrifty body will immediately transfer excess energy to a reserve form - fats in problem areas.
Fad diets: good or bad?
Every diet, no matter how good it is, has its pros and cons, contraindications for use. So, for example, the ketogenic diet that is popular today, according to researchers from Austria, can trigger psoriatic rashes. Scientists have noted that ketogenic diets that include medium-chain triglycerides, along with omega-3 fatty acids derived from nuts, seeds, and fish oil, may be predictive of psoriasis flare-ups. A study titled "The effect of ketogenic diets on psoriasis-like skin inflammation" was published in August 2019 in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology. Thus, people with a hereditary predisposition to this disease should avoid losing weight using this fashionable diet.