Metabolic Damage caused by Crash Diets

The literal meaning of crash dieting is to adopt a high-intensity diet aiming at an urgent loss of weight, often with a short-term goal in sight. However, one needs to keep in mind that crash diets come at a cost. While crash diets may help in achieving your short-term goal to look stunning in a swimsuit, it leaves a detrimental effect on your body as well as your mind. 

What are the Effects of Crash Diets?

The temptation to go on a crash diet regime just before heading for a dream destination is immense. Many people also fall for the same, but crash diets silently work on your body and mind with long-term negative effects. 

Some of the effects of crash diets include:

1. Reduction of Metabolic Rate: One of the key factors in losing weight is a high metabolism. However, crash dieting slows down the rate of metabolism in your body. Crash diets result in muscle breakdown at a much higher rate than under a normal healthy diet and exercise regime. Less number of muscles means lower metabolic health rates. That is why a very rapid gain is noticed after a person stops crash dieting.
2. Weakens Immune System of the Body: No prizes for guessing the reason. A lack of vital nutrients like vitamins, proteins, and carbohydrates in the body weakens your immune system. A compromised immune system is susceptible to other ailments.
3. Crash Diet Causes Ketone Production: When you are on a crash diet, fatty acids in your body get broken down to produce ketone. The presence of ketone may lead to bad breath, nausea, and liver and kidney problems in the future.
4. Crash Diets Cause Dehydration: Crash diets also adversely affect your body as you tend to take in fewer quantities of water. Glycogen stores, which store water in the body and are a source of energy, get depleted due to crash diets, and when you resume your normal diet routine, due to the disturbing situation of glycogen stores, you tend to put on weight.
5. Crash Diet May Lead to Cardiac Issues: If you have an existing problem with your heart, you are strongly advised to check with your doctor before embarking upon a crash diet journey. Crash diets increase the levels of fat in and around your heart which may prove dangerous at a later stage.
6. Crash Diet Damaged Hair & Skin Qualities: A crash diet leads to deprivation of vital nutrients in your body. The lack of nutrients due to crash dieting takes a toll on your skin, often leading to acne. Also, the hair becomes dry and bears a lifeless look.
7. Crash Diet Disturb Bowel Movement: Lack of enough and correct levels of nutrients in a crash diet affects bowel movement. Due to crash diets, the bowel may be too hard or too runny, which may be attributed to the unhealthiness of a crash diet regime. 
8. Crash Diet Leads to Low Energy Level: Under a crash diet routine, your body does not intake enough nutrients and vitamins. Hence, your body will have less energy, you may tend to have a continuous feeling of fatigue. 
9. Crash Diet Leads to Mood Swings: Crash diets may lead to the release of corticosterone which increases the stress levels in the human body. The increased stress levels may lead to an irritable mood and even depression. Crash diets also result in a lack of sleep followed by rising stress and an irritable mood swing. 

Can You Fix Your Metabolism After Crash Dieting?

As is very evident, crash dieting plays havoc on your metabolic health. At the cost of a short-term gain of losing weight and looking glamorous, crash diets harm your health greatly. A crash diet is not even a long-term solution to fight weight loss, and you tend to gain weight more rapidly when you stop the crash diet regime.

As a first step towards recovering your metabolism after crash dieting, you have to take care of not losing weight very rapidly, which is followed by rapid weight gain. This yo-yo-ing between weight loss and gain needs to be controlled.

Some of the golden rules that you may follow to restore your metabolic health post a crash diet regime: 

• Stop consumption of so-called low-calorie shakes.
• Consume less food with high sugar content and food containing preservatives.
• Include fruits and vegetables along with nuts and pulses in your daily food chart.
• Reduce intake of alcoholic beverages.
• Include lean protein foods like soybean, paneer, sprouts, and fish and chicken for people who have non-vegetarian food habits.
• Try to stay away from food containing trans fats like French fries, pizzas, fried chicken, etc.
• Consume more foods like carrots, oats, beans, apples, citrus fruits, and barley which are rich in dietary soluble fiber.
• A regular regime of physical activity is an essential component to improving metabolism in your body. Regular exercise not only helps in the reduction of weight but also works positively on your mental health.
• You need to find out the exercise which you like the most and pursue the same as a daily routine. If your health permits, you may also do weight lifting as it helps in burning fat at a faster rate.
• It is advisable to have at least 150 minutes of intense training in a week, preferably with a resistance training routine to improve your metabolism after a crash diet.
• Do not lose sight of at least 10,000 steps to be taken in a day.
• You are also strongly advised against accessing Google for tips to lose weight in 2 weeks, those are not doing you any good at all.

Bottomline

Make lifestyle changes and take the staircase to the level of fitness rather than trying to take an elevator and fall into traps of taking shortcuts. It has been proven over the ages that people who have lost weight through a long-term discipline are healthier and have been able to hold onto their achievements of weight loss for a longer period.