Every person who is obese, or who is at least 4-5 pounds heavier, dreams of an effective weight loss diet. It sounds simple, convenient and effective - you can eat anything, in any quantity, 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 your health, especially if you lose 10-15 kg or more in a short time. This can lead to serious problems in metabolism, hormones and internal organs. Sure, there are a number of balanced, calorie-reduced, and nutrient-adequate diets, but they lead to gradual weight loss. Let's try to understand how a good diet differs from a dangerous one and which are the most effective?
Rapid weight loss on a diet: why is it dangerous?
Of course, significant weight loss in a short time is the most anticipated result for any overweight person. But doctors never tire of repeating that rapid weight loss can seriously damage both physical health and psyche.
First, the kilograms lost after the end of the weight loss program can be regained again. Also, as a result, the weight can become even higher than it originally was. It is believed that the optimal rate of weight loss is no more than 1. 5-2 kg per week. So, to lose 10 kg, it takes at least 5-7 weeks, or even more.
Second, rapid weight loss is usually achieved through severe calorie restriction, fasting, or a combination of both with grueling workouts. But these changes in life are not permanent and, once the "ideal" weight is reached, the person returns to his or her usual eating and activity habits. As a result, your body weight returns and you have to lose weight again.
Therefore, to achieve real success, it is necessary to change the entire lifestyle, diet and activity, creating the conditions for a constant calorie expenditure and less food intake.
An effective diet for weight loss: does it exist?
If we talk about whether there is a universal and effective weight loss diet that will help everyone, the answer is no. The reasons for weight gain can be various factors, ranging from banal overeating, inactivity and laziness, to ending with severe 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's syndrome, pancreatic cancer (insulinoma), and many others.
Accordingly, for relatively healthy people, almost any balanced diet is suitable, which somewhat limits the calorie content of the diet, providing the body with all the necessary nutrients. If you add regular training to this, expand your daily activities - the weight will gradually go away. But for patients with severe 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: removal of the tumor, correction of hormone levels, hypoglycemic drugs or insulin injections for diabetes.
Good diet: characteristics in men
In addition to health, gender differences also play a role in weight gain and 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 diet ideal for men may not work at all and not reduce a woman's body weight. But why?
Men, as was the case in ancient times, have to hunt to provide food for their family. Therefore, they need strength, endurance, and muscle mass to run, drag mammoths, and run away from predators. Although times have changed today, the characteristics of the male body's 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 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 faster. But they can eat less sugar, it gives fast 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.
"Women's" diet.
The main purpose of a woman, from the point of view of biology and evolution, is the success of childbirth and the 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, partly in the waist and chest, back and arms. In addition to costs during pregnancy, energy costs while breastfeeding are equally important. Therefore, all women gain extra fat during pregnancy. This is an emergency supply for the duration of lactation if there is not enough food.
Because of these characteristics, women need less protein: their muscle mass is lower, but the beautiful half of humanity has an "evolutionary" desire for sweet foods. It is from carbohydrates that you can easily and quickly get 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 engaged in harvesting and household chores, their body did not need as many muscles as men. A woman's diet should include saturated fat, some proteins, and complex carbohydrates. If light carbohydrates prevail, the thrifty body will immediately transfer excess energy into a reserve form - fats in problem areas.
Trendy diets: good or bad?
Any diet, no matter how good it is, has both its pros and cons, contraindications for use. So, for example, the popular keto diet today, according to Austrian researchers, can cause psoriatic rashes. Scientists have noted that ketological diets that include medium-chain triglycerides, along with omega-3 fatty acids derived from nuts, seeds, and fish oil, can 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. Therefore, people with a hereditary predisposition to this disease should avoid losing weight by using this diet that is fashionable today.