Slow weight loss is always best, unless medically supervised for a specific medical reason. Unless your doctor wants you to rapidly drop weight, you need to approach your weight loss as you would a marathon runner instead of as a sprinter. Your health will be better served, and you will be happier with the final results. Additionally, slow weight loss will make it easier to manage your weight once you have reached your goal weight.
Slow yourself down!
Rapid weight loss that leaves you looking and feeling fit and healthy is something that only happens in the land of unicorns and fairy dust. You didn’t get overweight overnight, so quit trying to get to a healthy weight overnight. It’s just not going to happen, no matter how much you might wish it so.
Why slow weight loss is best for you!
When you lose weight rapidly, there is always going to be the risk of associated health problems that can come with it. Most people who lose weight rapidly, do so on starvation diets. There is never anything good about losing weight by starving yourself. When you are starving yourself on a low calorie diet, you become miserable. You are not only always craving foods, your body is actually wasting away through the loss of lean muscle mass along with your body fat.
There is nothing good about this. Rapid weight loss robs your body of needed nutrients, it can dehydrate you, and leave you susceptible to heart attack or poor heart health. Slow weight loss makes it easier for our bodies to adjust to the ongoing changes. For weight loss to be sustainable, the lifestyle has to be sustainable too. You can’t expect lasting results from a temporary way of living.
When we attempt to lose weight rapidly, we are prone to drastically cutting our calories which correlates to a reduction in protein, complex carbohydrates and healthy fats. When we do this, we are not fueling our body with sufficient calories and nutrients to where we can lead an active lifestyle. Instead, we will feel run down around the clock, and find ourselves wanting to just get the diet over with. Slow weight loss is always best as it will allow you to be able to perform your daily duties more efficiently. You will also have the energy to do the necessary exercises to lose weight.
Rapid weight loss leads to loss of lean muscle mass!
When we drastically cut our calories for rapid weight loss, we only hurt ourselves. By cutting our calories too drastically, our bodies will try to obtain energy from other sources, such as muscle cells as well as body fat. As a consequence of muscle loss, your body will become less toned. You will develop a condition that is often described as “skinny fat”. If you choose to lose weight at a slower rate, you will achieve a leaner and firmer figure. In other words, not only will you feel better, you are going to look better. After all, looking better is part of your goal, isn’t it?
Skinny fat is not exactly attractive. You will still look soft and squishy when you are skinny fat. And your metabolism will have slowed which only makes it easier to regain all of your lost weight, and quite possibly more. The bottom line is, a slow weight loss program will ensure that your metabolism will remain efficient, and you will lose weight at a steadier and healthier rate.
Rapid weight loss leads to unsightly loose skin!
Face it, rapid weight loss often leads to the loosening of skin for a good many dieters. your skin is an elastic organ, which requires time to adjust to the loss of your body mass. With rapid weight loss, you are highly susceptible to loose flaps of skin on your arms, stomach or other parts of your body.
Slow weight loss gives ample time for your skin to contract and fit your smaller body. This means you are more likely to have ordinary looking skin that does not wrinkle or sag. If a part of your desire to lose weight rapidly is centered on your vanity, you are not going to be happy with your new look when you have folds of unsightly loose skin hanging from your frame.
Do you like to have healthy hair?
Rapid weight loss can result in the loss of your hair. Again, if vanity is what you are driven by, you are going to be disappointed when your hair begins to fall out. When we drastically reduce our consumption of food, we deprive ourselves of important vitamins, minerals and fatty acids that are required for maintaining healthy hair. As a result, your hair will become drier and more brittle. You will begin to lose hair after some time.
We recommend you only lose 1 to 2 pounds per week.
It is always best to lose weight at a slow but steady pace. It is a fact, most studies show that people who lose weight at a slow but steady pace are more likely to keep it off long-term. And that is what we want, correct? You might believe that losing weight is the most difficult part of the battle. The reality is, the challenge of keeping it off for good is where the most diligence is required. As soon as you let your guard down after losing weight, your body fat is going to come back and clobber you with a vengeance. Ninety five percent of dieters will fail in their battle against the bulge.
Plans such as ours at David’s Way to Health and Fitness encourage slow weight loss, and help you build healthy eating behaviors. We encourage you to eat a well rounded diet that does not include added sugars or other refined simple carbohydrates such as white flour and pasta. We also recommend that you greatly limit the amount of processed foods in your diet as well. When you follow the David’s Way Plan, I guarantee it will help you keep weight off long-term. Just do not expect for your weight loss to come rapidly.
That is not who we are, nor what we advocate.