There are far safer ways to lose weight quickly, without putting your health at risk than fasting to lose weight. Check out this article to find out why this is not a good idea.
People who are desperate often resort to fasting to lose weight. There comes a time in most people's lives when they look in the mirror and they don't like what they see. Either their body has gotten a little flabby and out of shape,
or they have gotten downright obese. We all see it coming, but we live in denial until the problem gets out of control. For some people it happens when they break through a particular weight on the scale, or when they have to move up a size in their clothes – but either way, you are not alone. Almost one third of Americans are now obese.
When you are overweight or obese, your first thought may be to "kick start" your diet by fasting to lose weight. When you are losing weight, it is always good to get a little positive reinforcement, and when you see those numbers start dropping off the scale quickly, you feel a little more encouraged. But, fasting to lose weight is never a good idea, especially for people who are excessively overweight, and quite simply, it doesn't work.
When you start a fast, the first weight that you will lose will be water weight, followed by the excessive waste that is in your bowels. From then on, the weight you will lose will generally be from your muscles and not your fat. And, because your heart is made of muscle, that is a dangerous thing. While you are dehydrated, malnourished, your heart is struggling to sustain a heavy body with fewer muscle cells and it is a recipe for disaster.
The other truth about fasting to lose weight is that as soon as you break the fast, every bit of food that you eat after that will go directly back into fat. Your body goes into starvation mode when you are on a fast, meaning that it will hold on to anything it can get. Much like a squirrel who hasn't seen nuts in an awful long time, it will take all it can and store it away for the future – just in case it is starved again.
There are far safer ways to lose weight quickly, without putting your health at risk and fasting to lose weight is not one of them. The first thing you should do, however, is to take a good look at your diet and see how many calories you are consuming, and compare that against the average for your height and weight. You will probably find, like most people do, that you are eating a lot more than you should. Also pay close attention to the amount of fat that you are taking in.
There are two keys to losing weight on a long-term basis and they are watching your nutritional intake, both in terms of quantity and quality, and learning how to live a more active life. You will find that with just those two changes to your life, you will be able to shed the weight that you are carrying and never be overweight again. Again, fasting to lose weight is not the answer!
