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Home » Lose Weight Fast » Is It OK to Lose Weight Fast? – webmd.com

If you've ever seen sweat suit-clad wrestlers running laps in the summer heat to make weight for competitions, you know people can have reasons to lose pounds quickly. It's understandable to want to get a bit smaller in a few months or even a few weeks. But can you do it safely?

The key to losing weight quickly and safely may lie in straddling the line between restricting calories and increasing exercise. It's a simple mathematical equation, says Atlanta-based physician Jameelah Gater. "With weight loss, it's calories in versus calories burned. Calories are basically energy, and energy equates to pounds."

To lose weight safely, you should try to eat 500 to 1,000 fewer calories than usual. One pound equals roughly 3,500 calories. So, if you eat 500 fewer calories each day, you should lose one pound by week's end. Burning calories through exercise has the same effect. So by combining reducing calories with moderate exercise, you should be able to drop 1 to 2 pounds per week.

Going much lower on your calorie count can be dangerous. "When you take in too few calories, then the body doesn't have the basic energy that it needs to function," Gater says. "People who do very low-calorie diets need to have a physician supervise them...to make sure they're not starving their bodies."

Your doctor may recommend a very low calorie diet if your extra weight is causing serious health issues. Plans for low calorie diets combine several safe techniques at once. With these plans, you can lose up to 10 pounds in the first two weeks. Then you'll transition into the more traditional 1to 2 pounds per week plan.

While Gater says that rare and short-term fasting for healthy people is relatively safe, it shouldn't become a habit. "When people do that repeatedly or do it over longer periods of time, it basically becomes unsafe," he says.

Talk with your doctor to discuss your options.

If you drop too much weight too quickly, you can lose muscle tone. That can lead to organ damage among other things, including:

Most experts say the safest and most effective way to get smaller is to do so gradually. The best way to keep the weight off is to commit to a diet and exercise plan. In other words, make a bigger change.

"That's by far the most important [thing] because it's very predictable and people lose weight for about 6 to 9 months," says James J. Annesi, professor of health promotion at Kennesaw State University. But then, Annesi says, the dreaded plateau comes where the weight loss ends. He says that can often be a sign that the weight you've lost will come back. "The real issue is sustaining any loss of weight that you get," he says.

Steven Allwood, PhD, a licensed clinical psychologist, agrees. "In general, people should avoid quick fixes in favor of overall lifestyle changes," Allwood says. "If people lose weight quickly by depriving themselves of some specific food, they're more likely to just gain it back later."

Restricting your calories too much can also put your body in starvation mode, which can dramatically slow your metabolism. "So, when you go back to eating normally and acting normally, not only do you gain the weight back, but you gain more back," Gater says. This happens because your metabolism is slower than when you started.

A steady diet filled with nutrient-dense foods like dark leafy greens, whole grains, seafood, and lean meats is a nice start. Still, many experts recommend that you pay close attention to the glycemic index of the foods in your diet.

The glycemic index tells you how quickly the foods you eat are turned into sugar. Whole grains, and some fruits and vegetables, have low indexes. This means they make you feel fuller longer. On the other hand, foods with high glycemic indexes, like pastries and white bread, become sugar much faster. "The result is the common sugar rush, followed by a crash, and more hunger as blood glucose levels fall again," Allwood says.

Although many fruits are low on the glycemic index, you should avoid loading up on them because they have so much sugar.

Some aspects of some so-called "fad" diets are appealing, but experts generally don't find them effective. "There are lots that work for quick weight loss, but few that have good support for sustaining that weight loss," Allwood says. He says most of them work by limiting your calories and not by anything you eat -- or don't eat.

There are day-to-day changes you can make that may help trigger weight loss. For example, eating late at night isn't good for you, but "many people get hungry before bed especially if they stay up very late past dinnertime," Allwood says. When the nighttime munchies creep in, Allwood says you can eat. You just need to be careful what you eat. "If people get cravings for something sweet, I help them find healthy alternatives to junk food instead of telling them to try to have the will power to resist it."

Some better choices include:

Exercise can work well for rapid weight loss, but experts prefer that you put physical activity into a long-term weight loss plan. The best way to do that is to find something you like to do and commit to it. "It should be something they enjoy -- or can at least tolerate," Allwood says. "Other than that, it's good to incorporate both cardio exercise and muscle building exercise."

SOURCES:

The Mayo Clinic: "Why do doctors recommend a slow rate of weight loss? What's wrong with fast weight loss?"

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases: "Dieting and Gallstones."

National Health Service (UK): "Very low calorie diets."

NIH Senior Health: "Eating Well As You Get Older."

Dr. Steven Allwood, Georgia Institute of Technology.

Dr. James J. Annesi, Kennesaw State University.

Dr. Jameelah Gater, Atlanta, Georgia.

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Is It OK to Lose Weight Fast? - webmd.com

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Home » Lose Weight Fast » Is It OK to Lose Weight Fast? – webmd.com