Every person who is obese, or who has at least 4-5 pounds more, dreams of an effective diet for weight loss. It looks simple, affordable and effective: you can eat everything, in any quantity, and at the same time the weight will melt quickly. Too bad it's just a dream. According to experts, rapid weight loss is dangerous to 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. Of course, there are a variety of balanced diets, reduced in calories and sufficient in nutrients, but they lead to gradual weight loss. Let's try to understand how a good diet differs from a dangerous one and which ones are most effective?
Rapid weight loss on a diet: why is it dangerous?
Of course, significant weight loss in a short time is the most expected result for any overweight person. But doctors do not tire of repeating that rapid weight loss can seriously damage physical health and psyche.
First, the pounds lost after completing the weight loss program can be regained. Moreover, as a result, the weight may become even higher than it originally was. It is believed that the optimal rate of weight loss is not more than 1, 5-2 kg per week. Thus, to lose 10 kg, you need 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 strenuous exercise. But these changes in life are not permanent and once the "ideal" weight is reached, the person returns to normal eating and activity habits. As a result, the body weight returns, and you have to lose weight again.
Thus, to achieve real success, you need to change your entire lifestyle, diet and activity, creating conditions for continuous 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 diet for weight loss that will help everyone, the answer is no. The reasons for weight gain can be various factors, ranging from banal overeating, passivity and laziness, ending with severe endocrine disorders and neurological diseases, pathology of internal organs. For example, weight gain is typical of type 2 diabetes, Cushing's disease or hypothyroidism, Pickwick syndrome, a pancreatic tumor (insulinoma) and many more.
Therefore, for relatively healthy people, almost any balanced diet is appropriate, which somewhat limits the caloric content of the diet, supplying the body with all the necessary nutrients. If you add to this regular exercise, expand your daily activities - the weight will gradually go away. But for patients with serious diseases, a special therapeutic diet is needed, taking into account the peculiarities of metabolic changes, as well as the parallel treatment of the underlying disease - tumor removal, correction of hormone levels, hypoglycemic drugs or insulin injections for diabetes. .
Good diet: features in men
In addition to health status, 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 related to evolutionary mechanisms. Therefore, a good diet that is ideal for men may not work at all and not reduce a woman's body weight. But why is that?
Men, as in ancient times, had to hunt to provide food for their family. Therefore, they need strength, endurance and muscle mass in order to run, attract mammoths and escape from predators. Although times have changed today, the metabolic characteristics of the male body have remained the same. Therefore, they lose weight faster and easier if they reduce the caloric 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 fall 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 active muscle work in the long run, it is better to give preference to complex carbohydrates from cereals.
The "women" diet.
The main goal of a woman, from the point of view of biology and evolution, is the birth and successful birth of children. In order for the fetus to develop actively, 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 the costs during pregnancy, energy costs during breastfeeding are just as significant. Therefore, all women gain extra fat during pregnancy. This is an urgent supply for the duration of lactation, if food is not enough.
Because of these features, women need less protein - their muscle mass is lower, but the beautiful half of humanity has an "evolutionary" craving 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 caloric content of the female diet is lower. Evolutionarily, women were busy with chores and housework, their body did not need as much muscle as men. A woman's diet should include saturated fats, some proteins and complex carbohydrates. If light carbohydrates predominate, the saved body will immediately transfer the excess energy to a reserve form - fats in the problem areas.
Fashionable diets: good or bad?
Every diet, no matter how good, has its pros and cons, contraindications for use. Thus, for example, the diet that is known today, according to researchers from Austria, can provoke psoriatic rash. Scientists have noted that diets that include medium-chain triglycerides, along with omega-3 fatty acids derived from nuts, seeds and fish oil, may be predictive of psoriasis outbreaks. A study entitled "The effect of ketogenic diets on skin inflammation such as psoriasis" was published in August 2019 in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology. Thus, people with hereditary predisposition to this disease should avoid weight loss by using this diet that is in vogue today.