Every now and then, some fad diet springs up with the promise of miracle weight loss, and men and women all around the world starve themselves to achieve their goals. These fad starvation diets can promise up to 10 pounds of weight loss in less than a week, which is why these diets seem so attractive to everyone.
But the question is, do these starvation diets work?
These starvation diets are more commonly known as crash diets and are more popular among women than men. To be honest, the crash diets are usually highly effective, as people following them vigorously can actually lose a tremendous amount of weight within a very short time. Women, in particular, can end up losing 10 to 12 pounds of weight under a week by following a 400- or a 500-calorie diet, eating much less than what their body needs. Although they are known as “diets”, most of these fad diets are nothing but starving our bodies which can be harmful in the long run.
What happens in Starvation Diets?
It is not uncommon for brides to go on a “crash diet” before their wedding, women going on a 400-calorie diet before a vacation or the swimsuit season, or men skipping a few meals before an important date. While a “crash diet” in moderation once in a while might not be very harmful to us in the long run, this is definitely not something to overdo.
When we starve ourselves simply to lose weight, the negative effects of starvation and crash diets can be both temporary and long-term.
- Temporary Effects of Starving
When you starve yourself, i.e. eat much less than what your body is used to, your body automatically goes into what’s known as the starvation mode. Your body doesn’t understand that you are doing this on purpose; rather, it braces for the fact that food isn’t available for you to eat for the moment. Your body will actually slow down your metabolism and start to preserve body fat.
This is also known as our survival mode, where the human body starts to prepare itself to survive on the little food you’re giving it. Whatever you eat gets turned into body fat to be stored for later, and you end up with more body fat than you intended.
Besides, what do you think happens after your 72-hour or 7-day crash diet ends? It is not humanly possible to stick to a clean eating regime after you’ve starved yourself for such a long time. The moment that you reach your dream weight goal, or the moment that your big moment is over, most people start binging. Everything they’ve denied themselves for so long – if available, becomes the first foods we all eat, in an amount much higher than we would have in normal circumstances.
So, how is it possible that you actually end up losing so much weight undergoing a crash diet? That’s one of the permanent effects of starvation diets.
Besides, when you are skipping meals, ignoring the important vitamins and minerals needed for good health, and dehydrating your body, you are also losing the energy you need to survive the day. Healthy fats from carbohydrates and proteins are turned into energy inside our body but if our digestive system isn’t getting the proper ingredients, the person the body belongs to will be weak, unenergetic, lethargic and even cranky.
- Long-term Effects of Starving
When you are losing numbers on your bathroom scale, it’s not only because you are losing body fat. Rather, the weight that you lose is primarily because of the lean muscle mass that you are losing. If you starve your body for longer than what’s normal – by eating 50% less than what your body requires – you can actually end up losing 20% of your lean muscle mass and 20% of your organ sizes.
These are the harmful sides of starvation diets that can affect your body in the long-run. Lean muscle mass is comprised of organs, bones, muscles, and water – all significant parts of your body that you might end up losing by not eating the required amount of food.
While muscle and water, and even organ size, can be regained later, it is the loss of bone density that can have the most traumatic effect on your body. A decreased bone density can lead to calcium deficit, pain in the muscles and bones, and make you more injury-prone.
Besides, if you’ve tried crash diets constantly, i.e. if you’ve put your body through the starvation mode consistently, your metabolism can change permanently. When you’ve regained the lost lean muscle later, you will need more energy to function every day, which means that you’ll need to eat more than you used to. This can again lead to a substantial weight gain if you haven’t found the right way to burn the calories you gain.
Any person is actually more susceptible to gain more weight after a significant starvation mode, as this is something the human body isn’t ready to process naturally. Therefore, while a crash diet could be the answer you are looking for to lose a significant amount of weight within a few days, this is definitely not something that should be consistent in your life.
In other words, you might be trying to lose weight by starving yourself, your body – by nature – is, at the same time, trying to maintain that weight. Therefore, no matter how much you try, starving yourself is not a consistent lose weight or to stay healthy.
The best, the healthiest, and the most scientific way to lose weight would be to maintain the right balance between healthy food in limitation, and proper exercise. Only then, will you be able to lose weight, you need to do it the right way, but not by starving yourself.
