Every person who is obese, or who has at least 4-5 extra pounds, dreams of an effective diet for weight loss. It seems simple, affordable and effective: you can eat everything, in any quantity, and at the same time the weight will quickly melt. Too bad it's just a dream. According to experts, rapid weight loss is dangerous to health, especially if 10-15 kg or more is lost in a short time. This can lead to serious problems in metabolism, hormones and internal organs. Of course, there are a number of diets that are balanced, reduced in calories and adequate in nutrients, but they lead to gradual weight loss. Let's try to figure out how a good diet differs from a dangerous one, and which ones are the most effective?
Rapid weight loss on a diet: why is it dangerous?
Naturally, 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 harm both physical health and the psyche.
Firstly, the lost kilograms after the weight loss program is terminated can be gained again. Moreover, as a result, the weight can become even higher than it was originally. It is believed that the optimal rate of weight loss is no more than 1. 5-2 kg per week. Thus, to lose 10 kg, you need at least 5-7 weeks, or even more.
Secondly, rapid weight loss is usually achieved through severe calorie restriction, fasting, or a combination of both with grueling workouts. But these changes in life are not permanent, and after the "ideal" weight is reached, the person returns to their usual eating and activity habits. As a result, body weight comes back, and you need to lose weight again.
Thus, in order to achieve real success, you need to change your entire lifestyle, eating style and activity, creating conditions for constant calorie expenditure and less intake from food.
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, inactivity and laziness, ending with serious endocrine disorders and neurological diseases, pathologies of internal organs. For example, weight gain is typical of type 2 diabetes, Cushing's disease or hypothyroidism, Pickwick's syndrome, a pancreatic tumor (insulinoma), and many others.
Accordingly, for relatively healthy people, almost any balanced diet is suitable, which somewhat limits the caloric content of the diet, while supplying the body with all the necessary nutrients. If you add regular training to this, 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 parallel treatment of the underlying disease - removal of the tumor, 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 differently, which is associated with evolutionary mechanisms. Therefore, a good diet that is ideal for men may not work at all and not reduce the body weight of a woman. But why is that?
Men, as it happened in ancient times, must hunt in order to provide food for their family. Therefore, they need strength, endurance and muscle mass so that they run, drag mammoths and escape from predators. Although times have changed today, the characteristics of the metabolism of the male body have remained the same. Therefore, they lose weight faster and easier if they reduce the calorie 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 decline 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 term, it is better to give preference to complex carbohydrates from cereals.
"Women's" diet
The main purpose of a woman, from the point of view of biology and evolution, is the successful bearing and birth of children. In order for the fetus to actively develop, 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 equally important. Therefore, all women gain extra fat during pregnancy. This is an emergency supply for the duration of lactation, if food is not enough.
Due to 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 engaged in gathering and household chores, their body did not need as many muscles as men. A woman's diet should include saturated fat, some protein, and complex carbohydrates. If light carbohydrates prevail, the thrifty body will immediately transfer excess energy into a reserve form - fats in problem areas.
Trendy diets: good or bad?
Each diet, no matter how good it is, has both its pros and cons, contraindications for use. So, for example, the keto diet that is popular today, according to researchers from Austria, can provoke psoriatic rashes. Scientists have noted that keto diets that include medium-chain triglycerides, along with omega-3 fatty acids derived from nuts, seeds, and fish oil, may be predictive of psoriasis flare-ups. A study titled "The Effect of Ketogenic Diets on Psoriasis-Like Skin Inflammation" was published in August 2019 in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology. Thus, people with a hereditary predisposition to this disease should avoid losing weight using this diet that is fashionable today.