Issue link: https://www.hub.camaf.co.za/i/607020
13 WEIGHT LOSS: pART 4 Of 5 you should now be clear that you can lose weight, have a realistic goal, and given some careful thought to how you are going to achieve your goal. We have discussed the bIG THREE principles (arithmetic, Low GI, and Low-fat Quality-fat). We've discussed the merits of exercise, support groups, and medical help. Now let's talk about Crash Diets and fad Diets. I NEED TO LOSE WEIGHT fAST… It's taken you years and years to get to your current weight but you now want to lose 5 kg a week. And guess what, there's this latest diet in the "xyZ" magazine that promises to help you do JUST that. Great. All your problems solved, and fast. Sound familiar? this scenario plays out for millions and millions of people, almost every day. It's so very understandable that we want to lose weight quickly but here is what happens when we try: 1. It's hard. Rapid weight loss will have to involve severe calorie-restrictions that are just too difficult for most of us. So we cheat and so we fail. When we fail we become disheartened and perhaps even depressed. We start to believe we cannot succeed at weight loss…..seen this before? 2. It's unhealthy. The severe restrictions often involve very poor nutritional balance and this can cause a variety of health problems. 3. There's a catch. Even if we stick to these severe diets, what actually happens is that our bodies identify a starvation risk (and realistically that is what it is) and respond by re-setting our metabolism into what we can call "caveman survival mode". This mode burns very few calories and stores fat whenever food is available. It's dead right for a starving caveman looking to make it through winter but no good for the modern person with weight to lose. The reality is that repeated attempts at rapid weight loss create what we call the yo-yo diet effect that makes weight control more and more difficult over time. so you can hopefully see that excessively rapid weight loss is actually unrealistic, likely to fail, unhealthy and in the end, makes things worse.