Starving Yourself to Lose Weight

You want to lose those pesky pounds you've been carrying around for years. You've tried the pills, the juices and even dreaded exercise, and you're still hanging on to those pounds. Now you're wondering if your only option is starving yourself to lose weight. However, although the pounds might initially come off, starvation is not a healthy choice.

Identification

Severely restricting daily calorie intake to the point of starvation is a technique that some people employ to lose weight, when perhaps other methods have failed.

Effects

When you limit your calorie intake to the point your body feels it's starving, you actually not only sabotage your diet, but you hurt yourself physically and mentally. Side effects to starving yourself include depression, malnutrition and ultimately gaining the weight back.

Theories/Speculation

According to Fitness.com, your body actually feeds off itself when it deems it's in starvation mode. As your body adjusts to fewer calories you will lose weight; however, severely restricting your caloric intake slows your metabolism down as well. And as your metabolism is responsible for burning calories, the slower it is the fewer calories you burn, and once you begin eating regularly again you will gain the weight back. When your body understands itself to be starving, it will actually shut down your means of weight loss in order to survive.

Prevention/Solution

Instead of starving yourself to lose weight, limit your daily calories consumed to an amount recommended by your physician or nutritionist, while eating several small nutritious meals throughout the day. This will not negatively affect your metabolic rate and will in fact regulate your blood sugar levels and metabolism. Your body will burn more calories, resulting in healthy weight loss.

Warning

Consult your physician before beginning any weight loss or calorie restriction program.