You May Be Playing Russian Roulette By Losing 80 Pounds In 2 Months: Here’s Why
Many people who struggle to lose 80 pounds in 2 months find hope in diets that promise fast and easy weight loss via drastic calorie restriction. These eating plans claim you’ll radically shed excess pounds, detox your body, cleanse your skin – in short, achieve truly magical results in next to no time. But is this possible and are such diets actually so beneficial for your health? Can you lose, say, 80 pounds in just two months and keep this weight off for good? Read below to understand all the potential pitfalls of rapid weight loss programs and learn how to make your weight loss plan sustainable and healthy.
How To Lose 80 Pounds In 2 Months
Briefly, there’s no way of safely doing this unless you’re very overweight and your doctor has recommended you this pace. «Very» in this particular case means a BMI in the obese range (30 or higher). Sometimes, in this situation, physicians will recommend a rapid pace of weight loss because the health risks associated with obesity for the individual person are more concerning than the risks associated with rapid weight loss. This rapid weight loss requires severe calorie restriction (to 1200 calories per day or even fewer) which needs to be supervised by a physician because it can be dangerous.
If you struggle to even flirt with the idea of giving up your favorite foods or working out till your legs give way – BetterMe app is here to breathe a fresh perspective into the way you view the weight loss process! Check out the app and experience the fun side of fitness and dieting with BetterMe!
5 Ways Rapid Weight Loss Undermines Your Health
- It deprives you of important nutrients. Many crash diets involve cutting off whole food groups, which may result in you not getting enough vitamins and macronutrients. Those diets can lead you to nutritional deficiencies, which could in turn decrease your energy, make your hair and nails brittle, and weaken your bones and immunity.
- It slows down your metabolism instead of boosting it. According to a recent study, the faster you lose big numbers on your scale, the more your metabolism slows down because you’ve entered starvation mode and your body wants to hold onto what it believes are scarce nutrients. This tends to result in weight gain after you go off the diet and back to a normal eating pattern (1, 5).
- You might lose lean muscle instead of fat. On crash diets, your body starts to break down your muscles in search of energy. That’s also why it is immensely important to keep proper protein intake while following any diet (2, 3).
- You can become very dehydrated. Due to water weight, you can shed pounds quite fast in the first week, but this in turn may cause a lack of water in your body. So keep your fluid intake up while sticking to any diet, or you may experience constipation, headaches and muscle cramps.
- Your relationship with food may suffer. You may risk developing unhealthy eating habits connected to disordered eating, anorexia, and bulimia.
Read More: What To Eat Before Workout On Keto Diet To Get The Most Out Of Your WorkOut Session
The Importance Of Healthy Diet
As you can see, rapid weight loss has very significant health disadvantages which override its ostensible benefits. Instead, aim for healthy and steady weight loss. Proper diets, indeed, can variate in their rules and content, yet an average healthy diet has to include:
- fruit and vegetables every day
- higher fiber (4) starchy foods like potatoes, whole grain bread, brown rice or whole wheat pasta
- dairy or dairy alternatives (such as soya drinks)
- pulses, fish, eggs, meat and other protein (except red meat)
- unsaturated oils and spreads (small amounts)
- plenty of fluids (at least 6 to 8 glasses a day)
Of course, any good diet has to be complemented with regular physical activity. You can start with 20 minutes a day three days a week, and go up from there. Later, you can incorporate high-intensity interval training, which will boost your weight loss and help sculpt the perfect body. This won’t make you lose 80 pounds in 2 months, but the results will be impressive and sustainable.
To sum up, losing 80 pounds in 2 months is not only impossible for most people, but attempts to achieve these results through calorie-restrictive diets that can be extremely harmful to your health. Instead, be patient and opt for balanced-nutrient plans like a Mediterranean or Vegetarian diet combined with regular exercise. Eventual results will surprise you.
DISCLAIMER:
This article is intended for general informational purposes only and does not address individual circumstances. It is not a substitute for professional advice or help and should not be relied on to make decisions of any kind. A licensed physician should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions. Any action you take upon the information presented in this article is strictly at your own risk and responsibility!
SOURCES:
- Combination of very-low-calorie diet and behavior modification in the treatment of obesity. (1992, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Substituting healthy plant proteins for red meat lowers risk for heart disease (2019, hsph.harvard.edu)
- The role of protein in weight loss and maintenance (2015, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Whole-grain intake as a marker of healthy body weight and adiposity. (2008, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Why do doctors recommend a slow rate of weight loss? What’s wrong with fast weight loss? (2017, mayoclinic.org)
