Everyone who suffers from obesity or is at least 4-5 pounds overweight, 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 melt quickly. Too bad it's just a dream. According to experts, rapid weight loss is dangerous to health, especially if you lose 10-15 kg or more in a short time. This can lead to serious problems with metabolism, hormones and internal organs. Of course, there are a number of diets that are balanced, low in calories and adequate in nutrients, but they lead to gradual weight loss. Let's try to understand 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 damage both physical health and mental health.
First, the weight lost after stopping the weight loss program can be regained. In addition, as a result, the weight may become even higher than the original. It is believed that the optimal rate of weight loss is not more than 1, 5-2 kg per week. Thus, to lose 10 kg, you need at least 5-7 weeks or even more.
Second, rapid weight loss is usually achieved by severe calorie restriction, starvation, or a combination of both with grueling workouts. But these changes in life are not permanent and after reaching the "ideal" weight, a person returns to his usual eating and physical habits. As a result, your body weight returns and you need to lose weight again.
Thus, in order to achieve real success, you need to change your entire lifestyle, diet and activity, creating conditions for constant calorie expenditure and lower food intake.
Effective diet for weight loss: does it exist?
If we talk about whether there is a universal and effective diet for weight loss to help everyone, the answer is no. The reasons for weight gain can be various factors, ranging from banal overeating, inaction 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 syndrome, 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 providing the body with all the necessary nutrients. If you add to this regular exercise, expand your daily activities - the weight will gradually go away. But patients with serious diseases need a special therapeutic diet, taking into account the peculiarities of metabolic changes, as well as concomitant treatment of the underlying disease - tumor removal, correction of hormone levels, hypoglycemic drugs or insulin injections for diabetes.
Good diet: characteristics in men
In addition to health, gender differences also play a role in weight gain and loss. In men and women, the body stores and metabolizes (breaks down) body fat in different ways, which is related to evolutionary mechanisms. Therefore, a good diet that is ideal for men may not work at all and may not reduce a woman's body weight. But why is that?
Men, as was the case in ancient times, had to hunt to provide food for their families. Therefore, they need strength, endurance and muscle mass to escape, drag mammoths and escape from predators. Although times have changed today, the metabolic characteristics of the male body have remained the same. Therefore, they lose weight faster and easier if you reduce the caloric 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 decrease with age, men also gain weight faster and lose worse.
Men need more calories, more protein and fat, they are consumed faster. But they can eat less sugar, it gives fast energy, but this is not enough and will not be enough for active muscle work in the long run, it is better to give preference to complex carbohydrates from cereals.
"Female" diet
The main goal of women, in terms of biology and evolution, is the successful birth and birth of children. In order for the fruit to develop actively, you need a lot of energy and nutrients. Therefore, the female body initially stores fat in the thighs, partly in the waist and chest, back and arms. In addition to the costs during pregnancy, energy costs during breastfeeding are just as important. Therefore, all women accumulate excess fat during pregnancy. This is an emergency supply during lactation if the food is not enough.
Because of these characteristics, women need less protein - their muscle mass is lower, but the beautiful half of humanity has an "evolutionary" thirst for sweet foods. It is from carbohydrates you can easily and quickly get a lot of energy that can bestored in the form of subcutaneous fat. The total caloric content of the female diet is lower. Evolutionarily, women were engaged in gathering and housework, their body did not need as much muscle as men. The woman's diet should include saturated fat, a littleproteins and complex carbohydrates If light carbohydrates predominate, the frugal body will immediately transfer the excess energy in reserve - fat in problem areas.
Modern diets: good or bad?
Every diet, no matter how good, has both pros and cons, contraindications for use. For example, the popular keto diet today, according to researchers in Austria, can provoke psoriatic rashes. Researchers note that keto diets, which include medium-chain triglycerides, along with omega-3 fatty acids derived from nuts, seeds and fish oil, can predict an exacerbation of psoriasis. A study entitled "The effect of ketogenic diets on inflammation of the skin similar to psoriasis" was published in August 2019 in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology. Thus, people with a hereditary predisposition to this disease should avoid losing weight by usingthis modern diet today.