Crash diets: a quick solution to your weightwoes?

With the start of a new year comes the age-
old resolution to lose weight, and more often
than not the goal is to shed the kilos fast.

Crash diets come with the promise of "a new
you in no time" and according to the experts,
it may deliver – but not without some serious
health risks. This is because most of these
diets require fasting and the elimination of
virtually all carbs.
Why rapid weight loss is not really weight
loss
If you think you're dropping 5 kilograms of fat
in just 5 days, think again! Dr Ingrid Van
Heerden, a registered dietician and also
Health24's DietDoc, says that the human body
isn't geared towards losing real weight derived
from fat in such a short period of time.
She explains that although the scale may show
your weight dropping rapidly while on a crash
diet, it is likely that you are just losing water,
in which case you will pick up all those kilos
again once you stop the diet. "This can easily
trap you in the snare of 'yo-yo dieting', paving
the way to perpetual dieting and problems
with your metabolism," she says.
Nutritional deficiency: putting your muscles
at risk
Fad diets often fail at providing nutrition from
all the food groups, meaning that you’ll be
more susceptible to illness, dizzy spells and
lethargy.
Excluding certain foods from your diet may
just be defeating the purpose of becoming
healthy. For example, carbohydrates are one
of the first food groups to be cut from one's
diet when trying to lose weight fast on a
"quickfix diet". This could be bad news for any
person wanting to exercise, as energy balance
studies have shown that carbohydrates are by
far the best source of energy or "fuel" for
physical activity and to maintain our Resting
Energy Expenditure (REE).
Your body relies on three main sources for
fuel: carbohydrates, fat and muscle. Crash
diets do not allow much fat or carbohydrates,
which means that eventually your body will
use muscle to sustain itself, especially if you
exercise and follow a crash diet over an
extended period. This may actually ruin weight
loss efforts because muscles help you burn
more calories even when you are at rest.
Although detox diets are also touted as a way
to lose weight quickly, DietDoc advises that it
is better to rather follow a short detox plan
and to change your lifestyle to ensure
sustained and healthy weight loss. She
recommends a quick 2-day detox plan