Here's Why Dropping Pounds Quickly Doesn't Work

For most of us, gaining weight happens gradually over time. It starts out with a bit of tightness in our waistlines or around our hips. Then, maybe our pants start to hug our thighs. Soon we find ourselves laying down across our beds in an effort to zip up our jeans. We start blaming everything from a hot dryer to period bloating for our incredibly-shrinking clothes.

The temptation is to immediately go on an extreme calorie restrictive diet and hit the gym. We start drinking master cleanser, wearing waist trainers day and night, and stock up on tummy tea. Two weeks and 12 pounds later we are thrilled at our progress so we revert back to our old ways. And so does our weight. Why?

For starters, the heavier we weigh, the more we will lose initially--pound for pound. According to Harvard Medical School's Dr. Nisha Basu, M.D., you should focus more on the percentage of weight that you want to lose rather than the sheer number of pounds. After the first week or so on your diet, those early rapid losses can all but stop. You may attempt to multiply your efforts to duplicate those previous results and do more harm than good.

The first weigh-in is mostly water, anyway. Trying to lose weight quickly just doesn't work. Basu explains that when you reduce your calorie intake, your body starts to seek out its glycogen stores as soon as possible. Glycogen is stored in your liver and your muscles. After prolonged reduction of carbohydrates, blood sugar is used up and the body starts using the glycogen in the liver. Once the liver is depleted, then muscle is broken down to extract glycogen.

So, if you are weight training while consuming a calorie-restricted diet, your body may be burning fat and catabolizing muscle. Losing muscle will translate into a drop in weight, but it will also cause a drop in metabolism. The body believes itself to be in distress and in survival mode. When you eat, your body will likely store everything it doesn't use for daily activities. Therefore, you will gain it as rapidly as you lost it, if not more.

Losing more than 1 - 2 pounds per week is aggressive. Unless you are in training for a competitive sport, you should pace yourself. Remember that it could take just as long to lose the weight as it took to gain it. The key is to adopt a healthy lifestyle. You will be able to avoid the pitfalls of rapid weight loss and look forward to more vibrant health and vitality.