Fast weight loss
These can all be reasons to grab an emergency measure: the crash diet. In other words: lose weight as much as possible in as short a time as possible. You know them, cries that pop up mainly in advertising leaflets: 5 kilos in 5 days! You have crash diets in all sorts of variants: the soup diet, juice cures, hospital diet and by dietitians and scientists the Sonja Bakker diet is also classified as a crash diet ( dePers.nl ). A crash diet is almost always aimed at drastically reducing the number of calories that you ingest (temporarily) so that you quickly lose weight. In practice, this means that you mainly live on juices, crackers, and salads and often consciously skip the breakfast.
Advantages crash diet
It works! At least - in the short term the results of a crash diet are quickly visible. Sometimes the kilos fly off - 5 kilos in 5 days is indeed possible. It may just be enough to fit into your old pants again - something that gives the average woman a good feeling. The conscious leaflets and various internet pages are full of success stories about various crash diets. And especially many women are tempted into such a diet because they want to reach their goal weight as quickly as possible, regardless of the way.
Disadvantages crash diet
Of course, it is not the only advantage what the clock strikes. On the contrary, the adverse effects in the long term weigh heavily against the short-term benefit of rapid weight loss. After all, a crash diet means that you eat a lot less than normal. This way you get much fewer calories than the body needs energy, and also a crash diet generally does not comply with the rules of the 'drive of five' ( Voedingscentrum.nl ). According to the feeding center, the energy requirement of a man with an inactive lifestyle will be around 2500 kcal (kilocalories) per day, with an inactive woman that is 2000 kcal per day ( Voedingscentrum.nl). According to a recent British study, this may even be 400 kcal more (about 16%), or: an extra cheeseburger. In that case, it is important that you have an active lifestyle and sufficient exercise ( nu.nl ). In a crash diet, the number of calories that you ingest will be many times less, often less than 1000 calories per day. Your body thus lacks the necessary nutrients.
Consequences crash diet
So what? you might think - after all, you want to lose weight quickly - and therefore take a short supply of fewer nutrients, and then you make sure that the number of calories you take back becomes 'normal' again. But unfortunately, it does not work that simple.
The drastic reduction of the number of calories in such a crash diet has negative consequences for your metabolism, also called metabolism. In fact, you bring your body into a state of malnutrition - a 'hibernation' or 'hunger winter'. To compensate for the shortage of necessary nutrients, the metabolism will adapt to this condition and your body will start to consume less energy. The body will even store calories from the few foods you eat, albeit to a limited extent (about 30% of the calorie reduction), to have extra reserves for a next 'hungry winter'. And it is not (only) fat that is burned, but in addition to fluid loss will also muscle massacre broke down. In the event of a shortage of healthy food, the body will look for the easiest source of energy from a 'survival urge' - and that means that the muscles are also addressed: the muscle mass is converted into the basic elements of muscles, the proteins, and those proteins are then used to meet the energy needs. Muscle mass is relatively heavy and taking it off quickly causes weight loss. In short, while you think you burn fat - after all the kilos fly off - the weight loss in a crash diet is mainly due to a decrease in fluid and muscle mass.
Less muscle mass = less calorie burn
Especially the decrease in muscle mass ensures that the metabolism functions slower and also continues to function slower, even after you stop the crash diet and eat 'normal' again. Even at rest, muscles consume calories, which means that with slower muscle mass a delayed calorie burn exists. So you will burn fewer calories at rest than before the crash and that also explains the phenomenon that when you pick up your normal diet, you will arrive very quickly and even weigh heavier than before! After all, you still have low metabolism due to the crash diet.
Crash diet: do not!
In short, a crash diet has a desired effect in the short term, but in the long term, it leads to a delayed metabolism and thus a lower calorie burn. To 'overcome' this effect, there is only one solution: adopt a much more active lifestyle in which you build muscle mass through sufficient exercise and thus stimulate the metabolism to burn more calories. And to meet your energy needs, you will need to ensure that you eat enough, regular and varied so that you get the nutrients that are necessary for the proper functioning of the body.
In fact, lesser food can - certainly in case of overweight ( BMI > 25) - be wrong advice! However, pay attention not only to the calories, but especially to what you eat and whether it is healthy and varied, and move sufficiently so that the muscle mass stays up! Are you still considering a crash diet because you want to lose weight quickly and relatively easily? My only advice: do not!
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