Losing Weight Fast And Why Not To Do It

There secret to losing weight fast is no secret. You too can do it. The bigger question is what happens when you have done it.

Fast Weight Loss…

Here it is, the secret you have been waiting for. Want to look great for your prom in six weeks? Keep reading. Need to fit into that tight dress for the family reunion next month? You got it.

All you have to do is eat cardboard for the next four weeks. Fills you up immensely and is full of fiber. Can’t be bad, can it?

…And Why Not Do It

Yeah, I’m joking and the reason you kept on reading is probably because you are still deciding if you want to get mad at me or if I actually have something meaningful to say. I just may.

There are, seriously, tons of way with which you can lose tons of weight in no time. Out of curiosity I recently attempted one myself and though I lost weight on it, it was mostly back a week later. Which is one of the biggest downturns behind many quick weight loss secrets: most of the weight you’ll lose actually isn’t fat, which is the stuff that would really count to lose, but water.

Trust me , if you want to feel like you lost a lot of weight fast simply eat heaps of salty foods for a couple of days and then watch your extra pounds go away like magic when you then switch to low sodium foods.

The other big problem with all these fast diets is that usually they aren’t something you can make a lifestyle out of. My cardboard example was, yep, a bit extreme, but many fast weight loss tips amount to the same thing: eat only cabbage for a week. Or bananas. Or celery. Low this, low that. You will lose weight on these, no doubt, but can you eat like that forever? You will get deficiencies. So what will happen once you (have to) end the diet? You go back to eating like before and all those pounds will slowly creep back onto your body.

Why? Because you will have learned nothing. Nothing about what made you fat and nothing about what you can do to not let it happen again.

Grow Up!

Honestly, it took you time to go fat, and it’s childish to expect that something you groomed over years now goes away in a week. Even if you did do it in time for the prom or the family reunion, you will after a time end up exactly where you were. How long do you want to keep this cycle up? The best way to lose weight is finding out what made you fat, learning a bit about better nutrition and making changes for the long haul.

I also find this especially important for mothers of teenage daughters: if mom goes on all those make-or-break diets, what message does that send to teen girls? Can you look your daughter in the eye and tell her crash diets are bad when you do them yourself all the time?

Picture courtesy of Gustavo Devito.