Fitness, Healthy Living

Slow & steady wins the race

by Lorenza

06/06/2020

Blog Slow & steady wins the race

We live in a society where we want everything overnight. Unfortunately, it’s no different when it comes to weight loss. One of the 1st questions we get asked is “how fast can I lose this weight?” Our advice on this matter is Slow & steady wins the race! Don’t sprint towards the finish line.

Below we have listed the Pros & Cons related to Fast weight loss

CONS

• Increased health risks. Without medical supervision, rapid weight loss through an extreme calorie deficit could increase your risk for nutrient deficiencies and electrolyte imbalances. Without all the nutrients needed for your body to run properly, the immune system weakens, putting you at risk for serious illnesses.

• Tired becomes the new norm. Depleting the body of the essential nutrients and calories it needs to function, especially at a fast rate and short timeframe, will decrease your energy level and make day-to-day tasks harder.

• Muscle loss. Intensive cardio and an extreme calorie deficit will not only reduce body fat it will decrease your muscle mass. For you to obtain a nice toned look, you need muscle. Without you will just look flabby.

• Mentally exhausting. Strategies to make rapid weight loss happen require extreme efforts to control diet and exercise. Those kinds of efforts can grind down your willpower, making it unsustainable in the long run so that weight regain will likely happen.

Pros
• Excitement. Seeing the numbers drop down quickly on the scale can be highly motivating.

• Improved health (under medical supervision). For some people, the risks of continuing to live with severe medical issues (Think: Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, etc.) related to obesity outweighs the risks of rapid weight loss. However, this is something that is up to you and your doctor to decide.

Why do we recommend slow and steady weight loss

As Fat loss experts we recommend gradual weight loss because is more realistic and achievable. We do not ask you to drastically cut calories or remove whole food groups off your diet. Instead, we set a steady pace and help you instill simple healthy habits — such as swapping fizzy drinks for water or taking walks after dinner — these habits will benefit your health in the long term.

There are many options and routes to get active and eat clean. We help you find the route that fits you best, it is not one size fits all. When you’re happy, your goals are easier to stick with and achieve.

Pros
• You learn the importance of healthy habits. A benefit of gradual weight loss is that you learn the hard changes that will give you the body you want. In this case, hard changes refers to adopting healthy lifestyle habits affecting the mind, body and diet.

Over time, these seemingly “hard” changes get easier as they become second nature. In a 2007 *review of 80 weight-loss focused studies, researchers found dieters that lost an average of 11–19 pounds in six months were able to maintain an average loss of 6.5–11 pounds, even after four years, with continued lower-energy diet and exercise.

These results were consistent with the weight-loss recommendation of 1–2 pounds per week.

• You’re better nourished. Very low-calorie diets increase your risk for nutrient deficiencies since it would be difficult to obtain all essential vitamins and minerals through food alone.

• Better body composition. Gradual loss ensures that you’re mostly losing fat instead of muscle or water. Eating fewer calories consistently is fundamental for weight loss, but it’s a fine line to make sure you’re not overdoing it. Chronic undereating can be detrimental to your health goals because it can push your body toward starvation.

• Deal with issues beyond eating habits. Gradual weight loss gives you the time to assess your behaviors or personal issues. Typically, calorie-restrictive diets lead to hunger, and hunger leads to fatigue, irritability, anger and deprivation — moods that can lead to emotional overeating. A gradual weight-loss strategy with an emphasis on mindful eating allows you to go at your own pace, eat what you like and tune into your body’s hunger signals.

Cons
• It takes time and dedication. Losing weight — and keeping it off — is hard. It requires you to try new things and make changes. It’s not easy to take what you’re used to and flip it 180 degrees. By losing weight at a slower rate, it gives you time to adjust and cultivate healthy lifestyle changes in your eating habits, physical activity and daily life. Over time, these changes get easier and less intimidating.

Study
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/5939896_Weight-Loss_Outcomes_A_Systematic_Review_and_Meta-Analysis_of_Weight-Loss_Clinical_Trials_with_a_Minimum_1-Year_Follow-Up