By Kristen Moquist, Health & Wellness Coach
You wake up in the morning, stumble to the bathroom and hesitantly step on the scale. Suddenly wide-eyed and awake, you gasp in disbelief at the large digital number that flashes on the scale.
Maybe it’s job stress, family or relationship issues, lack of physical activity or poor eating habits. Whatever the reason may be, your first reaction is to kick-start a “starvation diet” to shed the excess pounds.
After days of skipping meals and cutting calories you see two pounds, five pounds, maybe ten pounds suddenly flushed from your body. “Wow,” you tell yourself, all from not eating. Your quick fix is what I call a bandaide solution.
Losing “real” weight from starving yourself is physically impossible. In fact, starving yourself is counterproductive to weight loss—IT MAKES YOU FAT!
Your body needs energy to function—to breathe, think or even blink an eye. This energy source comes from the food you eat so when you starve your body it searches for another energy source, the protein in your muscles. To get your body to release the protein it needs, it has to destroy muscle cells and tissue.
Muscles are made up of about 70% water so when the muscle cells are destroyed, water in your muscle is excreted. So don’t be fooled by the magical number on the scale all you really lost is water weight!
Before you skip your next meal, here are some of the top dangers of starvation dieting:
Body fat percentage increases. Fat weighs less than muscle and muscle takes up more space in your body than fat. So the muscle you lost is now consumed by excess fat causing you to potentially look and feel fatter.
Metabolism slows. Muscle burns fat and the more muscle you have the faster you will metabolize your food. Less muscle means it will take longer for your body to metabolize the fats and sugars you just took in from your last meal.
Results in fatigue. When you starve your body it suffers, which results in weakness and lack of motivation to do the things you need to do everyday.
Fat around your middle. Your body goes into emergency mode and releases a stress hormone called cortisol to help stabilize your glucose. In the long-term this leads to hard to lose weight, what you know as the—muffin top.
Ultimately starvation dieting is a dangerous and a trendy way to obtain fast weight loss that’s not real. The safest and most sensible way to lose fat is adopting healthy eating habits and proper exercise for long-term health and wellness. By eating a balanced diet of nutritious food, you’ll keep your metabolism revved up burning calories in a safe and efficient way.