Losing weight is no joke. It requires a lot of commitment and patience. But most people wanting to lose weight want to do that really fast. But the truth is that you cannot lose all the weight you have gained over the years, in just a few weeks. People who do not understand this and rely on crash diets to lose weight are seriously harming their health.

If you are on a crash diet or are planning to follow one, here’s what you need to be worried about. 1. A crash diet will make you lose muscle massRapid weight loss results in muscle loss. Following crash diets makes you lose muscle mass and not fat, claims a study. People who consume very few calories (crash diet) lose more weight as well as more muscle mass. And losing muscle mass only makes you weak and sick in the longer run. 2. Lowers your BMRLosing muscle mass also lowers your BMR (basal metabolic rate). When your body has fewer muscles, it needs fewer calories to maintain them. Your BMR decides how many calories you will burn while at rest. Following a diet that is too low in calories makes you burn 23 per cent lesser calories per day.
Extremely low-calorie diets also impact your thyroid hormones.

3. It leads to multiple deficienciesThough you may lose weight quickly by following a crash diet, your body may become nutrient deficient in the process. This is true for vitamins like B12, folate and iron. The consequences of these deficiencies are hair loss, fatigue, low immunity and poor bone health.

4. GallstonesThe gall bladder produces the digestive juices to break down the fatty foods and digest them. When you eat a low-calorie diet, your gall bladder does not need to release juices anymore. When these juices are not released, they form hardened pieces inside the gall bladder, knows as gall stones.

Gall stones may lead to severe pain and require immediate medical attention.

5. Other problemsOther serious side effects that are linked with crash diets are fatigue, irritability, dizziness, dehydration, diarrhea and constipation.

Source: indiatimes.com