For those trying to lose weight, the general rule of thumb is you should set a goal of one to two pounds per week. This means creating a calorie deficit of around 500 calories per day. Many products claim that you can lose 20 or more pounds in a month, but this simply isn’t healthy. The question is… why?
First of all, to lose a great deal of weight in a short period of time you need to either starve yourself or severely dehydrate yourself. In either case, your body invokes instinctive, self-protective measures to make sure you continue to survive. This boils down to rapid weight fluctuations which are dangerous.
Think about a hunter-gatherer fending for himself in the woods. When winter comes, he has trouble finding food. So he starves briefly and burns his fat reserves. When he does eat finally after starving himself (unintentionally), his body is in conservation mode. It tries to extract every nutrient it can from the meals he gets and maximizes fat storage. His metabolism slows down for this purpose. Often energy levels are reduced to minimize the fuel (fat) being burned.
So after starving yourself (dieting) your body automatically tries to make up for this loss by storing more fat. This is one reason the weight comes back very quickly after a starvation diet.
Around half of your body weight comes from water, depending greatly on your body composition (there’s more water in muscle tissue than fat, so someone leaner could be closer to two-thirds or three-quarters water weight). Therefore, a person can lose a substantial amount of weight just by being dehydrated.
Dehydration is a dangerous condition and while it makes a person lighter on the scale, it does not reduce body fat levels. Reducing body fat is the goal of your weight loss program. Your actual weight number is irrelevant.
Many diet solutions actually help you lose water weight, which will immediately be gained back as your tissues are allowed to reabsorb the water.
Stay moderate and set your goals at 1-2 pounds per week. This is the only way to lose weight the safe and healthy way. If you use this timeline and then stick to a healthier, more natural diet and a more active lifestyle, you’ll be able to maintain your ideal weight far more easily.
