Recently, I was called to give a quote to the Today Show about the effects that losing weight quickly can have on the body. The backstory on the article was that Kim Kardashian wanted to wear an iconic Marilyn Monroe gown to the Met Gala, but cried when she couldn’t fit into it. So, instead of selecting another outfit, she decided to lose 16 pounds in three weeks to achieve her goal. And then bragged about her hard work, “I would wear a sauna suit twice a day, run on the treadmill, completely cut out all sugar and all carbs, and just eat the cleanest veggies and protein.” At this point, I don’t know who’s a bigger threat to our healthcare profession, Dr. Oz or the Kardashians.
As a dietitian, I would have hoped for more voices of concern over this sound bite, but alas, we are unfortunately, not there yet as a society. (Kuddos to the writers at the Today Show that thought this might be an issue.)
Let’s pretend for a second that we all had access to things like a sauna suit and a private chef to make carb-less meals that taste good, oh and the time to run on a treadmill twice a day…assuming we have all that, does that mean we should do it?
No.
No.
No.
Why?
You may think that I am paying too much attention to a Kardashian for just one outfit that she was in for just a few moments. But, I’m not. Unfortunately, Kim’s attitude towards weight loss is representative of the attitudes I see in my own practice. People want to lose weight quickly and are disappointed when they can’t. It’s not sexy for me to advertise that I will help you lose weight in a sustainable way. In fact, I have no doubt that if I told people I could make them lose 16 pounds in three weeks, that my business would double. Or triple. But, I can’t, I won’t and here’s why:
- It screws up your metabolism. Our body has to have a certain amount of calories each day to keep all of its systems running and protect our vital organs. When we don’t eat enough calories, we will lose weight initially, but then stop, because our body now thinks it’s in starvation mode and holds onto every calorie to keep our system running and protect our vital organs. This is why lots of folks say things to me like “I used to be able to lose weight by counting and cutting calories but now I can’t.” You don’t want to mess with this.
- Muscle loss. When you try to lose weight really quickly, your body will break down your muscle to use it for energy and fuel. Muscle is also incredibly metabolically active so by losing muscle, you are also screwing with your metabolism. Again.
- Nutritional deficiencies. If you are severely restricting calories, you likely are going to be cutting out many of the important nutrients your body needs on a day to day basis. This can lead to things like extreme fatigue, hormonal issues, poor immune system function, mood irregularities (i.e. hangry times a million).
- Poor gut health. When your metabolism slows down, everything slows down, including your digestive system. Not to mention, that you need food to poop. You don’t eat enough, you don’t poop enough. Being constipated is no fun and aside from the unpleasant symptoms such as bloating, pain and gas, there can be other consequences such a change in out microbiome bacterial composition.
So, let’s say you have a big event in three weeks, what is the best course of action?
- Drink lots of water – half your body weight in ounces a day
- Eat more fiber – women need ~25g/day and men need close to 40g
- Cut back on added sugar and processed foods
- Chew your food slowly – try for 20 chews per bite of food!
- Get enough sleep – for so many reasons, but especially because a lack of sleep screws with your hunger and satiety hormones, making you overeat the subsequent days
- Cut back (or eliminate the booze)
- Manage stress levels – cortisol makes weight loss tricky
- Move your body – even if it’s just going for a small walk. In additional to aiding with weight loss, movement helps with digestion, blood sugar control, and mood.
I tell my clients when they start with me to expect to lose 1-2lbs a week. Anything more than that, I start to get nervous. As I said, sustainable weight loss isn’t always the sexiest, but the goal is that once you lose that weight, it’s gone for good because you are taking your body along on a nice safe ride with you so it trusts you. Kimmy K put her body through one heck of a roller coaster and unfortunately, what goes down that fast, must come up. I don’t want that for you.
