Sunday, 7 August 2011

7 Bad Side Effects Of Crash Dieting

By Katherine Crawford


Tons of women would like to tone arms, and they would like to tone them immediately. We have come to expect results on demand. Anything less would be unacceptable.

Unfortunately, said women are willing to go to extremes to get their pair of toned arms ASAP. And here are 7 reasons why you should not deprive yourself of food to tone arms:

1. Decreased nutrient load. Cut out calories to the max and you run the risk of being malnourished. In fact, many women who eat a surplus of calories are still malnourished because of a lack of nutrient density.

2. Brittle bones. Bone density is a very important thing for female health. As we age, our bone density can be compromised because of cyclical levels of estrogen output. And restricting calories too much to get rid of arm fat, can reduce bone density.

3. Decreased strength. A loss in strength and muscle translates in a decrease in metabolism which translates into less calories burned even while you sleep.

4. Decreased secretion of arm-fat-burning hormones. Hormones are the most powerful substances in your body. If they are not working for you, you're missing out big time. Decrease calories by more than 20% and expect a suppressed hormonal output.

5. Reduced immune response. Nobody likes to get sick because it's a huge time sink. Getting sick will set back your flabby arms mission by many steps. And rest assured that if you cut calories too much, you'll get sick very often.

6. Reproductive system shutdown. It's quite common for gymnasts to lose their period because they don't eat enough (to make weight) and they exercise a lot. Without enough calories coming in, the female body will shut down its reproductive organs.

7. Risk of depression. Your body and mind needs calories and carbs to make serotonin, the main feel-good hormone. Study after study have shown that restrictive diets increase the frequency of depression. Simply cut out all carbs for one day and see how cranky you'll get!

In my opinion, extreme caloric restriction is not worth it. Even if you do lose a lot of arm fat, it's most likely to come back once you start eating normal again. This has happened to me multiple times in the past! A far better (and sustainable) approach to tone arms is to follow a balanced diet so that your body doesn't shut down.




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