Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Quick Weight Loss - A Fast Way to Lose Weight

Fasting, or more accurately starving yourself to lose weight can produce very fast weight loss. The problem with this and so many other weight loss plans is that sooner or later you need to go back to managing your own food. Understand that any type of quick weight loss that takes you out of your normal patterns is usually not a long-term solution.

My normal patterns, I mean, your personal food choices and selections. Almost anyone can lose weight with those portion control meal plans that come prepackaged and prepared. The problem becomes apparent when you quit buying those prepackaged foods and need to decide what you will eat from the refrigerator or a restaurant menu.

Understand that fasting and weight loss seem to go together well, because not eating has always been a guaranteed path to weight loss. The old adage that to lose weight, you need to eat less and exercise more continues to be true.

For those of you who think that as long as you're thinner, it's worth the risk, you need to rethink that outlook. Fast too long and your body will begin to experience some fun and exciting side effects like possibly kidney stones. The pain is so unbelievable and can last for hours and even days. The real fun begins however when you get past them through your urine. Believe it or not, kidney stones are just a minor inconvenience in relation to some of the more serious health problems you can create with fasting.

Beyonce Knowles appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and claimed she lost 20 pounds on a Lemonade Fast. That's probably as far as a lot of people, desperate to lose weight might have heard. Glossed over were the following facts:

1. Beyoncé is 25 years old. Younger people are better able to tolerate abusing their bodies than the rest of us.
2. She had the benefit of childhood metabolism. It's no secret that our metabolisms slow down as we age. This means it's more difficult to lose weight, no matter what diet plan are fast is used
3. Beyoncé admitted she was very irritable while on the diet.
4. Being rich, she had a nutritionalist available in most likely an exercise program monitored by a personal coach.

The most important point, however, and was that after she completed the scenes for the movie, she immediately gained back all of those 20 pounds.

There is just no way that you can maintain weight loss due to a fast without major changes in your dietary eating habits and/or exercise regimen. What any of us and a diet and go back to normal eating patterns, we tend to put all the weight lost back on along with a couple more pounds. The extra poundage is caused by our bodies having just experienced starvation. Our bodies will want to add a little more reserve (fat) to our frames to protect us from the next period of starvation that may come our way.

Fasting for a day or two at a time can actually be beneficial to weight loss by improving your metabolism. In the end any diet that doesn't consider maintaining adequate vitamins, minerals, nutrients, carbohydrates and proteins should be considered dangerous to your health.

Abigail Franks has done extensive research into weight loss and what works. Find valuable information about quick weight loss diet and other successful weight loss plans.