All the overweight people around the globe have a common goal, that is, to lose weight. A healthy diet and a good workout plan is the best way to meet your goal. While many people follow a strict diet plan and hit the gym, others look for short cuts to shed those obstinate pounds fast. The latter category makes a very unhealthy choice for themselves which may lead to serious health conditions such as gallstones, liver damage, gout and loss of energy.
One thing that many people fail to understand is that once they have reduced weight and return back to their normal routine, they will regain those pounds. Listed below are 16 unhealthy ways to lose weight.
16 Unhealthy Ways to Lose Weight
1. Smoking
Smoking suppresses hunger and that is the reason many smokers miss meals. This is very dangerous and can lead to serious health problems like cancer.
2. Purging
Purging is a serious eating disorder, whereby the person trying to lose weight throws up purposely to control their weight. Purging can cause bulimia or anorexia, which are life-threatening conditions.
3. Fad Diets
Fad diets restrict you from eating special combinations of foods or certain types of foods, without any scientific basis. No doubt, you lose weight by having these diets, but just for short-term. As a matter of fact, fad diets steal away nutritious stuffs from your meal, making you feel languorous. Usually, people who consume fad diets end up putting on more weight than they lost.
4. Laxatives
Laxatives such as tea, pills and powder suppositories are of no use at all. They make the digestive system weak, which leads to complications of the abdomen.
5. Skipping Meals
This is the worst way of losing weight. In reality, when you skip a meal, your metabolism slows down which has a reverse effect on your weight. Therefore, instead of losing weight, you will add on more weight.
6. Extreme Workouts
An extra 20 minutes of cardio is not going to help you lose weight over night. Do not push your body beyond its limits. Stick to a simple and effective workout regime that will help you burn calories steadily.
7. Drugs
Many people believe that smoking weed is a good way of losing weight. In fact, people who smoke weed tend to put on weight, as they eat more junk food when they are high.
8. Tapeworms
In the olden days, people would eat all the stuff they wanted and at the end of the meal, they would swallow tapeworm pills. They believed that the worms would eat all their calories and keep them slim and trim.
9. Sleep Diet
People who smoke weed or marijuana follow this diet. They get so high that they end up sleeping for a whole day. In this way, they skip meals but this is very harmful, as one consumes only drug and nothing else.
10. Baby Food Diet
Hollywood celebrities are big fans of this diet. They consume jars of Gerber, in place of 2 meals a day. They have boiled vegetables with chicken for dinner.
11. Soup Diet
Drinking soup for every meal is very unhealthy. While it may help reduce some weight, it will not provide your body with adequate nutrients that are required to sustain through the day.
12. Low-Calorie Diet
Your body needs some calories to keep you energized and healthy. Avoiding all kinds of food, which have high calorie content, is extremely perilous. One should do it only under medical supervision.
13. Sweat Suits and Saunas
Many people believe that by spending 20 to 30 minutes in a sauna everyday can help reduce weight. The only weight you will lose is water weight and this can lead to serious problems like dehydration.
14. Excessive Carbohydrate Restriction
Carbohydrates ensure proper functioning of thyroid. Complete removal of carbohydrates from your meal will slow down the metabolism and inhibit thyroid activity, resulting in weight gain.
15. Too Much Fasting
Many people observe fast very often with an intention to lose weight. Though fasting helps cellular cleanup, but overdoing it leads to loss of fertility, anxiety, sleeplessness and hormonal imbalance.
16. Appetite Suppressing Pills
Appetite suppressing pills make you an addict and results in chest pain, dry mouth, and high blood pressure. So, consult your doctor before using them.
Losing Weight in a Healthy Way
After reading these 16 unhealthy ways to lose weight, we hope to have opened your eyes to dangerous strategies just to drop the pounds. If you ask most people if they want to lose weight, they’ll probably say yes. We live in a society where body image is of the upmost appearance and it goes beyond just healthy factors but confidence and self-image, too.
It’s okay to want to lose weight, though we suggest everyone embarks in a healthy plan that cares for their body. Here are some quick tips for losing weight in a healthy way.
Stay Committed to Your Health
Don’t get distracted by the numbers on the scales or your dress size. Many people become fixated on their appearance and don’t appreciate how exercising and eating nutritious food impacts them on the inside.
Instead, we want you to put your main focus on your nutrition. Doing so helps you make excellent health choices so you choose food that’s high in vitamins and minerals, rather than low-calorie options that don’t have much nutritional value.
Move More
To lose weight, you also need to burn more calories, which involves more physical activity. There are plenty of ways to increase your movement throughout the day. But, what are the best ways you’re motivated to exercise?
Get to know yourself by finding your motivational factors. Music is a huge influence when it comes to exercising so ensure you have a great playlist on the go to get your hips moving.
It Isn’t a Race
The reason many people can’t effectively lose weight is that they aren’t making the right choices with their health in mind and they’re looking for quick results. But they won’t last. Think of this journey as a lifestyle change rather than a quick-fix diet.
Spend time getting to know your body – what exercises work best, what foods you like, finding the best sleeping schedule for you, etc. If you’re truly committed to losing weight, you need a strategy that will last forever.