Crash Diets - Do they really work?

     Most adults must have tried a crash diet at least once in their lives. Maybe its to fit into a wedding dress, or preparing to go for a dinner, or just wanting to lose some weight in very short time. It does seem to be the most easiest way to shed some pounds. Just skip a meal or two here and there, or eat less, it differs based on preferences.
                                
                                                           A tomato for lunch, anyone?

    But, do crash diets actually work? That's a questions that even I myself need to really find the answer to. Truth is, it does work, you do lose some weight. But mostly, that weight comes from muscle loss. See, we all know, that protein feeds our muscle tissues. At every food intake, our bodies can roughly consume about 25-30 grams of protein. So if you're a person with high muscle mass, then this protein will be used. When someone goes on a crash diet, this protein supply is reduced to the tissues, and due to the low caloric intake, then body goes into a protection mode. To protect what? Well, the fats of course! Muscle tissues will be used up first by being converted into energy, and the body reserves the fats. That's the sad truth. And when the percentage of muscle tissue decreases, calories that are being taken in would not be completely burned. This is because more calories are being burnt when you have more muscle mass compared to lower muscle mass. I guess this answers why bodybuilders eat so much, and are still able to maintain their weight class.
                                 
                                       Confused?? Everyone goes through this so don't worry!

    To make some of you who are reading this feel better, I had actually gone on a crash diet, several years back, I think it was 2007, if I remember clearly. I didn't really had a specific diet that I wanted to stick to. But, money was short, you know, when you are a student. So I'd usually just grab whatever I could, whenever there were 'supplies'. Usually it was sausage or bread for breakfast, scrambled eggs for lunch, a plain slice of bread in the evening and maybe maggi for dinner. Most of the time, breakfast would be skipped because I was always rushing to class. in the evenings, because I loved swimming so much, I'd go down to the pool at my apartment and spend about an hour doing some leisure swimming. I reduced my weight from 70 kg's to 63 kg's in about 3 months. The good part, I did look good in my clothes, but beneath, I could not cheat myself as my layers of fats seemed more than before. I eventually ballooned to 78 kg's by next year after starting work though.
       I'm no personal trainer, but my advise, do it only if you really need to. For example, if you need to fit into your wedding dress in 3 days time and obviously, no amount of dieting can bring results that quick.
       However, to put an end to this, we have to forget about crash diets, forget about diets itself. Think healthy eating. Whatever and whenever you put something in your mouth, it has to be for a reason. And avoid junk at all cost. They useless, or also known as, empty calories.Create an eating plan and try to follow it at least 80% of the time.

         
                                     
                                               Now this is what we call eating healthy!
    In my future blogs, I will try to touch more on healthy eating and types of workout that we can do to help us in our weight loss goal. For now, happy reading !