As the weather starts to improve I keep seeing more and more ads from weight loss companies (who we won’t name) pushing ‘fast weight loss‘ and claiming you can lose 6kg in a week!
Now, if you follow Lose Baby Weight blogs and our Facebook page you will know we only advocate safe and healthy weight loss of approx 500g – 1kg a week which is critical for your health, sustained weight loss, your energy levels and your milk supply if you are breastfeeding.
So when we see all these companies pushing these unrealistic weight loss messages it concerns us as a) it is so unhealthy for you and b) because it puts just more unrealistic weight loss pressure on mums and women that to be successful in weight loss you need to lose 6kg a week!
There is no surprise why people fail so much on ‘diets’ as these diets are impossible to stick to, they make you feel terrible and the weight loss is unrealistic.
So enough or our rant – we have asked nutritionist Elisha Danine to give her opinion on these fast weight loss diets to explain just why they are so bad for our health. And if you are new to Lose Baby Weight see why are plans are different and see the top Q&A on our plans.
Why fast weight loss diets are unhealthy
If you are trying to lose weight, then seeing a slogan that reads “lose weight fast” can be very tempting for a lot of people. Most of us know we will need to follow a ‘diet’ of some sort, that will probably be really difficult to stick to and also give us some nasty side affects to top it off!
Yet time after time we get sucked in to the next new weight loss fad.
Well guess what? I’m going to let you in on a little secret, will the help of a qualified nutritionist or a nutrition backed program such as the Lose Baby Weight and Healthy Mummy Plans you can do it all on your own, and it won’t cost you hundreds of dollars worth of useless books and DVDs or pills, and you won’t need to visit unqualified staff in a booth on a weekly basis to sell you the same rubbish week in and week out, that is actually making you fatter!
Why I say this is because 99% of weight loss replacement shakes or diet plans (The healthy mummy range is the only one I have found that is not) are very high sugar – causing your body to create more insulin. Insulin is a hormone and when too much is released into the bloodstream, it promotes fat storage. We know that when your pancreas can no long make enough insulin due to excess dietary sugar intake, this can result in Type 2 Diabetes. You can see the comparison table here which shows the sugar levels per 100g in shake based product and how the Healthy Mummy range is low in sugar and how others are very high.
There are also fast weight loss diets as well as shake based diets which are high protein and when you are attempting a very high protein/low carb diet this is what is regularly referred to as a “starvation diet”. When your body is in starvation mode, for the first couple of weeks you will lose excess fluid as you have cut out most or all of the carbs out of your diet. This fluid you have lost translates to the “Lose 5kgs in your first week” hype. This may make you sad to hear but you have not lost any fat at all, only water.
These types of diets also make your breath smell, give you constipation (from lack of fibre) leading to unfavorable gassy odours. It may also slow down your metabolism – yet again promoting more fat storage. Also excess protein consumption has been attributed to kidney failure, and even though some ‘professionals’ say this is questionable, I have recently started seeing a 33 year old man who is at the point of acute kidney failure due to this reason. If left untreated the kidneys may no longer be able to remove enough wastes and excess fluids from the body and can result in dialysis or kidney transplant.
For the breastfeeding mother, drastically restricting calorie intake may affect your milk supply, and we all know that breastfeeding in itself increases weight loss. Healthy weight loss for a breastfeeding mother or any person for that matter is around 500g to 1kg per week. If you see or hear anything different, then it is just not healthy or sustainable and as I’ve mentioned above it can be down right dangerous.
As a qualified Nutritionist, I recommend to my clients the healthy mummy smoothie and other great products in the range as an aid for easy, sustainable and healthy weight loss, with no side affects, that also tastes great and are low in sugar and high in fibre and nutrients – and as an added bonus they are dairy and gluten free if you have allergies.
Written by Nutritionist Elisha Danine
For a weight loss plan that really works and is designed for real, busy mums, sign up to our 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge. You will get access to 800 delicious, healthy recipes, customisable meal plans with shopping lists and 28 days of at home, time-efficient exercises for busy mums just like you. See all the details here
