
BLOG
Can Extreme Diets Improve Your Body Composition?
You may have made a New Year’s resolution to lose weight after gaining a few pounds from all the festive parties you’ve attended. If you have a disciplined routine, getting back in shape won’t be a problem. You just need to hit the gym a couple of days a week, have a healthy diet and you will see improvements in weeks.
However, some people progress very slowly when trying to achieve their weight goals despite following the same process. Because of this, some turn to extreme diets, almost starving themselves to meet their goals immediately. Sure, limiting your calorie intake below your daily energy needs can help reduce your weight quickly. But how does it really affect your body composition?
Before we proceed, what is body composition?
Body composition describes the components of your body. It can be divided into two groups: lean body mass and fat body mass. Lean body mass is made up of muscles, water and bones while fat body mass includes everything that is made of fat.
To measure your body composition, use a DEXA body scanner. This dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scan can quickly and accurately show the exact breakdown of your body fat, lean tissue and bone density.
Understanding your body composition will give you insight into the condition of your body. By knowing your fat mass and fat-free mass, you can determine how you can effectively lose weight.
Ideally, you need to reduce your fat mass while maintaining or improving your lean body mass. Increasing lean muscle will make you look thinner even if you don’t actually lose weight. This is because muscle is denser than fat.
Now, is extreme dieting good or bad for your body composition?
Calories matter if you are looking to lose weight. If you take in more calories per day than the amount you burn, you will gain weight but if you burn more calories than what you consume, you will lose weight. As some people want to lose weight quickly, they may turn to a fasting-like diet. While this can help you achieve your weight goal, it also has potentially harmful side effects that can affect your physical and mental health.
What are the effects?
Malnutrition
Malnutrition can lead to a significant reduction of essential vitamins and nutrients in your body. This can lead to various nutrient deficiencies like scurvy (vitamin C deficiency) and anaemia (iron deficiency).
Dehydration
Another result is the lack of water in the body or dehydration. This may result in dry skin, as well as other conditions like constipation, constant fatigue, muscle cramps and kidney stones. It can also deplete glycogen and electrolyte levels, which can affect your bodily functions.
Bone Loss
Aside from noticing changes in your skin and muscles, your bones will also be affected when you consume a calorie-restricted diet. It may lead to bone density loss, prompting your bones to fracture more easily.
Fatigue
As this affects the balance of essential vitamins in your body, it tends to slow down physiological processes that can cause fatigue and a feeling of faintness.
Reduce your weight the safer and healthier way
Starving yourself to lose weight will just provide you with a short-term fix. It may even generate the opposite results than what you expected. Losing weight through extreme diets may cause the body to catabolise lean muscles, tissues and bones.
Instead of doing extreme diets, you can choose healthier food options. Opt for a healthy diet within a set calorie range and incorporate some strength training into your weekly routine to increase lean muscle.
To gain an accurate measurement of your body fat percentage, rely on Bodyscan. We have the very latest, medically developed DEXA (dual energy X-ray absorptiometry) technology to measure the amount of fat, lean tissue and bone in your body. Based on your Bodyscan report, you can set specific targets for body composition, instead of making vague statements about “losing weight” that are doomed to fail. Book a scan to start your fitness journey today.
Philip Chant
(Director)
Kevin Garde
(Consultant)
Rob Webster
(Consultant)
Archives
- March 2022
- February 2022
- November 2021
- October 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- April 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- October 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- March 2017
- November 2016
- September 2016
- June 2016
- April 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.