The Dangers of Being Too Lean

It’s a struggle that most of us have encountered, or will encounter at some point in our lives. It’s no fun. You get cranky. You get frustrated. You get impatient. When it comes to losing weight, the only good thing about it seems to be the end result. The journey is not the one to relish. For those of you who set a goal and reach it, good for you! For those who haven’t yet, don’t give up. I do want to caution you though once you get to a certain point. There are dangers to losing too much too quickly, or getting too lean. First of all, you need to understand that certain television programs that show people losing ten or twenty pounds a week is very misleading. The people are living 24 hours a day with nothing on their minds but diet and exercise. Plus, they are extremely obese so they have a lot more to lose. A healthy weight loss is one to two pounds a week. That is what I always have my clients aim for. One pound is equal to about 3,500 calories. What this means is that you need to burn 500 calories more per day than what you consume in order to burn one pound a week.

If you restrict calories too much you body will go into what is known as “starvation mode” and weight loss will come to a slow crawl or even stop altogether because your body is going to hold on to every calorie it can. What you are doing is actually slowing your metabolism. You can also develop problems with your heart, immune system, hair, skin, and nails. When you become too think you can also develop anemia, osteoporosis, and heart disease. Women who are too thin can experience fertility issues due to amenorrhea, which is the absence of a menstrual cycle. As you know, obesity has several health issues associated with it, but now you know that being too thin or losing weight too quickly does as well. Too much of a good thing is not always such a good thing.