Why to Avoid Rapid Weight Loss Programs - The Dangers of Rapid Weight Loss

Have you ever come across a program that promises to lose 10 pounds on 2 weeks? Or if you lose x amount of weight in x amount of time you could win some cool prize. If you have some kind of a competition where you have the chance to win some prizes, then that would boost your motivation. The more motivated you are the more you exercise and also keep your diet in track.

A friend of mine a while ago now decided to enter such competition, similar to "The Biggest Loser." She was very excited about it and wanted to lose a lot of fat to win the competition. So she started to work out like crazy and was really motivated to lose fat. Each week she measured her body fat and was very excited, when she lost weight.

I don't remember how long the program lasted, maybe some 12 weeks, but she wanted to be at her best at the end of week 12 and did everything to get there. Everyone around her were very surprised, because she lost a lot of pounds. So after the program ended she went to the competition to win, but after that competition I lost contact with her. It seemed strange to my that one day you are spending hours in the gym and then you suddenly disappear. So I called to find out if she was sick or something. But it turned out that she lost the competition, that she thought she would win. After that she lost motivation and stopped going to the gym and she started eating junk food again. Not to mention she had gained the all the weight she lost, back again.

Problems with rapid weight loss

So what went wrong? Well ,the problem is that, as soon as the competition ends you lose motivation. It happens to millions of people all over the world. They go on a diet to a quick weight loss program and they do lose weight quickly, but gain all the weight back again. It is a fact that 95% of people fail to lose weight in the long term. It is easy to lose weight, but it is very hard to maintain it.

You have to keep in mind that health and fitness is for life. Yes, you can avoid the on and off, yo-yo cycle of fitness ups and downs. Certainly you can get in great shape and stay in great shape. You can even get in shape and keep getting better, but it's going to take a very different philosophy than most people are no willing to follow.

For example if you go on a diet, then you have to get off the diet as well. So never go on a diet. A "diet" is temporary and often drastic change in your eating behaviors. Anything that is drastic does not pay off in the long term. You have to change your whole lifestyle. If you make a goal for yourself, then make it long term. Try not to lose 30 pounds in a month, but 30 pounds in a year. Have long term goals, not short term.