Pointless vs. Life-Changing Actions: Why Crash Dieting Doesn't Work
When it comes to weight loss, many people take drastic measures to successfully lose weight... Only to feel frustrated and upset when their actions “backfire” because they are too strict to maintain long term. At the end of the day, some actions we take (with the best intentions) end up being pointless for weight loss, simply due to how restrictive they are. Here are some examples:
👎🏻 Cutting out all carbs
👎🏻 Swearing off all desserts forever
👎🏻 Only eating “clean” foods 24/7
👎🏻 Exercising daily without ever taking rest days
👎🏻 Drinking juice cleanses, detox teas, and other weight loss “potions”
These types of actions are often tied to crash dieting, which promises quick weight loss but often leads to feelings of frustration and failure. Read on to learn why the results are always short-lived!
What Is Crash Dieting?
What is crash dieting, exactly? Crash dieting is an extreme and unsustainable approach to weight loss that involves severe calorie restriction, often eliminating entire food groups, in order to quickly lose weight in a short period of time. Oftentimes, people start crash diets right before big life events where they want to look and feel their best, such as before weddings, vacations, reunions, etc. There are hundreds of different ways to crash diet, but here are a few characteristics that most crash diets tend to include:
❌ Eating well below your caloric needs, into a drastic calorie deficit (such as only eating 500-1000 per day).
❌ Eliminating entire food groups, such as the Keto diet, which removes all carbohydrates.
❌ Relying on meal replacement shakes or bars for the majority of your caloric intake.
❌ Prioritizing quick weight loss over sustainable, long-term habits (with a slower rate of weight loss).
There’s one key feature that all of these characteristics have in common – NONE of them are sustainable long term. In other words, most people can’t consistently repeat these actions for the rest of their lives.
There’s an important point I’d like to make – I understand why so many people are drawn to crash diets – the quick, effortless results. Heck, I wish our clients at Strong with Sarah saw faster results! Who doesn’t want to lose weight quickly?!
Especially in today’s fast-paced world, where we can order anything we want online and it arrives on our doorstep tomorrow (thanks, Amazon Prime 😜). It’s HARD to be patient to see sustainable weight loss. However, research suggests that a slower rate of weight loss (losing 1-2 pounds per week) leads to results that are long-lasting.
Does Crash Dieting Work?
Does crash dieting work in the real world? When it comes to understanding if crash diets work, we need to look at the results of crash dieting from two different perspectives – short term versus long-term.
Long-Term Results of Crash Diets
Unfortunately, crash diets don’t work long-term for most people. As I mentioned, weight loss resulting from crash diets usually isn’t sustainable, because as humans, we can’t consistently follow the crash diet’s strict parameters long-term. For sustainable weight loss, a healthier option would be to focus on creating healthy habits, or creating a moderate calorie deficit by tracking calories and macros.
In addition, because you consume significantly fewer calories while on a crash diet, your body tends to compensate by slowing your metabolism. This causes you to regain weight once your eating returns to “normal.”
Short-Term Results of Crash Diets
It’s true that crash diets deliver fast weight loss results at first, but in fact, most of it is not actual fat loss. The initial few pounds that you shed come from water weight and muscle mass. However, because crash diets are overly restrictive, soon after starting one, you will feel intense cravings, energy crashes, and binge eating behavior. Does that look like a healthy way to lose weight for good? We don’t think so.
Crash Dieting: Why It Often Backfires
Here’s the deal – in terms of short-term results, crash diets do lead to weight loss due to an extreme restriction of calories. However, many people tend to gain weight back quickly (and often, they gain more weight) because the ways to create extreme calorie restrictions aren’t sustainable. Crash dieting means a short-term fix with long-term consequences.
Risks and Side Effects of Crash Dieting
While crash dieting sounds tempting due to the promise of quick, effortless weight loss, there are risks and side effects of crash dieting that need to be taken into consideration. Let’s cover some of the most common risks and side effects associated with these programs:
‼️ Loss of Lean Muscles
Extremely low-calorie diets, especially when someone is not strength training, lead to a decrease in muscle mass. Losing muscle mass actually slows down your metabolism, because muscle cells burn more calories than fat cells.
‼️ Slower Metabolism
In addition to a slowing metabolism due to loss of muscle mass, crash diets themselves tend to lead to a slowed metabolism, thanks to something called metabolic adaptation. Metabolic adaptation happens when your body becomes more efficient at burning calories while having a calorie deficit. In other words, our metabolism slows down as a preventative measure, in case we were to “starve.”
‼️ Nutrient Deficiencies
Many crash diets lead to weight loss because they eliminate certain foods or complete food groups. However, removing certain foods and entire food groups can be dangerous to your overall health, because it leads to nutrient deficiencies. This can cause hair loss, fatigue, and a weakened immune system.
‼️ Increased Cravings and Binge Eating
Crash diets often lead to an unhealthy cycle of extreme restriction, followed by periods of bingeing on “forbidden” foods. This pattern can damage your relationship with food over time, making it even harder to trust your body's natural hunger and fullness signals. In severe cases, it can also increase the risk of developing disordered eating habits.
‼️ Hormonal Imbalances
Extreme diets can cause hormonal imbalances, both in terms of hunger and satiety hormones and sex hormones. Ghrelin (the hunger hormone) and leptin (the fullness hormone) levels are often disrupted during periods of low-caloric intake, making it harder to regulate one's appetite. In addition, drastically cutting calories (for women) can affect estrogen and progesterone and ultimately cause irregular or skipped menstrual cycles.
‼️ Mental and Emotional Stress
Fad diets often lead to feelings of guilt and shame around food choices, as well as the “all or nothing” mentality. Over time, this constant pressure can create anxiety around eating and even lower your self-esteem. Instead of feeling empowered by your weight loss results, you may be trapped in a cycle of failure and frustration.
Why Crash Dieting Fails Long Term
Truth bomb time 💣 – While it may seem “easier” to lose weight quickly and to follow strict food “rules,” the reality is that crash diets are mentally and physically exhausting. They don’t lead to real lifestyle change, and they don’t teach you healthy habits that are sustainable long-term. They also increase the risk of yo-yo dieting, the vicious cycle where you rapidly lose weight and then regain it. Lastly, crash diets tend to create fear around food choices – instead of learning balance, people develop fear and anxiety around their food choices.
Life-Changing Actions for Sustainable Weight Loss
So – if fad diets aren’t the best way to lose weight healthily (and keep it off long-term), what do you do instead? I’ve got you covered!
Instead of taking extreme, pointless actions that lead to losing and gaining the same 10-20 pounds over and over again, focus on building healthy habits that allow for weight loss (at a slower rate) that is more sustainable, long-term. Let’s cover some of the habits you can start implementing today:
🚶🏻♀️ Create A Step Goal
Instead of intensely exercising for multiple hours per day, set a step goal that is challenging yet doable for you. Walking helps support your metabolism, regulate blood sugar levels, and increase overall caloric burn.
📉 Create A Small, Manageable Calorie Deficit
Crash diets tend to create large calorie deficits that leave you feeling hungry, irritable, and unhappy. Instead of focusing on extreme restriction, create a moderate calorie deficit of 300-500 calories per day. Be sure to include foods from all major food groups, including sources of protein, fats, and carbohydrates.
⚖️ Practice the 80/20 Rule
Instead of eliminating certain foods or food groups (which often leads to overeating or binging,) practice including small portions of your favorite foods in moderation. Be sure to account for the calories in those foods and to have healthy meals surrounding those choices.
💪🏻 Strength Train to Preserve Muscle
As we’ve discussed, when you’re losing weight (in a calorie deficit), it’s common to lose muscle mass, in addition to water weight and body fat. Strength training is the best way to minimize the amount of lean muscle you lose, while maximizing the amount of body fat you lose.
🫶🏻 Improve Your Relationship With Food
Because many crash diets eliminate certain foods or food groups, it's easy to identify those foods as being “bad” or “cheat meals.” When you associate foods with moral feelings, it becomes impossible to release yourself from the feelings of guilt or shame when you eat them. Instead of falling for a crash diet that labels foods as “good” or “bad,” remember that ALL foods can be included in a moderate weight loss program. At the end of the day, how you feel about your nutrition choices is just as important as the choices you make themselves.
Final Thoughts: The Right Kind of Action Leads to Results
I know it’s tempting to sign up for a crash diet to quickly lose weight. However, remember that crash diets aren’t the answer for sustainable weight loss – they tend to be extreme and often backfire. Although you may lose weight at a slower pace, focusing on building healthy habits that lead to weight loss will serve you long term, both in terms of sustainable results and creating a healthier, more peaceful relationship with food. Remember, at the end of the day, your weight loss journey should feel empowering, instead of a punishment.
