And no doubt once summer has come and gone, those same people will pack on those pounds all over again, only to repeat the process again next year.
While regimens like these may help people lose some weight rapidly, it could also be causing their heart undue stress, leading to potential heart attacks down the road, according to Cardiologist Isadore Rosenfeld, MD, a professor of clinical medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, in New York City, and author of the forthcoming "Doctor of the Heart: A Life in Medicine".
"A crash diet once won't hurt your heart," Dr. Rosenfeld says. "But crash dieting repeatedly increases the risk of heart attacks."
Research suggests rapid weight loss can slow your metabolism, leading to future weight gain, and deprive your body of essential nutrients. What's more, crash diets can weaken your immune system and increase your risk of dehydration, heart palpitations, and cardiac stress. And yo-yo dieting can also damage your blood vessels. All that shrinking and growing causes micro tears that create a setup for atherosclerosis and other types of heart disease.
The Bottom Line:
If you're overweight, slimming down is critical for your overall health. Even moderate weight loss can lower your risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, and some types of cancer.
But it's important to lose weight safely, which usually means slowly: Most experts recommend dropping just 1 to 2 pounds a week. And despite what some brand-name diets claim, the best way to do so is to exercise regularly and stick to a diet that limits saturated fat and sugars and emphasizes fruits and vegetables, lean meats and fish, and whole grains.
"The key to losing weight is a combination of diet and exercise," says Dr. Rosenfeld. "One alone will not do it."
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Yudi Kerbel
Certified Personal Trainer
Life FX Hunt Valley
ykerbel@fxstudios.com
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