In a world full of quick fixes and extreme diets, it’s easy to confuse fast results with real health. When it comes to losing weight, the goal shouldn’t just be less weight. It should be a stronger, healthier you.
Key Signs of Healthy Weight Loss
Losing One to Two Pounds Per Week
Many experts agree that losing one to two pounds per week is desirable when you are trying to lose weight. This is a slow and steady pace and is more likely to make it possible for you to keep the weight off for the long term.
During your weight loss period, you will begin to practice better eating habits. For example, some people start to eat more fruits and vegetables. They also reduce their intake of sugar-sweetened drinks. Losing weight slowly and steadily also prevents serious medical conditions from developing, such as a drop in metabolism, nutritional deficiencies, gallstones, and muscle loss.
Eating Whole, Nutritious Foods (Not Starving Yourself)
Whole, nutritious foods have vitamins and minerals that the body needs. You can get these from unprocessed, single-ingredient foods that do not have chemical additives. These include apples, bananas, broccoli, kale, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, brown rice, salmon, eggs and unprocessed meats.
Exercising Regularly, Especially Weight Training
Exercise helps your body burn calories, and when you burn more calories than you take in, you lose weight.
Strength training is also important, especially in later years. Using equipment such as the leg press machine can effectively target your lower body muscles. For a fun way to stay active outdoors, even a 15 foot trampoline can help engage your core and leg muscles while supporting cardiovascular health. It increases your muscle mass, and this leads the body to burn more calories. The fortunate thing about this is that the body continues to burn calories after the workout is over. That is because strength training increases your metabolic rate, which makes it possible for the body to burn calories even when it is at rest.
Feeling More Energized and Sleeping Better
Sleep is important for more than just making you feel more energized. When you do not get adequate amounts of sleep, the body produces more of a hormone known as “ghrelin,” and ghrelin is what increases your appetite. Insufficient sleep also produces the hormone “leptin,” and leptin causes you to feel less full. By getting enough sleep, you can bring these hormones back into balance.
Maintaining Muscle While Burning Fat
Experts suggest that you maintain your muscle mass while burning fat by increasing your protein intake. The protein that you consume encourages “protein synthesis.” This is when the body’s amino acids build your muscle mass. Protein also contributes to fat loss by making you feel full, improving muscle recovery, and boosting your metabolism.
Some people explore medical options like human growth hormone for weight loss, especially if they have a diagnosed hormone deficiency. While HGH plays a role in metabolism, energy, and body composition, it’s not a magic solution for shedding pounds. It should never be used without medical supervision. Used properly under the care of a healthcare provider, HGH therapy may help certain individuals with legitimate needs.
Red Flags of Unhealthy Weight Loss
Extreme Calorie Restriction or Skipping Meals
Extreme calorie restriction or skipping meals causes you to become very hungry. That is because you are used to eating a particular number of calories, and when you suddenly reduce, the body reminds you to eat in a big way. Then, you return to eating too many calories and fail to lose the weight you wanted to lose. To prevent this, reduce your caloric intake by about 200 calories at a time. Then, you can keep from experiencing extreme hunger.
Relying on Unregulated Supplements or Laxatives
This can have serious consequences. The supplements or laxatives may be laced with allergens, banned substances or unhealthy compounds. The bottles may be inaccurately labeled, and you may have unexpected side effects.
Losing Weight Too Quickly (More Than 4 Pounds Per Week)
In most cases, it is not safe to lose more than one or two pounds in a week. You will lose muscle, water, and bone along with fat, but it also causes the following:
- Nausea
- Diarrhea
- Constipation
- Fatigue
- Gout
- Gallstones
Feeling Dizzy, Wea,k or Constantly Tired
You may experience headaches, fatigue, and dizziness after losing weight too fast because you are likely to become dehydrated, and dehydration causes the aforementioned symptoms.
Rapid Muscle Loss, Not Just Fat
Rapid muscle loss occurs when you lose weight too fast, and this leads to a condition called “sarcopenia.” It is a condition in which there is a generalized loss of muscle mass.
Learn more about HGH for weight loss by visiting us at the HGH Doctor today.
