Chris Chew,
So you think that you are overweight and have made a New Year resolution to shed
some of your body fat. You are advised by your doctor and fitness instructor to do so gradually by
following a healthy diet plan and a regular exercise program.
Losing weight healthily is a gradual process as most fitness personal trainers will
tell you. However in this era of instant gratification, most people simply don't have the patience
and some people even take extreme measures to become thinner too fast not knowing that some fast
weight loss methods may even kill them!
This desire of instant quick fix weight loss is made worse by the influences of
fashion magazines featuring pencil thin models. So here are a couple dangerous weight loss methods
that may kill you. Please stay away from them.
1) Crash Diets - The idea is to consume as few calories as possible. So some people
resort to skipping meals or go on extreme calorie deficit diets. Yes, these crash diets may result
in some weight loss, but the weight loss is not only from body fat, but water, glycogen and muscle
as well. This could cause your endocrine system to crash! In extreme cases, the victims may develop
potentially fatal eating disorders like bulimia and anorexia.
2) Diuretics - Diuretics are prescription medicines that make you urinate more so as
to reduce water retention in your body. These drugs won't make you lose body fat, but you lose
water weight instead. Your body respond to this is by retaining even more water. This will then
trigger a vicious cycle of diuretic usage since the victim needs to take even more diuretic pills
to get rid of the newly retained water weight.
The main danger of using diuretic pills is dehydration. Severe dehydration is a life
threatening condition because the victim is losing precious vital fluids, electrolytes and minerals
which are essential for proper functioning of the heart, kidney, liver and other vital
organs.
3) Laxative - Just like diuretics, laxatives do not cause fat loss pe se. It only
makes you want to empty your bowels frequently and as such, you become lighter. Just like abusing
diuretics, you will also lose water in the process and your body responds by retaining even more
water.
People abusing laxatives will find that after awhile they will constipate when not
taking the drug. This may cause permanently damage to their bowels and the condition may even be
fatal. Abuse of laxatives may also cause electrolyte imbalances, dehydration, bloody stools, severe
stomach cramps and nausea.
4) Ipecac Syrup - This medical syrup is normally prescribed for inducing vomiting
for victims of poisonings. People with Bulimic eating disorder very often abuse this syrup to
induce vomiting with many unfortunate ones dying from the abuse of this drug. This is because the
active ingredient in the syrup, known as emetine can cause systemic toxicity and weakens the heart,
resulting in irregular heart beats, palpitations, chest pains, breathing problems, cardiac arrest
and fatality.
5) Diet pills or Appetite Suppressants - These pills are often prescribed by doctors
to treat obese patients. The pills usually come in the form of appetite suppressants as they
stimulate the nervous system to curb the patient's appetite.
Some dangerous side effects of pills include high blood pressure, nervousness, heart
palpitation, insomnia, hyperactivity, fatigue, dizzy spells, heart arrhythmias, migraines, cardiac
arrest and stroke.
So if you are considering any of the above methods to lose weight, you are urged to
stay away from them because they may have you killed in the process.
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