Rapid Weight-Loss: The Idea and the Reality
1. It rarely works over the long-term.
2. That is, most people (more than 95%) who lose weight rapidly, regain it at some stage.
3. It makes you look old!
4. Rapid weight-loss does not equal rapid fat-loss.
5. A person losing a vast amount of weight in a short time frame (say, 2-5 kilos per week) is losing more water and muscle than they are fat. Lighter does not always equal leaner.
6. When that person regains the weight (and they usually do), they will have more fat and less muscle than when they started.
7. In other words, rapid weight-loss is a very effective way to lose muscle, get dehydrated and change your body composition for the worst.
8. When the extreme dieter finds him or herself back at their original (pre-diet) weight with less muscle and more fat, they will also have a slower metabolism (than they had pre weight-loss/gain) because muscle is metabolically active.
9. In other words, rapid weight-loss f**ks with your metabolism. Badly.
10. Most (maybe all?) rapid weight-loss plans are not mentally, emotionally, physically or practically maintainable. So why start?
11. People who ‘sell’ such programs and products understand that, when it comes to the very emotional matter of weight-loss, some people will believe and buy anything. Desperate people are easy to manipulate and take advantage of.
12. The optimal rate to lose weight is about one percent of our body-weight per week. 120 kilo = 1.2 kilos per week. 80 kilos = 0.8 kilos per week. 200lbs = 2lbs per week. And so on.
Now you know. 
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{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
If a person is losing more than one percent of body weight per week over a long period of say 12 months or more and their percentage of body fat is falling and their hydration percentage is in the normal range and lean muscle mass percentage is rising what is the significance of losses in lean tissue mass weight?
You are in the very minor minority chebbieanne. That’s because you have a hot PT.
And I thought it was because I had a good mentor. LOL
Hi Craig,
Thanks for that little bit of information, you are so right when you are desperate to lose weight anyone who convinces you that this is the best most effective and rapid way wins, we all want the magic bullet!! The last thing a 120kg person wants to hear is this will take you the best part of a year maybe two to get to your goal, they may just want to give up even before they even start. I talk from experience here there is no way you could have told me that a year ago , that I would have fight this battle up and down for a year or longer to lose this weight, a year has passed and and I’m still not there, there is no magic just hard work it really is that simple. Wow , do I sound like anyone you know !! I’m not perfect, I have battles every day ,I’m not there yet but 35kg lighter and winning the battle!! Love your work Craig you helped to save my life xx
It’s funny you call it the magic bullet. Magic or not, bullets have one goal, to punch a hole in something.
We often long to lose weight because we don’t feel good, but don’t realize that pushing it too fast won’t help that specific problem, it takes time for the body to readjust. It’s like a diver who’s gone deep coming up for air. No matter what he wants, he knows, he must go slowly or more damage will happen.
To loose weight the best thing you can do is change your habits, not a short term program.
If you are overweight because you over eat, by smaller plates and eat only one plate per meal.
If you don’t work out enough, workout more.
It won’t work to just go on a quick diet become thin and then hope for the best.
This post reminded me of a VERY old post (more than two years) you’d made which dealt with patience. You’d mentioned patience being one of the essential ingredients of success.
Why do we sign up for these rapid weight loss programs? Because we’re not patient enough to invest the time it takes to get in shape through a healthy process. We want instant results. In your words, we’re not ready to get uncomfortable enough for long enough.
A short but very effective post. Thank you Craig.
If I consider that over my lifespan…through teens and beyond I have always remained at 45kgs and have hardly varied..I am now in my fifties..and am 50kgs. Through very stressful times I have gained an extra 5kgs, then lost it, but both female members of my family have been obese. Through my childhood all I can remember is the weightloss pills, the gooey shakes, the contraptions that get used for a month, the gym memberships that were given up in a week, nothing seemed to work…and the talk, talk, was always about their weight. Excuses, denials, despair, then the cycle would start again and with every “exception” became the reality.
Both family members are still obese. My mum is now in her late 70′s and still she talks incessantly about her weight…I took her for one hour walks each day for 7 months, she lost weight, she looked great, but then self sabotage kicked in, and she made an excuse to stay home. The truth of the matter is that obviously, the mindset after all those years, is perhaps harder to shake (I’m no expert) She still searches for the magical quick-fix product whatever that may be. This mindset has become a real comfort to her. I daresay she has spent thousands of dollars on all that “goop” in her lifespan. Is this a fear of weight-loss ? Or the fear that she will actually succeed and get what she wants? Cognitive dissonance? Seemingly after all these years… it’s not about food intake at all…consistency is the lynchpin.
My mother has the same mindset. She is 86 and was obese many years ago but has been a normal weight for at least 40 years now. Yesterday she was complaining that she has a roll of fat on her midriff that she cannot move and she actually hates that little roll. When I tried to explain how she might go about losing it she said “No I cant- its genetic” When I asked what that meant she told me about the various female family members spanning half a century that had the same issue. They were fat I told her that is the only link. She is not convinced and will continue to talk about various weight loss cures until she dies as she has done for the last 50 years or so.
Hello Craig,
I absolutely cannot abide the sexist photo objectifying the male form. I will never read the comments you make again, unless of course you bring back that near naked girl you sometimes show. Only teasing. (Cast your mind back to the e-mail you received objecting to the female form)
I have lost 10kgs since January making sure that I do not lose more than 500g a week on average and I have lost 12 cm’s from my waist and a lot of fat.
I have a resting heart rate of 48 and all my other health tests are excellent.
Thanks
Michael
Hi Craig,
yes I agree..
Whilst the biggest loser may have saved there lives intially I ask you did they truly learn to deal with there triggers, say not and stay focussed.? I often wonder..(bar the chick that won and did better on theoutside)
If I was put in a bubble, with a trainer and chef I am sure I could look like a model.
I really dont know what to do Craig I want to loose 5 kilos I already excercise more than the average person so YES its going to be i the food but … who can you go to?
Personally I cant maintain, Oats/ Protein Shake/ Sweet Potato/Tuna,/Protein Shake/Spot/Tuna every day for the rest of my life..
Surely there has to be some leadway here…Tried calorie caluculators but some tell me to consume 2000 cal others 1600 … gezz Louise isnt it meant to be simple.
OVER IT .. where the hell do you go for the truth, in reality something that is workable.. ?
Beyond me !
Hi Kate, and Craig if you are reading.. I have the same problem im 25 yrs old, i go to the gym 3-5 days a week i do 30 mins power walking/jogging every morning b4 breakfast and I eat brown rice, quinoa, oats clean proteins and heaps of salad and veges & water etc each day with one cheat meal a week.. I train dance and circus too, Im lean looking BUT I have a flab of fat around my stomache that just wont budge.. ive been doing the above for 2 years..
Dammit i think i deserve an athletic ab-tastic stomache by now!
Kate what u may need to do is get your hormones checked and make sure they are balanced, u may need to get off hormonal contreceptives or go to a naturopath to see if you have thyroid/metabolic or liver problems coz it turns out I have liver and kidney problems which gave me a bad reaction to the pill and implenon and made me gain and hold fat/water.. im slowly re-balancing my hormones and detoxing my liver..
I thought i was doomed to have stubborn flub but it turns out there was a solution..
Please Craig if you are out there i would love an article about internal problems that may affect weight loss!!!
Hi Craig, always love the tips and the simply reminder that all good things come to those who wait.. or in this case manage the change progressively for lasting results. The 10% rule is great! Interesting we provide the same tips in business, usually the damage has occurred over a period of time, a good solid plan will help make a sustainable change!
Thank you, Nerida
Craig,
I need to vent…this seems like a good place. Why do the media look at every celebrity who has had a baby and carry on about how they ‘squeeze’ into red carpet clothes, go on drastic diets to lose their ‘baby wieght’ and work out incessantly? It is so topical at the moment it’s ridiculous. My theory is that there is no such thing as ‘baby weight’, that the baby is the wieght and when you have the baby, if you have been looking after yourself through the pregnancy, you lose the baby weight. There may be a couple of kilos extra, but nothing like the weight which most people seem to put on. It seems that the message out there is to mothers that you will put on kilos of extra weight during pregnancy and that’s OK. If the message was that it’s not really normal, perhaps far less people would be battling weight loss and depression post pregnancy. I have had four children and weigh 50kg, I eat well, exercise, put in less that I put out, eat when I’m hungry stop when I’m full and no I don’t have a personal trainer, chef, nanny etc. Those celebrities are not slim after babies because of what happens after having the baby, it’s what happens during the pregnancy.
I understand the weight loss cycle and have had my own issues in the distant past, but the weight surrounding pregnancy is a major societal issue which needs adressing. There are no excuses for piling on weight when you are pregnant, but society makes us believe it to be a fact of life and then people hide behind it as an excuse or battle with it for the rest of their lives. If only the message out there was that these celebrities were actually normal, role-models for young mums instead of the enemy.
Actually normal weight gain in pregnancy is 12-15kgs and the average baby weighs 3.5kgs. The balance is extra blood volume and fluid held in reserve to sustain the body through the birth and fat stores to ensure adequate energy is available for breast feeding. During pregnancy medical conditions such as pregnancy induced diabetes, pre-eclampsia or pregnancy induced hypertension cause more weigh gain not through over eating but through the effects on the body of various endocrine factors like fluctuating insulin levels and cortisol levels .Celebrities are normal people with an abnormal lifestyle. Like normal women they also have extra weight to lose after the birth. Knowing that it is a problem that affects even celebrities helps new mums feel normal.
Thanks Craig for the % info….thats a really great tool to use for me who is going to loose (not trying to) at least 50kgs!
Good article, last year I lost weigh sensibly and weighed 55kg cool for me – recently j have put on 3 kg probably fluid and I do need a good poo. So why are people fixated that I have pit on a little and tell you. And if I were 120kg they would never tell me I was a fatty galaxy – not fair play sporty
I completely agree….one thing people forget when losing weight is the mental shift that has to take place. You are so used to living one way, when you lose the weight you change and that can take some getting used to. You adjust again to a different lifestyle…
Why are we all so obsessed with having everything now, this minute, the quick miracle fix !!
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