- With Mayo Clinic preventive medicine specialist
Donald Hensrud, M.D.
Weight loss basics (6)
- Fast weight loss: What's wrong with it?
- Slow metabolism: Is it to blame for weight gain?
- Breakfast: Why is it so important to weight control?
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Diet plans (5)
- Dieting? Beware of liquid calories
- Vegetarian diet: Will it help me lose weight?
- Coffee calories: Sabotaging your weight-loss plans?
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Mayo Clinic diet (1)
- Weight loss: Better to cut calories or exercise more?
Diet and exercise (5)
- Weight loss: Better to cut calories or exercise more?
- Belly-dancing: A good exercise for weight loss?
- Weight-loss exercise: How do I fit it into my day?
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Diet pills, supplements and surgery (15)
- Phentermine: Can prescription medication help weight loss?
- Hoodia: Does this dietary supplement help weight loss?
- Water retention: Are there any natural diuretics?
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Question
Fast weight loss: What's wrong with it?
Why do doctors recommend a slow rate of weight loss? What's wrong with fast weight loss?
Answer
from Donald Hensrud, M.D.
The concern with fast weight loss is that it usually takes extraordinary efforts in diet and exercise — efforts that often aren't sustainable over the long term. Successful weight loss requires making permanent changes in your eating and exercise habits.
A slow and steady approach is easier to maintain and usually beats out fast weight loss for the long term. A weight loss of 1 to 2 pounds a week is the typical recommendation. Although it may seem slow, it's a pace that's more likely to help you maintain your weight loss. Remember that 1 pound (0.45 kilogram) of fat contains 3,500 calories. So you need to burn 500 more calories than you eat each day to lose 1 pound a week (500 calories x 7 days = 3,500 calories). If you lose a lot of weight very quickly, it may not be fat that you're losing. It's might be water weight or even lean tissue, since it's hard to burn that many fat calories in a short period.
In some situations, however, faster weight loss can be safe if it's done the right way. For example, doctors prescribe very low calorie diets for more rapid weight loss in obese individuals. This type of diet requires medical supervision. In addition, some diets include an initiation phase to help you jump start your weight loss. For example, The Mayo Clinic Diet has a quick-start phase in which you might lose 6 to 10 pounds in the first two weeks. You may lose weight quickly with an approach like this because it combines many healthy and safe strategies at once — no gimmicks or extreme dieting. After the initial two-week period, you transition into the recommended weight loss of 1 or 2 pounds a week, which is not only safe but also realistic and sustainable for the long term.
Next questionSlow metabolism: Is it to blame for weight gain?
- Hensrud DD (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Oct. 19, 2009.
- Eckel RH. Nonsurgical management of obesity in adults. The New England Journal of Medicine. 2008;358:1941.
- Aim for a healthy weight: Information for patients and the public. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/obesity/lose_wt/recommen.htm. Accessed April 8, 2009.
- Still CD, et al. Obesity. In: Rakel RE, et al. Conn's Current Therapy. 60th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2008. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/134663651-2/0/1621/1.html. Accessed April 10, 2009.
- Hensrud DD, et al. The Mayo Clinic Diet. Intercourse, Penn.: Good Books; 2010.
