If you have been dieting for a while, and you are the sort of person that diets hard, this is for you!
There is such a thing as too much of a diet. Going on too strict of a diet is unhealthy. It can lead to medical emergencies, and even death.
Diets should be done gradually and safely. Diet breaks every few months are recommended for most people who are not severely obese.
A diet break is going back to maintenance calories for a short period of time. It’s usually about a week-long.
So how do you know you might be dieting too hard? Here are the warning signs:
1. Extreme Tiredness and Falling Sick Often
If this happens to you, your body is shutting down. You have dieted too long and too hard! Going across the neighborhood for a short walk to buy food is a nightmare and difficult. Heck, washing the dishes feels difficult!
You fall sick every other week as your body does not have the energy to fight off illnesses. You seem to catch the flu often.
If the above happens to you, BEWARE!
2. Insomnia and Ravenous Hunger
When your body lacks food, it doesn’t want to go to sleep. It can’t fall asleep as it is uncomfortable. Subconsciously your body might be saying, “Hey don’t sleep. go and eat!”
Likewise, if you feel ravenous hunger. And by that I mean crazily hungry! Stupidly hungry! You feel like you can eat SO MUCH. This is not your usual hunger.
Your usual meal does not even take a slight edge off the hunger. This is a warning sign. (Assuming the food you just ate wasn’t an appetizer.)
Your usual meals should at least reduce the hunger a little if you ate and gave your body time to digest the food. (Say, half to 1 one hour)
3. Significant Muscle Loss
When dieting, a small amount of muscle being lost sometimes happens. This can be acceptable. However, if you are losing significant amounts of muscle this means you should not diet so hard.
A significant lost of muscle here can be found out through your body fat analysis. Another way to identify if it is a significant loss of muscle – did your strength levels drop by more than 10%? (Use the weights you lift as a gauge)
4. Sex Related Issues
If your regular sex drive disappears or is diminished, take it as a warning sign! If you do not have morning erections or you have irregular periods, take it as a warning sign!
When your body has too little intake of food, the survival mechanism kicks in. It says “We are starving. Reproduction can wait!”
In fact, the body is very smart. I mean, if one were really starving, what would be the chances of survival for the offspring? So this shutting off the sex drive is useful for survival.
5. Mood Swings
When you are so hungry, you have mood swings. Your body’s hormones could be all over the place. You could be more aggressive. Or you could be more withdrawn.
Patience? What’s that! I want it now, Damn you!
So if you start feeling like not your usual self, take it as a huge warning sign!
And that’s it. Those were the 5 warning signs!
Fitness IQ+2!
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