Healthy Weight Loss

kdeaux1959
kdeaux1959 Posts: 2,675 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I feel compelled to mention one thing to this community today.

It is so important to ensure that our weight loss efforts are healthy.

The primary reason most of us have for losing weight is "to get healthy". However, two friends have recently died of massive heart attacks within the past couple of months. What is the common thread? Both of these gentlemen experienced very fast weight loss over their last few weeks/months. In the first case, it was a 65 year old coach who reportedly lost over 90 lbs in like 4 months. In the second case it was a retired band director who lost nearly 30 lbs in about a month or so... I don't know specifics of the first (other than he did have other life stresses going on at the time) and his weight loss was very fast. The second gentleman went on a "juicing diet" after being well known for his cookouts including ribs and steaks.

Would these two men still be with us had they not gone on a crash diet? I cannot say.. maybe they were days from a heart attack the day they started their weight loss. I suspect, however, their rapid weight loss probably caused a great deal of body stress. At least in one case, it is apparent that protein was not a major part of the diet. Protein is the building block of muscle and the heart is a muscle.

My exhortation on this point is that we all need to be aware that rapid weight loss is not a healthy weight loss. It is so important that we lose weight.. (if we are obese or overweight)... but only in a systematic and balanced way. A moderate weight loss will not only tend to stay off longer but it will allow our bodies to adjust to the changing "me".

Maintaining adequate intake of all our essential nutrients (especially our muscle building proteins) will give us the greatest chance for a healthy weight loss that does not throw our bodies into shock and cause us our early demise.

Replies

  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
    Sorry to hear about your friends. It's very sad.

    Unfortunately there have been a few cases of people on the Lighter Life VLC diet who have also suffered heart attacks and died.

    If you don't fuel your body sufficiently, for an extended period , something has got to give.
  • kdeaux1959
    kdeaux1959 Posts: 2,675 Member
    I am not familiar with the Lighter life diet but I agree about the body fuel thing. Without proper nutrition, the body cannot maintain itself. One of those mentioned above I think had a protein poor diet to lose the weight. By denying the body protein, the body has to pull it from somewhere and the easiest place to get it is muscle.. And the heart is a muscle. As I said earlier, I am not saying weight loss had anything (necessarily) to do with their early demise.. However, it is certainly something to consider.
  • dlwyatt82
    dlwyatt82 Posts: 1,077 Member
    My weight loss has been mainly guided by a clinic that my family doctor referred me to, and they do an EKG after roughly every 10 pounds lost. Sounds like it's for good reason!
  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
    My weight loss has been mainly guided by a clinic that my family doctor referred me to, and they do an EKG after roughly every 10 pounds lost. Sounds like it's for good reason!

    That's why Very Low Calorie Diets should always be medically supervised. Sounds like you have a responsible doctor.

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