Although the trend of excessive thinness no longer resonates in society as much as it once did, the fashion industry is still sticking to its old ways and Hollywood celebrities riding on Ozempic like crazy.
This narrative is then adopted by society, with the greatest pressure in our environment naturally being in the summer, when the holiday season at the seaside begins.
Doctors warn against rapid weight loss. Because you can play not only with a broken metabolism, but also with thinning of the bones.
“It’s a hot topic in the obesity community today — what are the unintended consequences of weight loss?” Kurt Kennel, a bariatric endocrinologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, told HuffPost.
One of these consequences was described by actress Jameela Jamil, who recently shared on Instagram that years of extreme dieting and weight loss had damaged her the density of her bones. Thirty-eight-year-old Jameela said that twenty years of dieting has taken its toll, and now she has to deal with pain as well.
“Bone density is the amount of mineral content present in your bone,” explained Gillian Wooldridge, a sports medicine physician at Houston Methodist Hospital.
“If you have a higher bone density, it generally means you have denser — and for the most part healthier — bones that are more resistant to fractures and osteoporosis,” Wooldridge said.
“Our bone density peaks around age 25. And then we hope to keep it up for most of our middle age into our 50s. Because then our bones start to lose density due to natural aging and menopause,” Kennel said.
This is one of the reasons why falls are often a big problem for the elderly, leading to serious health problems such as hip fractures or other large bone fractures.
Dangerous weight loss
“Weight loss can reduce bone density, both in people with underweight as well as overweight peoplewho lost significant weight,” said Deborah Sellmeyer, clinical professor of medicine in endocrinology, gerontology and metabolism at Stanford University.
Research shows that bone loss is less widespread and harmful in people who lose moderate amounts of weight in a healthy way – although some experts say it still happens.
Shortcuts do not work in weight loss. Our body calculates all extremes
Health
“Even if we focus on healthier approaches, we don’t always just lose fat. We also often lose muscle and in some cases bone density, such as in menopausal women,” Kennel said.
Wooldridge emphasized that extreme diets and rapid weight loss pose a significant threat to bone density. “Rapid weight loss, severe calorie restriction, or creating another significant energy deficit, such as excessive exercise, can have a negative impact on bone density,” she said.
“Also, extreme weight loss due to disordered eating or a medical procedure such as gastric bypass can have a negative impact on bone density,” she added.
The key is sport and proper nutrition
If you want to lose weight in a healthy way and prevent complications in later life, bet on proper nutrition and sports that will benefit you.
“We can say with certainty that when we incorporate exercise into the weight loss process, especially resistance exercise, we lose less muscle and less bone density than if we just cut calories and just lose weight by cutting out food,” Kennel said.
Resistance training includes push-ups, lunges, squats, weightlifting. “Anything that requires your muscles to work against resistance,” he explained.
What you eat can also help you maintain bone density. “Nutrition is very important for bone health. Sufficient intake of calcium, vitamin D and protein is also important,” said Sellmeyer.
“In general, we consider ‘healthy weight loss’ or sustainable weight loss to be a rate of roughly a quarter to half a kilogram per week. On the contrary, the yo-yo effect tends to put a lot of strain on our body,” added Wooldridge.
Nuts for everyone: which to choose according to your needs and goals
Health
