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If you look at many of the diet plans available today, you will see that many of them promise you fast weight loss. However, these can be dangerous and it is important to know what the dangers and drawbacks of losing weight in this way can be. It is also important to learn how to lose weight safely and effectively so that you can preserve your health at the same time you are getting to a body shape and weight that will make you feel healthy and attractive.

Our body weight is influenced by many different factors. One of the main factors is our metabolism. At its most basic level, our metabolism is the rate at which we burn energy. A slow metabolism means that we burn energy more slowly and a fast metabolism means that we burn energy at a very high rate. That energy comes from our diet in the form of calories from food. When we have a lot of excess energy, our body stores it in the form of fat. This adds weight to our body and too much stored fat means that we become overweight.

The idea of losing weight quickly seems to be a simple one. Many people think that if they cut back on the number of calories that they consume, they will be able to shed pounds and inches very quickly. They think that this will help them drop weight in a hurry. Unfortunately they fail to realize that there can be a number of unwanted side effects when they use this method to reduce their body weight.

Our bodies are designed to tell when we are starving. This was a protection method that dates back to when food was not always readily available. During the times when we were short on food, our bodies would hold on to all of the calories that we were able to take in. Our metabolic rate would slow down. Even now, when we starve ourselves, we suddenly become unable to shed body fat since our body is holding on to it as a way to stay alive.

Part of the reason we simply gain the weight back and why it is unhealthy to drop pounds in a hurry is that we lose water weight before we experience fat burning. You can end up losing quite a few pounds but you can become dehydrated in the process, a very unhealthy and dangerous state to be in. By choosing to lose weight quickly we can end up making ourselves very sick and simply end up gaining the weight back when we stop taking pills or go back to eating and drinking normally.

Other affects you may experience are a drop in your energy level and health problems due to restricted vitamin and mineral intake. You can lower your energy levels and if you stay on a severe diet for too long, you may end up lowering your metabolic rate permanently and causing significant, long term health problems.

If you do want to lose weight quickly and stay as healthy as possible, you need to be realistic about your time frame. By increasing the number of calories you burn daily through exercise and reducing the amount of calories you take in, you can safely lose about two pounds per week. You can reduce calories by watching portion sizes and eating more fruits and vegetables. This will give you the nutrients and energy you need to stay healthy.