Sudden weight loss: causes and risks

What is meant by sudden weight loss?
According to experts, losing more than 0.45 - 0.9 kilograms per week is a rapid and unhealthy weight loss, and may cause many health problems, such as:

muscle loss
slow metabolism
General deficiency of important nutrients.
Anemia.
It is worth noting here that starting a healthy diet with exercise may cause rapid weight loss at the beginning of the diet period, and this is normal.

Reasons for sudden weight loss
The reason for sudden and rapid weight loss may be following a harsh and harmful diet in which a small amount of calories are consumed daily, or it may be due to health conditions, some of which are serious. Here is a detailed explanation of the reasons:

1. Severe diets
In recent years, many of the starvation diets promoted by many celebrities have spread, especially diets that rely entirely on liquids and detox diets.

2. Weight loss pills
There are many pills that are promoted as magic pills for weight loss, but these have harms that outweigh their benefits if there are benefits.

3. Infection with certain diseases
The causes of sudden weight loss were one of the following pathological conditions:

hyperthyroidism;
Celiac disease.
Pancreas problems.
diabetes mellitus;
Depression.
Rheumatoid arthritis.
Sudden weight loss risks
Although losing excess kilograms is the desire of most, experts do not recommend it quickly, but rather slow and healthy weight loss, because those who lose weight slowly are more likely not to regain the lost kilograms compared to those who lost their excess weight quickly.

Also, the sudden loss of excess weight may have serious health and aesthetic effects, which we will separate in the following:

1. Muscle loss
Losing weight does not necessarily mean losing fat, but harsh diets may cause the body to lose part of its weight from muscle as well. Sudden weight loss is often a loss of water and muscle from the body, not fat.

2. Slow down the metabolic rate
Rapid and sudden weight loss may cause a general slowdown in the body's metabolism, as metabolic processes determine the amount of calories burned per day, so any slowness in it causes fewer calories to be burned per day.

It has been found that sudden weight loss on extreme diets may cause you to burn 23% fewer calories per day than usual.

3. A general lack of nutrients in the body
Sudden weight loss makes it difficult to absorb nutrients efficiently and reduces the amounts that the body is supposed to get from food daily, and these are some of the health consequences that may occur as a result:

Hair loss: When eating fewer calories, this means not getting the nutrients that the body needs, and hair in particular, which may cause hair loss.
Chronic fatigue: The body often does not get its iron, vitamin B12, and folic acid from low-calorie diets, which can cause weakness and general fatigue.
Weakened immune system: Not getting enough calories per day weakens the immune system and increases the chances of disease.
Weakness and osteoporosis: The body may suffer from a deficiency in vitamin D, calcium, and phosphorous, which are very important elements for bone health.
4. Gallbladder stones
One of the negative side effects of sudden weight loss is the formation of annoying and painful gallstones.

Normally, the gallbladder releases digestive juices that break down fatty acids to facilitate their digestion, but if a person does not eat enough amounts of food, these juices will not leave the gallbladder, causing the different materials to recombine in it to form hard gallstones.

5. Exposure to other risks
Sudden weight loss has other health risks and complications, such as:

muscle spasms;
Vertigo and dizziness.
dehydration;
desensitization.
Constant and increasing feeling of cold.
constipation or diarrhea;
headache;
Menstrual disorder.