Reviewed by Dr Jessica Gunawan
Excessive Dieting to Deal with Weight Gain: Here are the Health Risks
Published | 5 min read
Adopting a crash diet that reverses weight gain can come with negative consequences. It may also make you susceptible to heart diseases.
More often than not,
Besides, dieting might also make you:
- Purge ad binge eat, which might d
evelop an eating disorder - Restrict food intake
- Have poor physical health
- Have anxiety or depression
Here are two phenomena that can occur with a drastic change in your eating pattern as well as some ways to achieve an ideal weight.

A Combination of Too Much Exercise and Excessive Dieting
Adopting these habits will result in your body mistaking that — in the stomach. Upon digestion, the carbohydrates in food will be broken down into
Glucose will be absorbed by the stomach and small intestines and released into the bloodstream. Your body will either utilise glucose for energy or store it for later use.
However, since starvation mode increases the usage of fat for energy, this induces the body to lower its metabolic rate in compensation to prevent fat loss, resulting in an accumulation of excess glucose which is not utilised and is stored as fats.
Simply put, this can trigger a yo-yo effect that sees your body weight going up and down quickly.
Extreme Dieting and Zero Exercise
Each person has an individual basal metabolic rate (BMR). BMR can be described as the minimum amount of energy required to perform functions like breathing and delivering oxygen throughout the body.
When you diet, regardless of whether you exercise or not, muscles will be broken down only after carbohydrates and fats have been depleted. However, a lack of exercise generally causes muscles to be broken down when they are not in use, to conserve energy. Dieting may result in insufficient protein consumed to build muscle. Hence, all these results in muscle loss.
It is worth noting that the consumption of energy from muscles is higher than fat. Consequently, this will lower the amount of energy consumed and

How to Maintain a Healthy Body Weight
Studies show that pairing a balanced diet with regular physical activity promotes healthy weight loss. On the contrary, relying solely on a dietary switch will make you susceptible to:
- Emotional disarray
- Hair fall
- A menstrual disorder
- An endocrine disorder
- Poor sleep quality
- Dull-looking skin or complexion
Engage in physical activity
Frequent exercise is one of the best ways to lose or maintain weight the healthy way, as physical activity raises the number of calories your body uses for energy.
However, it’s worth noting that exercise alone will be ineffective for weight loss. It is recommended that you combine workout routines with the consumption of low-calorie food. This creates a calorie deficit that triggers weight loss
Get sound sleep
Hormones play a central role in modulating or increasing your appetite, and sleep plays a vital role in regulating hormone levels. Poor sleep increases the level of the hormone responsible for hunger and decreases the level of the hormone responsible for feeling full, leading to an increase in appetite.
Sleep disruption can also affect brain activity and enhance the way we view food as a positive reward, stimulating an increased desire for food. Hence, proper sleep is necessary for the normal functioning of the body. It is also vital for recovery and performing biological processes.
Acupuncture treatment activates the release of melatonin hormone which promotes better sleep quality. Applying pressure to ear acupressure points, aids appetite adjustment.
Consume nutritious foods
Fruits and vegetables are an abundant source of fat and fibre, whilst also being low in calories. Increasing your intake of these foods can stimulate weight loss by helping you stay full for
Meanwhile,
Bitter foods increase bile production, lower insulin resistance and assist liver detoxification. Sour foods such as lemon can reduce belly fat. Herbal ingredients such as astragalus (Huangqi, 黃芪), Poria (Fuling, 茯苓) and lotus leaf (Heye, 荷叶) can enhance fat burning by improving body metabolism.
Ultimately, crash eating regimes will negatively impact the body and bring about faster weight gain. As such, it is advisable for you to adhere to a lifestyle that