Beware of psychological breakdowns caused by dieting: from impaired metabolism to the abyss of eating disorders.

Dieting has many side effects. For example, if children or adolescents who are still developing diet, it can cause slowed or even stopped growth. It hinders normal physical and psychological development. This method is very harmful to the body and can even lead to death, so dieting is extremely dangerous. The process of dieting disrupts a person's normal, healthy eating habits, and is therefore very likely to trigger eating disorders. Besides wasting money and time on these ineffective weight loss products, you also deplete your self-esteem and self-control. Long-term dieting will not only fail to make you lose interest in food, but on the contrary, it is very likely to cause excessive cravings for food and excessive focus on body image and weight.

Dieting disrupts the body's normal metabolism. Metabolism is the process by which the body converts food into energy. If a person diets and reduces their calorie intake, the body will automatically adjust to the new calorie level and use the new energy level to regulate the body's function, reaching a new balance. The human body is genetically designed to resist weight loss. This is because, historically, the threat to humanity has been food scarcity and excessive activity-hunger and weight loss. However, the problem in modern society has become food surplus and lack of activity-overeating and weight gain. Your body cannot determine whether you are dieting, starving, or something else. But its precise radar system understands that you are not providing it with enough energy. To conserve life and to efficiently utilize the body's energy, your body slows down its metabolism.

If you diet, return to normal, and repeat this process several times, you will permanently alter your metabolism. Therefore, even if you eat very little while dieting, you won't lose weight because your metabolic rate has already dropped significantly, and your calorie expenditure is now very low. Once calorie levels drop further, the risk of more serious problems increases. If you consume less than 800 calories a day, your body has to carefully calculate how to use those precious calories effectively. It will prioritize providing calories to major organs such as the brain, heart, and lungs. This forces it to sacrifice other bodily functions. This is why when your calorie intake is very low, you may feel cold, dizzy, tired, depressed, and even experience hair loss and brittle nails.

Dieting won't make you happy or feel successful. It involves controlling your choices regarding food and many aspects of your life. Even if you successfully lose weight through dieting, you'll still have to struggle to maintain the immense vanity you gain from temporary weight loss. You still won't dare to eat the things you crave; you still won't dare to slack off even though you hate exercise; you want to participate in normal social activities, but you often make yourself and everyone else feel out of place. You'll still often feel like something has been taken from you, you'll still often feel like you don't dare to pursue what you want, and you'll still often feel like a failure.

Dieting won't solve your life problems. Weight loss rarely changes your destiny overnight. Even if you do lose weight successfully, the weight you lose doesn't reflect the real problems in your lifestyle. Weight loss won't solve your emotional problems; it won't make your dreams come true: your Prince Charming won't suddenly turn around and run to you; your cheating wife won't immediately return; your wallet won't instantly bulge; and your dream job will still keep you out of reach.

Dieting can lead to eating disorders. Eating disorders generally include anorexia nervosa, psychogenic bulimia, and compulsive eating. These three conditions are often linked to emotional problems, so eating disorders are classified as mental illnesses. Eating disorders can affect every aspect of life: work, study, recreation, family, friends, emotions, growth, and health. Generally speaking, the more dieters diet, the more they crave food. Most of the time, anorexia and bulimia are bitter twins. The most basic symptoms of anorexia include: a subjective belief that one is too fat, an intense fear of gaining weight, setting a low weight limit, endlessly reducing weight, and being terrified of the word "fat"; initially, one is afraid to eat, but in the later stages of the disease, there is an extreme lack of appetite, emaciation, and a weight loss of at least 15% below normal and at least 25% below one's original weight; women may experience amenorrhea for more than 3 months.

In fact, anorexic individuals also have strong cravings for food. They can't maintain such a diet for more than a few days before succumbing to the temptation and overeating. To avoid weight gain, they resort to laxatives or self-induced vomiting to quickly expel the food, then resume the diet, only to binge eat again when they can't control themselves. This cycle repeats itself, leading to symptoms of bulimia. Many people newly diagnosed with anorexic are initially elated by their ability to abstain from food and become extremely thin; others are secretly pleased with their "folk remedies" for quickly eliminating food. However, over time, both anorexic and bulimia sufferers become weary and exhausted by this approach, developing self-loathing and a desire to escape this lifestyle. But once it becomes a habit, breaking it is incredibly difficult. When you feel frustrated, lack confidence, or despair, you might start considering a new round of dieting. You might start thinking about vegetable soup, skipping dinner, and searching for more weight-loss secrets. Dieting is very tempting because it offers an alluring "golden apple" and promises quick results. But these results are temporary; don't easily believe in such success rates. Please remember the most crucial sentence: "You can never starve your fat cells!" If you still have the urge to diet, please reread the previous text a few more times and review the following diagram.