The Effects of Long-Term Dieting

It's hard to ignore advertisements and TV shows telling you thinner is better. However, losing weight is not something that happens overnight, and keeping it off can be a full-time job. What most people don't know is that long-term dieting can take a serious toll on your body. Knowing those long-term effects before starting a diet can be the difference between maintaining good health and opening yourself up to a variety of health problems.

Nutritional Deficiencies

• Diets can require you to restrict calories by limiting or banning certain foods or food groups. Over a long period of time this can lead to a lack of nutrients your body needs. Nutritional deficiencies that can develop include vitamin B-12, iron, calcium, potassium and sodium. According to Epigee, you can become anemic over time resulting from a lack of iron. You can get osteoporosis and experience bone fractures resulting from insufficient calcium, and the lack of potassium and sodium can lead to heart problems.

Yo-Yo Dieting

• Crash diets promising quick weight loss by depriving you of calories teaches can lead to unhealthy eating habits. Fast weight loss mostly sheds muscle and water that can easily be regained as soon as you start eating normally. In the long run, you can end up in a yo-yo dieting cycle where you lose and regain weight over and over again. According to U.S. News and World Report, yo-yo dieting can cause metabolic and cardiovascular disorders including diabetes and hypertension.

Bulimia Nervosa

• Bulimia Nervosa is an eating disorder that is another effect of long-term dieting. According to Helpguide.org, very strict diets are more likely to trigger bulimia. The roots of bulimia are set when you become obsessed with food your strict diet forbids. Depriving your body of these foods results in powerful cravings you eventually may give in to. If you binge on the forbidden food, feelings of guilt and failure soon follow that could push you to throw up the food in an effort to get the calories out of your body. Bulimia can seriously effect your health and put you at risk for kidney failure, irregular heart beat and even death.

Skin, Hair and Nail Problems

• Your physical appearance can also suffer as a result of long-term dieting. Many foods you restrict when dieting contain water and fats. When you don't hydrate your body sufficiently or provide it with the fat it needs to function, your skin can get rough, your hair can get dry and start falling out, and your nails can get brittle. Drinking plenty of water, increasing your fat intake, and eating fruits and vegetables can help solve these problems.