Shedding Weight Too Quickly Can Take Its Toll on Skin, Hair and Nails

Losing those 15 pounds at the last minute to fit into that closely cut suit or to squeeze into that bikini has been a peculiarly American obsession for years. But crash dieting often doesn’t improve one’s appearance. In fact, consistent or repeated use of unsupervised, extremely low-calorie diets can have exactly the opposite effect.

Television talk-show host and actress Oprah Winfrey is a good case in point. In 1988, she stuck to a months-long liquid diet to lose 67 pounds. In dropping the excess weight, however, she nearly lost her trademark face. At her slimmest, she looked svelte but haggard. When she fielded questions from her audience, she frequently received unsolicited maternal advice. “You could put a little (of the weight) back on--you look peaked,” one elderly woman cooed, pinching her cheek.

And Elizabeth Taylor, after dieting to get her late ‘70s Rubenesque figure back to its ‘50s Maggie-the-Cat size in 1987, eventually acknowledged that she’d had “a little tuck” to take in the loose flesh under her chin (but she had not , she said, had a face lift) .

The fact is, when we crash diet as a way of life, our bodies are deprived of essential nutrients that not only affect the way we function but also undermine our looks. Nutritionist and registered dietitian Tina Botnick runs Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s Weight Control Program and worries that crash dieters who starve themselves for vanity’s sake achieve at best a Pyrrhic victory in their war on fat.

“Every time you cut calories to below 1,000 a day, the body switches into a survival mode,” Botnick says. This emergency metabolic rate kicks in to keep us alive on starvation rations--then, to husband its strength, she says, “the body quits growing hair and eyelashes.”

Veteran crash dieters often have “skin that isn’t a real great color--it has a gray or yellow cast rather than a ruddy one,” Botnick notes. “Their hair isn’t shiny. And their nails are real brittle.”

These undesirable--and usually unexpected--side effects result from a shortage of nutrients. Crash dieters who don’t consume enough force their bodies to convert existing supplies into energy. And when that happens, Botnick says, “the energy that your body would have spent on cell regeneration, which is what gives you glowing skin and shiny hair, is diverted.”

Some crash dieters also suffer from poor posture. “You really need about 40 grams of protein if you’re a woman, or 60 if you’re a man, to maintain your skeletal muscle mass,” Botnick says. “Without adequate protein, you end up breaking down your skeletal muscle mass. You do lose weight, but you’re not losing the fat.”

What you’re losing instead is muscle in your arms, legs and abdomen. This muscle loss, Botnick say, means “you’re going to look terribly slack,” which explains why some crash dieters wind up pounds lighter but flabby. “Loss of skeletal muscle mass is almost always accompanied by an uneven distribution of fat,” she says, “which often shows up as cellulite.”

Fitness guru Marcia Levine, who has trained the likes of Bette Midler and Randy Quaid (Jane Fonda even stopped in for a couple of classes), insists that “if you diet but don’t exercise, you’re just going to be a smaller version of your original self. If you had a saggy behind before, losing 15 pounds isn’t going to tighten it because the muscle is in the same condition it was when you started.” (Levine’s tight “glutes” got her named Gold’s Gym Woman earlier this year--the first female mascot for the Venice-based cathedral of sweat.)

Although prescription diets such as Opti-Fast and over-the-counter plans such as Slim Fast are gaining popularity, healthy people interested in long-term weight maintenance can devise their own program if they keep a few nuturitional guidelines in mind, Botnick says. “The big secret is to cut your fat intake. Stay away from high-fat meats, deep-fried foods, salad dressings, avocados, olives, nuts, cheese and cream.” If you succeed in eliminating fat from your diet, you can actually “put back about 200 grams a day. Just choose how you want to do it.”

Finally, Botnick says, “remember to eat every four to five hours. People go too long without eating, then they binge.” If you stick to these simple guidelines, you may find that you’ve lost weight without losing face.