A woman used a massager to lose weight and her kidneys were "flattened" and she was sent to the ICU. Don't try these 11 weight loss methods!

Recently, a #woman in Huizhou, Guangdong used a massager to lose weight and her kidney was flattened and she was sent to the ICU#, which attracted everyone's attention.

In order to lose weight, 49-year-old Ms. Zhang adjusted the home massager to the highest setting and placed it on her stomach for half an hour. She then developed symptoms of physical discomfort such as high fever and severe pain. Upon examination, Ms. Zhang was found to have a subcapsular hematoma in her right kidney, compression of the right kidney parenchyma, and ischemic necrosis of some renal tissues.

▲Photo: From Weibo

▲Photo: From Weibo

It is understandable that you want to lose weight, but you should not "try any remedy out of desperation". There are thousands of ways to lose weight now, but most of them are not only useless, but may also be "life-threatening".

This article will list 11 of the most common but not recommended weight loss methods in life. Some are "useless" and some are "life-threatening", so don't try them again!

1. Diet to lose weight

Rapid weight loss is often the result of "achieving" a diet. Inadequate energy intake and malnutrition are common. It can basically be said to be an extremely low-energy diet (daily calorie intake is less than 800kcal).

For safety reasons, it is recommended that adolescents under the age of 18, pregnant women, postpartum women, patients with eating disorders, patients with cholecystitis, etc. should not adopt a very low energy diet (VLCD) of less than 800 kcal.

Even for ordinary people, long-term VLCD can be harmful to health, especially for female friends. Their periods will go away, and it may take a year or two to get them back.

▲Figure: China Obesity Prevention and Control Blue Book

2. Enzyme weight loss method

There is a rumor that enzymes can help lose weight because "the enzymes in enzymes can help break down fat", thereby helping with weight loss.

In fact, this is just an IQ tax.

The main components of enzymes are actually enzymes and sugar. Enzymes are a type of protein and will be broken down by gastric acid after entering the stomach, and will not play a role in breaking down fat.

In addition, enzymes are fermented with fruits and vegetables as the main ingredients, and sugar is added to make the taste better, so the calories are actually not low. If you don’t change your daily diet and add extra enzymes, you will only get fatter.

As for some people saying "I did lose weight after eating it", it's because it's not the "weight loss effect" of the enzyme that makes you lose weight, but the weight loss from going to the toilet or from starvation due to taking enzymes as meal replacements.

3. Slimming tea

Common ingredients of slimming tea often include: Cassia seed and senna leaves. These two ingredients contain hydroxyanthraquinone derivatives, which are "laxatives" and will stimulate bowel movements after drinking.

Regular consumption is also harmful to the body. A report released by the European Food Safety Authority in 2018 showed that certain hydroxyanthraquinone derivatives can damage DNA, have genotoxic properties, and increase the risk of cancer. [1]

In fact: slimming tea makes you go to the toilet more often and lose weight!

4. L-Carnitine

L-carnitine is also called carnitine, which is divided into D type and L type, and L type is the one that everyone "worships". The job of L-carnitine is to transport fat to mitochondria, and then mitochondria are responsible for consuming these fats.

Simply put, the role of L-carnitine is a bricklayer, and fat is a red head...

Although there is a large amount of literature proving that L-carnitine can help lose weight, reduce body weight and body fat, most of the experimental subjects were tested with moderate exercise and a proper diet. [2]

Furthermore, the human body can synthesize enough L-carnitine on its own; simply taking L-carnitine orally cannot increase muscle carnitine concentrations or promote fat metabolism. [3]

Therefore, losing weight by eating more L-carnitine is not very reliable.

5. Slimming bag

There is nothing special about the ingredients, and it is not responsible for weight loss.

There are numerous slimming packs of various brands on the market. The common point is that they all claim to help you lose weight. You only need to put it on your belly button. The drug ingredients enter the human body through the belly button, and then open up various meridians to enhance metabolism, remove moisture, and break down fat...

In fact: it is impossible for drugs to enter cells through the belly button to help break down fat.

Some people lose weight after using it because the seller will also give a diet menu and ask them to follow it. It is basically a ketogenic diet or a very low-calorie diet, so you can lose weight even without using the slimming pack.

6. Body shaping garments or waist belts

Wearing a waist belt to lose weight is a very popular way to lose weight now. After wearing it, the waist does look much smaller and extra slim. However, this is just "looking" smaller, not really losing weight!

Wearing it for a long time will not only be very uncomfortable, but also cause physical pressure on the body's organs, affecting blood circulation and digestive function.

If you feel that you have really lost weight after wearing it, it is probably because wearing it affects your eating habits and reduces the amount of food you eat. If you continue to wear it for a long time, you may suffer from malnutrition.

7. Slimming Leg Cream

Can I understand this as a hot "snake oil cream"?

At present, there is no evidence that leg slimming cream can help lose weight, nor is there any convincing scientific basis.

Some people say: After applying leg slimming cream, I feel my legs are getting hot and burning. Is it the fat burning?

Of course not! This is because slimming creams generally contain capsaicin, which can irritate the skin, so there is a burning sensation!

As for why some people say they have lost weight, half of it is psychological, half is because they eat less, and some are because they feel hot and uncomfortable, so they run...

8. Fat Shaking Machine

Advertisements for fat-shaking machines are everywhere in the weight-loss circle, and even shopping malls offer various on-site experiences. They mainly use high-frequency vibrations to make people standing on them shake.

Can you really lose weight with a fat-shaking machine? Fat is not something that can be shaken off!

When using a fat-shaking machine, it is effortless. You just need to stand on it and let the machine shake passively. Although you may sweat profusely during this process, it does not consume much calories and cannot help you lose weight.

If you really lose weight after losing weight, it is only because your body loses water through sweating, and drinking some water will immediately make it back. You should know that losing weight is about losing fat, not water.

In addition, long-term use of fat-shaking machines is not only useless for weight loss, but may also cause dizziness, nausea, and gastrointestinal disorders.

9. Sugar-free rice cooker

Sugar-free rice cookers have been very popular in recent years. They are said to reduce the sugar content of rice by 70%, which has really captured the hearts of a large number of diabetic patients and those who are trying to lose weight.

Its working principle is similar to that of a rice scoop. There are sieve holes at the bottom of the inner pot, which will filter out the rice soup during the cooking process, thereby taking away most of the starch in the rice.

Although this process does seem to "remove sugar", the results are actually "disappointing".

A study referred to the latest industry standard "Method for Determination of Glycemic Index of Foods" issued by my country at the end of 2019, and conducted a "double-blind" test on the changes in human blood sugar after consuming rice steamed in sugar-free rice cookers and ordinary rice cookers.

The results showed that the difference in blood sugar levels between rice cooked in an ordinary rice cooker and rice cooked in a sugar-free rice cooker was very small. The highest peak for rice cooked in an ordinary rice cooker was 8.79, while the highest peak for rice cooked in a sugar-free rice cooker was 8.56. [4]

The sugar-free rice cooker cannot achieve the advertised effect of "reducing the sugar content of rice by 70%". Not only that, it will also increase the loss of B vitamins in rice.

Therefore, the sugar-free rice cooker not only fails to lower blood sugar, but also loses nutrients. If you want to lower blood sugar, it is better to combine coarse and fine staple foods and pay attention to supplementing high-quality protein and fruits and vegetables.

10. Diet pills

In order to lose weight, many people choose to take diet pills, the most common of which is Orlistat slimming capsules. Although Orlistat has been listed as an OTC drug, it does not mean that anyone who wants to lose weight is suitable for taking it.

The "Chinese Expert Consensus on Medical Nutritional Treatment of Overweight/Obesity" released in 2016 recommends that weight loss drugs can be used if one of the following conditions is met.

BMI≥28kg/m2

BMI ≥ 24kg/m2 and the presence of risk factors such as dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia, hypertension, etc.

The main principle of orlistat is to hinder the absorption of fat in the intestines, so the fat cannot be retained in the intestines, but will run out through the intestines and anus by itself, thus "rushing out of the door".

For example, if you fart accidentally, what comes out of others is just gas, but what comes out of you may be oil. In addition, the frequency of bowel movements will increase, and you may even poop in your pants.

In addition, long-term use of orlistat may also endanger your health, such as increasing the risk of colon cancer, breast cancer, liver and kidney damage, etc.

11. Induce vomiting to lose weight

Vomiting to lose weight is to artificially put the stomach in an empty state, so that the food eaten is forced to vomit out before it is digested and absorbed.

Although such operation reduces energy intake, it will also reduce the nutritional intake of food at the same time. If it continues for a long time, it will cause malnutrition.

There may also be constipation, hair loss, amenorrhea, bad breath, slow wound healing, electrolyte imbalance, esophagus damage, tooth deterioration, and even psychological problems such as anorexia and depression.

Summary: Extreme weight loss is not advisable, scientific weight loss is the only way!

References:

[1] European Food Safety Authority: http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/press/news/180123

[2]. Huang Zongxiu, Lin Jian, Lin Chunfang. Observation on the effect of L-carnitine on weight loss in obese people[J]. Preventive Medicine Forum, 2007, 13(1):6-8.

[3]. Han Bei, Zhang Ruijuan. Can L-carnitine supplementation really help lose weight? [C]// National Nutrition Science Conference of the Chinese Nutrition Society and International DRIS Symposium. 2013.2.

[4]https://tv.cctv.com/2020/10/29/VIDE3CxA7aTdvM9vHWJBvvYR201029.shtml?spm=C52448022284.P7Q2qNdQU56x.0.0