Article 106: Diarrhea Doesn't Help You Lose Weight, and Scientific Weight Loss Methods

Many weight-loss drugs or slimming foods contain laxatives, which do have a weight-loss effect, creating the illusion for some people that they can lose weight. However, after a while, the true nature of these products is revealed. These weight-loss drugs or foods are essentially just laxatives at work; after taking them, bowel movements increase, and weight decreases, making one appear thinner, but no fat is reduced. Relying on this dehydration method to lose weight primarily results in the loss of lean body mass, leading to a rapid decline in physical strength, which is unsustainable for most people. Such methods are unscientific and harmful to the body.

A scientific approach to weight loss targets the causes of obesity, aiming to balance calorie intake and expenditure. The principle is simple: if calorie intake exceeds calorie expenditure, a person gains weight; if calorie intake is less than calorie expenditure, a person loses weight. Because calorie requirements vary depending on gender, age, and occupation (work level), obese individuals should develop a specific weight loss plan based on their individual circumstances. Dietary weight loss achieves its goal by controlling calorie intake. Following this method, the body gradually burns excess fat with minimal loss, making the weight loss reliable and effective. After consistent adherence, weight will decrease and reach a healthy range, with the majority of the weight loss being fat, thus achieving true weight loss.

In recent years, people's desire for beauty and their growing awareness of the dangers of obesity have led many to rush into weight loss. However, there is absolutely no magic bullet for weight loss, nor will there be one in the future. Those who rely on weight loss drugs lack scientific knowledge and are simply trying to excuse themselves without examining the underlying causes of their obesity. This flawed approach inevitably leads to failure. Obesity doesn't develop overnight, and becoming slim in a short time is impossible. Untruthful advertising is deceptive and should not be believed. Therefore, it is hoped that those struggling with obesity will remain clear-headed and understand that the most important methods for scientific weight loss are controlling diet, adjusting dietary structure, and consistently engaging in necessary exercise. On this foundation, supplementing with massage therapy, behavioral therapy, and traditional Chinese medicine can indeed achieve ideal weight loss results.

Many people struggle with controlling their weight and improving their sex life, but rarely consider the connection between the two. Slimming down and maintaining a slender figure is often seen as conforming to societal expectations of women's image and role, and thus attracting men. Maintaining a beautiful figure is a good thing, but many fail to consider that everything has its limits. Going too far can negatively impact health; some young women have even developed anorexia nervosa due to excessive weight loss, some even paying the ultimate price.

Anorexia nervosa has been recognized for over 100 years, and its incidence has increased significantly in the past decade. This is due to both an increase in the actual incidence rate and improved diagnostic techniques, leading to accurate diagnoses for patients who were previously missed or misdiagnosed. Anorexia nervosa is a complex condition involving physical, emotional, and behavioral changes caused by aversion to food and fear of gaining weight. It is most common in adolescent girls.

In the past, anorexia was thought to be a defense mechanism against sexual impulses and feelings that patients found subjectively unacceptable. However, it is now recognized that eating disorders stem more from the influence of social attitudes (emphasizing thinness as beauty and health) on more vulnerable individuals. Changes in sexual characteristics, such as rapid feminization after puberty, can trigger sexual anxieties and unconscious sexual fears in girls (who may not necessarily admit it), especially breast development, menarche, and sexual feelings after contact with the opposite sex. These can become major psychological crises in the lives of young women. Sexual aversion in anorexia nervosa was observed more than 20 years ago because repressive sex education instilled in them the belief that sex is bad, chastity is a woman's noble virtue and greatest asset, and sexual expression is frightening. These confused and erroneous beliefs made them afraid of becoming sexually mature. Compared to their normal peers, anorexia nervosa individuals who refuse sexual activity exhibit sexual psychological immaturity, which is related to their immature personality and psychological development before the onset of the illness. Anorexia becomes a defense mechanism against sexual urges and feelings, an attempt to maintain a stable and peaceful life before puberty; some women also have traumatic sexual experiences, often using it as a defense mechanism, believing that excessive thinness enhances their sense of security. They are often excessively thin and experience amenorrhea; this biological degenerative change caused by drastic weight loss induces disorders in reproductive endocrine and hormonal levels. The most relevant factor to sexual function is the decrease in pituitary gonadotropins and sex hormones, which is the opposite of the increase in pituitary gonadotropin levels that occurs after the decline in peripheral estrogen in postmenopausal women. Therefore, the characteristic reproductive endocrine abnormality in anorexia nervosa is hypothalamic hypogonadism, with low levels of related hormones. In men, a decrease in serum testosterone levels can be observed.

Those with milder symptoms tend to have a negative attitude towards sexual activity. They experience slower psychosexual development, marry later, have low libido, and have immature marital relationships. They also fear vaginal examinations and childbirth pain. They often feel guilty and remorseful about their sexual feelings and behaviors, experiencing psychological conflict. They can participate in sexual activities but often do not respond, cannot enjoy sexual pleasure, and have a strong dependence on men.

Anorexia nervosa often leads to amenorrhea and subsequent decreased fertility. Most women with secondary amenorrhea have their menstrual cycles return to normal after their weight returns to normal. Premature menopause is quite rare.

Even after recovery, these women often face challenges with social skills and have fewer opportunities for marriage or maintaining sexual relationships. They can regain fertility, and their children are generally healthy at birth and in childhood, provided they achieve adequate weight loss; however, neonatal mortality rates are significantly higher. They tend to consciously restrict their children's calorie intake. Children of these emotionally unstable mothers require appropriate supervision to prevent malnutrition.

Treatment methods include improving nutrition, restoring weight, receiving sex education, and paying attention to sexual sensations. Desensitization therapy should also be administered to these patients so they do not feel anxious or out of control about body changes and menstruation, but can understand these developments as signals of physical growth and health, and as desirable signs of femininity and maturity. Once patients' self-esteem and self-image improve through psychotherapy, they will be more willing to accept the normal developmental process and, with appropriate encouragement, begin to engage in broad social interactions and normal sexual activity. Diet and sex are not unrelated, a point that should be emphasized. Therefore, maintaining a healthy mental state and normal psychosexual development is an important and indispensable part of sex education.