Experts have warned Americans of the dangers of taking the nation’s favorite New Year’s Resolution too far. 

According to health experts, just a few potential harms involved with excessive fitness include mood swings, muscle wastage and even excess weight gain.

Doing more exercise is the resolution most people are taking up, according to a Forbes Health poll – as it was in 2022.

Around half of those surveyed said they wanted to improve their fitness, while a third said they wanted to improve their diet.

Speaking to DailyMail.com, certified nutrition coach and personal trainer Danielle Gray said going OTT in the gym is not advisable: ‘It is possible to end up with mental and physical issues due to nutrient deficiencies and changes in your metabolism.

Taking up a new fitness routine can be a healthy endeavor, but it is easy to take it too far - resulting in detrimental consequences, experts say

Taking up a new fitness routine can be a healthy endeavor, but it is easy to take it too far – resulting in detrimental consequences, experts say

‘This can then spiral into fat gain and muscle loss, mood swings, and harder-to-fix hormonal issues,’ Danielle Gray, certified nutrition, personal trainer and founder of fitness program Train Like A Gymnast told Dailymail.com.

Gray also warned of the psychological risks involved with taking new habits like exercising too much, especially if it’s done alongside a weight loss diet.

Embarking on a weight-loss plan is a major risk factor for an eating disorder – the deadliest of all mental illnesses. 

‘If an eating disorder gets serious enough, the consequences could be fatal,’ said Gray, who founded the fitness program Train Like A Gymnast.

In the best-case scenario, overdoing a health kick will simply make you give up – because such high level of activity is not sustainable. 

Gray also adds that, counter-intuitively, getting too into a new exercise plan could result in more weight gain in the long term – because you burn out and give up completely.

Signing up for a personal trainer can be one way to help you stick to a new routine - but keep it balanced and supervised

Signing up for a personal trainer can be one way to help you stick to a new routine – but keep it balanced and supervised

Gray qualified that excessive exercise could be categorized as increasing your running distance from five miles a week to 20, or visiting the gym for over an hour in one day several times a week. 

This is particularly risky if you are not working with a nutrition professional to increase your calorie intake sufficiently, she warns.

Gray continued: ‘Pushing the body too hard with prolonged and intense workouts could lead to overuse injuries, impacting tendons, muscles, and joints.

‘Abruptly changing your exercise regimen can be counterproductive, causing harm rather than progress, potentially leading to extended periods of forced rest due to injury.’

Experts have explained the biology behind the harms that come from exercising too much, and not eating enough. 

On an average day, your body gets most of its energy from sugars – which come primarily from carbohydrates. 

Fitness experts reveal the ONE bit of gym kit that will tone your tummy at rapid speed – but people rarely use

Fitness gurus are encouraging gym-goers to pick up a kettlebell 

Without enough sugar – which the body converts to glucose – it will eventually turn to stored fat for energy.

When this happens, substances called ketones are released in the process. These acidic molecules are normal and safe in small quantities – although they are linked to bad breath.

But an excess of ketones can be produced if the body continues to lack carbohydrates. At high enough levels, this will make your blood toxic.

This is particularly dangerous for people with type 1 diabetes who can develop ketoacidosis, a life-threatening condition if left untreated, according to Cleveland Clinic.

Experts have also warned of the small – but important – risk of the potentially fatal kidney condition called rhabdomyolysis.

Rhabdomyolysis occurs when damaged muscle tissues release unusually large quantities of proteins and electrons into the blood, injuring the heart and kidneys.

Your kidneys are responsible for filtering toxins from your blood, but when they are overloaded and can’t keep up with the demand, kidney failure can result.

Other risks of over-exercising include early-onset osteoporosis in women, while men can experience a decreased sex drive. Over time, it can also compromise the immune system.

So how do you know when you’re doing too much – and what’s the best way to approach a new fitness regimen? 

‘Healthy approaches are always gradual and intentional, never drastic and desperate,’ Gray said.

In other words, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. 

Hengchen Dai, a behavioral science researcher at the University of California Los Angeles, recommended setting your sights on a single goal.

One such example is signing up for a personal trainer: It only takes a momentary increase in motivation to sign up, but you’re creating a long-term commitment to work on your health.

‘Once they find a trainer and pay for it, the commitment they have to make to the trainer may help them to sustain that effort,’ Dai said.

And working with a trainer to get in shape is much healthier than, say, starving yourself after a holiday binge.

Experts also suggest phasing out one restaurant meal each week until you’ve turned a daily habit into an occasional treat. Or perhaps try just adding another day of working out each week or every couple weeks until your body is used to the additional strain.

Listen to your body, take breaks when you need them, and take a step back if something seems wrong.

One thing that can help you keep up your goals over time is an ’emergency reserve,’ Dai said.

Saying you’ll go to the gym seven days a week may be too hard, but setting a goal of five days may seem like too little. Instead, Dai said, you can aim for the top but allow yourself a couple of days off if you really need it.

This way, falling short of your goal once or twice won’t need to spell a total return to bad habits. 

When people allow themselves an emergency reserve, they tend to pursue their goals for longer and are more successful in achieving them, according to a 2017 study on the topic. 

So when you’re setting a New Year’s resolution, whether it’s fitness related or not, remember to keep your goals realistic, build in some tools that will help you long-term, be gentle with yourself, and remember that the new year really can mean a new you – but only if you work for it. 

[ad_2]
Post source: Daily mail