After an episode of diarrhea, your stomach is flatter and you feel more comfortable in your clothes.
We all make the same observation, after an episode of diarrhea (often in cases of gastro), the stomach is flatter and we are less tight in our clothes. Therefore, to lose weight, some people do not hesitate to take high doses of laxatives. These medications are prescribed to people suffering from constipation to facilitate intestinal transit. By emptying the intestines, they give the impression of deflating the stomach. But do we really lose weight by “emptying ourselves”?
When we have a bowel movement, we evacuate food substances that have not been absorbed and metabolized by the body. “They are composed on average of 80% water and 20% dry matter and represent a weight of 150 g”recalls dietitian Florence Foucaut. “However, this has no impact on our body weight since we evacuate intestinal waste.” In reality, “Diarrhea essentially causes a significant loss of water. This dehydration can give the impression that the body is thinning because it is drying out, but it is temporary: as soon as you have rehydrated, your physique will return to normal. Diarrhea does not allow you to lose fat, nor to avoid “absorbing” the calories ingested during a meal. continues our interlocutor.
Thus, taking laxatives to lose weight when you do not suffer from constipation is ineffective in the long term and above all dangerous. Taken without a medical reason, laxatives can cause bloating and intestinal irritation that causes the abdomen to swell. At high doses, these medications can cause significant stomach pain and sometimes the inability to hold back. “By using them too much, they can also cause irritation in the colon, episodes of chronic diarrhea, significant dehydration as well as the loss of mineral salts, in particular potassium, a deficiency which can lead to hypokalemia, or even renal failure” alert our expert.
It is much healthier to turn to foods rich in fiber. “They have the advantage of increasing the volume of stools, thus facilitating their expulsion, while satiating for a long time, which limits the risk of cravings between meals, generally for fatty and sugary foods, responsible for weight gain” recommends Florence Foucaut. You will find them mainly in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes.