First the definition – diarrhea is a condition whereby you pass watery or abnormally loose stools. It can be explosive and not much fun, but most people can expect to suffer from it once a year on average, or more if you have an underlying condition which makes you susceptible to it. Possible causes of diarrhea include viruses, bacteria, parasites, or digestive system disorders (in the case of chronic diarrhea). Stress and allergic reactions can also contribute.
It is not considered diarrhea when you pass stools often, but they are of normal consistency.
You might be wondering, “Does diarrhea contribute to weight loss?” The short answer is yes, but at what cost? Besides being an unpleasant condition, frequent diarrhea can be harmful to your health.
What You Should Know About Weight Loss
When the number on the scale goes down, you have either lost lean muscle mass, body fat, or water weight. If you’re trying to get in shape via exercise, you almost definitely want to reduce your body fat percentage and increase muscle mass.
It’s important to remember that the number on the scale is not the best representation of how fit you are or how thin you look. In fact, it may not even be a suitable metric to consider it all. This is because lean muscle mass weighs much more than fat, it is totally possible to gain pounds while losing inches. Read that again. The number on the scale is not your enemy. It is just one tool for understanding how your body is changing. Use it together with other tools (progress photos, body fat percentage measurements, waist measure, etc.) to gain a more complete understanding. Also consider using Smart Scales to track a more complete set of parameters regarding your weight (BMI, body fat percentage etc).
How Does Diarrhea Cause Weight Loss?
Diarrhoea is not always caused by illness or disease. Some external influences which may also cause it are dehydration, diuretics/ slimming teas, and malnutrition. Let’s talk about them below.
Dehydration
This is a condition experienced due to excessive loss of water or insufficient intake of water. Sometimes, it’s both. Since diarrhea causes you to pass liquid waste quite frequently, it causes dehydration. Extreme dehydration from diarrhea can even be deadly.
Natalie Rizzo, MS, RD, an NYC-based Registered Dietitian, says, “Most stool weighs about 100 grams or 0.25 pounds. This can vary based on a person’s size and bathroom frequency. That said, poop is made up of about 75% water, so going to the bathroom gives off a little bit of water weight.”
This is why you might notice a slight dip in your body weight after you use the bathroom. When you have diarrhea, you lose a significant amount of water with every bowel movement. Consequently, this dip may be more pronounced because of how much water you lose and how quickly waste passes through your system.
Malnutrition
Since the body passes waste too quickly for nutrients to be absorbed, malnutrition may also cause weight loss, but obviously in the least healthy way possible.
According to WHO, many children killed by diarrhea usually suffer from underlying malnutrition. So, malnutrition makes them more vulnerable to diarrhea. This is one of the effects of malnutrition on the body.
Diuretic Pills and Slimming Teas
Bendroflumethiazide refers to a medication referred to as a diuretic. Typically, healthcare professionals prescribe it to treat hypertension ( high blood pressure) and edema ( fluid building up in the body). It’s a medicine called a water tablet because it makes users pass more urine. Consequently, they can quickly get rid of excessive fluid in their body.
Even though diuretics are potent medications, they come with several side effects. One of these side effects is diarrhea. It’s vivid that when you pass poops continuously, and it lasts for days, it can affect your weight.
However, this is not the total story. The real deal is that many individuals turn to diuretics or water pills when they think of losing weight. They believe that with these pills, they can achieve quick weight loss results. Some buy them from local pharmacies, while others order online. But do diuretics really cause weight loss?
Matthew Brengman, bariatric surgeon makes a good clarification here. He expounded that diuretics are any medication, prescription or over-the-counter, that forces the body to remove fluids it wouldn’t otherwise do on its own. This implies that diuretics will only help you lose water weight from your body. Unfortunately, this weight loss has been shown in studies not to last.
Furthermore, there are numerous slimming teas which people go for to lose weight. Theoretically, slimming tea works by stimulating digestion, aiding metabolism, and sometimes removing impurities from the body. Nonetheless, research shows that slimming teas contain diuretics which can lead to diarrhea and other medical challenges. In fact, the agency warns against using slimming teas due to a lack of evidence of safety or effectiveness and reliable research. So, you may want to think twice before using slimming teas and other natural weight loss supplements
Conclusion
Not only is diarrhea unpleasant to experience, it can also be a serious health condition that often claims lives. Weight loss associated with diarrhea is only temporary and we highly recommend that you don’t pursue this as in an effort to achieve your goals.
