Does throwing up make you lose weight is something that I’ve heard for a long time, and unfortunately, it just isn’t true.
Many people wonder if vomiting or making yourself vomit will cause you to lose weight. It’s a practice that is often associated with bulimia and anorexia, but it can be part of any extreme dieting method.
Some people want to throw up because they believe it will make them lose weight very quickly. If you’ve been wondering does throwing up makes you lose weight, the answer is no – but there are some other things you should know about.
How Does Throwing Up Work
The best way to describe how throwing up works is to imagine holding a straw in a glass of water and drinking it. That straw is your stomach’s natural mechanism for pushing food into the small intestine. When you vomit, your abdominal muscles rip open, releasing the contents into your mouth.
Your esophagus, however, doesn’t have the exact mechanism. It only responds to pressure. When it feels like food is being pushed past it, it responds by widening. The wider it gets, the more pressure it experiences, and that’s when it starts starting to curve — first to one side, then the other. Eventually, it closes, leaving a small opening.
The stomach acid that comes rushing in with the food is what burns the esophagus.
How to Make Yourself Throw Up To Lose Weight
The only thing worse than having to vomit, has to throw up to lose weight. But, as doctors explain, vomiting is your body’s way of getting rid of toxins, so as long as you’re not throwing up because of illness or food poisoning, it’s a good thing.
Here’s how it works:
Your stomach secretes hydrochloric acid (HCl), which breaks down food in the stomach and intestines. When something isn’t supposed to be in there, HCl reacts with it, breaking it down and making it less harmful.
But if your stomach isn’t complete, HCl levels go up, and your stomach starts to make more. This causes you to throw up.
While vomiting can be annoying, it helps with weight loss.
“You want your stomach to be empty when you vomit,” says Alissa Rumsey, RD, a dietitian at Aria Health. “When food comes back up, it makes you hungry, so you feel the urge to eat again.”
Excess stomach acid can harm your stomach and esophagus, so you’re not supposed to do it. But by throwing up, you empty your stomach, which lowers the amount of HCl in your stomach. That means your stomach doesn’t produce as much acid, which can prevent ulcers.
Some people also throw up because of bile reflux, when the acid from the stomach backs up into your esophagus. This causes heartburn and other symptoms. Bloating, gas, and diarrhea can also result from bile reflux, making you feel nauseated.
“If you throw up a lot, it can damage your esophagus,” Rumsey says. “But in most cases, you’re vomiting because the food isn’t working.”
Does Throwing Up Make You Lose Weight
The act of vomiting does contribute to weight loss, but it’s very, very minimal.
If you were to vomit 15 times per day, you’d lose about 5 pounds of weight per week. But the reality is, most people don’t throw up that frequently.
Vomiting doesn’t contribute to weight loss because food doesn’t disappear from your stomach once you vomit it back up. It just moves back to the esophagus, which means your body is still consuming it.
Some people try to throw up to lose weight by ingesting massive quantities of water. They’ll drink so much water that it causes them to vomit. However, it’s not the water that’s making you feel sick — it’s the contents of your stomach.
Most people don’t realize that vomiting causes you to lose water, not calories. So, if you vomit, you’ll lose the water in your vomit, but you won’t lose any of the calories that your stomach had consumed when you ate.
Another reason that throwing up doesn’t cause weight loss is that the act of throwing up slows your metabolism. Because your body is expending energy to expel food, your metabolism slows down.
Some people attempt to lose weight by vomiting because they believe their bodies will react to the vomiting by burning more calories. However, your body can’t burn calories when you vomit. You can only burn calories when you digest food, and the act of digesting food requires calories.
Some people also attempt to vomit to lose weight because throwing up will make them hungry. However, vomiting doesn’t cause hunger. When you’re hungry, your body sends signals to your brain, and vomiting doesn’t interfere with that.
So, does throwing up make you lose weight? No.
Some people might lose weight temporarily when they vomit, but they’ll gain.
Throwing up does not make you lose weight! Seek medical attention if you’re feeling unwell.
Go to the doctor if you’re feeling ill.
If you’re feeling ill, you should always go to a hospital or doctor for an evaluation. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
In some cases, you can treat the illness at home or wait until the condition passes. But in other cases, you need to see a doctor right away.
Avoid fad diets
Fad diets only work in the short term. They fail to address the things you need for long-term health — like nutritious meals, regular exercise, and a supportive social community.
Eat regular meals and snacks throughout the day.
Eat regular meals and snacks throughout the day. Your body needs energy, but what you eat at breakfast won’t give you enough energy to power you through to lunch. If you wait until lunchtime to eat, you’ll feel hungry soon enough and be tempted to eat junk food.
By eating regular meals and snacks throughout the day, you can moderate your appetite and eat healthier.
Don’t force yourself to eat if you don’t feel like it
Eating healthy is essential, but there are times when your body simply isn’t going to cooperate with you. Maybe you’re sick, perhaps you’re stressed out, and maybe you’re having trouble sleeping. Whatever the reason, sometimes you need to skip a meal.
Don’t force yourself to eat. Your body will sense when you’re pushing yourself to eat, and your body will fight back. Eating a meal when you’re not hungry isn’t going to accomplish anything.
Don’t force yourself to eat if you already ate. If you didn’t eat something before leaving the house, don’t force yourself to eat it once you get there. You’ll only gain weight, and that’s not what you want.
Frequently Asked Questions
Throwing up after eating to lose weight
You might have heard of someone who throws up after they eat. Maybe you noticed that you throw it up after you eat, too. If so, not mean to lose weight.
Throwing up after you eat can be caused by many different things. You might throw it up because of indigestion, if you don’t drink enough water, or if you’re eating something that disagrees with your stomach. You might have a stomach bug, which might be making your stomach upset.
Can you lose weight by throwing up?
Weight loss by throwing up is risky, but some people have reported success with it.
The idea behind weight loss by throwing up involves consuming wholesome food, such as rice, vegetables and fruit. You allow these foods to pass through your system, and then you use the bathroom to clean out your body.
The theory is that your body uses the vital nutrients from these foods to purge itself of the waste products of digestion.
Some claim that this habit can help get rid of excess fat, although it’s dangerous to your health.
The practice isn’t recommended, but it’s far from unheard-of. Some people swear by it, claiming that it’s helped them attain their desired weight.
Does throwing up help lose weight?
That’s certainly one way to look at it. That’s right up your alley, isn’t it? You’ve already figured out the answer, haven’t you?
No. It doesn’t.
In fact, doing the opposite — stopping up your nose and mouth so you’ll throw up everything you’ve eaten — is not the answer either. Not if you want to lose weight.
Experts advise against throwing up to lose weight. Throwing up after a meal means you’re wasting the food you’ve already eaten.
Also, throwing up after a meal can trigger nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, making it even harder for you to stay hydrated.
Does bulimia cause weight loss?
Bulimia causes weight loss. The exact reasons are uncertain, but bulimia can force someone to deprive themselves of food or skip meals, leading the body to metabolize fat more rapidly.
Bulimia can also harm the digestive system, leading to constipation and diarrhea. With neither the stomach nor intestines properly digesting food, the body absorbs fewer calories, which further contributes to weight loss.
Other side effects of bulimia include bad breath, oral sores, excessive sweating, cramps, dizziness and nausea. Over time, bulimia can cause damage to the salivary glands, leading to dry mouth and tooth decay.
Finally, bulimia can take a toll on the cardiovascular system because of the physical strain of the intense dieting, vomiting and excessive exercise.
Summary
The truth of the matter is that while throwing up can help you lose weight. It doesn’t make you lose weight.
There’s a scientific phenomenon known as the “calorie burning paradox.” This describes the idea that the more you eat, the more calories your body burns, regardless of how much exercise you do.
When you throw up, you burn more calories than you’re taking in. Your body makes food particles smaller and faster, so it burns more calories to process them. But the net result is the same: you’re still eating the same number of calories so that you won’t lose weight.
While throwing up can help you lose weight in the short term, weight loss isn’t sustainable over time and can cause health problems.
