Too Radical? 500 calorie diet

[Aimz]

So I've been tossing around an idea for a while and I have done heaps of research into it. At the moment I am on 1200 calories a day and have been for the past month. Initially I didn't have an appetite so it was easy to maintain. Since my appetite came back I have learned to deal with the pangs of hunger and push through them. My 1200 calories consists of healthy, fresh food and I drink about 2L a day. I also exercise for an hour every day too.

For the next fortnight I want to drop my calorie intake down to 500.

I haven't seen any results for the past 2 weeks and I want to step it up. I would love to lose 5kgs FAST and then slowly move the last 5kg over a longer period.

A typical day on the 500 cal diet would be this...

Breakfast: Cereal with light milk
Snack: Pear/Apple/Grapes
Lunch: Green Salad and Yogurt
Dinner: Grilled Fish with steamed veggies

That combined with 2L of water and my regular multi vitamin. The only difference between this and what I am doing now is the portions would be smaller.

Would you do it? Have you done it?

[Rouge]

Honestly no way. You should read some articles about carrot stick diets (as they are called) when you take away nearly next to all fats your body goes into storage mode, so when you aren't eating this way your metabolism is setup in such a way that it regains at double and in some people triple speed. It might be nice to lose that 5kgs quickly but do you want to put it all back on again even faster (and possibly more to boot?)

[sushee]

I was only on 500 calories or so in the two weeks after my surgery. The main thing that seems to happens when you're intaking calories at such a low level is that you lose energy, you start to burn not only fat but muscle (as your body goes into starvation mode), so your metabolism slows and when you move on to a higher caloric intake, you plateau for ages while your body hangs on to everything you eat. During that time, I also looked grey (as in no colour in my cheeks) and my skin was pretty awful too.

The best way to make sure you lose more is to burn more calories via exercise, instead of starving your body of calories. Even with the band, I try to get in at least 1200 calories a day in order to continue losing weight. If I get too much under that, I start to plateau as my metabolism slows (which is counter-productivein the long run).

If you're exercising 4-5 times a week at a rate where you're raising a pretty good sweat and are out of breath, and you're eating 1200 calories a day and still not losing, it's likely your body is at its set point and it will take a drastic change like far more intense exercise to get you past that. And then to keep it off, you'll have to maintain that level of exercise from here on in.

[Arimeh]

Amy honey, I wouldn't recommend that to anyone!!!

A better way to get around it, is to give you metabolism a bit of a kickstart - so for one day drop it down to around 1000 calories, then the next day 1200, and so your metabolism goes heyyyy whats going on here... but its still in conjunction with enough calories so your body doesn't go into starvation mode.

Thats what I'm doing anyway

[bon]

The best (and healthiest) way to lose weight hun is to do it slow - around 0.5 to 1kg a week. Your body wouldn't be able to cope with that few calories and exercise as well - you will have no energy and ultimately instead of being healthier, your health could suffer. I personally don't believe in any diet or eating plan that makes you feel hungry - hunger is a sign of a genuine physiological need - your body wants you to eat. You just have to choose the right food, which is where we all at some time or other end up going wrong (hence the need to lose weight).

[Indadhanu]

Yeah, I've done it.

I was suffering with anorexia at the time.

[Trillian]

I wouldn't do it because 1 it's not sustainable and 2 you will stack it all back on (and then some) when you go back to a regular eating plan. I would be preferring to stick with what you're doing now, but really ramp up the exercise if you find that you've plataeued - it's a common thing to have happen a few weeks into a diet/healthy eating plan and you need to challenge your body to keep burning the fat off without losing vatal muscle tone etc.

[Trillian]

I also forgot to say that even though you wont get there quicker by doing it sensibly, you are more likely to keep it all off if you take a bit longer to get there.

[rufalina]

I agree with not dropping your calories so much, but when I was seeing a PT, he used to swear by having a shot of espresso before doing a training session, to get your body going, and eating spicy food as well... Not sure if this is true, but I did it....

Maybe you also need to look at your exercise and as well as the cardio, add in some toning work, to help with changing your body shape too.

[Aimz]

I thought it sounded a bit drastic! I'm just so frustrated that I'm only eating 1200 calories, exercising EVERY day and not seeing a loss. Maybe 1000 calories would be better then, and also stepping up my exercise routine. I have just started jogging (I finally feel "fit" enough to do it) and I plan on adding in more light weights this week. I already do 60-100 squats, lunges and sit ups 3 times a week and I will now step that up to every day too.

I just want to keep losing!! I feel so close but still so far away.