If you are trying to lose weight or have been unsuccessful with weight loss in the past, you may be tempted to eat as little food as you can to try to and lose as much weight as possible. Not only is this unhealthful, but it is also counterproductive and not a long-term solution for weight loss. For you to lose weight and keep the pounds off, you should be familiar with how weight loss works and why very low calorie diets are not the most productive or healthful approach to losing weight.
About Very Low Calorie Diets
You may be curious of what exactly constitutes a very low calorie diet. A VLCD is a weight-loss diet that restricts calories to 800 calories or fewer. The average weight loss is 3 to 5 lbs. per week. There are many "fad" diets that promise rapid weight loss in short periods of time that restrict calories in the VLCD range. For example, the "HCG Diet" allows dieters to consume only 500 calories each day.
Malnutrition
At 800 calories a day or fewer, VLCDs make it nearly impossible for you to get all of the essential nutrients, such as dietary fat, carbohydrates, protein, vitamins and minerals, your body requires for normal function. This can result in drastic nutritional deficiencies. University of California, Los Angeles, explains that eating less than 1,000 calories has the same effect on your body as total starvation. According to the University of Illinois, most people require 2,000 calories a day. Starvation and malnutrition weaken your immunity and can make you feel extremely fatigued and depressed. The University of Idaho reports that 500 calories, as required by the popular "HCG Diet," is not enough calories to even support normal brain function.
Counterproductive
Although weight loss requires you to reduce your caloric intake, following a VLCD will seriously deter most people. First, if you lose weight with a VLCD, most if not all of it will be lean muscle and water. You can usually only lose about 2 lbs. a week of fat while not sacrificing lean muscle tissue. Second, according to Penn State University, eating less than 1,200 calories a day will lower your metabolism, making it an even harder to lose weight. Once your metabolism has slowed, if you resume your regular eating habits, you will likely gain back all the weight you lost. Not only are VLCDs unhealthful, but they are ultimately counterproductive to long-term substantial weight loss.
Candidates for a VLCD
Unless you are part of small percentage of morbidly obese people, under in-patient doctor supervision, you not should not consider following a VLCD. Following a diet that is so deficient in calories and nutrients can cause major health side effects that thoroughly outweigh any potential weight loss benefits. To put it in perspective, eating 800 calories or fewer is basically like eating one single meal a day for most people. If you have been unsuccessful with weight loss in the past, contact your health care provider before making any dramatic changes to your lifestyle or dietary habits.
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