A low-calorie diet can help you lose weight. Trimming calories too low, however, can cause nutritional deficiencies and actually sabotage your weight loss efforts by slowing down your metabolism. A 1,000-calorie diet is considered a very low-calorie diet and should only be followed while under the supervision of a physician.
Weight Loss Basics
When you consume more calories than you burn, you gain weight. Consuming the same amount as you burn causes you to maintain your weight. Creating a calorie deficit, or burning a greater number of calories than you consume, leads to weight loss. A pound is equal to 3,500 calories. Therefore to lose 1 to 2 lbs. per week, you must trim your daily calorie intake by 500 to 1,000 calories.
Nutritional Concerns
Women should not reduce their intakes below 1,200 calories per day and men below 1,500 calories per day. Eating fewer calories, such as 1,000, may make you exceptionally ravenous so sticking to your plan for any extended of period of time to see results becomes impossible. A menstruating woman can barely get enough iron on a carefully planned 1,200-calorie diet, let alone one with just 1,000 calories. It is nearly impossible to fit in adequate servings of dairy, protein, whole grains, fat and fruits and vegetables with just 1,000-calories per day.
Metabolic Concerns
Eating too few calories can send your body a message that it needs to slow down basic metabolic processes to conserve for a famine. When you return to eating regularly, you will quickly regain any lost weight. In addition, when you drastically reduce calories, your body must feed off your own lean muscle mass for energy. When you do regain weight, you will likely gain fat -- because it is easier to put on than muscle -- making you have a higher body fat percentage than when you started your low-calorie plan.
Healthy Low-Calorie Strategy
Instead of restricting your calories to 1,000 per day, aim for between 1,200 and 1,800 depending on your activity level and gender. Use an online calculator to estimate your individual needs to maintain your weight and subtract about 500 calories to figure out your daily goal for losing a healthy 1 lb. per week. If this puts you below 1,200 calories, consider adding in more activity or reducing your expectations about the rate of your weight loss.
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