Eating only one meal a day isn't even close to the best way to lose weight. Most medical professionals will tell you to cut calories from your diet to lose excess weight -- as well as increase your level of physical activity. This does not mean eat one meal a day. Even if you're overweight or obese, there's a threshold with your caloric intake. Any less can cause complications.
Caloric Deficit
To lose weight, you want to generate what's known as an energy deficit. It takes a deficit of 3,500 calories to lose 1 lb. of fat. Restricting your caloric intake is often an important component to reaching this deficit. Cutting too many calories from your diet, however, is not only unhealthy, but can also be counterproductive.
Metabolism
Limiting your diet to only one meal a day is cutting your caloric intake to a point where you're now following something commonly referred to as a starvation diet. Your body quickly recognizes the extreme lack of calories and begins to slow down all of your bodily functions, according to MayoClinic.com. As the body slows its base functions, you no longer expend as many calories as before. This means your caloric need drops and the deficit generated from your current caloric intake drops as well.
Complications
Besides lowering your body's caloric need, reducing your caloric intake to such a degree can lead to nausea, diarrhea, constipation and fatigue, warns the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. It also increases your risk of gallstones. When you restrict your caloric intake below a certain level, your body -- namely your gallbladder -- experiences a spike in cholesterol due to its inability to extract as much bile as before. The excess cholesterol can form into small stones. On top of this, your body must turn to its fat stores for energy, but it also turns to muscle and other vital tissue. In fact, periods of starvation can lead to a loss of muscle tissue within the intestines, kidneys and heart. This can lead to damage within any one of these organs, increasing your risks of serious health problems.
Recommendation
According to the National Institutes of Health, men shouldn't restrict their caloric intake below 1,500 calories, whereas women shouldn't drop below 1,200 calories a day. Caloric intakes below these amounts are often considered very low-calorie diets and should only be followed under the supervision of a medical professional.
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