A hypocaloric diet is a low-calorie diet -- usually consisting of between 1,000 and 1,200 calories daily. A diet this low in calories will not supply your body with enough energy to sustain metabolic function. Your metabolism will slow down, conserving energy and stalling any weight loss efforts. According to the National Institutes of Health, you need a minimum of between 1,200 and 1,500 calories to keep your metabolism functioning.
Survival
For times of famine or when food was scarce, your body came equipped with a built-in survival mechanism. By slowing down your basal metabolic rate, or BMR, your body could conserve energy and hold onto fat stores for later use. For most people in America today, there is an abundance of food, and severe calorie restriction is a choice -- usually as part of an attempt to lose weight. However, following a hypocaloric diet will hinder weight-loss efforts -- if your body goes into "starvation mode" your metabolism will slow and your body will fight for survival by holding on to every last calorie.
Protein Intake
Another way a very low-calorie diet can slow your metabolism is by decreasing muscle mass with limited protein intake. When you don't consume enough calories, your body has the choice to break down stored fat or lean muscle tissue to use as energy. If you have a high-enough protein intake, your body will convert stored fat to fuel and you will lose fat -- the best type of weight loss. In the absence of adequate protein intake, your body finds it easier to convert muscle tissue to energy. This decreases your overall muscle mass. Because muscles require more energy than fat, even at rest, losing muscle tissue slows your metabolism.
Other Factors
Other factors can slow your metabolism. Hormone imbalances, especially hypothyroidism, can affect how many calories you need. It's normal for your metabolism to slow by up to 3 percent per decade as you age, although there might be a correlation between this reduction and a loss of muscle mass as you age. Strength training can prevent this type of metabolic slow down.
Hypocaloric Diet and Weight Loss
Losing weight is a matter of eating fewer calories than you need, but only up to a certain point. It takes a 3,500-calorie deficit to lose 1 lb. Trimming 500 calories from your daily diet will result in the loss of about 1 lb. of body fat per week. Although you might be tempted to cut more calories, you can stall weight loss if you eat fewer than the recommended 1,200 to 1,500 calories daily. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that between 18 and 20 percent of your calories come form lean animal protein to preserve metabolic function.
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