Does Your Body Stop Losing Weight With Too Few Calories?

The average adult requires approximately 1,200 calories per day for weight loss and proper nutrition, according to the Maryland Cooperative Extension. While it may be tempting to consume fewer than 1,200 calories when you are dieting, eating fewer calories may bring your weight-loss efforts to a screeching halt.

Short and Long Term

During the first few weeks of eating a diet with too few calories, you may notice your weight quickly falling off. Unfortunately, the trend may not last for long. According to the North Carolina State University Cooperative Extension, a diet with too few calories decreases your metabolism. This drop in metabolism hinders weight loss, and in some cases you may start to see some weight gain. This is because your body eventually enters starvation mode and quits burning fat.

Other Considerations

Diets that are very low in calories not only sabotage your weight-loss goals, they affect your health. Unless a physician closely supervises your low-calorie diet, you may not get essential vitamins and minerals that your body needs to function effectively. Difficulty with concentration, reduced immune function and weakness are often the result of this type of deficiency. Over time, these deficiencies cause health complications such as anemia, infertility and bone loss.

When it Works

There are times when a very low calorie diet is effective. University of California, Los Angeles, Health System explains that a diet with a daily caloric intake as low as 800 calories may be beneficial to the morbidly obese. Closely monitored, the diet allows these individuals to lose approximately 3 to 5 lbs. per week. During this reduction in caloric intake, physicians prescribe a nutritional diet plan that contains the necessary mineral supplements to overcome starvation mode, and to shed weight quickly and in a safe manner.

Metabolism

If you eat foo few calories, your muscles may pay the price. University of Illinois' McKinley Health Center explains that eating too few calories often causes the body to start looking to it's fat stores for energy. Your body may also look to your muscles for energy — this is where the problem begins. As your body breaks down muscle, you lose lean muscle mass. A decline in muscle mass lowers your metabolism, so fewer calories means less muscle and a higher potential for weight gain instead of loss.