To eat 500 calories a day for 12 weeks

[Summerdays55]

How much weight would I lose

Forget calories instead remove certain foods, eat only meats/fats/ proteins ( nuts, cheese, double cream, butter ) and low sugar and starch carbs, so green vegetables etc all in unlimited quantities. Avoid sugar, rice, bread, white potatoes, anything starchy and definitely no soy products or margarine or anything with low fat on the label! In 12 weeks you'll have lost stones ( if you have stones to loose, otherwise you'll reach a healthy weight and stay there). You won't be hungry, your body will love you for it, it will be getting lots of great nutrients but won't be storing any excess fat or converting sugars to fat. Google Dr John Briffa or put his name into YouTube. You'll not regret it I promise. He can also explain why eating 500 calories will not work especially long term.

I lived on less that 500 cals for about 5/6 months after DD was born (undiagnosed PND, and family/financial issues)
I lost 3 & 1/2 stone (and I really didn't have 3 stone to lose) my hair fell out, my periods stopped, I got frequent UTI's and bouts of d&v, I was paler than pale, tired all the time, dizzy and headachey all the time and some of my nails fell off.

Do.not.do it!

Honestly - that is not true for everyone. I have lost and kept of 2 stones, have no saggy flaps of skin and, after the first week, did not feel deprived or hungry at all.

Some of the VLCDs have a lot of research behind them, 5:2 etc, and they are not, in and of themselves, dangerous.

Lots of what we 'know' about nutrition and dieting is based on poor science or no science at all. The 'Starvation Mode' is probably the best known 'mistake' in the dieting industry. Many people still quote it as a reason not to try VLCDs, even though the original Minnesota study didn't make any of the claims the diet industry said it did. The term does have scientific meaning, but it is far more complex that the 'vox pop' version.

5:2 isn't really a VLCD, though, Blanche - just on two days a week, surely, not 7?

Oh and cold! You will be freezing cold!

wow, Michael Moseley really is making a ton of money stating the bleeding obvious. Good for him.

Sorry, hefzi, I was responding to AN Other post. No, 5:2 isn't VLCD, but gets lumped in, by people who concentrate on the 500kcal days rather than the overall kcal consumption.

Sorry, I should have been much more clear.

I wouldn't classify 5:2 as a VLCD. That's only 500 cals twice a week. Surviving on 500 calories every day for 12 weeks is a whole other ball game.

OOps, Blanche, sorry -no, I thought I'd misunderstood it! Wouldn't be the first time

500 calories day gives a calorie deficit for the average woman of 1500 calories, not including any additional exercise you might do (and I don't suggest you do much on 500 cals). This should yield an average weight loss of 3 pounds a week or more, depending on other factors like lean mass and how sedentary you are, and indeed what you weight to start with.

You will probably enter benign dietary ketosis on that few calories, which will reduce your appetite significantly after a week or possibly less so it might be more sustainable than you think.

You should be careful to ensure you are getting the nutrition you need - this is the thing with the shake soup and bar diets (VLCD"s) like Cambridge, Lighterlife etc - they provide all you "need" in terms of vitamins, minerals, and macronutrients (protein, carbohydrate, fats) without any of the extras, so it is the least amount of food you can possibly eat whilst getting what you need to stay healthy.

You will need to make yourself drink a lot of water (but not too much - 3 - 4 litres a day) to make up for the fact you are not getting liquids from your foods as you are not having as much food. Unless the food you do eat is very high water content like fruit for instance.

In 12 weeks you could lose anything from 36 pounds or above - so at least 2 and a half stone, possibly 3 or more.

A 17 stone person doing Lighterlife or another VLCD typically loses 4 stone in the first 12 weeks.

Personally I would encourage you to choose a VLCD (shakes, soups, bars type diet) to do this rather than your "own" food, because the balance will all be there in terms of what your body needs, and they are medically approved from this point of view.

It's also worth looking into how you will reintroduce larger amounts of food and stabilise your weight loss going forward. Which contrary to popular belief can absolutely be done, so you maintain your weight loos.

Good luck!

Another recommendation for Michael Mosley's blood sugar diet. It's the first time I've lost lots of weight in years. I'd pretty much given up on diets and thought it was never going to happen for me.
It's different to low carb diets because you can eat pulses/lentils and dairy.
There's a thread in the weight loss fasting section.

Good luck with your weightloss OP, hopefully you'll find something sensible that works for you. And thank you for posting this thread, because I've now discovered the blood sugar diet and DH and I will be embarking on it for 8 weeks starting Monday (Monday because by then I should be fully recovered from a recent op and we will have eaten what's currently in the house!).

Minimum calories you should eat a day is 1000. You will get very ill eating less.

Where does your information come from financial?

Doesn't matter - you will gain it plus MORE back. There's lots of scientific studies on it that are free to download and read, if you just do a bit of googling.

But it's not true.

Yes of course if you go back to your old eating habits you will have an excess of calories and put weight on. But if you learn new eating habits and exercise then there is absolutely no reason you can't stay a healthy weight.

So much misinformation!!!

EXTREMELY unhealthy.
You do realise when you start eating agin you'll put all the weight back on and more?
And you do realise your body NEEDS at least approximately 1500 to SURVIVE?

I didn't gain it back when off the diet.

Vanderwaals, that really is not correct. None of it.

If you haven't had the willpower and motivation to lose weight gradually and sensibly using one of the methods previous posters have mentioned, what on earth makes you think you will be able to stick to this form of unhealthy torture? It is complete nonsense.

OP do you have a big event coming up in 12 weeks hence the panic diet?

And yes, what do you think would happen after the 12 weeks? Even assuming you did start on a healthy way of eating instead of just cramming fistfuls of food down your throat because you've deprived yourself so much for three months?

lurking Actually the VLCD are sometimes much easier for very overweight people. It takes away the opportunity and choice to binge. After just 3-4 days you no longer feel hungry and cravings and sugar dips are gone.

I think some people forget what calories are actually needed for.
Glucose is converted to ATP in the mitochondria of every cell in the body (apart from red blood cells). This is required for these cells to actually function.
So without enough calories you won't have enough glucose and you don't have enough ATP. Therefore your heart won't have enough energy for its muscles to contract, your brain uses A LOT of ATP so it won't function correctly, your muscles need ATP so they can move, your kidneys, liver, everything.
That's not even mentioning the deficiencies you will suffer which can be horrific.