Low Calories, Starvation Mode... keep it accurate

DavePFJ

I go on VLCD's for a 3 weeks and eat super foods like avacado, then reverse diet to reverse the metabolic damage. Bread is out of the question because studies have shown it makes you fat. I'm in great shape too, and everyone knows it because I have a 13.1 sticker on my car.

SezxyStef

VLCD recommened by a GP to most people is crappy advice. Most doctors who are GP's do very little nutrition in their studies...actually it's about 4 weeks worth of study that's it.

Now if there is a medical reason for it and you are supervised by a creditable RD fine but for the majority of the people who use them it is unnecessary and very unhealthy.

There are too many issues that happen using a VLCD from muscle loss, nutrient defiencies etc for it to be worth it.

Even those who are morbidly obese if they see their doctor regularly and the doctor waits to suggest a reduciton of calories until they are morbidly obese needs a kick in the butt...a reduction should have been suggested at obese.

The majority here who eat VLCD are doing it for no other reason than to lose a few pounds when they don't need to and do have issues with food/body image.


And this type of diet is not sustainable for most and they have a tendancy to break and binge and gain weight and the cycle continues...

And for the OP sorry but for you to come here and do this post to basically say "don't harp on those who are on a VLCD" is irresponsible...you personally are one of the few who were on one at recommendations of a doctor and were supervised. So perhaps before another post is made like this you will research the forums and see how many actual anorexic girls/women/men/boys that are here and understand that the "know it alls" know one when they see one...

*walks away shaking head*

.

neandermagnon

My problem is the woman on the first page who has 18lbs to lose who saw this post as a validation for the VLCD she wants to do. My biggest problem with posts like this is that you put tons of qualifiers on it: short term, have a lot of weight to lose, recommended by doctor, closely followed by a doctor. However, many people skip all that and read what they want. Of course, they skip all the posts about people with success at higher calories too, so I'm not sure there is much of a way to get through to those people anyways.

OP: congrats on your progress and keeping the weight off once you switched to a more moderate diet. Good luck with the rest of your loss.

^^^^ this

VLCDs are doctor prescribed. Everyone knows that you don't take medication prescribed by a doctor for someone else, yet a lot of people when it comes to diet think like "the doctor said it's okay for my friend to eat only 800 cals/day therefore it's okay for me too" while completely ignoring the fact that the friend in question weighs 300lb and has serious health issues because of it, while the one saying it is at the high end of the healthy BMI range and wants to be at the low end of the BMI range with no idea what her body fat percentage is or whether the low end of the BMI range is even attainable or suitable for her body type.

Most people on this site who make threads about eating very low numbers of calories are of the latter type, unfortunately, and they're usually in their late teens or early twenties (which on this site could be someone in her early or mid teens lying about her age) and the advice to those people is NO don't do it, don't wreck your health while you're still young and probably still growing... that's why there's so many vehement posts against them on this site.

For an analogy, doctors prescribe heroin (under it's pharmaceutical name) for people with serious enough medical conditions that warrant its use, and where the risks are outweighed by the benefits and its use is closely supervised by doctors.... yet if someone posts that they are self prescribing heroin for a mild tension headache, then you will get a lot of vehement posts telling them of the dangers of taking heroin. But the people who have that reaction aren't against the correct, medically supervised use of heroin............ and it's the same with VLCDs - doctor prescribed in situations where the benefits outweigh the risks and it's under a doctors supervision is one thing, people putting themselves on them because they think it's the best way to get rid of some flabby bits around their hips or stomach that no-one else even notices is totally different, and people who are legitimately on VLCDs I'm sure appreciate this difference and understand that the vehement reaction on the forum against VLCDs isn't aimed at them at all.

scottkjar

ive looked up symptoms of those kinds of things before, and i don't really have any, i might go to the doctors, but i just dislike doctors so much!!

Now THAT is bad advice. If you dislike your physician, go see a different one. But don't avoid seeing a physician just because you dislike the ones you had in the past. A regular physical exam is important to identify issues for which there might be no obvious patient-identifiable symptoms, such as cholesterol problems, hormonal imbalances, and many others.

mycupyourcake

I'm still intrigued by the hypothalmus reset. What exactly do you mean by that?

sodakat

I eat 800-900 calories a day and have since November 2013. I am trying to lose some weight, I have lost some but have hit a stand still and am quite hungry. Am I doing something wrong? My RNY doctor told me to keep my calories around 800 for losing weight and work up to 1000 for maintaince. Any one else a RNYer?

Is this related to gastric bypass? The low calories I mean.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

I eat 800-900 calories a day and have since November 2013. I am trying to lose some weight, I have lost some but have hit a stand still and am quite hungry. Am I doing something wrong? My RNY doctor told me to keep my calories around 800 for losing weight and work up to 1000 for maintaince. Any one else a RNYer?

Is this related to gastric bypass? The low calories I mean.

Her ticker shows that she weighs about 125 lbs.

sodakat

I eat 800-900 calories a day and have since November 2013. I am trying to lose some weight, I have lost some but have hit a stand still and am quite hungry. Am I doing something wrong? My RNY doctor told me to keep my calories around 800 for losing weight and work up to 1000 for maintaince. Any one else a RNYer?

Is this related to gastric bypass? The low calories I mean.

Her ticker shows that she weighs about 125 lbs.

I was wondering about the RNY doctor and the low cal diet. I guess I don't know what RNY is.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

I eat 800-900 calories a day and have since November 2013. I am trying to lose some weight, I have lost some but have hit a stand still and am quite hungry. Am I doing something wrong? My RNY doctor told me to keep my calories around 800 for losing weight and work up to 1000 for maintaince. Any one else a RNYer?

Is this related to gastric bypass? The low calories I mean.

Her ticker shows that she weighs about 125 lbs.

I was wondering about the RNY doctor and the low cal diet. I guess I don't know what RNY is.

Huh you're right-- google search reveals it's a type of gastric bypass.


Now I'm just confused.

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

I eat 800-900 calories a day and have since November 2013. I am trying to lose some weight, I have lost some but have hit a stand still and am quite hungry. Am I doing something wrong? My RNY doctor told me to keep my calories around 800 for losing weight and work up to 1000 for maintaince. Any one else a RNYer?

Yes, that's very wrong. Here, read this and follow the instructions:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

On second thought (because it's too late to edit)-- I can't advise you. I should have googled first, but since you've had that procedure you should do what your doctor said.

Apologies. :flowerforyou:

HarrietSabre

My argument against these idiots is that if starvation mode was a thing like people describe it here, anorexia sufferers wouldn't be thin. Which they are. So your metabolism obviously doesn't just *stop*, although it may slow down a bit. I think it's exaggerated quite a lot. It's not healthy to do it unsupervised, and yes you will gain weight after you inevitably have to stop it, but you would still lose weight in the short-term.

ndj1979

Like I said, I dont encourage it, nor recommend it. It worked well for me, why did I stop cold turkey if it worked so well? Because Im human, because Im fat and oreo cookies keep coming out with new flavors. Why does anyone quit any diet or healthy way of life? I was on 800cals then, and am on it again this year under doctor and nutritionist supervision. I quit just short of my 2 month plan, and I did disappoint myself, but I managed somehow to keep the weight off. People will say how unhealthy this is, but it was also unhealthy the way I was eating. Claims are that I am not getting enough nutrients, but I wasnt getting any from my mcdoubles and cookie 4000 cal diet. Im getting all the nutrients I need. Maybe those that are so harsh against the VLCD'ers have never been morbidly obese? People post bariatric op eat less calories than I do, but my diet is similar to theirs. I just chose not to have surgery. I still have about 80lbs to lose, and in 2 months I will be upping my calories again (god willing I resist temptation) and incorporating exercise. Good luck to everyone, and even the nay sayers

you are not encouraging it but you posted a thread about it and stated that it will work …that sounds like a ringing endorsement to me..

As others have said, the reason that people on here are opposed to it is that most people asking about it are not doing it under a DR's supervision and are probably in a weight category where they only have 10-20 pounds to lose. Plus, most of us on here are advocates of a slow, steady, and sustainable path that will result in long term success, and preserve as much LBM as possible in the process...

drcherokee

My doc advised a vlcd...approx 800 cals a day. I did it for 2 weeks then completely went off the rails and ate like crazy, I gained 13lb on top of what I lost. I couldnt do it... too boring and too restrictive. But respect to those who can. I am not on a diet now...just cutting portions down and am losing slow and steady

Good luck x

This is why I would advise against a very low calorie diet. Energy is energy, and very low calorie diets do work...but is it sustainable? Should long-term eating habits be either feast vs. famine? Only lettuce or 17 cheesecakes? Both extremes involve suffering and stress. It's the same psychology that involves binge eating...binge dieting.

It's all about moderation. If you want to lose weight, do you want to keep it off over a long period of time, or do you want to have HUGE success and then a HUGE rebound? It's better to lose some, plateau, and then lose more later when you're ready. It's worse to lose a bunch and then gain it all back. That's pointless. I lost 75 pounds, and at my absolute highest I was losing 2 pounds a week. You lose more than 2 pounds a week, my thought is that's probably too fast.

Show me some VLCD people who have kept it off for 5 years. Then show me some non-extreme calorie loggers like those on MFP who have kept it off for 5 years. It'd be nice to see the percentages, but I bet there's many, many more in the latter category.

I'm not claiming VLCD isn't appropriate for some. I'm saying for a large majority of people who want to lose weight and keep it off, it's likely too extreme. Moderation...not feast or famine.

Tigermum9

I agree 100%, I needed to change my eating habits and that is a long journey. I think vlcd's are good for surgery preparation etc but I have found that the people I know who have done it (some only a stone overweight) want the weight loss tomorrow and are not prepared to change their eating habits.

The 800 cal meal replacement diet made me think of food 24 hours a day...then if I walked past a burger stand I would be walking away with a double burger and chips....

heybales

I eat 800-900 calories a day and have since November 2013. I am trying to lose some weight, I have lost some but have hit a stand still and am quite hungry. Am I doing something wrong? My RNY doctor told me to keep my calories around 800 for losing weight and work up to 1000 for maintaince. Any one else a RNYer?

Yes, that's very wrong. Here, read this and follow the instructions:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

On second thought (because it's too late to edit)-- I can't advise you. I should have googled first, but since you've had that procedure you should do what your doctor said.

Apologies. :flowerforyou:

This is perfect example of what I stated earlier to OP.

If folks are under Dr supervision for VLCD, then why are they coming here talking about hitting a stall and what to do next?

The OP's warning actually should NOT have been for the general MFP populace, but for the specialist Dr prescribed VLCD's to NOT be posting on the forum that is what they are doing if they have general questions about food and nutrition, and if any problems with the prescription, should go back to the Dr.

Telling the majority to do something different than what the site is designed for is silly - you tell the minority to use the tool not exactly designed for them in a specific way, and don't ask the majority trying to use it correctly for advice.

yarwell

The 800 cal meal replacement diet made me think of food 24 hours a day...then if I walked past a burger stand I would be walking away with a double burger and chips....

Typically they have sugar as a significant ingredient, presumably because it's stable in storage and has a well known calorie value.

bethcox16

ive looked up symptoms of those kinds of things before, and i don't really have any, i might go to the doctors, but i just dislike doctors so much!!

Now THAT is bad advice. If you dislike your physician, go see a different one. But don't avoid seeing a physician just because you dislike the ones you had in the past. A regular physical exam is important to identify issues for which there might be no obvious patient-identifiable symptoms, such as cholesterol problems, hormonal imbalances, and many others.

i don't choose a doctor to go to, i get a random one each time i go and i don't like any of them, because they all sound like every thing is so easy when its not, plus my mum has always told me that i shouldn't go to the doctors unless its necessary, she said that i shouldn't be wasting doctors time with silly little things

RiverRun61

^this^