1000 cals a day for 3 weeks, advise please.

No.

Stick with the MFP recommendations. Being unhealthy to shed a few extra pounds for vacation is ridiculous. Do it the healthy way and you'll be proud of yourself because you WON'T gain the weight back once you start eating like a normal person again. You'll keep losing.

you may lose weight and not size, it's hard for the body to do both at the same time and frankly 3 weeks is not all that much time to see results even if you have an extreme calorie deficit.

Are you planning on taking your vacation standing on a scale?

If not, you're probably better off trying to shift a bit less weight and looking healthier/having energy to enjoy your vacation.

Hey, I do not think bashing her for it is a great idea.

Listen hunni, if you have a massive deficiet you can go one of two ways - stop loosing or loose muscle and no size (obviously with some fat), its not good to do this and you should just work hard and eat right, that way you will prob loose a little bit before you go.

I hope you make the right decisions for you, but either way have a fab vacation.

NHS advice is "If you attempt a low-calorie diet (only 1,000-1,600 calories a day) without the advice of a health professional, you may miss out some of the vital nutrients you need to stay healthy. "

With that caveat, why not. Plenty of protein to preserve muscle (60-80g/day ?), supplements you've already considered.

I've tried it and found it didn't work. In weight loss mode to get "jump" started, I do a 5 day 1000 calorie high protien low everything else with light exercise then move to 1200 calories with a goal of "netting" 1000 each day (only eat back calories from exercise in excess of 200 calories burned). I do that for the next 5-7 days. Then I go to 1200 calories net and stay there. Your looking at a short period to lose for a purpose (not lose for health/long term) so I suspose you would stay with the 1000 net until you leave for vacation. But know that you'll put it back on fast if you go "hog wild" eating with no exercise on vacation and are likely to gain more than you lost. Been there, done that! Over and over and over! LOL!

"I've tried it and found it didn't work..." yet you're still recommending it?

I'd get waaaaay too grumpy and miserable sustaining myself on that little energy!

Eat more cals, you'll do better workouts anyway and just generally feel better! I think the general adage is "Crash diets don't work" and that is a crash diet.

I'm for healthy weight loss, no fads or starving yourself whilst working yourself into the ground at the gym.

Advice: Don't. Do you want to compromise your body and be sick for vacation?

So, i'm going on holiday in 3 weeks, i am desperate to shift as many lbs as i can!

i know it's not the healthiest way and i understand that once i'm back on a my original plan i will probably gain weight but if i stick to 1000 calories a day and exercise 5 days a week (not eating back my exercise cals, i usualy burn around 300 cals per gym session) for 3 weeks, will i lose a significant amount of weight?

i will continue to drink 8 cups of water daily and i also take berocca for my vitamin needs.

you'd probably lose 15 - 20 lbs. you'd need to stick to mainly protein or you'll lose muscle not fat. and you'd need more than barocca - off the top of my head, potassium, magnesium, multi-vit, salt/sodium suppliment. just be careful tho.

There are several diet plans that bring your calories down below 1000 calories a day. Look at Medifast, for instance. 800-1000 calories a day, no more than 45 minutes of 'moderate' exercise per day, no eating back your exercise calories, and calories are broken down to around 40% protein, 40% carbs, 20% fat. People lose weight like mad on that program. I was one of them. The first few days were notorious for feeling like crap, but once ketosis kicked in, I felt great and supercharged as long as I wasn't exceeding the 45 minute exercise restriction.

The positive: Seriously quick weight loss and gained energy. For me, each time I did Medifast (key words: each time...let that be an indication of how long lasting the effects of this diet were for me, lol), I lost about 18-20# the first month, which put me right around the halfway point for my weight loss goal.

The negative: For many, including myself, was keeping it off once it came off.

I know there are a lot of weight loss purists that post here, but insisting you will do long term damage to your body and feel like garbage over the next few weeks isn't completely accurate, at least not for everyone. Sure there are better ways to lose weight, but a short term low-cal crash diet never killed anyone (key words: short term).

This isn't an endorsement for Medifast or any similar weight loss method. Slow and steady is definitely the best way to go. Just wanted to balance out the rhetoric out there. If you keep your carbs below 100 in addition to the lowered calories, you'll lose a lot of weight quickly, which sounds like what you are attempting to do.

There are several diet plans that bring your calories down below 1000 calories a day. Look at Medifast, for instance. 800-1000 calories a day, no more than 45 minutes of 'moderate' exercise per day, no eating back your exercise calories, and calories are broken down to around 40% protein, 40% carbs, 20% fat. People lose weight like mad on that program. I was one of them. The first few days were notorious for feeling like crap, but once ketosis kicked in, I felt great and supercharged as long as I wasn't exceeding the 45 minute exercise restriction.

The positive: Seriously quick weight loss and gained energy. For me, each time I did Medifast (key words: each time...let that be an indication of how long lasting the effects of this diet were for me, lol), I lost about 18-20# the first month, which put me right around the halfway point for my weight loss goal.

The negative: For many, including myself, was keeping it off once it came off.

I know there are a lot of weight loss purists that post here, but insisting you will do long term damage to your body and feel like garbage over the next few weeks isn't completely accurate, at least not for everyone. Sure there are better ways to lose weight, but a short term low-cal crash diet never killed anyone (key words: short term).

This isn't an endorsement for Medifast or any similar weight loss method. Slow and steady is definitely the best way to go. Just wanted to balance out the rhetoric out there. If you keep your carbs below 100 in addition to the lowered calories, you'll lose a lot of weight quickly, which sounds like what you are attempting to do.

The reason why so many people gain back after getting off these programs is because for long term weight loss, it is way too many calories and causes your body to go catabolic (converting the amino acids from your muscles for energy, aka losing lean body mass). And your metabolism will adapt to burn less calories per day than previously did. So on a give day, if you used to be able to eat 1800 calories without gaining, you might now gain around 1300-1400 calories. And that is why people gain so rapidly once they go off of diets.

Now, as you mentioned, short term, you will probably have very little affects. You may or may not lose muscle. The biggest problem is, too many people assume weight loss makes them look good in a bathing suit where in facts, its more fat loss that is the desired result. Losing a few lbs of water weight will have zero effect in looks. You can gain all your water weight back in a few days or less once you change your diet.

There are several diet plans that bring your calories down below 1000 calories a day. Look at Medifast, for instance. 800-1000 calories a day, no more than 45 minutes of 'moderate' exercise per day, no eating back your exercise calories, and calories are broken down to around 40% protein, 40% carbs, 20% fat. People lose weight like mad on that program. I was one of them. The first few days were notorious for feeling like crap, but once ketosis kicked in, I felt great and supercharged as long as I wasn't exceeding the 45 minute exercise restriction.

The positive: Seriously quick weight loss and gained energy. For me, each time I did Medifast (key words: each time...let that be an indication of how long lasting the effects of this diet were for me, lol), I lost about 18-20# the first month, which put me right around the halfway point for my weight loss goal.

The negative: For many, including myself, was keeping it off once it came off.

I know there are a lot of weight loss purists that post here, but insisting you will do long term damage to your body and feel like garbage over the next few weeks isn't completely accurate, at least not for everyone. Sure there are better ways to lose weight, but a short term low-cal crash diet never killed anyone (key words: short term).

This isn't an endorsement for Medifast or any similar weight loss method. Slow and steady is definitely the best way to go. Just wanted to balance out the rhetoric out there. If you keep your carbs below 100 in addition to the lowered calories, you'll lose a lot of weight quickly, which sounds like what you are attempting to do.

The reason why so many people gain back after getting off these programs is because for long term weight loss, it is way too many calories and causes your body to go catabolic (converting the amino acids from your muscles for energy, aka losing lean body mass). And your metabolism will adapt to burn 30-40% less calories per day than previously did. So on a give day, if you used to be able to eat 1800 calories without gaining, you now will gain around 1300-1400 calories. And that is why people gain so rapidly once they go off of diets.

Now, as you mentioned, short term, you will probably have very little affects. You may or may not lose muscle. The biggest problem is, too many people assume weight loss makes them look good in a bathing suit where in facts, its more fat loss that is the desired result. Losing a few lbs of water weight will have zero effect in looks. You can gain all your water weight back in a few days or less once you change your diet.

30-40%? Do you have any sources on that?

i should have added a caveat. This is what I have seen with people who provide weight and body fat % of before and after these lcd. It is not fair to complete assume that this is an accurate way to measure. So I will just cut that out of my previous statement.

So, i'm going on holiday in 3 weeks, i am desperate to shift as many lbs as i can!

i know it's not the healthiest way and i understand that once i'm back on a my original plan i will probably gain weight but if i stick to 1000 calories a day and exercise 5 days a week (not eating back my exercise cals, i usualy burn around 300 cals per gym session) for 3 weeks, will i lose a significant amount of weight?

i will continue to drink 8 cups of water daily and i also take berocca for my vitamin needs.

you'd probably lose 15 - 20 lbs. you'd need to stick to mainly protein or you'll lose muscle not fat. and you'd need more than barocca - off the top of my head, potassium, magnesium, multi-vit, salt/sodium suppliment. just be careful tho.

What are you basing your projected loss on? For her to lose 15 lbs, she would have to cut something like 52,500 calories from her diet over 3 weeks, which is 2500 calories a day. Are you assuming she has a TDEE of 3500? Because unless she's 300 lbs and active, that's highly unlikely.

actually, a lb of muscle only provides 600 calories of energy.

if you can burn muscle up, you can lose some good weight. Since muscle also retains water with glucose stores, even more weight.

Since weight is the only desire. Perhaps vacation entails having to get on a public scale all kinds of places, and how you look in vacation clothes doesn't matter.