Dangers of low calorie diets - link

alexbusnello
alexbusnello Posts: 1,010 Member
in Food and Nutrition
http://www.dietadvices.com/risks-of-very-low-calorie-diets/

Must read. I'm currently going through all of this... Think this is pointless and not true? Ok, it's your opinion but it happens to many people. I see a lot of people here (including me....) eating way too low. At first it might work, but over time it will do the opposite for you. It has for me...

In fact, this morning I almost fainted for no reason, Very dizzy, nauseous, shaky, fog headed, scared, shortness of breath and sweating. I noticed eat time I eat something, my heart pounds through my back and chest like its trying to work harder. I'm going to see my doctor this Friday for a physical and I'm mentioning it to him.

I've also gained fat and my shape is different due to muscle loss.... I'm trying to rebuild them back up but it's hard when you're afraid to eat more.
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Replies

  • Leeanne1974
    Leeanne1974 Posts: 207 Member
    You are going to have those leaping on here now crying "My doc says i can and therefore its fine!!!".
    However I am being a hypocrite at the moment because I am trying to stay under 1000 a day. It is for a week or two to see if i can start losing again.
    I hit a plateau then put on 4lbs somehow (I really do not know how, I log all my food and have stuck to around 1250 a day). So i thought I would try this to see if it kick starts something inside me so that I start losing again.
  • NWCountryGal
    NWCountryGal Posts: 1,992 Member
    Can't agree more, denise
  • AmyFett
    AmyFett Posts: 1,607 Member
    I'm at 1300 now, and I barely eat that, I have a crap appetite anymore, but I try like hell to net 1300 a day. When I start losing a lot of weight, I plan on upping my calories slowly. In the end, when I get to my goal of 130, I plan to maintain by eating 1800 or so a day. You just have to know what works for you, really, that's what I believe.
  • ricky_j_b
    ricky_j_b Posts: 64 Member
    just finished 10 weeks and lost 50lbs,,,glad I never read that arcticle till now,,,
    look up Dr. Bernstein,he must have it all wrong???

    fact is he has an add on the link you provided,lmao
  • Colleen790
    Colleen790 Posts: 813 Member
    Bump to read later.
  • FireBrand80
    FireBrand80 Posts: 378 Member
    Meh, this article is pretty general. It depends how they are done and it what context.
  • tbellamy1
    tbellamy1 Posts: 353
    just finished 10 weeks and lost 50lbs,,,glad I never read that arcticle till now,,,
    look up Dr. Bernstein,he must have it all wrong???

    I wonder how much of that was body fat and how much was lean muscle? Also whats your calorie count now? 50 lbs in 10 weeks is really fast and I dont want any part of it. Weight like that comes back and bring more lbs with it.

    Rapid weight loss brought on by a severely restricted caloric intake can also increase your cholesterol levels. This puts a strain on your heart, causing it to work harder
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
    You are going to have those leaping on here now crying "My doc says i can and therefore its fine!!!".
    However I am being a hypocrite at the moment because I am trying to stay under 1000 a day. It is for a week or two to see if i can start losing again.
    I hit a plateau then put on 4lbs somehow (I really do not know how, I log all my food and have stuck to around 1250 a day). So i thought I would try this to see if it kick starts something inside me so that I start losing again.

    http://www.quickbmr.com/what-is-tdee.html

    go here to find out your tdee (total daily energy expenditure) and that'll help you find your BMR (basal metobolic rate). BMR is what you would need to consume, at MINIMUM, if your body were just laying in bed all day.

    you should be eating in between you TDEE and BMR. unfortunatly some people get confused and eat below their BMR, which causes their weight lose to suffer.
  • Merithyn
    Merithyn Posts: 284 Member
    You are going to have those leaping on here now crying "My doc says i can and therefore its fine!!!".
    However I am being a hypocrite at the moment because I am trying to stay under 1000 a day. It is for a week or two to see if i can start losing again.
    I hit a plateau then put on 4lbs somehow (I really do not know how, I log all my food and have stuck to around 1250 a day). So i thought I would try this to see if it kick starts something inside me so that I start losing again.

    Probably better to increase your calories for this rather than to cut them. Regardless, good luck. :smile:
  • stephvaile
    stephvaile Posts: 298
    just finished 10 weeks and lost 50lbs,,,glad I never read that arcticle till now,,,
    look up Dr. Bernstein,he must have it all wrong???

    fact is he has an add on the link you provided,lmao


    you may have lost 50lbs in 10 weeks but you now need to keep that off and maintain , because you went very low you will have to do it at a lower rate then if you had done it more slowly in the first place i hope you do manage it , but i doubt it ,
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    Here's a good read:

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html
  • RayRay1500
    RayRay1500 Posts: 158 Member
    just finished 10 weeks and lost 50lbs,,,glad I never read that arcticle till now,,,
    look up Dr. Bernstein,he must have it all wrong???

    fact is he has an add on the link you provided,lmao


    I want to know how many calories you eat, and if you are working out. Mine are 1200 with minimal workout.
  • birdieaz
    birdieaz Posts: 448 Member
    I'm over low calories, finally decided I'm not spending the rest of my life watching every little morsel put in my mouth. I EAT..well, hearty, healthy...I move...I LOSE, pretty simple.
  • stephvaile
    stephvaile Posts: 298
    You are going to have those leaping on here now crying "My doc says i can and therefore its fine!!!".
    However I am being a hypocrite at the moment because I am trying to stay under 1000 a day. It is for a week or two to see if i can start losing again.
    I hit a plateau then put on 4lbs somehow (I really do not know how, I log all my food and have stuck to around 1250 a day). So i thought I would try this to see if it kick starts something inside me so that I start losing again.

    Probably better to increase your calories for this rather than to cut them. Regardless, good luck. :smile:


    yes i agree you need to up your cals slightly not reduce them try it for a couple weeks add an extra 100-200 and eat some of your exercise cals when you earn them don,t make it torture enjoy eating healthy its easier to stick with
  • iWaffle
    iWaffle Posts: 2,208 Member
    LOL at this site (mentioned by the OP)
    Losing weight by following a sensible weight loss regimen will more likely result in long-term success in keeping the weight off.

    Then at the top of the page...
    3 Day Miracle Diet

    This 3 days miracle diet will not only help you to lose weight fast, but also.....
  • Leeanne1974
    Leeanne1974 Posts: 207 Member
    I have PCOS and its really getting on my nerves with the gaining then losing then gaining.
    I have tried upping my cals and it didn't work. I plateaued for 2 months despite being on 1200-1300 a day.
    I am at a loss as to what to do now really but thank you all for the advice, I do genuinely appreciate any advice given!
  • sissy0107
    sissy0107 Posts: 40 Member
    just finished 10 weeks and lost 50lbs,,,glad I never read that arcticle till now,,,
    look up Dr. Bernstein,he must have it all wrong???

    fact is he has an add on the link you provided,lmao

    And when you'll start eating normally you'll gain 75 lbs even easier ..
    It's a very interesting articles, I wish people would be more careful with their health instead of looking for shortcuts (I'm talking about people going under 400 calories because of their lack of knowledge not people with food disorder)

    Edit : big spelling mistake .. :o
  • MummaSue
    MummaSue Posts: 242 Member
    http://www.quickbmr.com/what-is-tdee.html

    go here to find out your tdee (total daily energy expenditure) and that'll help you find your BMR (basal metobolic rate). BMR is what you would need to consume, at MINIMUM, if your body were just laying in bed all day.

    you should be eating in between you TDEE and BMR. unfortunatly some people get confused and eat below their BMR, which causes their weight lose to suffer.

    I just did that ^ it says 1502 BMR and 1802 TDEE ... seriously? I'm aiming at about 1320 daily which is what MFP set for loss of 1lb a week. The more I read the more confused I get!
    But I do get the eating very low thing is not a healthy way to lose and eating more is definitely the way to go. I was at 1200 daily and weight loss slowed up - pretty much stopped. Increasing to 1320 has kick-started it off again. But I'm a bit too scared to go as high as 1500!
  • Leeanne1974
    Leeanne1974 Posts: 207 Member
    You are going to have those leaping on here now crying "My doc says i can and therefore its fine!!!".
    However I am being a hypocrite at the moment because I am trying to stay under 1000 a day. It is for a week or two to see if i can start losing again.
    I hit a plateau then put on 4lbs somehow (I really do not know how, I log all my food and have stuck to around 1250 a day). So i thought I would try this to see if it kick starts something inside me so that I start losing again.

    http://www.quickbmr.com/what-is-tdee.html

    go here to find out your tdee (total daily energy expenditure) and that'll help you find your BMR (basal metobolic rate). BMR is what you would need to consume, at MINIMUM, if your body were just laying in bed all day.

    you should be eating in between you TDEE and BMR. unfortunatly some people get confused and eat below their BMR, which causes their weight lose to suffer.

    Thank you so so much for that link. It does the work for you working all that out!!!

    HOWEVER. There IS NO NO WAY i could eat all those cals. No way on earth. I could never eat 1800 and lose weight.
  • xarge
    xarge Posts: 484 Member
    Actually that's a very light essay.

    Those who are starving themselves will eventually lead themselves to muscle atrophy, and I'm not talking about skeletal muscle loss, you can replace them but smooth muscle loss of internal organs and heart muscle loss, these damages can be irreversible and no one thinks about them. Organs are made of smooth muscles, heart is made of striated muscles. They may not look as good as you hope your glutes to look but they are neither as resistant nor as expandable as skeletal muscles.

    In two-three weeks of low calorie diet, your sodium metabolism gets messed up because of low levels, your muscle calcium levels double under malnutrition. That calcium is drawn from your bone, your blood calcium levels increase. This eventually leads to hypercalcemia. Nausea, vomiting, muscle weakness, flank pain, fatigue, increased cardiac output, kidney stones, bone pain, fractures. Eventually, these will lead to kidney failure and cardiac arrest.

    People has a point when they tell that "you're starving yourself to death."
  • skonly
    skonly Posts: 371
    Everyone is different. Look at my diary for the day so far. I just looked at someone else's who has already had 1470 calories and finished it out for the day. This person only had 4 things listed. Two came from fast food. She logged exercise so she had more than the regular 1200 she is set for. I went back a few days. Same thing every day. Compare my diary to something like that, I have tons of foods listed and most are nutritious.

    No one should starve themselves. Ever. There are no good reasons to starve yourself. I have barely cut anything out. No more ketchup, no more red meat 2x a week and I've changed my coffee creamer. That's it. Add the my old creamer amount back and I would have 400 or so more calories a day. Yeah, I know that's sad.

    Some people can't eat certain foods so calorie counts will automatically be lower. I would not recommend anyone trying to eat below 1000 calories long term to lose weight. I do however get so offended when people say everyone who does is starving themselves. I eat tons of food every day!

    I don't like my sodium levels being so high today but it rarely happens.

    People need to focus more on what nutrients are going into their bodies instead of the calorie count.
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
    http://www.quickbmr.com/what-is-tdee.html

    go here to find out your tdee (total daily energy expenditure) and that'll help you find your BMR (basal metobolic rate). BMR is what you would need to consume, at MINIMUM, if your body were just laying in bed all day.

    you should be eating in between you TDEE and BMR. unfortunatly some people get confused and eat below their BMR, which causes their weight lose to suffer.

    I just did that ^ it says 1502 BMR and 1802 TDEE ... seriously? I'm aiming at about 1320 daily which is what MFP set for loss of 1lb a week. The more I read the more confused I get!
    But I do get the eating very low thing is not a healthy way to lose and eating more is definitely the way to go. I was at 1200 daily and weight loss slowed up - pretty much stopped. Increasing to 1320 has kick-started it off again. But I'm a bit too scared to go as high as 1500!


    small changes. increase in incriments of 100 calories every two weeks.
  • Shelgirl001
    Shelgirl001 Posts: 477 Member
    Here's a good read:

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/why-big-caloric-deficits-and-lots-of-activity-can-hurt-fat-loss.html

    That is very interesting. I read a large part of it, but will have to finish later when I have more time. Thanks!
  • skonly
    skonly Posts: 371
    Dr. Bernstein is the one with the low carb diabetic diet plan? He has clinics where patients are monitored.

    I think his plan is to help people with an immediate need and then learn healthy eating.

    People, on any diet plan, will gain the weight back if they don't learn to eat healthy. Why is that so hard to understand?
  • xarge
    xarge Posts: 484 Member
    I do however get so offended when people say everyone who does is starving

    That applies to 99% of the people. You may have a rare condition that limits you to certain foods or certain calories but those are 'supervised'. And 'rare'.

    There are many teenagers on this site, some even younger than 18 on perfectly healthy weight, whose bodies are still not done with growing up and who will screw their bodies up in pursue of 'seeing bones'.

    Do you think people should ignore that and act as if it's completely normal to live on a calorie intake of a 6 year old on a site where you tick a box and put the age you want?
  • alexbusnello
    alexbusnello Posts: 1,010 Member
    LOL at this site (mentioned by the OP)
    Losing weight by following a sensible weight loss regimen will more likely result in long-term success in keeping the weight off.

    Then at the top of the page...
    3 Day Miracle Diet


    This 3 days miracle diet will not only help you to lose weight fast, but also.....

    I didn't post it for laughs. It was your choice to pay attention to any other link on the site I shared.
  • alexbusnello
    alexbusnello Posts: 1,010 Member
    Meh, this article is pretty general. It depends how they are done and it what context.
    Some don't know the basics so this is something for those type of people to consider.
  • CoderGal
    CoderGal Posts: 6,800 Member
    Bump to read later
  • xxnellie146xx
    xxnellie146xx Posts: 996 Member
    Bump to read later
  • PaleoPath4Lyfe
    PaleoPath4Lyfe Posts: 3,161 Member
    I am sorry, but there are plenty of instances where a low calorie way of eating is applicable and healthy.

    With the obesity rate where it is at, the majority of human beings have plenty of fat to spare where a low calorie way of eating IS the way to go.

    Of course someone with 25 pounds or less to lose would not want to eat low calorie, but the remainder of overweight people will do just fine eating low calorie.

    No need to get all in a frenzy about it.

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