For those of you who believe in "starvation mode"..

Define "work."

If your goal is to lose weight, and damn the cost, then yes- they work. Anorexics lose weight all the time, but are not healthy.

You can survive for a month or more on water alone. Will you have energy to live your life normally? No. Will you lose fat or muscle? Both. Will your thoughts become cloudy? Likely. This does not sound like much of a plan to me.

If your goal is to lose fat and be healthy, then no- they do not work. The goal is to give your body the fuel it needs to function, repair muscles, burn off excess fat, and keep it off. To do this, you need proper nutrition. You will not find that in bars and shakes.

Define "work."

If your goal is to lose weight, and damn the cost, then yes- they work. Anorexics lose weight all the time, but are not healthy.

You can survive for a month or more on water alone. Will you have energy to live your life normally? No. Will you lose fat or muscle? Both. Will your thoughts become cloudy? Likely. This does not sound like much of a plan to me.

If your goal is to lose fat and be healthy, then no- they do not work. The goal is to give your body the fuel it needs to function, repair muscles, burn off excess fat, and keep it off. To do this, you need proper nutrition. You will not find that in bars and shakes.

/thread

Define "work."

If your goal is to lose weight, and damn the cost, then yes- they work. Anorexics lose weight all the time, but are not healthy.

You can survive for a month or more on water alone. Will you have energy to live your life normally? No. Will you lose fat or muscle? Both. Will your thoughts become cloudy? Likely. This does not sound like much of a plan to me.

If your goal is to lose fat and be healthy, then no- they do not work. The goal is to give your body the fuel it needs to function, repair muscles, burn off excess fat, and keep it off. To do this, you need proper nutrition. You will not find that in bars and shakes.

^Yup

Define "work."

If your goal is to lose weight, and damn the cost, then yes- they work. Anorexics lose weight all the time, but are not healthy.

You can survive for a month or more on water alone. Will you have energy to live your life normally? No. Will you lose fat or muscle? Both. Will your thoughts become cloudy? Likely. This does not sound like much of a plan to me.

If your goal is to lose fat and be healthy, then no- they do not work. The goal is to give your body the fuel it needs to function, repair muscles, burn off excess fat, and keep it off. To do this, you need proper nutrition. You will not find that in bars and shakes.

Word!

Even with Medifast and other "diets" they tell you not to do low cal for more than 90 days. But on here people seem to stay at 1,200 or below for more than six months and wonder why they stop losing and are no longer hungry it is because their bodies have shut down.

One of the main issues with low cal diets is that your body burns muscle as well as fat for fuel when eating at a deficit. This causes a reduction in lean muscle mass which makes for nice numbers on a scale, but harms your metabolism overall. This occurs even during a moderate calorie deficit, but can be offset somewhat by eating enough protein. When eating at a harsh deficit it occurs at a faster pace.

Medifast is done under the supervision of medical personnel and is for short term weight loss. It has its uses, but it doesnt address the root of the problem which caused the weight gain to begin with, which is often poor eating habits and lifestyle choices. That is the greatest overall benefit of eating a normal calorie deficit and exercising, you are changing the habits that made you gain weight to begin with and making it a lifestyle.

It certainly is possible to lose weight eating well under 1200. It's just an awful way to go about it.

Take anyone who is undergoing chemo. They will vomit and have diarrhoeia. They lose their appetite. Consequently, they will lose a hell of a lot of weight very, very quickly. It's not cool and they won't look healthy after the "chemo diet"(!). Toxic chemical side-effects aside, they will be malnourished and have lost a lot of muscle mass, enjoying the same composition of someone living in a drought-stricken third world country.

(The above isn't meant to offend - my dad's going through chemo so I've witnessed first hand what not eating does to the body - purely serving as an illustration of what happens when you don't eat.)

Now, for any healthy person, you'll probably lose some weight, then quickly fall off the wagon as it's a very hard wagon to stay on, then binge yourself back to your original weight +10%. Welcome to Yoyo Dietsville. Ok, I'm sure there are people out there who've managed it and kept it off, but if I were a betting man, I'd put money on most people failing to stay slim after stopping the diet. Wait, I am a betting man. Bollocks!

Your best bet (see) is to go for the long, slow, steady approach, enjoying your diet on the way. You like chips? Eat chips! You like pizza? Eat pizza! You like cake? Eat cake! Just don't eat as much as you normally do. 2012 was a year of weight loss for me. I managed it and enjoyed all the food I love (cakes, pies, chips, burgers, curries, pastas, puddings...).

As per my profile: Cut down, not out! Eat healthier, live healthier, you will be better than you were yesterday!

Your body cannot create energy, all it can do is conserve the energy that it has available as best as possible. This means certain systems slow or stop so you are using less energy.

Aye. The body's good at stopping its owner from dying despite the owner's many attempts.

Perhaps, the reason why people stall or put on weight is that as the metabolism drops, we continue to eat what we were eating before, combined with the occasional cheat meal or slip up, resulting in an overall increase in calories above what the body needs.

Define "work."

If your goal is to lose weight, and damn the cost, then yes- they work. Anorexics lose weight all the time, but are not healthy.

You can survive for a month or more on water alone. Will you have energy to live your life normally? No. Will you lose fat or muscle? Both. Will your thoughts become cloudy? Likely. This does not sound like much of a plan to me.

If your goal is to lose fat and be healthy, then no- they do not work. The goal is to give your body the fuel it needs to function, repair muscles, burn off excess fat, and keep it off. To do this, you need proper nutrition. You will not find that in bars and shakes.

^^ THIS