Low Calories, Starvation Mode... keep it accurate

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.

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.

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

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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