Less calories does NOT equal more weight loss

Less calories does equal more weight loss by the means of thermodynamics, however if she is truly consuming that little she will also lose muscle along with fat. And if done for an extended period, could negatively impact her metabolism, which includes things like her heart, her skin and nails would suffer. She'd be weak and risk injury.

Assuming she is telling you this and is, in fact, eating so little, I'd encourage her to take weight loss at a sustainable pace for her health and enlighten her of it, as the scale isn't the end all.

http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/dangers-500-calorie-diets-2098.html

http://www.livestrong.com/article/518807-negative-side-effects-of-eating-less-than-1-200-calories-a-day/

"I would never recommend doing a very low-calorie diet alone," says Hernried. Patients at his clinic have bloodwork done biweekly and get regular electrocardiograms.
"Absolutely these diets must be done under the care of a doctor," says CNNHealth.com's diet and fitness expert, Dr. Melina Jampolis, a physician nutrition specialist. "These things are not without risk."
Heitman says he is thankful for the medical supervision he received while on the diet. "My hair did thin out and there were other side effects," he says. "There were leg cramps ... and now they're monitoring me for gallstones."
Diets of less than 800 calories can lead to numerous complications, according to Jampolis, including heart arrhythmias, which could lead to death. Extreme dieters are also at risk of dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, low blood pressure and high uric acid, which could lead to gout or kidney stones, she says. Also, losing weight quickly could lead to gallstones and thinning hair because dieters are getting the minimum amount of nutrition, which can affect hair and bone density.

It does...but it doesn't mean it's healthy. she will just burn up a lot of muscle and cause all kinds of other issues...probably lose her period...start losing her hair...nails will go brittle, etc. It'll be all kinds of fun. Then after that when she figures out how badly she *kitten* herself up she can spend all kinds of money getting counseling and therapy for her eating disorder.

Maybe explain the dangers to her rather than trying to convince her that she won't lose weight.

it does lead to more weight loss but it also leads to NUMEROUS health problems and death and she might need help for an eating disorder. If you're really concerned I would consider talking to her family.

Eat more move more is my mantra. I tried the prolonged eating less strategy it worked for a while then I stalled and couldn't go any lower without losing significant muscle mass. I had to up my calories by a big amount and made my workouts more intense. That seemed to be the sweet spot.

Plus eating that low of calories causes a level of fixation that is similar to eating disorders. Which can lead to a full blown eating disorder.

Your friend will lose more if she eats fewer calories. She just may be depriving herself of nutrients that her body needs to function well.

CountryGal83 wrote: »

Hey, wondering if anyone could help me out with some nutrition articles I could pass along to a friend. She's limiting her calorie intake to 800 but only consuming about 600. She thinks less calories = more weight loss. I am no expert in this but was hoping someone could help me out a bit. Thanks!!

If the friend is obese and the diet is nutritionally complete and she's doing it for 6-8 weeks then fair enough. If these don't apply then less so.

But CICO dictates better weight loss at lower calories in.