by Dan Beckwith
It can be risky to cut back too far on your caloric intake. In fact, it can be downright dangerous. But when checking out diets for quick weight loss, if you don’t mind taking risks with your health, the 500 calorie diet is very popular. But, be careful, even among low calorie diets for quick weight loss, the 500 calorie diet is very extreme.
The reason for the popularity is that it will help you lose weight very quickly. Among people who are looking for quick weight loss, low calorie diets are quite common. But even among low calorie diets, 500 calories is at the low end of the scale.
For a diet to be considered a low calorie diet, 1200 calories per day is the cutoff point. Anything below that is thought of as a low-calorie diet. The whole idea of a low-calorie diet, of course, is to lose weight quickly. However it can be very dangerous. Any low-calorie diet should be thoroughly planned with a professional dietitian or nutritionist.
It’s common knowledge that the best way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you take in. You can eat fewer or burn more, either way. Your body needs a certain number of calories just to survive, and if you’re not eating enough, according to theory, your energy needs will be taken from the calories already in your body. (Your fat.)
The difficulty comes in the fact that our body does not know that we are on a diet. Instead, your body thinks you are starving and it will cut way back on its metabolic rate…in order to help keep you alive. It lowers the number of calories needed for survival and starts eating your muscle mass.
For the long-term, this is very dangerous. It’s your muscles that burn calories (far more than fat) and if you lose muscle mass, it can have a highly detrimental effect on your body and on your ability to keep weight off in the future. As one of the diets for quick weight loss, it works…but only for a little while.
Depending on your body type, gender, height, activity level, and overall health and well-being – 500 calories per day may be sufficient. At least for a short time.
For most of us though, particularly if we are overweight, eating only 500 calories per day is literally starving yourself. Your body is most likely used to taking in 2000-5000 calories per day – or more – and suddenly dropping to 500 calories will move your body into starvation mode. To conserve energy, your metabolism slows way down.
Your body will adapt and learn to live on 500 calories per day…until the day that you run out of calories to burn, then you will die.
Thankfully, the majority of us discontinue our dieting before that happens. As soon as your diet is over, and you go back to your old eating habits – like we all do – you will have a sudden gain in weight. Actually, you’ll gain more weight than you would have, had you not ever gone on a diet to begin with. Diets for quick weight loss just don’t work. Plus, since you have lost so much muscle mass, it makes it much harder to maintain your weight in the future.
The best way to determine a safe, workable daily calorie level is by using a BMR/AMR calculator. This will tell you how many calories you need in order to maintain good health and support your lifestyle. Now, you know how many calories you need and if you subtract up to 500 calories per day you will have one of the ideal diets for quick weight loss.
Since the body size and mass of men and women is so obviously different, this means that they need a different number of calories to survive. While the average woman may eat 1200 to 1300 calories per day their male counterpart needs from 1500 to 1600 calories per day. That’s why it’s so important for you to consult your physician before starting any diet. Safety must come first.
So, to wrap it up… in the realm of diets for quick weight loss, the 500 calorie per day diet is very popular. It will work to help you lose weight, but it can be very dangerous – And your weight loss is only temporary at best. You should never cut back that dramatically on your calories without the constant monitoring and supervision of a doctor.
To learn more about the best ways to lose weight and to get YOUR free copy of my “Fast Weight Loss Tips!” mini-course – check out my website right away!