What are warning signs your body can't handle your extreme diet?

Question

I am going on a 500 cal/day diet that includes lots of water. Only mild excercise (walking). I am very overweight (315lbs, 6'1) and I can't stand myself. Plz do not judge me in your responses. Ty for your time!

Answer 1

500 calories a day is way too low.

You'll have all the symptoms others have mentioned but your body will also go into 'starvation mode', your metabolism will slow and you will seriously crave food and probably end up binging.

Set yourself a more realistic target, you don't say how old you are so I can't work out your Basal Metabolic Rate, but from your height/weight it's probably 2100-2200 calories (I'm assuming you are female because of your name, if you're a bloke it will be nearer 2700-2800 calories a day). This is how many calories your body needs simply to survive (if you slept all day). This is normally between 60-70% of what you will burn with normal activity (not exercise). Therefore to maintain your current weight you would need to consume 3300 cal a day (4200 if you're a bloke). To lose weight you must consume less than this - but don't go less than half. I would aim for 2000 a day to start with, that will lose you 2.5lb a week which is easy to sustain. As you lose weight your Metabolic rate reduces, so gradually reduce you calorie intake to continue losing weight. For example if you got to 240lb then you'd need 1500 cal a day to continue losing 2.5lb a week.

Good luck.

Answer 2

I'll tell you what happened to me when I went to 800 a day w/ 5 grams of fat or less for 6 weeks. I lost a lot of weight, but my lower back started hurting, then I got sick to my stomach and started vomiting. Ended up having "attacks" where it hurt to bad to stay in any position for more then a minute or so. It really sucked!

Turned out, when I went to the doctor after 2 weeks of hardly any sleep, he sent me straight to the hospital for an ultrasound. I had a long line of gall stones.

I know that gallstones is EXTREMLY common in people who go on "extreme" diets. Of course that is something that no one tells you! I was only 22 at the time...

From what I know now if you are eating that little you are probably going into starvation mode. Your body will do its best to hold onto EVERY single calorie! You'd be much better at 1000-1200 calories. In addition that will probably give you more energy to exersice a little more. Right now your body wants to do nothing, because it is trying to save itself.

If you get light headed, or dizzy, or are extrmely tired you need to eat a bit more. Plus there are more serious side effects possible...

Good luck.

Answer 3

Please don't consider this 'diet', if you get gallstones or another problem that requires an op or emergency treatment you're in serious trouble.
If it took you two years to put this weight on, then it will take you two years to take it off. There's no other safe way to do it.
When you get your weight down enough, go on toning tables at a gym at least once a week, they really work. And you won't get so much loose skin either.
You must exercise but it must be appropriate, be really careful in this hot weather to keep your fluids up.

I don't know why you are this weight in the first place, but congratulations for deciding to take control over your life. See if you can use the Web to learn about nutrition (not fad diets, I mean healthy eating for life). I regularly eat chocolate, cream cakes, whatever but I'm also very active. I don't live on rabbit food at all.
Also, find something to get interested in that isn't food or dieting to get your mind off it. Go do a college course or something. Learn Photography or Photoshop or something you can do on your pc.
Good luck with it!

Answer 4

You don’t need to exercise for hours on end. Short, sharp sets of exercise will produce better results if you work hard. Get a passing up rope, skip for two units, do push ups for 60 seconds or so, skip for two minutes, rest for one minute. Then change the push up to something else like sit ups as well as do the set again. Repeat it five times and it’s a fast, effective workout that will improve results than a long run or swim.

Answer 5

Fatigue, problems with going to the bathroom (constipation or Diarrhea).

I understand losing weight is important but you might want to consult your physician or a nutritionist if you haven't already. Crash dieting isn't always the way to go.

My brother lost a good amount of weight through the bernstien plan in six months he went down from almost 300 to 190 or so.

Answer 6

well you should talk to your doctor about getting a nutrion specialist opinon and that would be your best bet but rember not to do the starving your self diet because if you do anything you eat will be stored as fat but i no how you feel i am in your position and trying to lose wieght but just remember it takes time and effort it wont happen over night and if your cal. diet is'nt working you should try wieght watcher it really does work but i dont no what the warning signs are really i would imagian dizzens naisha tiredness and that kind of thing well good luck!!

Answer 7

Why are you on 500 calories a day you could end up having a heart attack or your kidneys could shut down, in the short term your hair will fall out and your skin will become itchy and spotty and you will faint a lot and you probably wont lose much weight
and if you do you will put it back on again - you're crazy

Answer 8

Whenever I've tried a quick (4-day) diet to bring my weight back in check to 11stone, I usually ease off as soon I experience one or more of the following symptoms (despite taking vitamins & minerals. No idea if they are normal symptoms for crash-dieting):

Vision starts to get blurry
Can't sleep
Start to loose muscle control eg shaky hands/knees.
Skin gets very dry
Heart palpitation
Feel cold & clammy.
Leg cramp while asleep!

Answer 9

You don’t need to exercise for long periods of time. Short, sharp sets of exercise will produce better results in case you work hard. Get a bypassing rope, skip for two moments, do push ups for about a minute, skip for two minutes, rest for example minute. Then change the push up to something else like sit ups in addition to do the set again. Repeat it five times and it’s a fast, effective workout that will advance results than a long run or swim.

Answer 10

500 calories is very low - you will have headaches, dizziness, cramps, disorientation, bowel and bladder irregularities. I would think 1500 calories per day would be much better. You may be fed up with yourself but I'm sure you don't want to harm yourself. Everything takes time. Good luck whatever you decide.