Can 600 calories a day really kill you?

Question

I'm going to be in a production with my college group in the next month or so. I need to drop from my 124 down to 110 for the position as quickly as possible. I know I will yo-yo back up to 124 if not more when I do start to gain weight again, but I really do need to lose at least 14 pounds by the middle and end of December.

I have heard that 600 calories will help me lose enough weight, and I'm just curious about this.

(Personal: I'm 20, 5' 5" and 124 pounds with a lean build, and regular exercise.)

Answer 1

600 calories a day for a healthy human is way too little to sustain a healthy lifestyle, too few calories causes the body to feed off iteself for calories and nutrients to sustain life.

Answer 2

You sound like you are at a perfect weight right now. With regular exercise and a lean build I can't imagine why you would want to be 110. You probably appear to be 110 right now but the 124 is a lot of muscle which is giving you that lean build. On 600 calories a day, that's going to cause a problem with your body big time. You will SLOW your metabolism down which will throw a lot of your effort down the toilet. You definitely won't be able to exercise well if at all. I think you need at least 900 to sustain BASIC BARE MINIMUM functions. (I read this somewhere on a site that calculates your caloric requirements.) It turns out, I am WAY under.

You will go into starvation mode for one which will trigger your body to hang on to EVERYTHING you eat because it's freaked out about not getting enough. Then your body will actually start to feed off your muscles and you will end up not so lean. Your muscles will break down! They will be eating themselves! Yeah! Not good!

Trust me! I did this. I was 107 at 5'6" and not as toned anymore because my body got so weak! I kept eating less to fix it but DUH that just made it worse! Top this off with the fact that because I lost so much muscle, I had a little loose skin which made me feel fat. See, all I did was LOSE my muscle! My body didn't have anything else to give up. People were saying "you need to eat" all the time. It wasn't a compliment! All in all this is a BAD SETUP for an eating disorder that will be hard to stop! If you make it to the end of December on 600 calories a day, you could be physically sick, or end up binging sometimes. Your body is going to fight you hard core. Why would it want to give up the HEALTHY status you already have?!

I will tell you that, you will not think as clearly with out the nutrients you need. That's just one side effect. Your mood will decline, you will get headaches, feel fatigued all the time etc etc....

Once you do start eating properly again, you will have to go through a period of time where you body finally says, "ok she's finally eating enough and I can get rid of this weight". It will hold on to everything you eat for awhile when you try to regain your healthy status!

So ask yourself if it's worth it. You will end up looking worse possibly.

There are things celebrities and body builders do before a big event but it's borderline unhealthy and not meant to be kept up for a long time! Some have even said during the event (while sporting their beautiful bodies), "I can't wait till this is over so I can eat!" And most of them were only preparing for say 10 days, not 6- 7 weeks like you are planning. They definitely ate more than 600 calories though.

I wouldn't take the time to write this to you if I hadn't been through something similar myself.

I'm currently building my muscle BACK! It does suck right now because I have to teach my body that I WILL feed it again. Numbers do not matter! Look at inches and tone. :)

Don't go down this path. You won't like it and its a yucky lesson to learn. Trust me.

Answer 3

3,500 calories make a pound of body fat. If you burn more calories than you eat, you will lose weight. If you eat more calories than you burn you will gain weight. 1,000 calories is considered a weight reduction diet for women of your size. To drop 14 pounds in 4 weeks will not kill you, but it may very well make you too sick to be in the production. Why do they insist you be 110? That is absurd!!! Any director who would want that should have their own jaw wired shut. As a former teacher and a performing artist, I am appalled that the health and well-being of the students does not come first. The part is not worth the health risks.

Answer 4

Hi, A friend of mine lost 15 pounds in 11 days using a 9 day cleansing program from Isagenix.

You can find out more about the program at www.gocleanse.com/dima

They've got some great news reports on the product where they actually put it to the test and I think you will be amazed at the results.

Answer 5

I agree 100% with Linda!!

Answer 6

It wont kill you, but your energy will be decreased, long term effects can be harmful.