Has anyone been on a VLCD (very low calorie diet- less than 800 calories)?

Question

What were your results and in how long? What did you eat?

Answer 1

body needs 50cal/hour just to function (like when you are in coma) so its 1200cal/day.
when you go on crash diets all you lose is water weight and muscle NOT fat and slow down metabolism dramatically. you gain more than lost as soon as start eating normal again. and you end up having higher body fat percentage.
find calorie/fitness calculator on the net, enter all your stats and it will tell you how many calories you need a day to maintain, take off 300-400cal off that number and thats how much you need to lose.
eat 5-6 small meals a day (eat every 2-3 hours)
5-8 servings of fruit and veggies a day
8 glasses of water
have complex carbs for breakfast - they give you energy
have lean meat (protein) for dinner - repairs muscle
cardio exercise 4-6 times a week for 30-50min, light weight training
dont consume foods that are made of white flour (white bread, cakes, past etc.), sugar loaded foods (cookies, icecream, candy etc) and nothing fried, oily.
ofcourse you can spoil yourself once in a while with a little treat:)

Answer 2

Be careful with this - going too low in calories can actually slow down your metabolism and make it take longer to lose weight! Your body believes it is starving, and marshalls its resources carefully.

You will have better results that last longer by eating 1,000-1,200 calories while increasing your physical activity, particularly using your large muscles (walking, cycling, running, climbing stairs).

Shortcuts seldom give you the results you want and can actually do you a great deal of harm.

If you just substantially reduce the fat in your diet, remove all processed sugar, and increase your fiber intake, you'll lose weight safely and consistently, and you can keep it off for life if you continue a healthy lifestyle.

Eat lots of fruits and vegetables, whole grains like oatmeal and multi-grain bread, go easy on the meat, use non-fat dairy products, and you can eat a great deal of food, always feel full, but lose weight at the same time. (For example, two tablespoons of regular salad dressing usually has more calories than the entire salad itself. Use a fat free dressing and eat twice as much salad, and you'll never be hungry).

Answer 3

this is anorexia. or the behavior of an anorexic. I have done it and the results didnt last long. My metabolism went way down and it never goes back up to what it was before. I ate a lot of fruit, green tea, chicken broth and carrots but its very unhealthy. The biggest thing is that you get hungry and then end up eating a lot and your body is storing food because it thinks its starving. Then combined with a lower metablosim, your body weight increases. Not good =)

Answer 4

I have not. Our bodies need a certain amount of calorie's (or energy) to live on. If we don't give our bodies enough energy, we will start to develop side effects. Just look at what happens to people with anorexia. It effects every part of their body, hair, skin, nails, their periods cease, they can develop problems with organ systems, heart...etc. I think the best way to lose weight is sensible diet and exercise. There is no magic way. We need to learn to love ourselves more and not kick ourselves for not looking like supermodels.

Answer 5

yeah...when I was anorexic. Did this for 3 years...then i got HOSPITALIZED because I almost died.