500 Calorie Diet - Discover the Truth About A 500 Calorie Diet

Are you the type that likes to take risks when it comes to losing weight? If following a 500 calorie diet is your idea of a good way to lose weight fast you need to know some facts about extreme low calorie diets that may jeopardize your health. Where at a time where low-calorie diets are common, 500 Calorie diets are at the lowest end of that scale.

You consume anywhere in between 1200 to 1800 calories a day on a typical low-calorie diet. The whole point of following a low calorie plan is to lose weight at a faster pace. If you choose the 500 calorie diet plan you probably want to consult with either your doctor, a professional dietitian or nutritionist.

Everyone knows that to achieve weight loss you need to burn more calories than you take in. For your body to function properly it requires a certain amount of calories (energy) which influences your metabolic rate. If you are not supplying your body the required amount calories to function it will start eating your muscle mass. The purpose of this is that your body has no food reserves and will take your muscle mass to create the required energy it needs to function and since we need to build muscle to lose fat this can be very harmful to your health.

Of course depending on your overall health, gender, level of activity, height and body type you may be able for a limited time follow a 500 calorie diet. However, if you are moderately or extremely overweight, you risk your body going into starvation mode. Let's say that your body is used to eating between 2000 and 5000 calories a day, if you suddenly drop that to 500 calories your metabolism slows down, it believes that you are starving it and it needs to save energy. Your body protects itself, it does not know you are trying to lose weight it simply knows you have drastically cut down on supplying it with the proper amount of calories, so you will most likely have a slow weight loss or none at all after a period of time because your body will hold onto what you are feeding it.

In time your body will learn to survive on less calories, which can also mean once you start eating a high calorie diet (which often people do) you will start re-gaining your weight. This is another consequence of following such a drastically low calorie diet plan.

The best way to determine your daily calorie requirements is by finding your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) which shows you how many calories you burn even if you stayed in bed all day, you can find a BMR calculator online. Once you have calculated your BMR, you can then remove 500 calories from that amount and you will now have the number of calories you should eat per day to lose weight at a healthy pace. You should not lose more than 2 pounds per week in order to lose weight safely.

Keeping in mind that both men and women have different caloric needs, as well as activity levels, it is important to discuss losing weight with your physician or a professional nutritionist before starting any weight loss plan.

In conclusion following such a low-calorie diet can be harmful to your health. It is not recommended that you follow such a drastic plan, but if you feel that you need to please see your physician to discuss your overall health and fitness as well as have them monitor you on a regular basis to make sure you are not harming your body.