Engaging in diets for quick weight loss can be very dangerous. But, if you don't mind taking risks with your health, the 500 calorie diet might be right for you. Keep in mind, that even when considering diets for quick weight loss, the 500 calorie diet is a very extreme form of dieting. Even so, it tends to be extremely popular.
The reason for the popularity, obviously, is that you will lose weight quickly. Low-calorie diets abound among people who are looking for quick weight loss. But even among those low-calorie diets, 500 calories per day is at the low end of the spectrum.
First, for a definition...For a diet to be considered low calorie, the arbitrary cutoff point is 1200 calories per day. Anything below that is considered to be a low-calorie diet. Clearly the whole idea of a low-calorie diet is to lose weight quickly, but again - it can be quite dangerous so it should always be thoroughly planned with a nutritionist or your family doctor.
It's well known that the best way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you eat. You can do this by burning more, or by eating less. Your body needs a certain number of calories just to exist. If you're not eating enough, the theory is that your energy needs will be taken from the fat calories in your body.
The problem is, our body is very smart. It won't just keep burning the same number of calories and taking the excess from fat. Your body doesn't know that you are on a diet. It will think you're starving. To help keep you alive, it will cut way back on the number of calories that uses. To do this it will slow down your metabolic rate and will start eating away at your muscle mass - to get it's needed calories.
Over a long-term, this is disastrous. Your muscles burn far more calories than your fat, so if you lose them, it not only has a bad effect on your body but it also affects your ability to keep weight off in the future. The 500 calorie diet, as one of the diets for quick weight loss - works... but only for a short term.
The negative effects can vary depending on your body type, height, activity level, overall health and gender. 500 calories per day may be sufficient for some people for a short while.
For the vast majority of us, especially if we are carrying extra weight, eating only 500 calories per day is literally starving our bodies. Most likely, you've been taking in 2000 to 5000 (or more) calories per day and suddenly dropping to 500 will immediately move your body into starvation mode. So, your metabolism slows way down in order to conserve energy.
Our bodies are quite adaptable. In a very short time you will learn to survive on 500 calories per day. (At least until you run out of calories to burn...then you'll go into a coma and 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 most effective method of determining a healthy, livable daily calorie level, is by using a BMR/AMR calculator. It will tell you how many calories are necessary to support your health and your lifestyle. Once you know how many calories you need to maintain your weight, then you can subtract 500 calories per day, and you have one of the ideal diets for quick weight loss success.
Obviously, the mass and body size of women is dramatically different than that of men. That means, they need a different number of calories to survive. While the average man may eat 1500 to 1600 calories per day, the average woman may eat only 1200 to 1300 calories per day. You must consult your physician before starting any diet, safety has to 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.
