Watching television the other night I was distracted by an ad that came on.
It had this pretty dull looking man, who looks like he’s never worked out himself, say something to the effect of “Very low calorie diets, or VLCD’s, are the most effective way to lose weight….” then went on to push the latest “shake diet” going around.
I’m all for using shakes to ensure you get a meal, or if time is an issue and it’s a shake or nothing, and if you add healthy nutritious food with protein powder it’s a great food choice.
However shake diets, in general, are useless. They usually result in a quick, short term reduction in weight, which most people then mistake as fat loss when it’s likely just fluid loss, and if you survive the cravings, mood swings, anxiety attacks and severely low energy levels you will quickly reach a point when you stop losing weight as your metabolism shuts down.
As for these “VLCD’s”, if the CSIRO quotes the daily calorie intake on it’s “Total Wellbeing Diet” (I’m not promoting or suggesting this diet, just using it as an example here) at 1,400 per day, then a VLCD would probably be dropping under the 1,000 calorie per day mark.
At this very low level of calories several things will happen to your body, and this does not include the general hatred towards life itself from trying to exist on such low food intake:
You will quickly go into a state known as ketosis, where your body basically feeds on itself….if you won’t give it enough food, it will find another source for energy and metabolic function and this will be in the form of eating up muscle tissue.
Looks fine on the scales for a few weeks as the weight comes off, but soon enough your metabolism slows down to ensure it can feed off your muscle tissue during this “starvation” period. So you will lose 5 kilos or so, then it will stop and just when you were planning a new wardrobe, the gains cease to continue.
Instead of shakes for meals and dropping the calories so low your body eats itself (!!!!), try eating small, frequent and healthy meals. Nutritious foods eaten at regular intervals throughout the day is the best way to manage your weight.
You need to eat to lose weight as well as eat to gain weight.
About the Author
Ryan Mitchell is the owner of Evolution Fitness Centre and is a qualified personal trainer and strength and conditioning coach. Ryan is dedicated to helping people achieve their health and fitness goals and draws on his experience and knowledge gained from training people of all ages and fitness levels. Ryan is a former Australian Powerlifiting Champion and Australian team member.
