Whoever thought this system up should be slapped upside the head.
Beginning in 2009, he and his team recruited 50 obese men and women. The men weighed an average of 233 pounds; the women weighed about 200 pounds. Although some people dropped out of the study, most of the patients stuck with the extreme low-calorie diet, which consisted of special shakes called Optifast and two cups of low-starch vegetables, totaling just 500 to 550 calories a day for eight weeks. Ten weeks in, the dieters lost an average of 30 pounds.
At that point, the 34 patients who remained stopped dieting and began working to maintain the new lower weight. Nutritionists counseled them in person and by phone, promoting regular exercise and urging them to eat more vegetables and less fat. But despite the effort, they slowly began to put on weight. After a year, the patients already had regained an average of 11 of the pounds they struggled so hard to lose. They also reported feeling far more hungry and preoccupied with food than before they lost the weight.
Embedded Link
The Fat Trap
In the battle to lose weight, and keep it off, our bodies are fighting against us.
Google+: Reshared 1 times
Google+: View post on Google+
Interesting read. Good nutrition is definitely a lifestyle, not just dieting.
Didn't read the whole thing but 500 calories is just bad. A 233lbs man should probably start around 2500 to lose weight. Track it for two weeks and adjust from there. Extreme caloric deficits are stupid for a few reasons, one being that when you plateau you can't really do much else because your calories are already at rock bottom. I know it was a study but still. /rant over
I've had similar results, except I ate all the meat I wanted and all the low-starch veggies I wanted. I actually lost weight having half a dozen eggs with bacon for breakfast, a salmon Caesar salad for lunch, and a large, (12 oz or better) fatty steak for dinner, with butter, a side veggie or two, and a salad.
After a couple of months of this diet (I didn't eat steak every day, but you get the idea) not only did I lose a ton of weight (175 down to about 150), but my blood pressure went down and my blood work came back better than before.
I would still be on this diet today if I could afford it. Potatoes, rice, bread, and pasta are cheap and easy. Meat is expensive.
500 kcal a day is going to turn you into an irritable mess
Although not scientifically rigorous, this episode of Horizon was interesting
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03t8r4h
That's a really interesting article.
Don't we already know crash diets are bad? And how much muscle mass did participants lose?