The 500 Calorie Diet - Is Eating 500 Calories A Day Really Enough For You?

The 500 calorie diet is the lowest calorie diet you can have, but it is still very popular among people who wants to lose weight real quickly. The 500 calorie diet is an extreme form of dieting, it takes a lot of risks. So be really careful before you go into it. Go to your doctor first.

Low calorie diet means that you are not allowed to eat more than 1200 calories per day. You can lose weight quickly with low calorie diets. But it can be dangerous to your health, so it is advisable to plan your 500 calorie diet with a professional dietician or nutritionist before you start. Is the 500 calorie diet right for you or not?

The 500 calories per day diet may be right for some people, but it really depends on the following factors: gender, activity level, height, body type and overall health and well being.

A very low calorie diet may do you more harm than good. If you are craving more calories, this will in turn affect your metabolism. Where will your body get the energy it needs? It may actually get energy from your muscle mass, since there are no food reserves available. When this happens, it can be highly detrimental to your health, because the proper way to lose fat is to gain muscle mass, not take it away.

On the other hand, overweight people who will try to consume only 500 calories a day will almost likely be starving themselves. Since the body is more used to taking in more than 2000 calories per day or more, then the sudden drop of calorie intake will signal your body into starvation mode. In this way, the body's metabolism will slow down to conserve energy.

But if you are able to go on with the 500 calorie diet, your body will get used to taking in fewer calories. That means if you will go back to your old habits eating more than 2000 calories per day, you will have a sudden gain in weight, which is even more weight than if you did not go on a low calorie diet in the first place.

Men and women have different ideal calorie intake. An average woman may need only 1200 to 1300 calories per day, while an average man may need from 1500 to 1600 calories per day. Remember that it is very important to consult your doctor before starting any diet, especially if it involves extreme numbers. You can specifically determine your ideal daily calorie intake by using a bmr/amr calculator. You will find how many calories you need to take daily to be healthy. From this calorie level, take 500 calories away, and this will be your ideal number of calories to take in daily for you to lose weight.