A Diet would be considered “Low Calorie” if it involved taking in around 1200 calories a day and that ain’t easy for most people to do. Of course the idea here is to lose as much weight as quickly as you can. Sticking to a 500 calorie diet can be dangerous if you don’t do it right. The reason is that you are going to have to think about where your calories come from. You would need to eat the most nutritious foods you can find in order for you body get what it needs. It would be very beneficial for you to consult a professional nutritionist or a dietitian. Before you do that though this article can help you to decide whether a 500 calorie diet would be right for you in the first place.

It is well known that the way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you take in. However a very low calorie diet can actually do more harm than good. When your body is craving more calories (energy) it can affect your metabolic rate. This means your body actually starts to eat away at your muscle mass. It is doing this for the purpose of converting the muscle mass to energy, since there are no food reserves to take from. Because gaining muscle is the path to losing fat, this can have a highly detrimental effect on your body.

Whether you would want to do the 500 calorie diet or not would depend on:

• Your Gender
• Your Activity Level
• Your Height
• Your Overall health
• Your Body type

For other people though, particularly overweight people, consuming only 500 calories a day is almost like starving yourself. Your body is more than likely used to taking in over 2000 calories per day and up to 5000 or more. If you all of a sudden drop to 500 calories or less your body moves into starvation mode. Your metabolism then slows down to conserve energy.

If you stick with your 500 calorie diet your body will eventually learn to cope with fewer calories. Once you go back to your high calorie ways, you will gain all of that weight back plus more.

As men and women are obviously different their ideal calorie intake is also different. This of course means while the average woman may need only 1200 to 1300 calories a day to survive, her male counterpart may need from 1500 to 1600. Again this is why it is so important for you to consult with your physician before starting any diet.

In conclusion a 500 calorie diet can be dangerous. However, if proper precautions are taken, such as a physical, to determine your overall health fitness, you can lose weight quickly.

Here is a link to more detailed information about what you can eat on a 500 calorie diet.