how to stick to a very low calorie diet



lost 20 pounds in six weeks flat. lost weightfast. miracle fat loss. you know, we've all heard about them, right? the fat burning pills,the hcg diet, and thousands of other advertisements that claim to help you to lose fat and weightsuper fast. what many of these diets, and these claims, and these pills, and these burners,and so many other things out there, but really what most of them are doing is they're sellingyou a piece of junk and then they tell you to go onto these ultra low-calorie diets flamingthat you're going to lose all this weight. and are you going to lose the weight on theseultra low-calorie diets? well, yeah, for a short time at least, but then you're likelyto gain it all back and some. i also see out in the fitness world, especially in the competitionworld, well-meaning trainers that are putting

individuals on ultra low-calorie diets foran extended period of time in order to have them lose weight super fast, and what oftentimeshappens is, because they've been on this extended ultra low-calorie diet for quite some time,after they step onstage in that competition, well, they go back to their normal eatinghabits and they balloon up incredibly. they gain all that weight back and some on topof it. now, in the fitness industry, what we call that effect is the starvation effect.you know, there's an awful lot of individuals out in the industry that say the starvationeffect, or starvation mode, is a myth, that it's not true, but the science is there tosupport that there is something that goes on with the body. so, you know me, we're goingto dive into this topic today. we're going

to try to understand what happens on a starvationtype diet and what goes on with the body. why do we gain all the weight back? we'renot able to sustain it. and what you can do if you want to lose weight to avoid the starvationeffect happening to you. i hear this all the time. all the time. i get emails, i get peopleposting on youtube here, i get it on facebook. i have people coming to the site and postingin the forum. this is a very common scenario, the individuals that lost a lot of weight.they felt great for awhile, but then they gain it all back and they're totally perplexedor they hit that plateau. i know that some of us or most of us have gone into that atsome point in our lives because we've been in this really low-calorie, restrictive dietand then all of a sudden our body just stops

losing weight. we think it stops losing weight.and sometimes i get individuals that will write to me and say, "kristin, you know what?i've tried calorie restriction and i'm eating like a bird and i'm not losing weight at all."you know, and that frustration is real. i've been there. i can tell you i know what thatfeels like. or they tell me, "kristin, i'm eating moderate amounts of clean food andi'm exercising a ton, and the scale isn't budging." or--and this one's a biggie thesedays--you see this topic all over blogs, and websites, and youtube. individuals that cometo me that claim they have metabolic damage from a well-meaning training that puts themon a pretty low-calorie deficit diet in order to bring them into a competition or in orderto see weight loss results really fast. and

these same individuals, what they tell me,is that if they eat anymore than their really restrictive caloric diet then they put onweight really, really fast. what's interesting about it is that they are absolutely right.they know what's going on with their bodies and they are correct. if they increase theircalories at this point, because of what they've been doing, they are going to put on weightreally fast. but the reasons that this is happening are oftentimes misperceived. solet's look at the physiological aspect of what happens to the body when we go into whati call starvation mode or a very low caloric diet of very restrictive calorie intake. now,when i talk about a very low caloric intake i'm talking about 800 calories a day or 500calories a day. the hcg diet, they say take

in 500 calories a day. 500 calories a day.i mean, i couldn't even function on 500 calories a day, so i don't even know how people sustainit, personally, but people do. and will they lose weight immediately? well, absolutely.fat pounds will start dropping off quickly. that's why a lot of individuals, when theyget on these ultra low-calorie diets, they get pretty excited because the fat poundsjust start clipping off of their body very fast, so it's really exciting and really rewarding.but then what happens is, naturally, you know what? the body is a very smart machine andone of its primary functions is to make sure you don't croak. the body simply needs a certainamount of calories to function properly every day, no matter what you're doing. if you'rejust laying on the couch all day long not

doing a darn thing, the body needs calories.the body needs energy and nutrients in order to function properly, and that level of caloriesis called the bmr, or basal metabolic rate. this is the rate you just need to survive.what happens is, when you go on these ultra low-calorie diets for an extended period oftime, the body is not getting in enough nutrients to support its vital function. so, in response,what does it do? it actually systematically lowers your metabolic rate. it slows you down.you stop burning, naturally, as much as you burned before. so, for instance, i'm about5'7" and i run about 117 to 119 pounds on average. i need about 2,100 calories a dayin order to maintain my current weight level. 2,100 calories a day. my bmr, what i justneed to function, is probably around 1,300.

somewhere in there--1,350--so if you put meon a 500-calorie per day diet, what's my body going to do? it's going to say, "holy cow.what are you doing? we're going to starve on that really fast if i don't slow thingsdown," so my bmr that was at about 1,350 to maintain my body for that survival, my body'sgoing to start slowing that down and dropping that bmr naturally down lower. that's a survivalmode. human beings had to do it that way back when because food was not plentiful. humanbeings went through periods of time where we didn't have food available, so if the bodydidn't have this natural mechanism to slow things down, we would've perished very quickly.so this is a natural mechanism. it's the body's way of protecting itself. it's the body'sway of making sure you survive. so the first

thing that happens to your body when you goon an ultra low calorie diet and ultra restrictive calorie diet for an extended period of time,is that your metabolism is naturally going to slow down and, oftentimes, this is withunconscious things that you're doing. you may fidget less, you have less energy, you'renot outputting as much as you normally do, but you know what? you probably don't eventhink about it because that's the body's natural response. the second thing that happens onultra low-calorie diets for an extended period of time is that your hunger is going to gothrough the roof, and this, again, goes back to caveman days when food was not plentiful.it's our body's way of kicking up a certain hormone, or series of hormones, that tellsus that you've got to go out and find food

really fast or you're going to croak. whenyou go on an ultra caloric restrictive diet for a certain period of time, you know, youmay be able to do it for a few days and get away with it, but you know what? after thatyou start thinking about food all the time. i'm sure you've experience this, and not onlyare you thinking about just any food, you're thinking about really sugary, high carbohydrate,high starchy carbohydrate foods. and that's, again, the body's way of saying, "you knowwhat? you need a lot of calories right now or we're going to go." the body is a smartmachine. the body just naturally stimulates those hormones that say, "hey, goofball, whatthey heck are you doing? we need food now." you'll find yourself thinking about food allthe time, and not just any food, you're going

to be thinking about really high-calorie food.studies have been done for individuals that have fasted for a period of time versus onesthat haven't. individuals that have fasted, they reach for very highly dense, caloricfoods, starchy foods, sugary foods, the ones that we know are not really good for us becausetheir body is saying, "you know what? you need those calories and you need those foodsnow. you're starving yourself. we have to get things back to normal." that's just anatural body response. it's the body's way of protecting itself. and then the third thingthat happens on ultra low-calorie diets for extended periods of time is that when we gooff them and then we go back to our normal caloric levels we start gaining fat like crazy.so that's a result of those first two things

that we talked about already. first, yourmetabolism truly has slowed down. your body has slowed everything down to go into preservationmode. when you go back to normal eating habits, well, now you're taking in all these caloriesup here, but your basal metabolic rate is down here, and you've got this huge increaseof calories that you're taking in every day now. so what's your body going to do? it'sgoing to store it as fat, and it's going to store it very quickly. the second thing iswhen you go into this ultra low-calorie, restrictive diet situation, those hormones that told youyou got to eat, a lot of people what happens is is they go ultra low in calories for awhileand then they binge because those hunger pains are so strong and those cravings are so strong.it is a natural response to what's going on.

you got to think about it that way. it's notbecause you're not disciplined. it's not because you can't do it. this is the body's naturalresponse. so we binge and then we feel terrible about ourselves so we cut our calories againand we go through this cycle. the cycle begins and it goes on, and on, and on. and that'sthe yoyo dieting which we've talked about before, but, unfortunately, what oftentimeshappens is the yoyo dieting winds up you put more weight on in the times that you're bingingthan you've lost in the times that you're in that ultra low caloric, restrictive diet.so over time we wind up gaining more and more fat pounds. so now that you know what thebody does with ultra low-calorie diets and how it responds to that, let's talk aboutthe myths and misconceptions. say that one

10 times fast. the first myth is that fatloss stops completely on an ultra low-calorie diet. you still will lose fat in an ultralow-calorie diet, but it's ultra, ultra slow. you feel like crap, and so slow sometimesthat it's not even noticeable. the psychological aspect of that is that, you know, when youstarted on an ultra low-calorie diet, you lost all these fat pounds really fast, youknow, because when you started your metabolism was really ripping along really quickly. you'vecreated this huge caloric deficit with what you're actually burning every day versus whatyou're taking in, but, again, as the body goes into that preservation mode, your metabolismslows down, well, that fat burning process slows with it and the frustration sets in.plus, you feel like crap and all you're going

to think about is food. the second misconceptionabout ultra low-caloric diets is that metabolic damage has been done, and by damage peoplethink that permanent damage has been done to their metabolism, that they'll never gettheir metabolism up to normal levels again, you know, and most of the time that's simplynot true. yes, your metabolism has slowed down, but you can get it back to normal levelsoftentimes pretty quickly, within 6 weeks, 12 weeks sometimes on the outside, but itdoesn't really take that long. this whole thing about metabolic damage on the internetis way overblown and the studies are out there to prove it. most of the time, if an individualis following a true ultra low-calorie diet and they're really being true about it, theywill continue to lose fat, albeit, it's going

to be slower. but you know? the myth and misconception,and i call this kind of selective amnesia, we sort of forget about those binge periodswhen we're thinking that we've been on this ultra low-calorie diet for a long time. wemay have been on an ultra low-calorie diet for six or seven days and then we go off ona binge for a day. individuals that come to me and say, "kristin, i'm taking in 800 caloriesa day and the scale's not budging. i'm not losing any fat." well, they're probably notexactly measuring everything they're taking in, so i'm a huge proponent, especially whenyou go on a new lifestyle, and you think you're only taking in a certain number of calories,you got to right everything down, and don't lie to yourself. we have to be honest withourselves about what we're truly taking in

every day, and that means, sometimes, writingdown every morsel. if you think you're on an 800-calorie diet every day and you're notlosing a pound, well, then you got to write everything down because i will almost guaranteeit. this is almost always true, that we totally underestimate the amount of calories thatwe're taking in. this is more common than you would believe. you know, i had selectiveamnesia way back when when i was trying to figure all this stuff out about, okay, howcome, you know, i'm taking in very few calories but i'm not losing any weight. if anything,i'm putting weight on. well, i have selective amnesia about that binge that i had a weekbefore, went out and had dominos pizza, and then i snacked out on cookies, and then offi went for a day or two, maybe even three.

you cannot underestimate the power of thosebinges and how it will completely derail your progress. fasting for several days and thengoing on a binge, it simply will not work. so if you want to lose weight, you want tolose fat pounds and get into amazing, crazy, awesome, sexy shape, what can you do to avoidgoing into the starvation mode, going on a starvation diet, and having the starvationeffect happen to you? my first recommendation is that you don't go on a starvation diet.the reality is, and hopefully you know by what you've learned in this video, is thatit truly is not sustainable for the long period without begin completely miserable, and iknow there are proponents out there of the starvation diet and they say that it's goingto extend their life. well, studies have also

shown that that may not be true. there haven'tbeen enough studies yet to show that the starvation diet will extend our life over a long periodof time, and the studies that do show that it might prolong our life, well, the prolongationof our life is so tiny, to me, it's not worth it to be miserable for my entire life to gainmaybe a few years, if that. so the key is, if you want to lose weight and you want tolose fat pounds and you want to get into crazy, amazing, sexy, awesome shape, go on a moderatecaloric restrictive diet, and that's a really narrow range. you got to keep it above yourbmr, where your body needs to function, and below your maintenance, where you're not gainingor losing any weight. and you know what? that's a really narrow range. i think a lot of individualsoveranalyze what that range is. it's really

about 400 calories. so an individual likeme, if i want to strip some fat off if i'm getting ready for a competition, like i amright now, you know, my range is pretty narrow. it's about 1,400 to 1,450 calories to about1,750 calories. that's it. number two is to understand that consistency and time are yourfriends. if you've done number one and you've restricted your calories, well, then stickwith it over the time. you know, this is the tortoise and the hare. tortoise is truly goingto win with this one. an average fat pound loss that would be reasonable for a womanis a pound a week, maybe two pounds, maybe even three pounds if you're on the higherend of the fat percentage scale, but a pound a week as you get lower and lower and lowerin your fat percentage, you know, a pound

a week is a lot of pounds. that's 52 poundsa year. if you're on a moderate caloric restrictive diet so you're not thinking about food allthe time, you're not hungry all the time, you're exercise isn't going crazy� oh, andi didn't talk about that earlier. so the individuals that tell me that they're on a moderate caloricrestrictive and they're exercising like crazy, well, what's happening is they're actuallydipping their caloric output below that bmr and they're putting their bodies, inadvertently,into that starvation mode. so they're burning more than they're taking in to support theirlife function, so they do put themselves, they put their bodies into that starvationeffect, so the same things happen even though they might be on this moderate caloric diet.so if you're a cardio queen and you're going

into the gym for hours, and hours, and hoursevery day and you're not seeing that scale budge and you're not seeing the fat poundscome off, that may be happening to you. if you're eating a clean and balanced diet withlean proteins, healthy fats, and healthy carbohydrates, you will lose fat in a moderate caloric restrictivemode and you're not going to have all of those side effects of the starvation effect thathappens to the body when it thinks it needs to preserve itself. and, thirdly, you wantto kick up your metabolism. keep that metabolism burning really hot. and there's a few waysthat you can do that. first of all, make sure you're eating several small meals a day. fiveto seven is my recommendation. secondly, get your butt into the weight room. women, yougot to weight train. the more muscle you put

on, it's actually the opposite effect withyour body. the body has to support more muscle mass so the metabolism actually kicks up.you need more calories. it's a beautiful thing. and you know what, ladies? you're not goingto look like a guy. it's really hard for women to put on a lot of muscle. we simply justdon't have the hormones. we don't have the testosterone to do so. so weight trainingis your friend. if you haven't done it, start now. and consider changing the type of cardiovascularactivity that you are doing. high intensity interval training, or in my case, medium intensityinterval training because i got knee problems so i can't handle that high intensity stuff.medium intensity interval training is great for fat burning and it's in much smaller doses.you don't have to spend hours, and hours,

and hours on the treadmill in order to stripfat off your body. as a matter of fact, just like i said earlier, if you do spend hours,and hours, and hours on the treadmill, you actually may be putting your body into thatstarvation mode and the starvation effect will take place. and, fourth, think lifestyle,not a quick fix. if you want a quick fix, that's exactly what it's probably going tobe, is just a quick fix, and then when you go back to your old lifestyle of habits becausethat's what we naturally do, you're going to gain all of that weight back that you mayhave lost and then probably some on top of that. so i'm a huge proponent of changingyour lifestyle to something that's going to work for you where you strip off the fat pounds,you feel fantastic, you have energy, you look

great, and you can sustain that for life.that's huge. that's what we really want, right? we don't want a quick fix. i know we livein this instantaneous culture, but what we really most of us want is this for a lifetime,not just for a short period of time. so think longterm. adjust your expectations, adjustyour perceptions about what it takes in order to have that crazy, sexy, awesome body, andknow that if you take that longer term approach you will be successful. and then, fifth, ifyou think you've been on an ultra low-calorie diet and that you've plateaued out, you feellike you're not losing anymore weight, be realistic with yourself about what you'reactually taking in. be realistic about those binges. so, fifth, if you've been on an ultralow-calorie diet, or think you've been on

an ultra low-calorie diet, it's time to getreal. if you're not losing weight, get real about what you're really taking in every day.write down every morsel. calculate it out. make sure that you're really sticking to theplan because i'm going to bet, most of the time, you're not. and i can say that becausei've been there. you know, i tried these things years and years ago and they didn't work,and i wasn't real with myself with what i was really doing. i had that strategic amnesiaabout the binge that i had the weekend before and here i am a week later frustrated becausei can't lose fat pounds. so it's time to get real. oh, my goodness. i sound like dr. phil.and then, lastly, if you have been on a severely caloric restrictive diet and you have stuckwith it and you think you have metabolic damage,

you probably just have a metabolic slowdown.the way to get your body back into balance again is going on, again, a moderate caloricrestrictive diet. naturally allow your body to increase the bmr over time, and what willhappen is you'll probably gain some fat pounds right in the beginning but your body willadjust. it just takes some time and you have to be patient here. you have to be persistent.that's the hard part, but you will get back into balance. it's the very, very rare individualthat truly has severe metabolic damage and, oftentimes, what you see that with is withindividuals that have anorexia or bulimia and were in a severely, severely scary state.for the rest of us, you probably really don't have metabolic damage per se, you just havea metabolic slowdown. so that's it for today's

fabulously fit friday. i hope you've enjoyedthis episode, and if you have go ahead and hit that "like" button below because thattells other people that this episode is really valuable. and if you want a deeper dive inhow to get into crazy, sexy, awesome shape make sure you head over to figureandbikini.org.check out fab university because that's where

how to stick to a very low calorie diet,i reveal everything about how i got into thegreat shape that i am at almost 43 years old. i'm kristin shaffer, founder of fab universityand figureandbikini.org, and i hope to see you at the next fabulously fit friday. hey,gals. fab university is open. head to figureandbikini.org to check it out.