CALLING ALL EXPERIENCED DIETERS

I've always heard that if you consume to few calories your metabolism slows down and your weight loss will be less.  If this is the case, then how come when people go on these all liquids diets and consume very few calories do they lose so much?   Brenda

When you consume fewer calories your body will note the change and attempt to conserve for a possible future "lean time" where it is not getting enough food.  So your metabolism will slow, which absolutely makes it harder to lose weight.  You have to lower the calories to the level where your body is *forced* to draw on it's reserves.  Your body can't conserve forever.  The lower the number of calories you consume, the more your body will have to rely on it's stores (your fat) for energy. It's often difficult to determine what point it is at which you overcome your body's attempt to conserve fat for the future.  You just have to play with how many calories you consume to find a point where you consistently begin to lose weight. Here is a link that might help explain it better: http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/www/subsection1_2_3_0_7.html#SECTION0230700000000000000 Particularly: http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/www/subsubsection1_2_3_0_7_4.html

yup

When your body goes into conservation mode, it can stay there for quite some time. I have been under 650 calories a day for over 55 days, and am not actively/significantly losing for the past few weeks. Extreme-lo-cal dieting can be dangerous. If it weren't for my vast array of nurtitional supplements, I'd be a goner.

Eventually, what is supposed to happen is that realizing your body is starving, you start to burn fat (as Bert said) to create an 11th hour burst of energy so that you can go out and procure the necessary food. I'm...um...not there yet.