A low-calorie diet have many of the same risks as gastric bypass, and may be less effective
Many people try a low-calorie diet, (1000 to 1200 calories a day for women, 1200 to 1600 calories a day for men), before they agree to of any type of weight loss surgery. In fact, most insurance companies require a gastric bypass patient to lose a certain amount of weight in the six months prior to surgery, in order to qualify for benefits. However, many obese patients have difficulty with a low-calorie diet, and the results are often not very positive.
A low-calorie diet consists of eating proteins, fruits and vegetables in small portions. Liquid intake should be water or unsweetened drinks such as tea. All food needs to be accounted for in the calorie chart. This diet will cause hunger pains, and may contribute to food cravings and even clinical depression (which is also a common complication of gastric bypass surgery). Low calorie diets should always be supplemented with vitamins to ensure proper nutritional intake.
Complications and risks of a low-calorie diet
The biggest complication of a low-calorie diet is the binge that happens after the patient drops off the diet, which happens as often as 95% of the time. It takes a strong will to be able to ignore the urge to eat. Most people cannot sustain long term low calorie diets due to cheating and accidental overeating of calories, and the food cravings may persist even after the diet is over, which can cause increased weight gain. This is not a problem with one’s will-power, as many assume — it is a natural physiological response to starvation. Recent research has shown that the weight gained during the after-diet binge is more stubborn and difficult to get rid of, which can make the problem of obesity even worse.
What researchers know about low-calorie diets
In Good Calories, Bad Calories
A similar study was done in 1944 at the University of Minnesota. The results were published in 1950 in the book The Biology of Human Starvation.
What really happens on a ‘well-balanced’ low-calorie diet:
- The Carnegie Study
The 1917 study was designed to find out if humans could thrive on a low calorie diet. During the study careful records were kept of the psychological and physical symptoms encountered by a group of young male volunteers who were put on reducing diets of 1400 to 2100 calories a day. They stayed at this level for a month, with the expectation of reducing their total body weights by 10%. During the following two months the men were kept on diets that would maintain their weight at this new level.
If you have ever been on a ‘well balanced’ reduced-calorie diet in order to lose weight, the results of this study will sound familiar to you.
Symptoms: The 10% weight loss occurred, as expected. However, the 12 men in the study constantly complained of a gnawing hunger, and they said it was almost impossible to stay warm, no matter how much clothing they wore.
Their metabolism slowed down so much that they would begin to regain weight if the daily calorie level went up over 2100 calories, even though they previously ate far more than that before the study started. Their blood pressure and pulse rate went down, they became anemic, they had difficulty concentrating, and physical activity made them weak.
One symptom must have been extremely upsetting to these young healthy men – their interest in sex was reduced, and in some cases it vanished completely.
Many of these symptoms occurred only a few days after beginning the low-calorie diet.
After the diet was over: Once the three month study was over, the volunteers were cautioned against over-eating, but they seemed unable to stop themselves from doing so. They felt strong cravings for anything sweet, and indulged in every snack they could lay their hands on.
Within two weeks, these young men were back at their original starting weight, and then gained an average of eight more pounds, making them heavier than they were before their diet.
- The University of Minnesota Study
The University of Minnesota study had similar results. The purpose of the study was to document the physical and psychological effects of starvation. It was clear that World War II in Europe would soon be over.
The US military knew that many communities in Europe had been cut off from normal food supplies for many months, and they expected allied troops to find many starving people when Europe was liberated. They wanted to know how best to respond to the physical and mental problems these communities were suffering from because of poor food supplies.
Conscience objectors volunteered for the study. Many of them were Quakers who later went to Europe to help rebuild the war-torn countries.
The volunteers agreed to eat a diet averaging around 1570 calories a day, consisting mostly of starchy, plant-based foods like whole-wheat bread, potatoes, and turnips, along with a bit of cabbage. Approximately 400 calories a day of protein were allowed.
In order to duplicate the conditions they expected to find in a liberated Europe, the volunteers were also required to walk five or six miles a day.
Symptoms: The physical and psychological symptoms found on the low-calorie diet were even more pronounced among the volunteers of this study. The men lost weight, of course, but in addition -
- Their hair started to fall out.
.. - Small cuts took longer to heal.
.. - Their metabolism slowed down so they rarely moved when they didn’t have to.
.. - They felt cold all the time.
.. - They had slower reflexes.
.. - They felt weak.
.. - Their normal interests in the world around them narrowed.
.. - They suffered from depression, irritability and food obsessions.
.. - And, like the volunteers in the 1917 study, they lost their interest in sex.
.. - Two volunteers showed psychological signs of a state bordering on psychosis, and one volunteer was committed to the psychiatric ward at the local hospital because of threats of suicide and violence.
After the diet: When the starvation part of the study was over, the men were kept on a diet of 3000 calories a day to avoid the dangerous binge-eating that followed the Carnegie study in 1917.
Even on this higher calorie diet, the volunteers felt desperately hungry, and many found their depression actually getting worse. One volunteer became so psychologically unstable during this phase of the study that he attempted self-mutilation.
When the volunteers were released to eat as much as they wanted, they sometimes ate as much as 8000 calories a day, but still felt hungry. When they were checked one year after the beginning of the study, the men weighed an average of 5% more than they did when the study started, and had 50% more body fat.
How these studies about low-calorie diets compare to modern reducing diets:
In these two studies, the average daily calorie intake was 1400 to 1600 calories.
In a recent article titled Treatment of Obesity: An Overview, found on the American Diabetes Association’s Clinical Diabetes website, a low-calorie diet (LCD) for women has 1000 to 1200 calories a day, and for men 1200 to 1600 calories a day – the same number of calories – or lower – than the starvation studies we just read about. As we’ve seen, this diet will fail for up to 95% of patients, and may result in additional weight gain after the diet is over.
For those who fail to lose weight at this calorie level, (because the patient’s metabolism slows down in response to starvation), a very low calorie diet is suggested, under clinical guidance. These VLCDs provide 200 to 800 calories a day, usually given as a liquid formula diet. Exercise is also recommended, along with behavioral modification. This is, essentially, the diet a patient will be required to follow after gastric bypass surgery, but they need to stay on the low-calorie diet without the surgery.
The safest way to lose weight without gastric bypass surgery
A safer approach is to follow a diet that concentrates on very healthy foods
, about her personal experiences with sugar addiction.