Weight-Loss Extremely low calorie diets

Weight-Loss
KaraCooks

KaraCooks

New member
For those who are contemplating (or are participating in) extremely low calorie diets, I want to share the following with you. I was reading a few articles on low calorie diets recently and found the following bits of information:

During WWII at Dachau and Bergen-Belsen (two of the Nazi concentration camps that were known for their brutal medical experiments), the inmates were put on diets of 600, 700, and 800 calories per day to see what the effects on the human body would be - both with and w/out extreme exercise. Once it was determined that a calorie level of 669 or thereabout would make it impossible for the inmates to have the strength to rebel, that level of "nutrition" was instituted across many of the camps. Auschwitz was a high-intensity work camp and they recorded diets of 1000 calories per inmate - and also had one of the highest death rates from starvation and malnourishment.

Ravensbrück (the women's only cc), would underfeed women at about 600-700 calories and then execute them when they became too weak to work. Over 92,000 people died of starvation or were executed because they could no longer work on those rations.

I think we've all seen images of the concentration camp victims and inmates and know what they looked like.

So for those of you who think it's good to eat 600 or 800 calories a day, who think it's the only way they can succeed, who think that it's ok to eat at such a low level ... please think about this slice of history. Inmates in Nazi concentration camps were fed an average of 650 calories a day. Is that REALLY what you want to do to your body?????
 
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On that same line... I suggest anyone interested in this sort of stuff read "The Great Starvation Experiment" by Todd Tucker. It's a book highlighting the Minnesota Starvation Experiment I speak about quite a bit around here.
 
Is this the one, Steve?



I'm about to place another amazon.com order and if so, I'll add this to the list. It looks like the kind of book that's right up my alley.
 
Hmm, I haven't read that one.

This is the one I have and read:



No idea why it costs that much... I paid next to nothing for my copy. I think that's wrong. If you look at the other new and used copies there are much cheaper versions.

As far as I know though, the minnesota study is the research that shows the largest swing of metabolic rate ever recorded.

Tom Venuto talks about it here:
 
Ok, I'm in total geek mode now. I'm an historian by education ... my degree is in History and Physical Anthropology, so this is right up my alley.

I just read up on the experiment on Wikipedia - I can't believe I never heard of it before. Now I"m off to do more research. I'll see if I can find the book cheaper elsewhere ... now I really want to read it.
 
Haha, ohhh, this *is* right up your alley then. The book isn't written technically. It's more of a historic look at the actual study and I think you'll really enjoy reading it.

In "my circles" this study is the most often cited whenever a discussion of metabolism or starvation come up.
 
You think people on these boards eating a 800 calorie diet are even flirting with the amount of brutal work those people were put through? Was your point to trivialize?
 
You think people on these boards eating a 800 calorie diet are even flirting with the amount of brutal work those people were put through? Was your point to trivialize?
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Not at all. My point was that many people think that they *have* to eat 600 or 800 calories in order to lose weight. There is a thread I responded to yesterday in which a woman said that she "knows" if she eats more than 650 calories day, she'll gain weight. She's been doing so for over a year and doesn't understand why she's suffering from dizzy spells, fatigue, and weakness.

My point is that 650 calories is not reasonable ... it's a STARVATION diet. It's a torture diet. It's the type of diet that concentration camp victims had to deal with.

And by the way, not all concentration camp victims were made to labor extensively. Many of them were simply left to die of malnourishment and disease. Or were the subjects of brutal and inhumane medical experimentation ... including being made to eat starvation diets of 600 calories to see what would happen to the human body at that level.
 
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Cry me a river

I can already hear the violins playing in the background while reading this post. Come on…. Really playing the guilt card. I actually find your post interesting and the books mentioned as well. I just think to use guilt in order to get someone to stop eating extreme low calorie diets is unlikely going to accomplish anything. I think if you would have presented just the facts rather than be all bleeding heart about it I would have enjoyed it more. I’m sure some liberal bleeding heart hippie will enjoy reading it. By the way no disrespect intended to any aspect of the Holocaust. Again thanks for the info.

:nopity::patriot::nopity:
 
Nope. Not guilt, but thanks for playing.

It is information I found interesting when I was doing research on extremely low calorie diets and I thought I'd share it here. For some reason some people think that they *have* to eat 600 or 700 calories a day to lose weight and I think this shows how low that actually is. People argue that 700 calories isn't "starvation" ... and that they don't feel hungry so why should they eat more. And I think this highlights that 700 calories is, in fact, starvation ... you can't really argue when you think about the circumstances of the camps and how many people died of malnutrition - eating an amount that some people on this forum think is reasonable and safe.

(And btw, I did present it as fact - I don't see "bleeding heart" anywhere in there.)

It's perspective, nothing more. Take what you want from it, but don't push your emotions on me when you do. ;)
 
Welcome to the Interwebz...

Where everything is read with a biased tone inserted by the reader.
 
please think about this slice of history. Inmates in Nazi concentration camps were fed an average of 650 calories a day. Is that REALLY what you want to do to your body?????
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This is the part that made me smile and roll my eyes. If I misunderstood its intentions I'm sorry. A few years ago I was determined to lose weight so I just did what felt right to me. I did a lifestyle change and to be honest a low calorie and low fat diet worked for me. I lost 170lbs with low calorie diet and exercise. I did do a 500-800 calorie diet but I didn’t do it because I was trying to lose weight super fast or I thought this was the only way I could do it. I just did what felt right. I cut out sugars and high fat and high calorie foods and I ate when I was hungry. I looked at labels on foods and I had will power to say no. Looking back I feel I should have failed because of the extreme choices I made. I think that pure determination is what got me to my end result. Maybe my situation is not common or maybe it is I’m not sure. But I do know that it was my time to lose weight and I DID IT. Today I have slowly incorporated a more balanced diet into my life and am still keeping the weight off. I want to make it clear that I did not go into this lifestyle change knowing or thinking I was going to do an extreme low calorie diet. It is just what happened. Most importantly I paid attention to how I felt.
 
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***STICKS FOOT IN MOUTH***than cuts finger's off
:seeya:
 
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:nopity: People are going to do what they want. I doubt that when low calorie eaters read this post that it's going to make them see the light and make them want to eat a healthier diet. As stand alone facts this post is very good. It just sounded kinda hokey and roll my eyes worthy to direct if to low calorie eaters. Kinda like you were trying to guilt them into eating better. And as I said before if thats not how you ment it then ok. I'm just stating how I understood it. Everyone has a different opinion. If I'm wrong then Oh well no biggie. It's not the end of the world. Ill get over it.:smash::patriot:
 
ConservativeFAG said:
:nopity: People are going to do what they want. I doubt that when low calorie eaters read this post that it's going to make them see the light and make them want to eat a healthier diet. As stand alone facts this post is very good. It just sounded kinda hokey and roll my eyes worthy to direct if to low calorie eaters. Kinda like you were trying to guilt them into eating better. And as I said before if thats not how you ment it then ok. I'm just stating how I understood it. Everyone has a different opinion. If I'm wrong then Oh well no biggie. It's not the end of the world. Ill get over it.:smash::patriot:
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I think you would be surprised of how many people come to this site with the intentions or are in the process of eating this type of low calorie diet. I would venture to say that a lot of them are just uneducated about the safety of these types of diets. Sure, some people actually have disorders that make them eat this way and will not change. I'm sure that the people that are doing these diets because they dont know any better will find this very helpful (atleast i hope they will)
 
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What Matt said above here has been my experience more often than not.
 
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