Hi there, 

  Hate to be so blunt, but you're starving yourself, and your organs will probably shut down from starvation before you reach your goal weight.  You need to slow down your weight loss, not speed it up. The first thing you need to do is a little reading.  These are the guidelines that a lot of us on this site follow:

http://caloriecount.about.com/forums/post/93120.html

That's the long version.  The short version is that men should never eat less than 1500 calories a day. That's an absolute minimum, and most people need more than that, especially if they're exercising.  If you use the tools on the site and input your personal stats and goals, it will give you a good idea of how many calories you should be eating a day.  After you get that number, you can work on reaching your calorie target with a balanced diet (ie more than just veggies!).  Good luck!

Oh, and the pills are usually just a waste of money.

7 lbs in one week, and you want to speed it up. It is very unhealthy to lose that fast. Eating so little you will see it come off very quick at first, but then your body will think it isn't getting enough food and hold on to all of it. How many calories are you eating a day? If you use the tools on this site, you can find out a healthy amount of calories to eat per day. ( depends on your age, weight, height) Congratulations on your loss so far, but be safe so you don't get sick.

As for the diet pills, I suggest you eat the right amount and exercise, forget about the pills. When you lose with pills, you are bound to gain it all right back. Go the healthy route, make it a new lifestyle, so the weight stays off. Only my opinion, good luck.

I'm not going to repeat how unhealthy it is to eat so little (but it is!).

anyway, try eating a piece of whole wheat toast (Nature's Own, 50 cals)  with 1 tbs of peanut butter on top (about 95 cal). The protein in the peanut butter will help keep you full.

I lost 10lbs of fat really fast eating at least 1700 calories a day. This is how;

I created a 500-1000 calorie deficit between the amount of calories I eat and the amount of calories I burn.

In doing this, I lost a little over 1lb of fat a week. That is really fast weight-loss.

Oh, did you mean you want to slow your metabolism and lose muscle and fuel for basic body functions like the use of your heart, lungs, and brain? Well, in that case, you're doing everything right.

Pills. Ack.

What's your hurry Speedy Gonzales?

To answer your questions about breakfast, I always eat a fibercake before working out. 80 calories and 13g of fiber. After my workout, if I'm in a rush, I'll grab some Muscle Milk or make a Spirutein Protein Shake. Fiber and protein keep you full longer than carbs so I'm never hungry before lunch and usually have to set a time to eat lunch or I'll forget.

I hope you take our advice. I know losing weight this way seems too slow, but it's very effective and so healthy! You'll see so many positive changes far more cool than numbers on a scale.

Hi armangti, welcome to the forums! And congratulations on your weight loss thus far.

However, you are most definitely eating too few calories, so few that you are likely going to endanger your health if you persist with this "diet" and ontop of that the speed of weight loss is actually higher than we recommend.

A safe rate of weight loss is generally considered to be roughly 1% of your body weight per week. For most people ~1-2 lbs per week is about right, assuming that you are not underweight to begin with. Under a doctor's supervision many people do lose at a faster rate, particularly when they have a lot of weight to lose and the health risks of losing at a very fast rate are evaluated by the doctor against the risks of being overweight. You can look like you've lost weight when you actually haven't by working on developing muscle and eating healthier. Muscle takes up less volume for the same weight and most people think it looks sexier. Eating healthier tends to give your skin a nice glow which makes people think that you've changed something in a positive direction.

However, it is critical for you to know that your calorie intake is dangerously low and for your own health you should increase your calories immediately. Eating so little could damage your health with long-term ramifications.

1200 calories if the bare minimum for a woman and 1500 for a man to eat per day and to remain healthy.

In fact, it may even be too low for you as you are working out. But at least with a minimum of 1500 calories your internal organs will continue to function properly.

Upping your calories will also prevent your metabolism from slowing.

In addition, by eating so few calories you are setting yourself up for an endless cycle of weight gain-weight loss (yo-yo dieting) as once you go back to your normal calories you might gain weight back and become frustrated.

Have you used the tools here on Calorie Count Plus to figure out the best target calories for your goals? Have you checked out the Weight Loss Forum Reources thread at the top of this forum? Also have you seen that we have a New Members forum which has a great thread The Unofficial Guide to Calorie Count - this will guide you through the process.

We encourage a maximum of a 1-2 lb loss per week. To achieve this healthfully you can maintain a 500-1000 calorie deficit per day.

The Tools can help you do this.

From Mary Hartley, Calorie Count's Director of Nutrition:

"By eating so few calories, you will not get enough energy, protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals and other components of food. In time, you could become malnourished, which can cause severe health risks such as respiratory infections, kidney failure, blindness, heart attack and even death."

Here is a brief reason why never less than 1500 calories from the Advice section of Calorie Count Plus, under the Q&A tab:

Why must I eat at least 1,500 calories a day when I want to eat less?

In order to get the daily food servings you need for a balanced diet, it takes about 1200 calories a day (for a man it is 1500 calories a day). With careful planning, you could have a balanced diet on 1000 calories, but the restrictiveness of a very low calorie level can lead to binging and weight cycling, which will take you further from your weight loss goal. What's more, very low calorie diets can cause excessive muscle breakdown and metabolic adaptations, which can drive down your calorie requirements. In the end, you'll need fewer calories to maintain a higher weight.

Anyway, we are here to help so let us know if you have more questions. But do realize that Calorie count cannot support you if you continue to eat a diet of so few cals a day. Do you plan to increase your caloric intake???

Hi, I've just recently started this as of today! I know you will, not maybe, but will get burned out on what ur doing to yourself extremely fast!! You body will think that it is needing to store fat, because you are starving yourself, and so everything you eat will start being stored! When you finally get burned out on this Fad diet you have put yourself on... you will begin to eat more, and your body will continue to store all of it as Fat and it will also slow down your metablism in the long run!!

Also, be careful on your hydroxy because if you start using it and do so for any length of time, you will then have your body depending on a diet pill to do stuff it should be doing naturally and also slow down your metablism! Cereal bars are good, and bananas stay with you! Protein shakes are a really good thing that have in place of lunch, and keep your energy level up! Good luck! and try to do it safe, in the long run your results will stick!

Original Post by armangti:

Hey guys!

Well, i started my diet last week and just started going to the gym 2 days ago.

I never drink soda. I drink a lot of water each day, probably about 10 16oz bottles. Now what my question is, what can i eat for breakfast such as bars or something quick on the go that will take me throughout the day while im at school until i eat my lunch?

My Daily Schedule.

Breakfast : Water
Lunch: Home Made Salad - Romain Lettuce, tomatoes, almonds, light dressing

Gym(3-4 times a week): Run for 30 min and weight lift for an hour.

Dinner: Home Made Salad - Romain Lettuce, tomatoes, almonds, light dressing

I started off at 245lbs(6'1height), and now im down to 238lbs in only a week. What suggestions do you guys have? What can i do to speed up my weight loss? Are there any teas or pills i can take that will speed up my diet? I purchased hydroxycut hardcore today and it gave me energy, but i just dont know if i should take it or should i take something else? My goal is to go to about 190lbs.

Here's the thing.  You want to speed up your weight loss.  The 7 pounds you lost in a week was just that.  Weight.  Not fat loss.  Sure, some of that weight was fat, some was water weight since you are just starting, but some of it was almost definitely muscle.  This is what you don’t want to do, especially if you are lifting!  You don’t want to be skinny-fat.  You know, those people with a “healthy weight” but yet still have too high of a body fat percentage.

Muscle burns calories.  The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn in a day doing nothing!  Since your muscle burns calories all of the time, when your body doesn’t have enough calories to sustain all of your functions, it’s going to start to get rid of the costly muscle.  Burn off the muscle for the extra calories your body needs plus by doing so, it won’t need as many calories total the next day.  If you start burning off your muscle, you will burn less total in a day, and your fat loss will slow.

Now, the salads you are eating with light dressing are a good choice, but you aren’t eating hardly any protein or fat, which your body needs, especially the protein to keep up the muscle.

I’ve lost a good amount of weight before very fast, but as it slowed and I started to feel bad, and went back to eating what I used to eat, I gained back all I lost and MORE.  I used to weigh what you do, but from this cycle of up and down, I reached my highest weight of 340 lbs!  That is why it is crucial to lose fat slowly and keep your muscle by eating enough.  Don’t make the mistakes I did, do it right the first time.

Dude, you didn't put on 7 pounds in one week, what makes you think you can safely lose 7 pounds in one week?  Sure, if I had my way I'd love to drop all my extra weight in a week or a month.  Reality: it is a slow process if you are going to do it right.  Everyone else above is telling you the truth, 1-2 pounds/week.  Instant gratification is great but not always feasible.  And I doubt any diet pill is truly safe. 

Good luck finding the right path, the smart, safe path, to your goal.  Use some of the other posters' advice; they know what they are talking about.