healthy stuff

hi katie!

i’m so sorry you’ve had to go through such a horrendous experience, but i’m extremely happy you’ve made the important realization that what you were doing was unhealthy.

i know people always talk about how “acceptance is the first step” blah blah blah insert other cliches here. but really, you have no idea how often i get messages in which people ask me how to starve themselves more effectively, lose 20 or so pounds in a week, etc.

so you’re absolutely welcome! i’m so happy to have made a difference— thank you very much for sharing this with me, and best of luck to you on your healthy weight loss journey. :)

no, not at all.

it can cause irreversible damage to your heart and brain and is simply something that cannot be sustained for a long period of time without dire consequences.

as many of my earlier blog posts illustrate, i’m totally against starvation as a means of weight loss (i will never be a fan of the abc diet, diet coke diet, or any of the pro-ana diets out there).

seriously, it’s okay to eat— that’s something that i wish everyone could remember. 

those kind of diets are TERRIBLE! as i’ve said before,

500-900 calories just isn’t enough for your body to function in the way that it needs to (see recommended caloric intakes here). it’s damaging to your health, both physically and mentally.

i don’t know why— or even how— people can encourage others to take on such ridiculous diets (like, the abc diet, for instance); it’s just not healthy.

so my advice to anyone considering this method is simple: please don’t do it.

—-

Yes, it’s bad. An amount that low has historically been used (in the research, they call them VLCD, very low-calorie diets) for the morbidly obese. Even 1200 calories won’t guarantee that one will select all the foods that cover his or her nutrient bases.

It’s setup for failure in the long term.

-Martin

hello there! i’m sorry to hear about this, i know it can be a scary thing to go through— but this is absolutely why i do not condone “diets” like the abc diet and skinny girl diet. 

500 calories just isn’t enough for your body to function in the way that it needs to (see recommended caloric intakes here). it’s damaging to your health, both physically and mentally.

for weight loss, people aren’t going to want to take in ~2000 calories… i get that. however, creating such a ridiculous calorie deficit will only result in hurting your body, and loss of menstruation (called amenorrhea) is a sure sign that you need to quit the diet that you’re on.

you’ve lost your period because the diets that you’ve been on has reduced the reproductive hormones that regulate your monthly cycle.

what should you do? this may not be what you want to hear, but you’re gonna need to put some weight back on. clearly, your body weight is too far below normal weight. i’d also highly recommend consulting with a doctor, as amenorrhea is a serious thing. according to eatingdisorderexpert.co.uk:

In the short term, amenorrhea poses few health risks and is usually reversed when weight is put back on, fat is stored in the body, and cortisol levels reduce to appropriate levels. In the long-term, however, the low oestrogen levels associated with amenorrhea can cause a woman’s bones to fail to reach proper growth levels or for the woman to develop osteoporosis, a condition in which bone mineral density is reduced and bones become porous and susceptible to breaks. For this reason, if a female reaches a state of amenorrhea, medical help should be sought immediately.

you say that you’ve returned to a normal diet, but because i don’t really know what your definition of a normal diet is, i’m not sure if it’s really enough. i don’t know your measurements or stats so i can’t really gauge anything.

what i do know is that if you’re still not having your period, weight gain is necessary.

thank you so much your kind words, but taking up my time? you have nothing to apologize for! please just always remember that HEALTH should come first, not weight loss. take care of yourself. :)

ps. sorry for such a long answer!

the ana boot camp “abc” diet is, in my opinion, one of the worst diets out there, and i do not recommend it. it’s pro ana (pro anorexia), consisting of calorie restriction that essentially pushes your body into starvation mode.

what do you do? basically, the diet says to cycle different caloric intakes every day, which is actually a common weight loss tool. however, with the abc diet, it calls for extremely low numbers, ranging from 500 at the highest to 50 at the lowest (yes, 50… that’s not even the average-sized apple!). not just that, but it’s 50 days long, and among those, there are fasting days. that’s just ridiculous!

then, why do people lose weight? contrary to popular belief, you won’t be losing the weight by “tricking your metabolism.” this diet is pure starvation, and THAT’S how you’d lose weight. your body is straight-up starving, losing weight in the forms of fat as well as muscle— and losing muscle is not good.

so what? i wanna lose weight! you won’t be able to keep up this type of diet for long without ending up in the hospital or being seriously ill, i can guarantee it. additionally, you’d be slowing down your metabolism dramatically, and upon returning to a regular diet, you’re gonna gain alllllll the weight back. 

oh, and during the diet, you’re gonna feel weak, depressed, fatigued, irritable, light-headed, and could possibly black out every so often. with such a poor diet lacking in nutrients, you’re gonna be malnutritioned as well. sound fun? not at all.

isn’t that all temporary though? the fatigue and all’a those side effects may be; however, as i talked about earlier, you lose muscle. and that’s not just limited to your stomach/arms/legs— you will lose heart muscle too, which is DANGEROUS.

so although calorie restriction can work in most cases, i do not recommend this kind of diet. it’s unhealthy and can cause some serious damage. 

***i used ‘you’ a lot, for my readers’ sake. seeing as how you, anonymous, are asking about what it is (and i’m assuming you have never done it), i do not mean to come across as scolding you specifically in any way. i’m against this diet, and anything that promotes anorexia/bulimia/ED.

i want everyone to be healthy the right way. :)

so my advice to you? don’t even consider the abc diet.