Very low calorie diet (VLCD)
A very low-calorie diet is a calorie intake of about 800 calories or less a day. This is a big reduction on the daily calorie intake recommended for adult weight maintenance (2000kcal per day for women and 2500kcal for men).
Due to the large calorie reduction, weight loss on this diet can be fast and significant. However, a very low-calorie diet should not be undertaken without medical supervision or for any longer than 12 weeks.
How does it work?
Typically, the diet involves replacing your normal meals with soups, shakes and bars for a period of time, with the slow reintroduction of other foods.
There are some VLCD programmes that have a wider product range than just soups and shakes.
Rapid weight loss can be extremely motivating but is unsustainable in the long term. A VLCD requires regular support and counselling from a healthcare professional to help you change your eating habits longer-term so that you can reintroduce foods successfully and maintain your weight loss.
Mike Jarman lives with type 2 diabetes and discusses his own experiences on a very low calorie diet:
How effective are they?
If you have a Body Mass Index (BMI) over 30 then a very low-calorie diet may let you lose about 3 to 5 pounds (1.5 to 2 kg) per week, for an average total weight loss of 44 pounds (20 kg) over 12 weeks.
Losing a significant amount of weight may improve weight-related medical conditions such as:
type 2 diabetes
high blood pressure
high cholesterol
In addition, weight loss can reduce the risk of conditions such as:
certain types of cancer
osteoarthritis
acid reflux
Once you finish the programme, you need to change your lifestyle, committing to healthy eating and regular physical activity to maintain the initial weight loss.
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These types of diets should be undertaken through an official programme such as the 1:1 diet to make sure that you are getting all of the nutrients your body needs and also the supervision and monitoring provided by a healthcare practitioner.
Very low-calorie diets are for adults who are obese or severely obese, defined as having a BMI over 30 or 40 kg/m2. They are not recommended for people that are:
You should always speak to your healthcare team or GP if you are planning on changing your diet plan so they can help you do this safely.
People on a very low-calorie diet for 4 to 12 weeks report minor side effects such as fatigue, constipation, nausea, and diarrhoea. These conditions usually improve within a few weeks and rarely prevent people from completing the program.
How to find out more
You can also download a pdf with more info on VLCD by clicking here.
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