What is the 800 Calories a Day Meal Plan?

Getting thin nowadays does not just mean gaining a good esteem but also gaining the confidence of being healthy. A lot of people tend to do anything just to lose some extra pounds in their body. Some take in diet pills while some does extreme crash diet. Whatever the process taken, the end goal is the same- to have that sleek and slender body. When talking about diet, people could not get rid of discussing the 800 calories a day meal plan. What is the 800 calories a day meal plan?

The 800 calories a day meal plan is considered a very low calorie diet (VLCD). The “low calorie” diet that everyone knows is actually taking in foods that will give the body 1500 to 1800 calories a day. Once the caloric intake of the body becomes 1000 and less, the diet is now referred to as VCLD. When applying VCLD as part of the plan to get thin, a physician’s advise should be sought and so as the help of a nutritionist so to prevent malnutrition.

The 800 calories meal plan provides the body with a small amount of calories. Calories are needed by the body in order to get it going. The body uses these calories to produce energy so that works can be accomplished. If the body gets too much calories that what it is capable of burning or using, these excess calories would be stored as fats. This is a mechanism of the body to make the most out of the foods that were taken. When the time comes that the caloric intake is low and the body needs more energy, these stored calories (or fats) will then be broken down for usage. On the other hand, when the body is receiving less calories that what it needs, it makes use of the stored fats thus weight loss can be experienced. This is the principle behind the 800 calories meal plan. It gives the body little amount of calories so that it will make use of the stored fats.

When deciding to adhere to the 800 calories meal plan, be sure to supplement it with proper exercise. Having the diet alone is not healthy because if fats would be used up in the body more often and the caloric intake is low, there is a possibility of ending up with sagging skin in the abdomen, face and arms. Exercise makes the muscle under the skin tight thus making the outside look stiff. Exercise also gets rid of stretch marks. Stretch marks are common end result after engaging into crush diet without exercise because the body easily lost weight without preparing it for such.

Another thing with the 800 calorie meal a day is that this type of meal plan should not be used for a long time. It is best to use for only 3-6 months but more than that means malnutrition. Being malnourished poses a lot of health risks. It does not just affect your health but also your well being. Women may have irregular menstrual cycle and men might have less energy than he usually should have. The mind could not operate well because of the lack of caloric intake and at the same time makes one vulnerable for different ailments since the immune system does not have enough energy to fight off microorganisms.

As what is stated earlier, the advice of a physician should be sought and so as the help of a nutritionist. Their professional expertise could help you out with the food choices and how to start the diet. Before starting the diet, be sure that your are mentally, physically and emotionally ready. Know your end goal as this will inspire your and push you further. Adhering to the 800 calorie meal plan is very difficult. There are times that you will get out of it and try to have a taste of “what should not”. If this time would come, think of the end goal. It is best not to start the diet immediately. Try to condition the body that sometime it will only be receiving a 800 calorie meal a day. If your body is usually receiving 3000 calories a day, try to decrease it gradually until you achieve 800 calories a day. The next day, you can try giving your body 2800 calories and after two days decrease it to 2600 and etc. If you will surprise your body with an 800 calorie meal the next morning, its normal response would be to crave for food and the next thing you will find out is you at the fridge eating tons of foods!

The 800 calories meal plan is actually composed of five meals (breakfast-snack-lunch-snack-dinner-snack). The technique is to have small yet frequent feeding (but of course with low caloric foods). For breakfast, cereals, or a low fat yogurt (100 calories) can help you start your day. If you feel lacking, you can have a rice cake which has 35 calories. For the snacks, fresh fruits, celery, pickles, or a nutribar can do the trick. For lunch you can have salads. Adding creamy dressings to your salad can actually ad up 130 calories so think of it before indulging yourself with it. If you wish to have a taste of that dressing, you can actually have it but try to cut the serving. Spring mix salad is actually 15 calories so you can eat two servings of it if you’re quite hungry at lunch. Large salad with little or no dressing can actually fill you up while only getting 150 calories! For dinner you can have an orange roughy (white fish) which only have 90 calories or a salmon ( red fish) with 280 calories. If you want a larger serving, try to have a white fish because white fish has a lesser calorie count that the red ones. If you want to have chicken for dinner, chicken breast can help you out. It has around 230 calories which is not bad if you consumed lesser calories earlier the day.

Make sure to have a variety of foods when you are applying the 800 calorie meal plan. Have a portion of carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Check the nutritional pyramid for your guide. This will prevent you getting malnourished. If you do not have any ideas what kind of food can be exchanged for this type of food (like for example if you do not want chicken for dinner, what kind of meat you can exchange it with without losing the caloric value), try to have an exchange counter book. You can buy this book on any bookstore. Check it out on the health counter. In this type of book, you can see tons of choices of foods which you can trade your food without losing or gaining an additional calorie. This will help add colors and flavors to your meal.

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