5.32 Diet for Weight Loss
Prescribe a diet to reduce overall calorie intake as a part of lifestyle change
- For women 1200-1500 kcal/day and for men 1500-1800 kcal/day
- Overall recommend a 500-750 kcal/day energy deficit
- Prescribe an evidence based diet that restricts certain foods such as refined carbohydrate foods, low fiber foods or high fat foods
- Prescribe a very low calorie diet (< 800 kcal/day) in rare situations where medical practitioners monitor closely for health complications
These parameters as you can tell are quite hard to follow. Only 1200-1500 calories is very low and will require a large amount of willpower to restrict calories to this level. While you may have learned, HeartStrong.com does NOT advocate calorie counting as long as you are sticking to whole plant foods without added oil and sugar. You can eat essentially all that you want and your calorie intake will be acceptable!