A 900 calories/Day diet is very restrictive for an adult, this number of calories is usually recommended for an infant.
When a person wants to lose weight, he or she usually goes on this type of low calorie diet in order to lose as much weight as possible as fast as possible.
The characteristics of the diet:
- Proteins: 80 to 85g per day
- Sodium: about 500 to 600 g
- No cooking or seasoning salt
- No sugar or sweetened products
- No alcoholic beverages
- No fatty foods, no fatty seasonings such as industrial mayonnaise (however, there is a healthy recipe for mayonnaise)
Essential foods to be consumed in controlled quantities per 24 hours.
- Lean and fat-free meat: 250g (or equivalent)
- Plain yogurt : 2 or equivalent
- Alburone ( 1/2 sachet)
- Unemployment: 25g ( 20 % of fat)
- Fruits : 300g ( 2 average fresh fruits / day).
- Food to be consumed according to appetite ( if you are hungry)
- Green vegetables : 600g
- Lemon : 1
- Green salad
- Drinks: Water only 1.5 to 2 L / day
What to replace 600g of green vegetables with?
You can replace them with
- 100g of carrots, beet, turnip, salsify, brussels sprouts.
- Artichoke hearts, celeriac, small weight
- 70 g of corn kernels
- 40 g of avocado
What to replace 300g of fruit with?
- 300 g of fruit can be replaced by :
- 350g of melon
- 125g of fresh figs
- 120g of grapes (also fresh)
- 80 g of banana
What should we eat during this diet?
- Fruits: All fruits are allowed except dried fruits and oilseeds, and coconut.
- It’s possible to make fruit compotes for : ( Apples, pear, peach, apricot) without sugar or sweetener.
- Vegetables: all vegetables (while respecting the quantities prescribed above)
- Cheese: All fresh cheese with less than 50% fat: Gruyere, tome, brie .. etc
A typical menu for a day on a 900 calories/Day Diet
Breakfast:
- Light tea or coffee (without sugar or sweetener)
- 1 plain yogurt without sugar or sweetener or equivalent
- 1/2 bag of alburone (3 tablespoons) to mix with plain yoghurt or water.
A snack at 10 am if you are hungry
You also take water or tea or light coffee without sugar or sweetener
Lunch :
- Green salad or 100g of raw vegetables + oil seasoning ( for oils not more than 15g per seasoning)
- 125g of lean meat or fat-free meat
- 200g of green vegetables cooked in water (5 tablespoons) or in vinaigrette (lemon + oil) or vinegar
- 25g of cheese: avoid camembert
- if you like camembert too much, take 1/8 of a portion.
- 150g of fruit (medium fruit) to be weighed at the beginning
- coffee without sugar or sweetener.
Afternoon:
- Water/ tea/ light coffee.
Dinner:
- Same as lunch except no cheese ( replaced by 1/2 bag of alburone mixed with 1 plain yogurt)
What to replace these foods with? : Equivalences
1- Proteins :
125g of lean or fat-free meat can be replaced by :
- 150g of lean fish without waste
- 125 g of liver
- 85g of chicken or: rabbit, turkey, roast veal (cooked weight without waste, skin, bone)
- 85g of lean, fat-free ham (2 slices: once or twice a week)
- 2 eggs + 25g of ham or 25g of Gruyere cheese (once or twice a week)
- 500g of cottage cheese (0% fat)
- 320g of plain taillefine
25g of cheese can be replaced by :
- 1 egg
- 1/2 slice of lean ham with fat removed
- 125g of cottage cheese with 0% fat
- 20g skim milk powder (4 level tablespoons)
- 200ml of skimmed milk
- 1 box and a half of plain yogurt.
Some advice to follow during this diet
- Have a scale from the beginning to weigh the food and know the prescribed quantities that you must consume per day)
- Don’t snack
- Don’t skip meals (respect the 3 main meals, then if you want to skip the morning and afternoon snacks that is not a problem)
- The only water allowed is water: 1.5 to 2 L per day.
- Don’t drink water during meals: 30 minutes before and 2 hours after the meal
- Practice a physical activity
- Do biological tests to confirm if you have any deficiencies or dietary deficiencies and consult a doctor for a supplementation if necessary)
- Eat only the foods indicated in the diet above.
- You can replace industrial mayonnaise by a healthy mayonnaise to season your raw vegetables or your salad.
How much weight can I lose with 900 calories/Day?
By eating only 900 calories/Day, you can lose 1 to 2.5 kg per week, it all depends on the metabolic rate you have, your current weight, your gender:
- A woman can lose 2.2 to 3.3 lbs a week.
- A man can lose 3.3 to 5.5 pounds a week.
Is 900 calories/ Day enough?
Indeed not.
If we are talking about healthy weight loss, 900 calories /Day is not enough.
Our body needs multiple nutrients (vitamins and minerals) that we need for the proper functioning of our body to keep a good moral and physical health.
Calcium for bone health, vitamin D which is necessary for calcium that do their work in the body in combination.
Magnesium for good muscle health and even mental health. Omega 3 and 6 for heart health, vitamin K which can be found in butter etc…
So to lose weight in good health we must bring to our body all its needs while respecting the daily recommendations.
It’s easy, we must reduce the caloric intake in a good way: choose the quality of food even if they are variable and have a good lifestyle and good eating habits.
To learn more about how to lose weight in good health visit: The best diet for your physical & mental health.
Why I am Not Losing Weight With 900 calories/Day?
If you only eat 900 calories/Day but you still can’t lose weight, here are some reasons why:
- You are not overweight or obese (which is really rare because 900 calories/Day is the number of calories an infant should take)
- Your metabolism is very slow!
To know how to speed up your metabolism and to know all the causes that prevent you from losing weight, I invite you to read this article: Why I don’t lose weight?
Pros & cons of this Diet
Advantages:
The only advantage is that this diet allows rapid weight loss.
If someone needs to lose weight quickly in order to have a successful surgery, this is positive while keeping an eye on a specialist to recommend which supplements to take so as not to have any risks
Disadvantages:
Dietary deficiencies
Due to the limited choice of foods in this diet, there is a risk of food deficiencies, especially if you follow this diet for a long time.
For example, there is a risk of vitamin B deficiencies because we don’t add starchy foods or eggs to our diet, so you should always get advice from a nutrition specialist on the type of supplements you should be taking to avoid a dietary deficiency while following this diet.
The yo-yo effect:
The yo-yo effect means gaining weight back after losing it. The yoyo effect often comes after following a very restrictive and severe diet (after a rapid weight loss).
Frustration or eating disorders: this consequence leads us to the yoyo effect.
When our body asks us to eat because it needs it and we deprive it of its needs, it will certainly cause us eating disorders. Quite simply, when our body asks for a nutritional intake, it’s because our body needs to eat. So depriving our body of its minimum needs will bring negative feelings to our brain.
Hormonal disorders:
When we don’t provide the essential nutrients for our body to function properly, there will be a shift.
There are hormones in our body that need certain nutrients or vitamins to function properly. For example the metabolic hormone “cortisol” needs vitamin D to function properly. The same thing for the hormones of satiety, sleep, etc.
Muscle loss:
This diet can also lead to muscle loss if you don’t take protein supplements like alburone, to find out what alburone is exactly, check out this page: the 600 calories/day diet.
How to eat 900 calories/Day as a vegan?
A vegan person will make it even easier to work on a 900 calories/Day diet because the choice of foods for this diet is easy and not far from vegans.
Breakfast:
- Light coffee or tea without sugar or sweetener.
- 1 coconut yogurt mixed with half a bag of vegan protein alburone
a snack at 10am
- Light coffee or tea without sugar or sweetener. or water
Lunch:
- Green salad or 100g of raw vegetables + oil seasoning ( for oils not more than 15g per seasoning)
- 250g of cooked mixed pulses: Lentils + beans: steamed with a pinch of salt for good taste.
- 200g of green vegetables cooked in water (5 tablespoons) or in vinaigrette (lemon + oil) or vinegar
- 150g of fruit (medium fruit) to be weighed at the beginning
- coffee without sugar or sweetener.
- 1 and a half coconut yoghurt.
In the afternoon :
- A light coffee, tea or water. (without sugar or sweetener).
Dinner :
The same with lunch except you replace 1 and a half yogurt with a single cup of yogurt mixed with half a bag of the vegan alburone.
How to eat 900 calories/Day as Keto?
This diet is already restrictive in sugars, so we replace all products and sweetened foods by natural and without sugar.
Breakfast :
- Tea, light coffee without sugar or sweetener.
Snack at 10am
- Tea, light coffee or water.
Lunch:
- Green salad or 100g of raw green vegetables + oil seasoning ( for oils not more than 15g per seasoning)
- Green vegetable soup : with 350g of green vegetables.
- 25g of fresh cheese (no sugar or salt or educator).
- 1 plain yogurt.
- 125g of lean meat or fat-free meat.
In the afternoon :
- Light coffee, tea or water.
The dinner
- Green salad or 100g of raw green vegetables + seasoning oil ( not more than 15g)
- 300 g of cooked green vegetables
- 125g of lean or defatted meat
- 1 natural yogurt mixed with 1/2 bag of alburone.
How to
on a 900 calories /Day diet?
- To avoid gaining weight after losing it, the first step is to ask a nutritionist for advice on the supplements you should take during the diet to lose weight in good health.
- The diet should not last long, but you should keep the same eating habits even after you stop dieting: you should always eat lower calorie foods, lean meat, etc.
- It is necessary to practice moderate physical activity during and even after the end of the diet so that the weight does not come back (to avoid the yoyo effect).
- As soon as you stop dieting, you must return to your normal eating habits in a progressively.
Is this diet right for you?
If you are obese or overweight and you are about to undergo surgery, you must follow this low-calorie diet for your surgery to be successful.
Apart from that, this type of diet is not recommended for other people because it is risky! see the disadvantages I mentioned above.
If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, and you want to lose weight, this type of diet is not recommended for your health and that of your baby, in this case you must provide all the nutritional needs that your body and that of your baby has needs. A balanced diet is necessary in this case.
Sportsmen and women who engage in intense physical activity should never take this type of diet for fear of muscle loss or hypoglycemia.
Diabetics: This diet is too restrictive for a diabetic, but it’s not possible for him to follow this type of diet provided that he takes the advice of his doctor diabetologist. and check his blood sugar 4 to 6 times a day.
How long should this plan last?
A diet providing 900 calories /Day shouldn’t last more than 6 months.
A dietician’s opinion on the 900 calories/Day diet
This type of diet has more negative than positive points.
The risk of nutritional deficiencies is high with this type of diet. An adult needs at least 1500 calories per day.
So a 900 calories/Day diet is very restrictive and limits the intake of several nutrients and vitamins, such as vitamin B provided by pasta, and other vitamins provided by fruit.
The health authorities recommend consuming at least 4 to 5 fruits per day, while in this type of diet only 2 fruits are allowed in relation to their sugar intake.
Without forgetting the important contribution in magnesium that it brings the pasta products.
Weight loss requires time to learn new eating habits and thus avoid regaining the weight after stopping the diet.
A successful diet requires patience, time and monitoring to avoid falling into dietary deficiencies and to check if there is any obstacle that prevents us from losing weight and also to lose weight permanently.
In this case the balanced diet is the only effective way.
Conclusion
Knowing how to lose weight quickly and effectively is not always easy. The miracle method to lose weight does not exist.
To lose weight, you have to review your lifestyle, reduce your calories and increase your energy expenditure.
The 900 calories/Day diet allows you to eat a healthy and balanced diet, but the nutritional intake is insufficient. You will have to find the motivation to reach your weight loss goal.
Finally, the goal in any weight loss program is to learn to eat less, eat better and be physically active. Nothing beats a healthy lifestyle, rather than an unbalanced diet, poor in nutrients and prone to deficiencies.
