ARTICLE: Bride-To-Be Dies on 500-calories-a-day Diet

KatCarney · 09-10-2009, 07:08 PM

Bride-To-Be Dies After Extreme Crash Diet

by Martha Edwards
Sep 9th 2009 5:00PM

Samantha Clowe never wanted to be a 'fat bride,' and now, sadly, she won't be one at all. The obese 34-year-old, who was looking forward to her upcoming nuptials, died after an intense crash diet. Described as "fit and healthy" by her family, Clowe lost 42 pounds in 11 weeks on the controversial Lighter Life Diet, which restricts dieters to just 500 calories a day.

We're all aware that crash diets aren't great for you, but you can die from them? You bet -- and this isn't even the first time this diet has killed someone. Just last December, a mother of five died after drinking 4 liters of water, as was recommended by the program. Amazingly, you need your doctor's consent to sign up for the program. Is anyone else having a hard time believing that a trained medical professional would give the OK for this kind of extreme diet?

Lighter Life, of course, claims no responsibility: "We were very sad to hear the news about Samantha ... but the coroner said it was very difficult to make such a connection (between Clowe's death and diet.)" Dr. Martin Scurr, medical correspondent for The Daily Mail notes that Clowe's death is "unlikely to be the fault of the diet itself," but thinks the stress the diet put on the heart was most probably the biggest contributor to her death.

The bottom line? A diet that involves fewer than 800 calories a day is unhealthy, downright dangerous and not worth the risk, regardless of how fabulous your skinny jeans are. It's such a shame that two desperate dieters have lost their lives before figuring this out, but we hope their stories can help keep others from making the same mistake.

source: http://www.thatsfit.com/2009/09/09/b...me-crash-diet/

middleschoolteach · 09-11-2009, 12:17 AM

Kat, how much do you know about this diet? I know someone who is on a similar diet; however, apparently, she started with 500 calories a day for X number of weeks. After that, she gradually added in certain foods. Is this the same diet?

She has lost about 50 lbs in about three/four months (it took me a year and a half to lose that kind of weight). I didn't think it was healthy to begin with. Apparently, this diet is doctor supervised, but I can't see what kind of doc would allow anyone to be on 500 cals a day, especially since this woman isn't obese.

I am curious to hear your thoughts . . . . . . .

KatCarney · 09-11-2009, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by middleschoolteach

Kat, how much do you know about this diet?

I don't know anything about it. Until this article, I'd never heard of it, but like you, I've seen/heard things about supervised AND unsupervised 500 calorie diets recently...

Acajou73 · 09-11-2009, 03:38 PM

how horrible. There was a time that I have been on that kind of diet. Thank god that nothing happend to me.

DiamondInTheRough · 09-12-2009, 02:25 AM

Good God.

They should change the name of the diet to "Lighter than Life!"

fairy2323 · 09-12-2009, 04:03 AM

That is so sad. I'd never heard of this diet either. I looked up their website and it looks like its something from the UK.

Melusina · 09-12-2009, 05:20 PM

Lighter Life is, I think, a very dangerous diet. It consists of shakes and you are put on severe starvation rations - 500 cals a day, which is crazy. A friend of mine did this. She lost 6 stones but seriously affected her metabolism and gained 8 back - she's struggled ever since.

Maddy · 09-13-2009, 09:42 AM

Lighter Life is a UK diet.

It is the lowest calorie diet out there in the UK. I looked at it myself at one point - it costs about £70.00 per week, this provides you with all the food you need to eat and counselling sessions which supposed to help you modify the behaviour which caused you to be overweight in the first place.

What made me decide against it was the food and the consistent 500 calories a day - with no higher days cycled in. It's "food packs" of soups and shakes and the protein content (in my opinion) wasn't sufficient to retain muscle mass on such a low calorie diet.

http://www.lighterlife.com/how_does_...foodpacks.aspx

I thought though that it was medically supervised - you are supposed to have your Dr's consent.

tinkerbel · 09-21-2009, 08:37 PM

no offense and I'm not encouraging this diet, but this article sounds very misleading. You can't die if your overweight on a low calorie diet, or else all gastric bypass and the like would be illegal. I know you can go months eating nothing but water. So WHY did she die? It says the one lady died of water toxicity. If you didn't know too much water can kill you and WILL kill you. I have not learned from this article why the other lady really died. I'll assume too much water also.

If this article held a grain of salt millions would be dead a year from this kind of diet.

red78 · 09-28-2009, 12:12 PM

Just wanted to add my 2 pence worth.....

I did the lighter life diet and to be honest it was the BEST thing i ever did. I lost about 60 lbs in 4 months the counciling was really beneficial and it completely changed the way i look at food - i don't even want the junk food anymore.

A few people have died on it only because they were stupid enough to try to drink 4 litres of water in about an hour.... they used to recommend drinking 4 litres a day but it was changed to drink when you're thirsty - beacuse people were trying to cram it all in at once. i used to manage about 2 1/2 litres a day plus cups of tea.

Your doctor has to sign a form that says your blood pressure is ok and you have monthly checks - or you don't get your food packs

i was on just under 600 calories as i chose a bar to have for lunch, but you can only stay on it for 16 weeks - then you have to have a break normally with what they call a "Milk week" to add some fat and calories back in - then go back on it if you need to lose more. Then there is a carefully divised plan to reintroduce food over another 8 - 12 week period.

My cousin did it and then went straight back to her old way of eating and un-suprisingly gained all of the weight back.

I have since been diagnosed with PCOS - this after weight was creeping on on a very healthy clean diet and exercise plan. Other girls in my group are back to eating a healthy diet and occasional take aways meals out etc and are maintaining their weight fine.

Lighter Life gets a bad rap but the Cambridge diet has been around for decades and is pretty much the same thing but without the councilling.

I know it's helped me more than anything i've ever done before - and i've been on diets since i was 9.

singlemindedly · 09-28-2009, 04:36 PM

Frightening - this diet is very big here in the UK. I have two coworkers in my office who have done it, and the weight has just dropped off them, but one of them has developed gall bladder issues and is losing so much hair it's becoming very obvious. Scary.

cdcm · 09-28-2009, 08:53 PM

Is 500 calories really enough to sustain your organs? And then even a tiny amount of activity? This is really like the world of finance... If you invest in a fund that has a REALLY HIGH rate of return, you also risk a total loss... I suppose if you're going to take extreme measures to lose weight, you may get positive extreme results... and you risk major extreme negatives.

The water issue is quite serious... you don't tell someone to drink 4 L of water without explaining that doing so in one sitting will cause and imbalance in your electrolites and suddenly kill you... Does/did this diet assume that people would spread their water intake out? Would you really expect that from a person who is morbidly obese? If moderation was that individual's game they wouldn't likely be in such a situation to even consider such a diet.

I realize these kinds of diets are for many people a good jumping board... but they are NOT healthy. They can not possibly sustain muscle mass... they are all about weight loss and not fat loss.... two totally different things... one of which is much more crucial to your overall health... and even your appearance. What a sad loss... Her fiancee must be devastated.

februarystar · 09-28-2009, 09:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdcm

I realize these kinds of diets are for many people a good jumping board... but they are NOT healthy. They can not possibly sustain muscle mass... they are all about weight loss and not fat loss.... two totally different things... one of which is much more crucial to your overall health... and even your appearance. What a sad loss... Her fiancee must be devastated.

Regardless of how 'healthy' these diets look at face value you need to consider the entire picture. Sometimes it is necessary to lose weight (any weight) quickly for the likes of surgery etc. In this situation there should be no issues for someone to go on a VLCD providing its under doctors supervision.

There is also loads of research regarding VLCDs and ovulation and extended life-span.
By the same token there are people who spend their whole lives eating what most of us would consider healthy and yet never conceive and die early.

lachicarubia · 09-28-2009, 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tinkerbel

no offense and I'm not encouraging this diet, but this article sounds very misleading. You can't die if your overweight on a low calorie diet, or else all gastric bypass and the like would be illegal. I know you can go months eating nothing but water. So WHY did she die? It says the one lady died of water toxicity. If you didn't know too much water can kill you and WILL kill you. I have not learned from this article why the other lady really died. I'll assume too much water also.

If this article held a grain of salt millions would be dead a year from this kind of diet.

I was thinking the exact same thing. The article never states exactly what caused the woman's death.

WLS forces a calorie restricted diet as well, yet we don't hear about people dropping like flies from WLS.

This woman lost 42 lbs in 11 weeks, that is only 3.8 lbs a week. Not even double the normally considered "safe" amount of 2 lbs a week. How much weight does each person on the biggest loser lose each week? How much weight does one of our WLS divas lose each week, especially right after surgery?

You would think that an "Extreme" "Crash Diet" would result in more than 4 lbs a week in weight loss.

I am not a supporter of any extreme weight loss program, but you really have to look at the facts before you draw incorrect conclusions from misleading articles as this one.

cdcm · 09-28-2009, 10:52 PM

Hey FeburaryStar... I get what you're sayin'... and if you have to have a life saving surg. that you might die from if you don't lose weight... then the risk really starts to balance out. You could potentially die either way... Obviously, a person's personal situation needs to be evaluated. However, (and yes, I agree it's not totally clear how this woman died... other than perhaps the statement that said it was too much for her heart.) This particular case (whether the diet itself is the actual cause...) indicates that her drastic measures were to walk down an isle drastically thinner... If I had to make a rash "judgement" on whether or not her risk was worth it... I'd say not.

I've cut and paste a really basic explanation as to a person's basic caloric needs... just to keep functioning... The thing is... if you are starving your body.. And that's what happens on 500 calories a day... you are in NO WAY getting enough calories or protein/carbs/fat. In addition to the muscles that we see that are being wasted, cannibalized by the body... there is one extremely IMPORTANT muscle that will also be negatively effected... The heart. Wasting the heart muscle is not good.... it quits working. And when it quits working... you quit working... It's a pretty direct route to a coffin.

So, I've taken the following from :http://www.roth.net/Articles/Misc/Calories/

The actual amount of energy consumed per day is a simple formula:
Daily Energy needed = “Amount your body needs” + “Amount you body needs to do extra things”

The amount your body needs is the total amount of energy required for your heart to pump, your lungs to fill with air, your body to keep warm, your hair to grow, your stomach to digest food and all those things you generally don’t think about in a day. This is known as the basal metabolic rate. This is what your body would need regardless of what activities you do. Generally speaking the larger you are the higher your basal metabolic rate. Think about it: a 100 pound woman needs less energy to breath and pump her heart than a 300 pound man. This is no different than the amount of fuel a Mazda Miata needs to drive around town compared with an army tank.

The basal metabolic rate is usually pretty static, that is to say, it doesn’t change. If your body needs 1,000 calories of energy a day for your basal rate then it will need the same amount tomorrow and the day after that. It is also important to note that everybody’s basal metabolic rate is different.

The amount your body needs to do extra things is the total amount of energy your body needs to lift heavy objects, or type on your computer or walk to the store, etc. This is all the stuff that you don’t need to do just to keep alive, but you choose to do for whatever reason. Let’s consider this to be the amount of work you do in a day.

So we can now write our formula can like this:
Daily Energy needed = Basal Rate + Work