Very Low Calorie Diet

A very low calorie diet (VLCD) is an aggressive, individually programmed, meal-replacement diet (mostly liquid) with a daily calorie content of between 450 and 850 calories. This is a regimented, medically intensive approach to weight loss that can help patients lose weight at a faster rate than with a conventional diet.

A candidate for a VLCD must have an intensive initial medical work-up to determine eligibility, and then continued frequent monitoring to ensure safety. Weekly clinic visits for weigh-ins are required, as are monthly blood tests and follow-up appointments. Additional diagnostic evaluations may be required in individual cases.

Who should use the VLCD program
Not everyone is suited for a VLCD. You need to be able to demonstrate adequate health, discipline, motivation, and have a BMI ³ 35. A VLCD may be used to bring about rapid weight loss prior to an elective surgery or one may choose a VLCD if there is a significant amount of weight to be lost. The strict, regimented eating pattern and very low calories can produce results when other efforts have failed.

Your first weeks
The weeks are spent in the evaluation and initiation phases: diagnostic tests are performed, you have initial appointments with the nurse and physician, and a programmed low calorie diet  of approximately 1000 calories per day is followed for 2 or 3 weeks.

Once the diagnostic evaluation is complete, and it is determined that you may safely participate, an individual VLCD is prescribed. You are reevaluated and laboratory testing is repeated in the second week of your VLCD.

Your next 12 weeks
The VLCD itself is structured in 12-week blocks that may, depending on the individual, be repeated. Monthly evaluation and blood tests are required.

Transition into Maintenance

At the end of the VLCD phase is an important 8 –10 week period of carefully monitored refeeding. You begin with two weeks of a low calorie diet with approximately 1000 calorie per day. You then advance toward maintenance one mini-meal at a time at a pace that suits your individual needs. A slow progression with gradual incorporation of grocery store foods will ease your transition into maintenance.

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• Obesity in the US
• Extra Weight, Higher Costs
• How the World Eats

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• How your Monarch Diet Prescription Outsmarts your Genes
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Exercise Physiology

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• Physical Activity and Weight Control
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• 10,000 Steps to Better Health

Lifestyle Modification

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• Overcoming Weight-Loss Setbacks