I understand that under 1400 calories a day slows your metabolic furnace. Triggers starvation mode "slow things down we are in a famine". This is a major cause of yo-yo dieting.
I would be sure you are eating healthy first and getting what you need nutrionally. I think most people tend to be lacking nutrionally.
As a man you should be getting 25 (35 for women) grams of fiber a day. This triggers a helpful reaction called "fiber flush" which can effectively lower your calorie level under 1400 without triggering your starvation mode, keeping your metabolism high.
Basically fiber absorbs and eliminates calories while tricking the starvation trigger.
About 9 calories of fiber flush per gram of fiber.
25 grams of fiber absorbs and eliminates about 225 calories of "fiber flush".
35 grams of fiber absorbs and eliminates about 315 calories of "fiber flush".
Of course more is better up to about 50 - 60 gram a day.
Also be sure you are getting your essential fatty acids (EFA). These are the fats that your body can't produce. If missing from your diet your body retains fat to compensate.
Avocado oil (try to get about 6 tablespoons or more a day) or olive oil if you like it better. Though Avocado oil is better. Raw almonds are great for this type of fat. Two four ounce servings of deep water fish a week for the Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids. Salmon, tuna, cod, most deep water fish.
EFA nutrient subliments help as it difficult to get the omega 3 and 6 oils. I take 1200mg per day. There are so many contridicting daily recommended allowances. 1,000mg to 1,500mg a day is a good dosage. You body eliminates what you can't use of this nutrient.
A good multi vitamin. Find a good vitamin that has all your normal vitamins plus many overlooked trace minerals. I use One A Day mens formula every day. The womens formula looks good also. One-A-Day also has a Weight Smart Advanced vitamin. I take this every other day to keep from going over the recommended daily allowance of Vitamin A.
Your body does not eliminate excess Vitamin A, so it is possible to overdose, so to speak. At extreme levels it has been known to cause death. 5,000 to 10,000 IU (Independent Units) of Vitamin A is the normal recommended dosage. To get to the point of serious concern, would require 100,000 IU's taken daily for over a period of a month. Luckily your skin changes to a nice shade of yellow to signal you of the vitamin A poisoning.
Two optional subliments that help weight loss is L-Carnitine and Co Q-10. These are expensive but they help rev up your metabolism.
L-Carnitine this is the fat burner. Causes your body to burn fat. Let me clarify that. It helps make your fat more accessable to your body's cells for energy.
Your body uses two fuels. 1) Glucose (sugars) 2) Fats.
Fats burn more effiencently as fuel. Produces more energy (uses about 5% of the fuel as compared to sugars) and burns cleaner, less waste. From your bodies perspective it is more green, so to speak.
Glucose (sugar) burns ineffiecently, and needs a great deal of glucose to keep the cells fed. You may have felt "your blood sugar level drop" and kind of a woosy feeling. You feel this urge to eat something NOW! That are your bodies cells running out of fuel and craving more.
L-Carnitine transports more fat cells to your bodies cells. It is a lot of cellular microbiology stuff. But think of it as a bus transporting fuel to your factories, L-Carnitine has more seats on the bus.
L-Carnitine is just plain expensive about $75(us) at Health food stores, for a 30 day supply. Recommended daily dosage is 200mg, six times a day. I just bought a 3 month from a online health food store for $50(us). But it was a one time special purchase. Oh, check the date on the package has a shelf life of 9 months.
Don't buy L-Carnitine until you have your diet in place because you won't get any benefit until you cut your calories and train your body to use fat for fuel. If you don't know how to do this, skip this nutrient for now.
Co Q-10 this is the energy subliment that everyone is talking about. Without the hype, it is a critical chemical that your body's cells use to create energy. Co Q-10 is a recent discovery and there are claims from it is the "fountain of youth" to hair restoration and more.
When missing from your diet it creates an unexplainable lack of energy. There is not a recommended daily dosage for this but 30mg three times a day is generally accepted as a good benchmark. Any excess your body can't use is eliminated. Try to space these out equally during the day as the effects of C Q-10 are consumed in 3 to 5 hours. I take 50 mg 3 times a day. More when I feel my energy wain.
Co Q-10 costs about $60(us) to $90(us) for a one month supply (90 tablets)at health food stores. I recently found Co Q-10 at Wal-Mart for under $15 for a 1 month supply.
I didn't intend to write this much, but I believe strongly that the body can take care of itself, if you give it what it needs. Your body will automatically regulate itself when it has everything it needs to function properly.
A quick recap
1) Fiber - 25 grams a day for men 35 grams a day for women
2) Essential fatty acids (EFA) - 6 tablespoons of avocado oil, 2 4oz servings of fish a week and 1000-1500 mg of Omega 3 and 6 oils a day.
3) A good multi vitamin like one-a-day
4) Co Q-10 30 mg three times a day, to help your weight loss and give you more energy.
5) If you are doing Cardio and Weights, and training your body to burn fat instead of sugar 200mg of L-Carnitine 6 times a day will rev up your weight loss. I've seen it give spectacular results.
Concentrate on getting healthy first. Your weight will take care of itself.
Sorry about the length of this post but this info was so hard for me to come by, I wanted you to have enough to be able to put it to good use.
Good Luck
