Maintenance of weight loss with recovery of resting metabolic rate following 8 weeks of very low calorie dieting.

The challenge to maintain lost weight is particularly relevant for advocates of VLCD, since these induce a high rate of weight loss. It has been argued that excessive lean body mass is lost with very restricted energy intake regimens which compromises metabolic rate and sabotages weight maintenance. Thirty-nine subjects who had lost an average of 12.3 +/- 2 kg during an 8-week VLCD trial were transferred immediately to a 1500 kcal per day maintenance formula which included solid foods. RMR was determined at four intervals: (1) before dieting; (2) after 2 weeks of VLCD; (3) end of 8 weeks dieting; (4) end of 8 weeks maintenance period. It was observed that the metabolic rate dropped to 86 per cent of original by the end of the 8 weeks of VLCD. Metabolic rate recovered to 93 per cent of prediet values by the end of 8 weeks of weight maintenance on 1500 kcal/day. Following an average 2 kg weight regain within the first week of maintenance, there was no further weight regain. VLCD did not produce losses of RMR beyond that expected from the loss of weight. No difficulty was observed in maintaining weight for 8 weeks on 1500 kcal/day.