Extreme vs. Normal Dieting

People have wondered for years what's the best way to lose weight? Well of course, the answer would be a combination of healthy dieting and exercise. The recommended amount of daily calories is roughly 2,000-2,500 calories a day. 1 pound of body fat is equivalent to 3,500 calories. Well, a few months ago, I would say around March/April, I started a miniature diet experiment. For one week, I went through what I would say is extreme dieting (for someone who was eating roughly 2,500 calories a day, if not more). I had decided to eating no more than 1,000 calories each day, which was cutting back 1,500 from my normal intake. I didn't feel a major difference until 2 days into this extreme diet, when I was nodding my head in class more than paying attention. I was constantly hungry, with my diet thrown out of whack.Within roughly 4 days, I noticed I had lost 3 pounds and about 1 ? inches off my waist, my tight blue jeans were now surprisingly fitting loosely. There was no exercise done, I was doing this purely from what I was eating and not eating. Although losing the weight was something I wanted, I was not happy with how I did it. And!!! This method is something I would never recommend to anyone, because if it had gone any further, there could've been dangerous consequences. I was experiencing sudden mood swings, constant hunger, and almost made myself sick. If my boyfriend JC at the time had found out what I had done, he would've been extremely disappointed and shocked. After this "hell week" of extreme dieting in my case, I decided to switch to a different method. For the "normal" diet, I basically decided to find alternatives for the foods I was eating everyday. For instance, a typical Asian household, white rice can always be found. So, I decided to switch to brown rice for more fiber (and I heard it was a healthier choice). The one thing I changed from the extreme diet was increasing my calorie count to 1,500, which is a step forward. The only major change I did was completely cutting out all sodas (both caffeinated and non caffeinated) and drinking only water. I always had my 1.5 liter bottle of Fiji water, which I had made it a point to drink that amount or even more per day to keep my body somewhat hydrated. I also learned to switch out junk food with healthier snacks (instead of eating potato chips, I would get a small amount of rice cakes, veggie chips, or an apple). In terms of exercise, I'm the type of person that hates doing cardio, so I decided to stick to my plan of weight and strength conditioning. I would hit the weights that was set up in the garage of my house and did several sets of 15 reps of various exercises for 4x/week. I did this "normal" diet for a 2 week period, and the ending result was losing about 2 pounds and keeping my sanity <-- LOL. In the case of extreme versus normal dieting, the normal is definitely the way to go. Extreme dieting would greatly affect an individual both physically and psychologically (did I mention it's stupid to resort to such a thing!?). If someone wanted to lose weight, I would definitely recommend that they do research on healthy alternatives for food and a good exercise regimen. You can always increase the changes in the diet and exercise program as you go along. As the countdown is winding down for the possible burritozilla attempt, I have looked at several different training methods and diets, but you'll just have to wait and see in the next few weeks if I decide do this attempt as an amateur. 'Til then folks!