700 calories a DAY?...Won't I pass out or die??!!!

You may or may not be aware of the fact that I have a condition called PCOS.  To make a long story short, my body and hormones are all messed up.  The only way to fix this is to lose weight.  One of the symptoms of PCOS is that it's difficult to lose weight.  Talk about a vicious cycle...

In a prior post, I mentioned that my new doctor is basically awesome.  She specializes in PCOS and referred me to this other guy who specializes in weight loss when there are chemical/hormonal/metabolic factors at play.  I went to my first appointment last night and left feeling terrified and extremely hopeful all at once.  In order to achieve the kind of weight loss necessary, they're going to put me on a...Get this...700 calorie diet.  No, dear readers...not 700 calories a meal...700 calories for the whole day!

To put this into perspective, that's about the amount of calories in 2 plain 3oz. chicken breasts and a few veggies.  Clearly this is not enough to sustain a normal human being.  I almost passed out when I was told this.  I believe my exact words were "700 calories a day?  How do you not die?"  Under normal circumstances, a diet should be no lower than 1200 calories a day without medical supervision. 

That's where the good Doctor comes into the picture.  I have to do extensive lab work once every few weeks to make sure my body is reacting okay.  I also need to have an EKG done every time I lose 10 pounds to make sure my heart is dealing with rapid weight loss sufficiently.  They say if I do what they tell me, I will lose an average of 10 pounds a week.  This seems like a lot and it wasn't until I was told that I burn 1599 calories a day by just existing, that I understood how it was possible.  Literally, I burn almost 1600 calories at rest by breathing in and out.  It doesn't include walking, digesting, eating, chewing, typing, moving, blinking, etc. 

So this is what I have to do:  I won't be able to drink alcohol. (If you ask MG, that's like asking her not to breathe.)  I can only eat the food that they give me.  Basically I'll be consuming 100-150 calories every 2 to 3 hours while I'm awake.  In the mean time, if I find it too difficult to deal with after the first week, they're willing to prescribe me medication that will actually make it so that I have no desire to eat and certainly don't feel hungry. 

When I resigned from my last job, I worked out twice a day pretty much every day for 4 months and was on Weight Watchers and counting everything I ate and I only lost 17 pounds.  They're saying I'll hit that easily in 2 weeks.  That blows my mind.  Clearly this won't be "easy" but it's definitely exciting.  I'm worried about what kind of affect it'll have on my social life.  I mean, my idea of a night out is either going out to eat or going to a movie or going to the bar.  The movie is still doable...but I guess I'll be smuggling in a protein meal replacement shake.  Neat. 

The plan kicks into gear on 4/12/10.  This gives me enough time to get all the lab work done beforehand.  Until then, I'm pretending that I'm a prisoner on death row...headed for the gas chamber.  Every meal is a little like my last meal in some regard.  After the 12th, I'm hoping that the fact that I'm paying for all this out of pocket, coupled with the fact that I'll see results so quickly, will be enough to keep me motivated and on the straight and narrow.

That said, I have awesome friends and family who I know will be there to support me and help me through what I'm sure will be a difficult step in my road to a healthier me.  I wonder if my calorie intake and the number of rage blackouts I have are inversely related. 

Let's hope not!