This article is specifically targeted at dieters using or planning to use a very low calorie diet in an attempt to lose more than the so-called 'standard' MAXIMUM fat loss of ±1 kilogram/±2 pounds per week. You CAN lose more than that without ruining your metabolism, regardless of what the 'experts' say.

Most people severely cut calories when they try to lose weight, and it is difficult to prevent them from using that approach, so we'll work with that.

Very low calorie dieting does not need to be a bad thing though. For one, done correctly, it causes rapid loss of belly and visceral fat - the fat around the organs - and therefore indirectly reduces the risk of heart disease, metabolic syndrome and diabetes.

That said, specific precautions have to be taken to ensure maximum fat loss and maximum muscle tissue retention. The 5 most important things that one can do while on a very low calorie diet are:

1. Eat enough protein

If you're going to eat very few calories, then you must ensure that a large portion of that calories comes from protein. It is now well known that higher protein, lower carbohydrate diets actually cause a greater loss in FAT, even though the WEIGHT loss may be the same on a higher carbohydrate diet. I advise eating SOLID protein when calories are low, since it is more satisfying and digestion requires a bit more calories than with liquid protein sources.

2. Diet 3 days on 1 day off

We all know that low calorie diets cause a metabolism crash. EVENTUALLY. Why wait until that happens? Every fourth day, eat more healthy calories, a bit more carbohydrates, and a LOT of protein - solid and liquid. Also, eat 6-7 smaller meals on those 'off days'. Not only will you prevent your metabolism from crashing, but it will also be accelerated and ready for the next 3 days of low calorie eating.

Why would fat loss stop now?

3. Strength training

A scientific study showed that subjects that were on extremely low calorie diets (only 800 calories), but did strength training as opposed to traditional 'cardio', actually gained muscle tissue. Those subjects also lost a significant amount of fat.

While that does show that resistance exercise is far more important that cardio while cutting calories severely, that is not the tip I'd like to leave here.

The tip is to LIMIT both the FREQUENCY and the DURATION of your strength workouts, since they can just as easily have a negative effect. Your body has a limited recovery ability while you're severely restricting calories, and doing too much will cause muscle loss, thus ruining your metabolism.

I recommend at most 20 minutes of resistance exercise and only 3 times a week. It may seem too little, but the aim is to PRESERVE muscle tissue - any muscle gained is just a bonus.

4. Discard aerobics in favor of interval training

Yes, aerobic exercise burns more fat while you're doing it, but interval training keeps your metabolism burning more calories even while you're resting. Also, a bigger percentage of weight loss from interval training is due to fat loss than with aerobic exercise, so again muscle is spared.

As with weight training, limit the duration to 20 minutes, three times a week.

5. Combine strength and cardio sessions

The most important benefit of doing this is that you end up with 4 days a week where you're doing very little exercise. This gives your body time to recuperate, and keeps your endocrine (hormonal) system working optimally, thereby ensuring that muscle is spared and fat is burned as fast as possible.

Don't worry, both types of exercise has you burning calories for up to 46 hours - even while you sleep! The low calories will have you dropping weight anyway.

So, you CAN lose fat much faster than the 'diet gurus' say you can. Just do it smartly. Besides, if you have a lot of weight to lose, why would you even be happy with only 2 pounds a week?