Most people tune in to a weight-loss reality show where they see other people setting on their weight loss journey. Dr. Nowzaradan, the man heading this weight loss program does not immediately prescribe surgery for the patients. Firstly, he makes them follow his diet.
If the diet does not work for them, he then goes on to suggest surgery. Now, the thing about this show is that it is very popular and a lot of people watch it to get inspiration or see other people get to their desired shape. The show has introduced the audience to the Dr Nowzaradan Diet, which is a low-calorie diet.
The crux of dr nowzaradan’s diet is that you do not eat more than 1200 calories a day and that’s the method used by the doctor to make you lose weight. But is this diet effective? Should you be living on such low calories and how does it help you lose weight? Let’s discuss all of these things in detail.
What is Dr Nowzaradan Diet:

The Dr Nowzaradan Diet is a low-calorie diet in which you are only allowed to eat 1200 calories every day. While this might be okay for some people, it isn’t the case for everyone. Depending on your current body weight, your body will have different calorie needs. If you’re an obese person, you will need more calories to sustain your body.
Now’s diet plan makes you losing weight by not letting you eat all the calories that you need. The diet does not allow you to eat certain foods, such as candy, cake, cookies, frozen yogurts, chocolate milk, puddings, chocolate, and crackers.
Basically, you are not allowed to eat nutritious foods that are rich in calories because they will throw you off your weight loss journey.
Along with these snacks, you also have to avoid snacks that are generally considered healthy. This means that you cannot even eat sunflower seeds, peanuts, popcorn, or almonds. Now’s diet plan does not exactly come with a guide explaining that you have to avoid certain foods but it’s mainly to lower your calorie intake.
Mainly, the aim of this diet plan is to keep you away from high-carb foods, such as french fries, white rice, cereals, noodles, mashed potatoes, and potato chips. So, you just have to eat low-calorie and low carb foods when you are following the dr nowzaradan’s diet.
How to Follow It?
The acronym “FAT” is used in Dr Now’s book to illustrate the three fundamental components of his eating approach:
Frequency.
This relates to how frequently you consume food. Dr Now suggests eating two to three meals a day, with no snacking.
Amount.
This refers to the recommended calorie intake. He recommends limiting calorie consumption to 1,200 calories or fewer a day, split evenly — 400 calories three times a day, or 600 calories twice a day.
Type.
The foods you consume are also significant. He recommends avoiding sweets and eating low-fat, low-carb foods while upping each meal’s protein and fibre composition. Protein and fibre might help you fill up on less food.
Dr Now recommends making a list of your favourite foods before eliminating all sugary, high-fat, and high-calorie items.
What’s left should be a regular component of your daily meals while you’re on the Dr Now programme to stick to it.
He also recommends eating minimally processed foods in modest quantities to assist achieve calorie restriction.
This diet is meant to be used for a month or two in bariatric surgery, so don’t stick with it for more than that.
While on this regimen, make sure you’re under medical care.
Dr Now suggests eating 1,200 calories each day, spread out across two or three meals. Snacks and sugary, high-calorie, high-fat meals are not permitted on the programme. Dr Now recommends increasing your protein and fibre intake.
Can You Eat Sugar?
No, the Dr Nowzaradan Diet plan does not allow you to eat sugar or sugary foods. You must minimize your sugar consumption because it can ruin your whole weight loss journey. The only kind of sugar that you can eat is artificial sweeteners, like sucralose.
Is Dr Nowzaradan Diet Safe?
Now, this is an important question because your health is more important than you shedding off weight from your body. On the whole, this diet plan is not all that helpful due to the following reasons:
- First off, there have not been many research investigations to prove that such a diet plan works for rapid weight loss.
- People who have used the diet claim that the weight comes back quickly after they stop doing the diet.
- On top of that, dr nowzaradan’s diet plan does not let you eat the sufficient number of calories that your body needs. As a result, you will always have hunger pangs and feel irritable. Additionally, you are likely to experience headaches and other problems that occur due to hunger.
But what else can you do? Is there an alternative that you can use instead of the dr nowzaradan’s diet? Yes, there is.
Foods to Consume and Stay Away From

While on the Dr Now Diet, the following lists outline things to consume on Dr. Now’s Diet.
Consumables
- Dr Now’s diet plan enables these items and others that are high in fibre and protein, low in fat, and sugar-free.
- Egg whites, lean cuts of meat, chicken breast, turkey breast, beans, tofu, and fish are all good lean protein sources.
- Cooking oils and fats: cooking spray, tiny quantities of oil
- All entire fruits, excluding watermelon, cantaloupe, banana, and mango, have lower sugar content.
- Almost all veggies, except potatoes
- Flax seeds, chia seeds, and other nuts and seeds
- Nonfat dairy products include basic nonfat yoghurt and skim milk.
- Wheat bread, wheat or corn tortillas, and whole-wheat pasta (in moderation) are all whole-grain carbohydrates.
- Sweeteners without calories
Avoid these Foods.
Dr. now offers a list of things to avoid on a diet to his bariatric surgery patients. Foods like cookies and French fries are on the list, but some surprises are also oatmeal, popcorn, and peanuts.
Oatmeal has a lot of carbohydrates, popcorn has a lot of fat, and peanuts have a lot of calories and are simple to eat too much.
Dr Now’s diet plan includes the following items to avoid:
- High carbohydrate or sweet protein drinks, high-fat meats, processed meats (such as hot dogs, bacon, and sausage), battered and fried meats (like fried chicken), and eggs are also good protein sources.
- Some oils and fats: vegetable oils, butter, olive oil
- Fruit juices, fruit canned in syrup, and fruits with greater natural sugar are all rich in sugar (watermelon, cantaloupe, banana, and mango)
- French fries are among the potatoes.
- Peanut butter, peanuts, almonds, cashews, pistachios, and sunflower seeds are among the most common nuts and seeds.
- Sweetened yoghurt, sorbet, ice cream, milkshakes, chocolate milk, and full-fat cheese are all fat and sweetened dairy products.
- Crackers, chips, popcorn, white rice, brown rice, waffles & pancakes, white bread, spaghetti, and other refined carbohydrates
- Cookies, candies, cakes and pastries, ice cream, honey, and syrup are sugar-containing treats.
Eggs, olive oil, almonds, and seeds, according to Dr Now, should be avoided owing to their high-calorie content.
Dr Now also recommends minimising whole-wheat bread and other whole-grain carbohydrates while they aren’t eliminated from the diet.
Dr Now recommends a high protein, high fibre, low calorie, low fat, and sugar-free meals on his diet plan. Oatmeal, olive oil, almonds, and eggs are all banned from the diet due to their high-calorie content.
You can also look for the keto diet if you want shed some extra fats.
Benefits:
Dr Nowzaradan Diet seems to have helped many people with weight loss. In fact, many reviewers are saying that this diet plan is the best thing they did for weight loss. Here are some of the benefits of this diet plan:
Low Sugar Intake
Often, when people go on a diet plan, they are unable to control their urges, which is why they often end up eating habits that they are not supposed to eat. However, the Dr Nowzaradan Diet makes sure that you do not eat a lot of carbs or other sources of sugar. This helps you in many ways.
- For one, it reduces the levels of cholesterol in the body. If the cholesterol levels are too high, they can clog your arteries and result in a stroke. Research shows that if you consume too much sugar, it lowers your level of good cholesterol and increases the level of high cholesterol. If you reduce your sugar intake, the cholesterol levels are balanced in the body.
- Secondly, a lower intake of sugar also boosts your heart health. If you increase the sugar intake, it increases the level of triglycerides in the body and they can clog your vascular system. With a higher level of triglyceride in your body, your risk of heart attack or stroke is also higher.
- This also a good habit that you take fewer sugar food, you will also have better teeth. Eating too many sugary foods can make your teeth go bad. It also weakens your teeth. However, the dr nowzaradan’s diet plan makes sure that you do not eat too much sugar. In this way, it helps ensure your teeth health.
- Eating fewer sugars is also good for maintaining weight. If you intake too many sugars, they increase the carb content in your body. Thus, you put on weight. If you lower your carb intake through the dr nowzaradan’s diet plan, you will be able to lose the weight you have put on.
Calorie Deficit
One of the best ways to lose weight is to try calorie deficit. Often, people try to lose weight through exercise but it does not work for them. That is because exercise alone cannot help you lose weight. You also have to lower your intake of food.
A calorie deficit means reducing the number of calories you eat every day. Normally, you should be eating 2000 to 2200 calories each day. But if you want to losing weight, you should eat less than you normally do.
If you intake fewer calories, your body will start using the fats that are readily present in your body. In this way, it will break down the fat deposits, making you lose weight from your abdominal regions and other stubborn parts of the body. This is quite important in terms of losing the inches off your waist.
Simple to Follow
Normally, people tend to follow diets that are too restrictive or are difficult to follow. However, the dr nowzaradan’s diet plan is not that hard to follow since it comes with simple guidelines. Also, you do not have to prepare any specific recipes since you can just eat whatever you have as long as you are not eating more than 1200 calories in a day.
People who have not followed a diet plan before can also benefit from the dr nowzaradan’s diet plan. If it is your first time following a diet, you can use this diet to lose weight.
Downsides
The Dr Now Diet plan is not a smart choice except for people who need to lose weight for a safe procedure.
For most individuals, the 1,200 calorie diet restriction is too tight and unsustainable.
Long-term excessive calorie restriction may make losing weight more difficult.
Your body adjusts to calorie restriction by decreasing your metabolic rate, resulting in fewer calories being burned. Low-calorie diets may alter your appetite hormones, making you feel more hungry than usual. Because of these metabolic alterations, many of these diets result in rebound weight gain, according to research. As a result, if your aim is long-term weight loss, this and other crash diets aren’t a suitable fit.
Furthermore, even if a diet is high in nutrient-dense fruits and vegetables, very low-calorie diets typically supply insufficient nutrients.
One research found that a 1,200-calorie, high-protein, low-carb diet — similar to the one Dr Now advocates — was deficient in thiamine, vitamin D, vitamin E, calcium, magnesium, and potassium.
While these gaps may not pose immediate health hazards, they might cause issues in people who stick to the diet longer than a few weeks.
Restrictive diets also affect the gut microbiota, the good bacteria that live in your large intestine.
It’s critical to have a healthy mix of gut flora for good health and digestion. On the other hand, restrictive diets may lower the overall number and the range of bacteria present.
Finally, if you have any medical concerns or are taking medications, you should seek medical advice before attempting the Dr Now Diet. If you want to attempt this diet, talk to a doctor beforehand.
Most people will not benefit from Dr Now’s diet regimen. It’s only appropriate in particular circumstances, such as before weight loss surgery. It’s restricting and unsustainable, and you shouldn’t do it without medical advice.
Does a 1200-Calorie Diet Plan Like Dr Nowzaradan Diet Help?

One of the best ways to lose weight is through a calorie deficit. According to experts, you should cut 500 to 700 calories from your diet plan if you want to lose weight. You should cut down too many calories as it will have negative effects on your body.
Studies have shown that if you follow a 1200-calorie diet, it will help you lose weight. In a study with 2,093 subjects, it was seen that a 1200-calorie diet helped the participants lose up to 4.7% of body weight in just 12 months.
However, there are studies that have shown that people who lose weight through a 1200-calorie diet lose a lot of weight initially. But in the long run, these people regain the weight they have lost.
In another commercial weight loss study, it was seen that people who followed this diet plan lost weight in three months. However, they regained their weight in just nine months after losing all this weight.
So, if you want to maintain the benefits of dr nowzaradan’s diet, you should follow it in the long term. Otherwise, you might see weight regain after losing weight through such an extensive diet plan.
If you want to try a 1200-calorie diet, you should talk to your healthcare provider in case you have any chronic condition or are on some sort of prescription medicine.
Alternative to Dr Nowzaradan Diet: Keto Diet Supplement

If you are not a huge fan of dr nowzaradan’s diet plan, you can use a keto diet plan supplement instead since it will be a safer and better solution for your needs.
A keto diet supplement will put you into ketosis as a result of which you will be able to lose weight quickly. Moreover, such supplements are easily present so you can buy them without a worry.
More importantly, you do not have to make drastic changes to your daily routine or diet plan when you are using a keto diet supplement.
Pros & Cons of a Keto Diet Supplement
Bottom Line: Is Dr Nowzaradan Diet Worth It?
The main goal of Dr. Now’s diet is to lose weight by restricting calorie intake. Although everyone can follow this diet plan, overweight or obese people who want to reduce weight should do so. Dr. Nowzaradan recommends a rigorous 1200 calorie diet as part of this weight loss strategy.
The main thing is to consume fewer calories and maintain a balanced diet. One can lose weight quickly by adhering to Dr. Nowzaradan’s stringent nutritional recommendations. This low calorie diet plan focuses on eating foods that are high in protein, low in fat, low in carbohydrates, and high in vitamins to help your body get the nutrition it needs to be healthy.
Weight loss is one of this diet plan’s main advantages. The pre surgery weight loss regimen is the primary focus of Dr. Now’s nutrition plan. It is intended to help people reduce weight before having bariatric surgery or another procedure of a similar nature. It is advised that you don’t start the diet until you consult with your doctor. Instead, think about implementing incremental lifestyle adjustments that lead to long lasting weight loss.
Additional Resources
- What is the Diet Plan for My 600 Pound Life?
- Green Fast Keto
- How Does the Keto Diet Work?
- Keto Craze Diet
- Keto Health Diet
Frequently Asked Questions
Many studies prove that adopting a low calorie diet can help you lose weight effectively. a 1200 calorie diet is best for losing weight quickly. For instance, a study of 2093 obese individuals found that a 1200 calorie meal replacement plan led to an average fat reduction of 4.7% over the course of 12 months.
As we have already discussed above, the Dr Nowzaradan Diet is not very safe and it has been misrepresented by the media.
If you want to lose weight without having to make huge changes in the way you eat or live, then you should use a keto diet supplement rather than following the Dr Nowzaradan Diet. it will surely help you lose weight faster.
Yes, you can lose weight by eating fewer calories than you normally do in a day. It will help you lose weight quickly since you are not eating enough calories. Thus, your body will use the reserved fats to produce energy. However, some studies show that people who lose weight through these diets tend to gain them back.
You should at least eat 1200 calories in a day to stay healthy. If you eat any fewer calories, you will notice negative effects in your body since it will lead to lower energy levels. However, if you workout extensively or have more physical activity, you should eat more than 1200 calories in a day.
If you currently weigh 250 pounds and you start eating 1200 calories a day, you will lose up to five pounds every week. The metabolic rate of everyone’s body is different so some people might lose faster than others. Therefore, you should not compare your progress to other people and should instead focus on losing weight in your own capacity.
On a 1200 calorie diet, your total exchange menu is: 5 starch exchanges, 2 fruit exchanges, 2 milk exchanges, 3 non vegetable exchanges, 5 meat exchanges, and 4 fat exchanges. This is a meal plan for a 1200 calories diet.