Former “Produce 48” Star Takeuchi Miyu Opens Up About Her “Super Extreme” Trainee Diet

Over a decade ago, 25-year-old Takeuchi Miyu debuted in the J-Pop supergroup AKB48, but you may know her better from Mnet‘s Produce 48—the survival show that created IZ*ONE. After ranking 17th on the show and leaving AKB48 to join Mystic Story as a trainee, Miyu became one of the most highly anticipated upcoming K-Pop stars. However, sadly for fans, she departed the company back in May.

Now, on her YouTube channel MiyuTube, Takeuchi Miyu is opening up about her time as a K-Pop trainee—including the extreme diet she followed.

In order to organize her life as a K-Pop trainee under Mystic Story, Takeuchi Miyu reveals she wrote to-do lists every day. Alongside scheduling tasks like breathing exercises, dance practice, and music analysis, she also noted down how many calories she was aiming to eat each day—and the numbers are shockingly low.

“It’s super extreme,” she confessed, showing viewers how she wrote down daily intake amounts of just 300, 400, and 500 calories. For reference, with Miyu’s measurements (156cm and 42.5kg) and vigorous activity level as a trainee, she should have been eating 2,100 calories per day to maintain her weight according to Mayo Clinic.

Miyu went on to reveal that alongside her to-do lists, she also kept a diet notebook, though she’s since thrown it away. “I guess you could say dieting was a necessity,” says Miyu, explaining that she dieted all year round as a trainee because she always “had to look good.” As such, her diet notebook helped her keep on top of eating a restricted amount.

Taking the process very seriously, the former trainee says she calculated her daily calorie intake based on her current body weight and the amount she wanted to weigh within the next 30 days. “By taking notes and drawing graphs,” she explains, “I was able to visualize the daily change in my body weight.”

She also planned out the exact meals she’d eat, particularly in order to “shape” her body before photoshoots. Her weekly foods included pork (specifically Boston butt), sweet potatoes, eggs, rice, and salad.

Shockingly, at her most extreme, Miyu confesses she would lose 4kg in a week. However, she went on to admit that she “would definitely rebound and even take a hit mentally,” so she did her best to limit her weight loss to a realistic level. While she says she can’t recommend eating such restrictive meals, she does still think a diet notebook can be a healthy way to keep on top of weight loss.

Former “Produce 48” Star Takeuchi Miyu Reveals Her Grueling K-Pop Trainee Schedule