Never thought I'd say that 1200 Calories seems like a lot

jls6462

Hello,

So I'm a college student that's not in terrible shape and my weight has stayed consistent, but I want to shed about 20 pounds to get back to my weight when I wrestled. Honestly, I'd be happy with getting to 130 which is only 10 lbs away. Anyways, I've been doing a lot of research, and it recommends 1200 Cal/day to lose. At college I live a pretty sedentary life, but I'm trying to fit workouts into my schedule to get my old athletic body toned. Recently, I've changed my diet and have been mainly eating whole foods, which really expands how much food I can eat because processed often contains more calories. Well this change has really surprised me because I've always LOVED food to where I could just keep going, but now that I'm on this path with whole foods, the 1200 recommended seems like a lot. Like I can eat about 800-1000 and feel comfortable and content. Should I be concerned? Should I push to eat more even though I feel full?

Does anyone else have this problem? I always thought that going so low would make me miserable and always hungry, but its the exact opposite!

Just115Pounds

I have that problem too. Today is the first time that I have eaten 1200 cals in like 3 weeks and I feel terrible...I usually eat around 900-1000 otherwise I feel extremely full e.e

segacs

Yes, you should aim to get at least 1200 calories (unless you fall into some pretty rare exception categories).

The good news is, if you feel full and satisfied on what you eat, you're very likely already eating that much. Did you check out this thread? community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10012907/logging-accuracy-consistency-and-youre-probably-eating-more-than-you-think/p1

jvt63

I am at 1200 calories too, doing whole foods only, and I can relate. Dinner was 3 ounces of fish, sautéed mushrooms, and 1/2 a sweet potato with a teaspoon of butter...I am full and don't understand it. Although I was just on the "Nutella = evil" thread and there is always room for Nutella.

rosebette

You might be OK with 1200 if you're sedentary, but once you start working out again, you'll start to feel hungry. You can get to 1200 by eating whole foods, but adding more healthy fats to your diet, such as nuts.

JAT74

If you add in things like oil to cooking or the odd snack it's easy to eat that amount. You can still eat whole food, just increase fats, spreads, milk in drinks etc.

If you're full maybe use things like protein shakes to increase calories a bit. I find they help me get in all the protein I need which can be hard otherwise.

CADAVER0USB0N3S

You could try adding more calories/fat into your diet without eating a whole lot more food by eating nuts, cooking in olive oil, avocados, peanut butter etc. You want to make sure you are hitting your macros too for protein/carbs/fat etc. Hope this helps

mom2ava07

I'm dealing with the same thing. I usually eat about 900-1000 a day. My appetite seems to have decreased dramatically since when I first started. I'm sure it can't be healthy to not at least reach 1200.

jls6462

PHEW I'm so happy I'm not the only one....I thought I was going crazy!!

I will try and add in more foods as I don't want my metabolism to drop as a result. Thanks guys. I have tons of almonds and what not, so those will make a great snack. Maybe even add in a yummy processed treat now and then I just don't want to encourage the scary little monster inside of me

segacs

Yeah, 100% "clean" eating usually isn't sustainable for very long. Ask yourself, "can I see eating this way for the rest of my life?" If not, give yourself a little more leeway.

ana3067

segacs wrote: »

Yeah, 100% "clean" eating usually isn't sustainable for very long. Ask yourself, "can I see eating this way for the rest of my life?" If not, give yourself a little more leeway.

Based on me, it lasts 4 years, off and on. With regular 15lb regain-loss cycles throughout.

Huzzah!

middlehaitch

Not sure of the terms 'whole' and 'clean', but I cook from scratch 80% of the time.
I have been 1200cal for years and find peanut butter on toast, tuna melts, a plate of fruit and nuts, cottage cheese, yogurt, and cheese and crackers are good things to help up the calories.
Of course a protein bar, protein shake, a glass of wine, or a chocolate bar will also fill calories.
Try your hardest to get to the 1200 and eat back about half your exercise calories.
Cheers , h.

Christine_72

Geez I wish I had your problem lol xx

jenglish712

Just115Pounds wrote: »

I have that problem too. Today is the first time that I have eaten 1200 cals in like 3 weeks and I feel terrible...I usually eat around 900-1000 otherwise I feel extremely full e.e

Between this, your young age, and you stating in another you r were aiming for around the lower end of your healthy BMI, some of this is worrisome. While losing 8 pounds since December 9th would not be that quick of a lost for someone overweight, you are likely already in healthy BMI range. I think at one point you said you were 5' 4" I don't know what all your TDEE and all that are, so I don't know how far below your TDEE 900 is. I may be reading too much into this but you are sending up some red flags.

Liftng4Lis

Add in nut butters, avocado, nuts. You really need to make sure you're getting all your nutrients.

higgins8283801

I am curious how so many of you can feel full eating only 900 calories?

No way would that work for me.

Christine_72

higgins8283801 wrote: »

I am curious how so many of you can feel full eating only 900 calories?

No way would that work for me.

Me neither. Something is definitely amiss here...

jenglish712

oh, theres a. few filling low cal foods I could eat to be full at 900... but it wouldnt happen by accident and I would get sick of celery, egg whites and baked pollack really fast. And theres no way I would feel great.

Aviva92

yes, i've had this problem for years now. certain foods just are way more filling and if i stay away from carbs, i tend to not eat enough. i wouldn't worry about your metabolism suffering. mine didn't. i just kept losing. i bottomed out at 101 a year and a half ago after not really logging for almost a year because i was at goal weight, but i probably still had the same habits i adopted when logging. gained up to 108, started logging again and now down to 102.8. probably too low though. i'm going to have to probably introduce more high calorie/non-filling foods into my diet.

this is a common issue on mfp.

jls6462

Before supper this evening I ate 2 servings of jalopenos, 2 of peperoncinis, and 1 serving of banana peppers, as a result I felt really full by the time I finished my full meal. Although this is definetly something I won't be able to keep up with, it just worked today because I had Mexican. But, I ate 500 Cal and felt full... I had to push to eat more... Luckily I love good and was happ to do so!

Also, what does that jail looking pic above mean?

Dnarules

jls6462 wrote: »

Before supper this evening I ate 2 servings of jalopenos, 2 of peperoncinis, and 1 serving of banana peppers, as a result I felt really full by the time I finished my full meal. Although this is definetly something I won't be able to keep up with, it just worked today because I had Mexican. But, I ate 500 Cal and felt full... I had to push to eat more... Luckily I love good and was happ to do so!

Also, what does that jail looking pic above mean?

It means she can't behave properly in the forums.

Aviva92

Dnarules wrote: »

jls6462 wrote: »

Before supper this evening I ate 2 servings of jalopenos, 2 of peperoncinis, and 1 serving of banana peppers, as a result I felt really full by the time I finished my full meal. Although this is definetly something I won't be able to keep up with, it just worked today because I had Mexican. But, I ate 500 Cal and felt full... I had to push to eat more... Luckily I love good and was happ to do so!

Also, what does that jail looking pic above mean?

It means she can't behave properly in the forums.

no, it means the forum just doesn't appreciate my awesomeness as much as it should.

kyta32

I find if I can stay to 1200 calories a day of nutritious food, I don't have issues with hunger either. A very helpful surprise.

There is a mechanism at around 800 calories a day intake that suppresses hunger. It can take a few days to kick in. Increased ketones from reliance on fat for energy can also suppress hunger. Eating more than 1000 calories a day regularly may help you feel hungry again.

It can be very difficult to meet your macros and micros at less than 1200 calories a day, and some may feel very deprived at this intake, even if they are not hungry. Just because you are not hungry does not mean you are not at risk of missing out on key nutrients. On days where you can't manage to eat up to 1200 calories, try to make every calorie nutrient dense. If you are worried about not getting up to 1200 calories, there are some very calorie dense (but nutritious) foods that can get you there, like nuts and avocados.

There are some medical conditions that affect appetite. If you are feeling lethargic or out-of sorts or are having any symptoms of malnutrition (slow healing, vulnerability to infections, dry, flaky skin, brittle nails, dry hair), you should really talk to your Dr.

Btw...MFP does not approve of anyone encouraging unhealthy eating patterns, and it considers eating under 1000 calories a day for a woman to be unhealthy...

BWBTrish

higgins8283801 wrote: »

I am curious how so many of you can feel full eating only 900 calories?

No way would that work for me.

to be fair i can.
I have sometimes that i feel full, but i wont give in to that.
I want to hit that 1200+ ( depends on my training calories i eat a 1/4 back)

So i wait an hour and eat an avocado or something else more dense like almonds. But i make sure i hit higher than 900 to 1000.

I eat a lot of fresh salads and veggies so it is pretty easy to fill up on that. But after dinner i feel full...so i walk the doggie a bit later and get my popcorn and almonds or advocado or dates or figs whatever does the job.
And normally i plan the day before so i know what i eat when i hit low i change it a bit by replacing the butter for olive oil, or skim milk for normal milk etc. Lots of ways to hit your goals.

My humble opinion is, i could stuff my face before ( i didn't grew the pounds on by breathing air) so now i can make my calorie goal too.

MysticRealm

higgins8283801 wrote: »

I am curious how so many of you can feel full eating only 900 calories?

No way would that work for me.

It's certainly NOTHING that I could stick with for any length of time (nor would I ever want to) but I have on very rare occasion had a day that was 900-1100 cals and I felt full. However those were days where I was super busy, maybe had a 300 cals lunch (I tend to eat a small lunch then have bigger suppers), then was crazy super busy all evening and only had a chance to sit down to eat at 9pm. Feeling hungry so I shovel food in as fast as possible eating a decent sized meal (usually with 'heavy' carbs) of 600-800 cals. I now feel full after eating and also still exhausted (which, when I get to 'that point' of exhaustion I often don't have an appetite especially so late at night), and it's only an hour before bed and I don't get hungry within that hour.
My usual cal goal is to average 1700 daily.

Aviva92

higgins8283801 wrote: »

I am curious how so many of you can feel full eating only 900 calories?

No way would that work for me.

oh yeah, only 900 calories is rare for me. maybe on a day that i'm completely sedentary i could see it, but those days are rare for me.

i can get full on 1200 sometimes though.

gmallan

Nothing that a bit of dark chocolate or some good cheese won't fix. As others have said there are plenty of healthy high calorie foods that you can use to get you up to your limit. The odd treat doesn't hurt you either

dunnodunno

higgins8283801 wrote: »

I am curious how so many of you can feel full eating only 900 calories?

No way would that work for me.

Some people who claim to eat that few calories (barring people dealing with eating disorders) usually are eating more than they think if they aren't measuring their food on a digital food scale.

spoonyspork

Yup. Found it weird when I started, still find it weird 200+ days and 50+ lbs lost later. Really obsessive about weighing and logging what I put in my face (right down to lettuce and spices), even on exercise days find it hard to net more than 1200-1300 (and on non-exercise days have a difficult time totaling 1200 at all. I've learned how of course, but could easily eat less. Just don't want to). Don't deny myself either (other than bread at the beginning, and now too much bread makes me feel too bloaty... so if I tried to eat lots of bread I'd end up with even fewer calories overall XD) so it's even more strange.

PeachyCarol

Yeah, we shorties just don't need that much to feel full. I'm fine on around that much too.

Just115Pounds

Good to know, mamapeach910. It didn't help me feel better with a lot of people bashing my calorie intake e.e