1200 Calorie People..How do you do it and stick with it?

MKEgal

If you are feeling hungry all the time on any diet.... it's not the diet for you.

This.

I'm currently trying to find the best calorie intake for me to lose weight and not feel hungry all the time.
The times where I stick to 1200 are hard but they sure do work for weight loss!

I did a blog post about setting goals:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/MKEgal/view/2014-06-08-setting-goals-667045

Start by deciding on a healthy goal weight. Here's a BMI chart: http://www.shapeup.org/bmi/bmi6.pdf
Multiply that by 10 to get calories. That's total calories, not net.
Ignore net, ignore exercise. (This is what my doctor & dietician told me.)
As you lose weight, you'll eventually plateau, and then you drop another 50 calories.
Don't go under 1200 unless you're very short or your doctor is monitoring you.

The closer you get to your goal weight, the slower you should lose weight.
Here are a couple of useful threads:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets

As a rule of thumb, the following weekly targets would give a balance between minimizing these negative side effects and seeing a reasonable weekly weight loss:
More than 75 lbs: 2 lbs/week
40-75 lbs: 1.5 lbs/week
10-40 lbs: 1 lb/week
Less than 10 lbs: 0.5 lb/week

MKEgal

when she WAS exercising and eating 1200 calories, the weight wouldnt come off, because it was too much of a deficit...
I don't want my body to be deprived to the point it can't burn the calories, but must hold on to them

That makes absolutely no sense.
If you eat fewer calories than your body burns, you will lose weight.

I usually eat between 800 and 1200 (please don't ***** at me about it, I don't judge your weight loss choices, don't judge mine).

Unless you're very short, that is an unhealthy low amount to be eating.
Since you're also exercising a lot, it's a very unhealthy low amount.
That's what medical science says, it's not people judging you.

I've lost 13lbs in 3.5 weeks so I'm obviously doing something right

Again, that's an unhealthy rate of weight loss unless you're starting out very fat, having a couple hundred lb to lose.
And this is unhealthy no matter what:

My hubby has lost 50 pounds in 1 1/2 months and I am down about 25 in a month

Same here:

I am also at a 1200 per day calorie intake and for the most part, I stick to it. Someday's (sic) I go over but not by much.
I exercise 4-5 times a week for about 90 minutes a day so I'm burning a little over 1,000 every day

lemonsurprise

For some odd reason, 1200 a day does work for me. I've been doing it a month so far and it's fine for me. I've had the odd days where I go over if I go out for a birthday meal/drink but other than that, I really don't need anymore. To watch me for a day you wouldn't think I'm on a "diet". I've only told one friend what I'm doing but the others haven't noticed anything different in my eating. I still eat huge meals but it's all veg, soya, nuts etc
BUT, a big factor is I don't exercise. I literally do nothing other than getting my steps in so my calories will have to go up when I start.

DorseyJ618

I know other people have said this, but it's really what works for you. I've tried 1200 and I don't lose. I will lose at first, but then I plateau SO quick. Even if I eat back the calories burned, it's just not enough for my body. My base is 1500 and I eat back what I burn. On workout days, I eat around 1800 and on off days I try to stay under 1500. My weight loss at this rate is about .5-1 a week. It seems like such a small amount, but I never feel like I'm starving. Keep tweeking until you reach the place where you feel most comfortable