Calorie allowance of 1200?? Won't I go into starvation mode?

dawn01

StaciMarie1974 wrote: »

Once upon a time I used a different site, and it gave a range rather than a fixed #. The lowest possible range for a woman was 1200-1500. Seemed reasonable, except I always aimed for the low side and felt guilty for going to the high side. 1200 was just not reasonable for me, in terms of something I could do for a while. And if you're needing to lose 50-60+ pounds, you need something reasonable you can stick with.

So I manually tried 1400-1600 and found I was much happier here. And based on my size, age, etc. and activity level: could lose weight. I'm now in maintenance (lost ~55) and eat 1800-2000.

It can be helpful to have a few low calorie meals on hand for backup. For those days that are crazy, if you know what I mean. For me: 4-5 ounce of lean meat like chicken breast, some baked veggie (Cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini seasoned and sprayed w/ olive oil, baked with a little parmesan cheese) and a salad with light dressing. This can easily come in ~300 or less. And if you want to make it a little bulkier - try slicing 100g of sweet potato and baking it. Adds ~90 calories more. Very filling, for me at least. And sometimes having a low # for dinner helps for days I feel like snacking all afternoon!

I keep a couple of things in my freezer at all times. Walmart sells skinless salmon, in the seafood section. Each piece is 4-5 ounces and individually wrapped. With skin removed - its about 25 calories/ounce. And Perdue sells (all major grocery stores) packs of chicken breast (plain or Italian seasoning) also individually trimmed and packed. 4-5 ounces also, 120 or so calories per breast. They're easy to take out 1-2 (whatever you need), season & bake. Other stores probably sell similar on the salmon, and other fish types (tilapia is another good one) but Walmart for me tends to be the best $ on it.

Excellent post. Thank you. I have filled my freezer with white meats and fish. Good idea. Really helpful post and thank u. I like you post so much I am going to send you a friend request. I have got a cal allowance of 1700 and loosing weight. Well chuffed. Thanks for advice.

sh3llbell

I find 1200 too restrictive to follow every day. Have checked on other apps and for 5'7" and 155 lbs wanting to lsoe 1 lb/week it is more like 1400-1500 which is more reasonable...
Also looking for friends but not sure how to add any ??

DanaHerro

Hi Dawn,

Each of us is different and starting at a different weight, so here's the method used by a gazillion people here on MyFitnessPal to lose weight that worked for me through my journey.

It's the TDEE minus 20% method:

GO TO:
www.fat2fitradio.com
Go to the BMR Calculator and then make sure that you enter your CURRENT and GOAL weight as the same- DO NOT ENTER AN ACTUAL GOAL WEIGHT, as you will redo this calculation every 5# you lose
Once you enter the info (leave your body fat % blank if you don't know it) then you will get a little thing that looks like this:

Custom BMR Calculation

Entered information: 37 year old female, 65 inches tall, weighing 154 pounds.

From the information that you entered, you'd like to weigh 154 lbs.
Harris-Benedict Formula

There are a few different methods to calculating yourbasal metabolic rate (BMR). One of the most popular, developed in the early 1900's is called the Harris-Benedict formula. Based on this formula, your current BMR is 1457 calories.
How Many Calories Should I Eat?

Based on your goal weight, the following chart was generated. The chart shows the number of calories that you should eat on a daily basis to reach your goal weight. At Fat 2 Fit Tools we advocate eating like the thin, healthy person that you want to become. The calorie levels you see in the chart are not extreme, but they do create that all important caloric deficit that is required to get you to your goal weight in a safe manner. Once you reach your goal weight, you will continue eating the same number of calories for the rest of your life to maintain that weight. You'll never be on a diet again.

Based on how much activity you do on an average day, the calories in the right column will be the number of calories that you will be able to eat at your goal weight. If you start eating those calories right now (eating like the thinner you), you will eventually become that thinner person. As you get closer to your goal weight, your weight loss will start to slow down. It is OK to eat a few hundred calories less per day (200-300) to speed up your weight loss at this point.
Activity Level Daily Calories
Sedentary (little or no exercise, desk job) 1748
Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk) 2003
Moderately Active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk) 2258
Very Active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk) 2513
Extremely Active (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.) 2768

This is my info as of today.
So my BMR is 1457. If I eat below that, I'm gonna put my body in starvation mode because it's gonna think I'm in a coma.

Since I work out 6-7 days a week and I regularly lift heavy weights, I look at the number's between light and moderately active. There's my 2000-2200 calories a day that I can eat and MAINTAIN.

Since you're looking to drop 10# or MORE, I would look at the numbers between sedentary and light.

For anyone to LOSE weight, you just have to eat LESS than your maintenance number When I first started at 220#, I ate 20% less per day and dropped an average of about a pound a week.
As I got closer to goal with 10-15# left to lose? I had to reduce the deficit to about 10% less or I kept hitting plateaus. For me, plateaus meant I needed to eat MORE to boost my metabolism, NOT less.
So right now, for me to lose weight, I need to eat between 1602-1806/day. That's 20% less than my 2 numbers up there. I could probably eat even 1900/day and still CONSISTENTLY lose 1/2lb a week.

If you need any help with this, YELL!! Based on your stats that you gave, I would eat about 15-20% less than your TDEE to start based on the sedentary number. That gives you between and 1584-1683/day
Good luck!

PS: You DO NOT eat back your exercise calories with this method unless you work out SO much that you aren't NETTING 1200/day. I highly doubt that applies to you yet, but it will once you start dropping a ton and being crazy active with your new body Like for example, the days I run 10+ miles, I cannot just eat my TDEE. I'd never net 1200 I have to eat like 3000 calories those days

sh3llbell

Thanks DanaHerro. Am more comfortable with what I calculated from your post ..

hearthwood

There's no avoiding getting hungry. Once your body and mind get used to consuming less calories the constant hunger pangs will stop. The fit girls remedy a tablespoon all natural peanut butter will cure the hunter. Good Luck!

vixtris

Just here to say, lovin' dawn01's display picture. lol.

Ang108

myfatass78 wrote: »

There is not really such a thing as starvation mode. 1200 calories will eventually wear down your immune system as you cannot get enough vitamins and nutrients with calories that low. You will end up sick and in bed and generally feel like crap.

While I am not a supporter of a 1200 calorie diet for women five feet or more ( which is more than 90% of the population of most Western countries ), I have to say that it is not true that one cannot get enough nutrition in terms of macros and micros on such a diet. It just takes a lot of good information, dedication, planning and patience to do, because there is no margin to speak of for non-nutritious foods.
I eat 1200 calories ( because I am almost 70 and under 5 feet tall) and have no problems getting all that I need by eating all natural foods that are minimally processed ( like grain that is ground into flour, or cabbage that is pickled into sauerkraut ).....but as I said, there is no space for what other MFPers might consider " cheat meal/day " food. It does not bother me, because I have eaten this way for 50 plus years ( just for about 10 years; during and after menopause...too much of it ).
It can be done on 1200 calories, but it's not always easy for the average person, plus it's absolutely not necessary for people of normal/average height and also depending on age, activity level, general health and several other factors.
I don't understand why anyone would eat 1200 calories, unless it is really necessary for general health, or, as in my case, because age and height do not permit more calories unless I want to maintain or gain. But since due to two autoimmune diseases ( RA & active systemic Lupus ) and a difficult menopause I started to eat more than I should have, I now have to get rid of the extra weight. So far I have lost 55 pounds in two years ( aiming for about .5 pound a week ) and still have a bit to go.
I also think that a relatively healthy women of resonable age should not go for more than a 1 pound weekly weight loss for the reasons we all are probably aware of.