What is the female obsession with a 1200 calorie diet?

Valtishia

I think its because 1200 is the minimum that is recommended.... and people just assume because its the minimum, that is the number where they get the best results. This is not always the case though.

Graelwyn75

Good luck to the 1200 brigade, I am quite content to workout and consume 2200-3000 calories a day, and in truth, even without being really active, most females, unless over a particular age, can maintain on between 1700-1800 calories. I find it laughable when I see people eating 1000-1200 calories. Ridiculous. And many of them will end up crawling back here with their tails between their legs, having regained the weight, or hit a plateau or gone on a massive weeks long binge. That and many lose a good amount of lean mass and end up looking crap anyway, then have to work hard to get where they want to be, mirrorwise.

lithezebra

now who DIDN'T select 2 pounds per week? Anyone?

I didn't. I want to lose it slowly because all the times I tried to do it fast in the past, I burned out and gave up. 30 lbs and 1.5 years later, I'm still going strong.

Why do you think everyone went for 2 lbs a week?

I didn't select 2 pounds per week. I was happy the way I was, only wanted to lose 5 pounds anyway, and eating 1200 calories a day was only a 0.8 pound per week loss. I opted for a long, slow, fat loss, combined with building muscle. Actually, I let myself eat at maintenance any time I felt tired or had an exam, which slowed my weight loss down a little more.

Now I'm at 0 pounds per week.

kuuhristin

I try to AT LEAST eat 1200 calories keeping as close as possible, and then up to half of whatever I burn with exercise.

bostonwolf

What obsession? 1200 is what MFP recommends for anyone who is trying to lose weight fairly aggressively. Some people, including smaller women, can't eat much over 1200 and lose weight unless they're exercising like an elite athlete. It simply is not true that dragging out weight loss is desirable or that people can't learn new habits over a fairly short period.

talk to the 97 lbs metacognition above who is eating 1900 to maintain, please.

toutmonpossible

What obsession? 1200 is what MFP recommends for anyone who is trying to lose weight fairly aggressively. Some people, including smaller women, can't eat much over 1200 and lose weight unless they're exercising like an elite athlete. It simply is not true that dragging out weight loss is desirable or that people can't learn new habits over a fairly short period.

talk to the 97 lbs metacognition above who is eating 1900 to maintain, please.

Everyone is different. A lot of people here seem to have problems losing weight. I've never been overweight, which I've achieved because I've adjusted my eating to my metabolism and circumstances of the time. I'm 101, 18% bf today and I could not eat 1900 calories regularly without gaining.

Is "metacognition" a typo? Otherwise, I have no idea what you're talking about.

m0jk

The diet i started and mfp gave me 1200 cal target.. for my height body frame cw and no exercise my body needs 1800 plus cals to sustain a healthy body function estimated i lose up to 2.2lb per week... i didnt request to lose 2.2lb per week and i dont see a problem with losing 6lb a week??? why is it too much?????

im new at this and this is the targets ive been given

Lochlyn_D

What is your obsession with degrading it?

FlaxMilk

What obsession? 1200 is what MFP recommends for anyone who is trying to lose weight fairly aggressively. Some people, including smaller women, can't eat much over 1200 and lose weight unless they're exercising like an elite athlete. It simply is not true that dragging out weight loss is desirable or that people can't learn new habits over a fairly short period.

talk to the 97 lbs metacognition above who is eating 1900 to maintain, please.

And if she wanted to lose 1 lb a week (not that she should), she would need eat around 1400, and if she didn't work out, probably 1200. There are many women who are not able or willing to be as active. Her health and fitness is probably better than their's. Should they not lose weight if they need to or want to and will still be healthy because they would rather do so through diet?

FlaxMilk

Good luck to the 1200 brigade, I am quite content to workout and consume 2200-3000 calories a day, and in truth, even without being really active, most females, unless over a particular age, can maintain on between 1700-1800 calories. I find it laughable when I see people eating 1000-1200 calories. Ridiculous. And many of them will end up crawling back here with their tails between their legs, having regained the weight, or hit a plateau or gone on a massive weeks long binge. That and many lose a good amount of lean mass and end up looking crap anyway, then have to work hard to get where they want to be, mirrorwise.

Many people trying to lose weight, regardless of calorie goal, will come crawling back with their tails between their legs, having regained weight, hit plateau, or gone on a massive week's long binge. The statistics for maintaining weight loss are terrible. The USA's problem is not that we are living diets of deprivation. People who gain too much weight may try 1200 for some time, but this isn't the cause of their obesity. When does the factor contributing to weight gain stop being that they ate at 1200 for a little while? When they re-gain five pounds? Ten? Fifty?

People here talk about that like it's fact, but they ignore the statistics for regain overall. The pool here (people who are fit and eat more) is pretty far from the average population. Yes, they eat more and exercise more and don't regain. Many of them are more motivated, for whatever reason, than the general public. Correlation does not equal causation. The homicide rate goes up with the ice cream consumption rate. Using MFP logic on the 1200 calorie debate, we should all avoid SarauK (sorry can't remember spelling), Johnnythan, and Magerum if we value our lives. But it's more likely that people manage their tempers less well in hotter weather.

Ashleyxjamie

Nope I don't worry because I know my TDEE right now at my current weight is 2600 calories, so I need to eat that much every day to MAINTAIN my weight. so I bump off 500 calories to lose one pound a week and it works for me. and it's easier to switch to maintenence without your body going into shock

without your body going into shock. :huh:

Yes, shock. You know, when your body is not used to so much calories and all of a sudden you switch to maintenance and dump like 1000 extra a day into yourself after being on a 1200 calorie diet for six months? you're supposed to gradually up your calories and with the TDEE method there is less transition when I eat 2000 calories a day and switch to 2500 to maintenance as opposed to eating 1200 a day and then eating 2500 a day for maintenance.

Eating 1000 extra calories per day will not send a body into shock.

that's your own opinion. But It makes sense that when something or someone has a drastic change all of a sudden there is shock. if your body is usedto eating 1200 and then all of a sudden you are eating almost double it will have a TON of extra energy and the body won't be used to burning it properly. Also, eating so little for MOST people slows down their metabolism a LOT so when they start eating extra calories their body doesn't burn it quick enough.

It's not an opinion. Provide one single example of someone going into shock by eating 1000 extra calories.

Slowing metabolism and extra energy =/= shock (much like capitalizing words =/= truth). Trauma causes shock. 1000 calories is not traumatic.

I don't mean that the you experience "SHOCK" like a traumatic event. I mean that the body does not process the extra calories and after being at such a high defecit it slows the metabolism and cannot burn the extra calories which can cause people to gain weight back quickly. I ate 1200 calories last year and lost a TON of weight and when I started eating normally again I gained back nearly 20 pounds because my metabolism was slowed down so much.. That's what I mean by shock. It's just the term used. did you even read the article that I posted before picking apart every post I am making?

toutmonpossible

Good luck to the 1200 brigade....

Thanks, we're doing quite well.

emtbabe543

If your weight is like mine-even one pound a week will set you at 1200

emtbabe543

:flowerforyou:

sophiegrace543

I've tried various amounts of calories over the past year and I've found that for my lifestyle, 1200 is the best way for me to lose weight.
I eat things with healthy amounts of fat, I try to up all of my calories and other nutrition so that I stay healthy. I also don't work out as often as some people here do which is another reason why 1200 works for me. The more exercise I do, the more I eat. I think that eating less healthy stuff is better than eating more unhealthy stuff which some people here do. I've seen some people who eat around 2000 calories who use claims that it's better to eat more calories an excuse to eat 2000 calories of crap because they're in denial and don't want to make the sacrifice. I'm definitely not saying that all people who eat higher amounts of calories do that, I know it's only a very small percentage of people, just in the same way that the people who eat 1200 calories of celery and peanut butter are only a small percentage of the people who believe that 1200 works best for them.
There's more than one way of losing weight and being healthy.
And trust me, if I fainted all the time, always felt hungry and didn't get results from eating this way, I WOULDN'T.

emtbabe543

What obsession? 1200 is what MFP recommends for anyone who is trying to lose weight fairly aggressively. Some people, including smaller women, can't eat much over 1200 and lose weight unless they're exercising like an elite athlete. It simply is not true that dragging out weight loss is desirable or that people can't learn new habits over a fairly short period.

talk to the 97 lbs metacognition above who is eating 1900 to maintain, please.

And if she wanted to lose 1 lb a week (not that she should), she would need eat around 1400, and if she didn't work out, probably 1200. There are many women who are not able or willing to be as active. Her health and fitness is probably better than their's. Should they not lose weight if they need to or want to and will still be healthy because they would rather do so through diet?

does this look like crap to you? Really? Nice thing to say to people who eat 1200 cals a day, have tons of muscle, and have vitals (I'm an emt) at 38 that would kick any 20 year olds butt.

ruthallie

I have been doing research on this as well. Mostly you should to loose weight eat 300-500 calories less a day, ok that is a given. But every person should find out how many they burn at Rest. I burn 1650 if I did notthing all day. So I would need to eat that much to maintain my weight. You have to eat less then that or BURN 300-500 calories extra to loose weight. For me I like my goal calories intake to be 1200, but I know if I am below 1600 and I have exercised then I have done well for the day.

Here is the formala if you are interested.

Women: 655+(4.35x weight lbs)+(4.7 x Height in Inches)-(4.7 x Age)= Daily Calories burned at Rest

Men: 66+(6.23 x weight lbs)+(12.7 x Height in Inches)-(6.8 x Age)= Daily Calories burned at Rest

As you can see a womens average is much smaller then mens... Hope that helps

BrieLP

For me personally it's not an obsession, I go through the spurts that I'm really really into working out and I eat 1400-1600 cals a day then i go through spurts where i just want to be lazy and not work out and that's when i eat 1200 calories as to not gain all the weight back.

I struggle with self-discipline on a daily basis. Working out is my least favorite thing to do and waking up early is my next least favorite thing to do. When i was working out, i was doing it at night; i would stay up later and be exhausted when i woke up in the morning. i am trying to train my body to do the opposite (wake up early/workout and got to bed early) My body just hates waking up so right now i'm working on trying to get my butt out of bed and i will eat 1200 calories in a day to keep from gaining weight but when i work out i eat a LOT!

bcattoes

Nope I don't worry because I know my TDEE right now at my current weight is 2600 calories, so I need to eat that much every day to MAINTAIN my weight. so I bump off 500 calories to lose one pound a week and it works for me. and it's easier to switch to maintenence without your body going into shock

without your body going into shock. :huh:

Yes, shock. You know, when your body is not used to so much calories and all of a sudden you switch to maintenance and dump like 1000 extra a day into yourself after being on a 1200 calorie diet for six months? you're supposed to gradually up your calories and with the TDEE method there is less transition when I eat 2000 calories a day and switch to 2500 to maintenance as opposed to eating 1200 a day and then eating 2500 a day for maintenance.

Eating 1000 extra calories per day will not send a body into shock.

that's your own opinion. But It makes sense that when something or someone has a drastic change all of a sudden there is shock. if your body is usedto eating 1200 and then all of a sudden you are eating almost double it will have a TON of extra energy and the body won't be used to burning it properly. Also, eating so little for MOST people slows down their metabolism a LOT so when they start eating extra calories their body doesn't burn it quick enough.

It's not an opinion. Provide one single example of someone going into shock by eating 1000 extra calories.

Slowing metabolism and extra energy =/= shock (much like capitalizing words =/= truth). Trauma causes shock. 1000 calories is not traumatic.

I don't mean that the you experience "SHOCK" like a traumatic event. I mean that the body does not process the extra calories and after being at such a high defecit it slows the metabolism and cannot burn the extra calories which can cause people to gain weight back quickly. I ate 1200 calories last year and lost a TON of weight and when I started eating normally again I gained back nearly 20 pounds because my metabolism was slowed down so much.. That's what I mean by shock. It's just the term used. did you even read the article that I posted before picking apart every post I am making?

You gained it back because you started eating above TDEE. Anyone that eats too much will gain weight. Had you sensibly upped your calories slowly while exercising you could have kept off the weight. If your body did not process the calories you would not gain weight, but I think you probably meant your body did not burn the calories. But burning calories isn't so hard either. Just move more.

I'm not saying everyone or anyone needs to eat 1200 calories to lose weight. But this notion that everyone that eats 1200 is damaging their body is simply not true.

Jennms85

Personally, being a mom and spending the majority of my days running my kids to baseball, soccer, and other school functions I find it hard to squeeze eating more than 1200 in anyways. I don't like to bulk up my calories at supper, try to keep my supper meal around 500. I try to log in the morning on my busy days so I ensure I bring almonds and other snacks to make my 1200 cal goal...bare minimum.