1200 calories a day for women
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I've been eating around 1200 a day for 100 days now. I am 5'3" and I am 52 years old. When I first started at a weight of 173 the weight just simply melted off. Once down 14 or so so pounds in just a few weeks, I added cardio at 30 minutes every other day and again, it melted off for a while. I then upped the cardio to 40 minutes every other day or swam laps for an hour. Weight was still coming off but slowing down. Now, I do 30 minutes of cardio every other day and do weight lifting. It is only coming off now at about a pound a week but I have lost 33 pounds and only have a max of 12 left to go. Most days, I am good. I have learned to eat mostly healthy things. I still have snacks once in a while but like 1 cookie or one big spoonful of icecream instead of a bowl or cup or scoop. I feel awesome. I haven't felt this good in years. But again, like others, I am short and kinda old and I believe that 1200 is right where I have to be to lose weight. Once I get to my goal I will add 200-300 calories and I will be in absolute heaven!!!!0
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I tried 1200 im 5'3 felt ill ,headaches ,bad skin, lank hair0
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Thanks for your response. I do both cardio and weights. I have lost inches. Although that also has come to a stop. Those haven't moved in at least 2 months. I do weigh my foods but I'm also guilty of eyeballing too. I'm just hungry. I'm at a loss now as to what to eat to keep me fuller but is low in calories. I love to eat! If I'm supposed to eat 1200 a day and I burn 400 in exercise(I use a heart rate monitor), should I eat the entire 400? MFP increases my calories when I log activity. I've never been more confused.
With the premiun account, you can tell MPF to not increase the calories when you log activity. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/my_goals/fitness
I've heard other people say they only log 50% of their activity.
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hollen_carol wrote: »I've been eating around 1200 a day for 100 days now. I am 5'3" and I am 52 years old. When I first started at a weight of 173 the weight just simply melted off. Once down 14 or so so pounds in just a few weeks, I added cardio at 30 minutes every other day and again, it melted off for a while. I then upped the cardio to 40 minutes every other day or swam laps for an hour. Weight was still coming off but slowing down. Now, I do 30 minutes of cardio every other day and do weight lifting. It is only coming off now at about a pound a week but I have lost 33 pounds and only have a max of 12 left to go. Most days, I am good. I have learned to eat mostly healthy things. I still have snacks once in a while but like 1 cookie or one big spoonful of icecream instead of a bowl or cup or scoop. I feel awesome. I haven't felt this good in years. But again, like others, I am short and kinda old and I believe that 1200 is right where I have to be to lose weight. Once I get to my goal I will add 200-300 calories and I will be in absolute heaven!!!!
I am 5'2" and 68 years old and was at 162 when I started this last weight loss journey. 1,200 calories is right for my height and age. I have to eat nutritious foods to make that work.
I do exercise about 300 or 400 calories extra most days and eat about half of them back on weekends (for my wine) and on special occasions. I have lost 31 lbs. 18 of it since Feb on MFP.
I am 1.6 lbs from goal weight and then I will add back a few cals weekly to see how many I can have on maintenance.
Probably not too many above 1,200. We'll see.0 -
Hi all, sorry this is a bit of a long one, and not really a response.
I'm struggling with this whole thing. Been on 1200 as prescribed by MFP for about a month. I want to go from 64.5 to 54. I realise that MFP gave me this target as I selected to lose a kilo a week. I do know this is asking a lot, and wasn't really expecting to achieve it - but I wanted a decent goal!
Anyway, to my surprise I've actually managed to stick to 1200 most days. I do go over some days but I tend not to eat back my exercise calories so I guess it balances out.
The thing is, as I say I'm about month in and although I have lost weight (which I'm delighted about btw) it amounts to only about 0.5kg per week. So if I'm sticking to the low calories and still exercising as before, why aren't I losing more?
The second thing I've become really aware of is being hungry. The first few days were a bit tough, but I got used to it pretty quickly and actually started to enjoy it. But more and more now I find I feel hungry or unsatisfied. I find that once I have my first meal it's like I awaken some hungry beast in my belly and I'm just starving for the rest of the day! Too get around this I've decided to skip breakfast and just power through to lunch. I try to be a bit more mindful to try to understand if I'm actually craving a particular thing, like more iron or whatever - but generally there's nothing in particular, I'm just 'hungry'.
I try to keep on top of the macros, although I tend to be a bit carb heavy (i eat a fair bit of fruit), and have started to increase my fats a bit but so far it's not helping.
I am scared to go for too much fat in particular as they are so calorific - even the good ones - and because I'm always hungry I'll just end up increasing my calories again!
So really I'm just a bit confused and down about it all at the mo. Logging has been really excellent at keeping me focused,but it's also made me realise I really wasn't eating that much before and I wasn't eating less healthily...
If I can't even get close to a kilo a week (and before you criticise, as I say it was a 'goal' rather than a realistic or sensible target) on the minimum healthy calories - then what's going to happen if I start to eat more?!
Drop the fruits, and try to go easy on carbs. Carbs bind a lot of water and this may impede the scale readings. I'm not trying to demonise carbs but if you don't have much to lose then we have to mobilise all the available tricks to get our body to use up the last bits of fat for energy. For me counting calories was the last resort. I always was rather on healthy side in terms of eating, no smoking or alcohol. Never obese but always rather chubby, very active at the same time. I don't even put on weight in any significant way, it was always about those pesky 15lbs.
So, to cut the story short. I've stopped eating breakfast in order to extend the nightly fasting time, added morning cardio either running or power walking to deplete the remaining glycogen. Milky coffee at 11am and first meal at 1pm. The meals I cook are low carb, low fat and even low in protein. This is how I can have big, nutritious meal on low calorie cost. Lots of green veggies but no fruits. This is how I managed to get my body into the fat burning mode, obviously all that at no more than 1200/1300 kcal.
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arachnofobia7 wrote: »Hi all, sorry this is a bit of a long one, and not really a response.
I'm struggling with this whole thing. Been on 1200 as prescribed by MFP for about a month. I want to go from 64.5 to 54. I realise that MFP gave me this target as I selected to lose a kilo a week. I do know this is asking a lot, and wasn't really expecting to achieve it - but I wanted a decent goal!
Anyway, to my surprise I've actually managed to stick to 1200 most days. I do go over some days but I tend not to eat back my exercise calories so I guess it balances out.
The thing is, as I say I'm about month in and although I have lost weight (which I'm delighted about btw) it amounts to only about 0.5kg per week. So if I'm sticking to the low calories and still exercising as before, why aren't I losing more?
The second thing I've become really aware of is being hungry. The first few days were a bit tough, but I got used to it pretty quickly and actually started to enjoy it. But more and more now I find I feel hungry or unsatisfied. I find that once I have my first meal it's like I awaken some hungry beast in my belly and I'm just starving for the rest of the day! Too get around this I've decided to skip breakfast and just power through to lunch. I try to be a bit more mindful to try to understand if I'm actually craving a particular thing, like more iron or whatever - but generally there's nothing in particular, I'm just 'hungry'.
I try to keep on top of the macros, although I tend to be a bit carb heavy (i eat a fair bit of fruit), and have started to increase my fats a bit but so far it's not helping.
I am scared to go for too much fat in particular as they are so calorific - even the good ones - and because I'm always hungry I'll just end up increasing my calories again!
So really I'm just a bit confused and down about it all at the mo. Logging has been really excellent at keeping me focused,but it's also made me realise I really wasn't eating that much before and I wasn't eating less healthily...
If I can't even get close to a kilo a week (and before you criticise, as I say it was a 'goal' rather than a realistic or sensible target) on the minimum healthy calories - then what's going to happen if I start to eat more?!
Drop the fruits, and try to go easy on carbs. Carbs bind a lot of water and this may impede the scale readings. I'm not trying to demonise carbs but if you don't have much to lose then we have to mobilise all the available tricks to get our body to use up the last bits of fat for energy. For me counting calories was the last resort. I always was rather on healthy side in terms of eating, no smoking or alcohol. Never obese but always rather chubby, very active at the same time. I don't even put on weight in any significant way, it was always about those pesky 15lbs.
So, to cut the story short. I've stopped eating breakfast in order to extend the nightly fasting time, added morning cardio either running or power walking to deplete the remaining glycogen. Milky coffee at 11am and first meal at 1pm. The meals I cook are low carb, low fat and even low in protein. This is how I can have big, nutritious meal on low calorie cost. Lots of green veggies but no fruits. This is how I managed to get my body into the fat burning mode, obviously all that at no more than 1200/1300 kcal.
Dieters in particular need to keep a decent protein intake to preserve their lean muscle mass while losing weight.
Protein and fat are also satiating. Fats are important also because a lot of the vitamins in those veggies are fat soluble. Don't skimp on fats.
Also? Your body is always in fat burning mode. If you're alive, you're expending energy.
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Dieters in particular need to keep a decent protein intake to preserve their lean muscle mass while losing weight.
Protein and fat are also satiating. Fats are important also because a lot of the vitamins in those veggies are fat soluble. Don't skimp on fats.
Also? Your body is always in fat burning mode. If you're alive, you're expending energy.
Agree 100%0 -
arachnofobia7 wrote: »Hi all, sorry this is a bit of a long one, and not really a response.
I'm struggling with this whole thing. Been on 1200 as prescribed by MFP for about a month. I want to go from 64.5 to 54. I realise that MFP gave me this target as I selected to lose a kilo a week. I do know this is asking a lot, and wasn't really expecting to achieve it - but I wanted a decent goal!
Anyway, to my surprise I've actually managed to stick to 1200 most days. I do go over some days but I tend not to eat back my exercise calories so I guess it balances out.
The thing is, as I say I'm about month in and although I have lost weight (which I'm delighted about btw) it amounts to only about 0.5kg per week. So if I'm sticking to the low calories and still exercising as before, why aren't I losing more?
The second thing I've become really aware of is being hungry. The first few days were a bit tough, but I got used to it pretty quickly and actually started to enjoy it. But more and more now I find I feel hungry or unsatisfied. I find that once I have my first meal it's like I awaken some hungry beast in my belly and I'm just starving for the rest of the day! Too get around this I've decided to skip breakfast and just power through to lunch. I try to be a bit more mindful to try to understand if I'm actually craving a particular thing, like more iron or whatever - but generally there's nothing in particular, I'm just 'hungry'.
I try to keep on top of the macros, although I tend to be a bit carb heavy (i eat a fair bit of fruit), and have started to increase my fats a bit but so far it's not helping.
I am scared to go for too much fat in particular as they are so calorific - even the good ones - and because I'm always hungry I'll just end up increasing my calories again!
So really I'm just a bit confused and down about it all at the mo. Logging has been really excellent at keeping me focused,but it's also made me realise I really wasn't eating that much before and I wasn't eating less healthily...
If I can't even get close to a kilo a week (and before you criticise, as I say it was a 'goal' rather than a realistic or sensible target) on the minimum healthy calories - then what's going to happen if I start to eat more?!
Drop the fruits, and try to go easy on carbs. Carbs bind a lot of water and this may impede the scale readings. I'm not trying to demonise carbs but if you don't have much to lose then we have to mobilise all the available tricks to get our body to use up the last bits of fat for energy. For me counting calories was the last resort. I always was rather on healthy side in terms of eating, no smoking or alcohol. Never obese but always rather chubby, very active at the same time. I don't even put on weight in any significant way, it was always about those pesky 15lbs.
So, to cut the story short. I've stopped eating breakfast in order to extend the nightly fasting time, added morning cardio either running or power walking to deplete the remaining glycogen. Milky coffee at 11am and first meal at 1pm. The meals I cook are low carb, low fat and even low in protein. This is how I can have big, nutritious meal on low calorie cost. Lots of green veggies but no fruits. This is how I managed to get my body into the fat burning mode, obviously all that at no more than 1200/1300 kcal.
Low carb, low fat, low protein - what exactly do you eat?
Also your body doesn't magically get into "fat burning mode" based on your food choices.
Lastly, meal timing does not influence weight loss.
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Hi all, sorry this is a bit of a long one, and not really a response.
I'm struggling with this whole thing. Been on 1200 as prescribed by MFP for about a month. I want to go from 64.5 to 54. I realise that MFP gave me this target as I selected to lose a kilo a week. I do know this is asking a lot, and wasn't really expecting to achieve it - but I wanted a decent goal!
Anyway, to my surprise I've actually managed to stick to 1200 most days. I do go over some days but I tend not to eat back my exercise calories so I guess it balances out.
The thing is, as I say I'm about month in and although I have lost weight (which I'm delighted about btw) it amounts to only about 0.5kg per week. So if I'm sticking to the low calories and still exercising as before, why aren't I losing more?
You don't say where you are now, but you are trying to go from about 141 lb to 118 lb. As you yourself say, a 2.2 lb loss isn't realistic, and even a 1.1 lb loss is pretty aggressive, since you've already lost some of that weight. Once you are close to goal, especially, you want to do it slowly, as you want to minimize the loss of lean body mass (basically, muscle), as 118 won't necessarily look better than 130 if you lose too much muscle and less fat when getting there.
It's also REALLY common to feel less satisfied at low calories when you are getting closer to goal. I did around 1200 happily when I first started and had a long way to go, for months even, and I don't think I could do it now and wouldn't want to (I'm taking a maintenance break, but am at about 125 with a goal about the same as yours). Part of this is that I'm much more active now, but part of it is just that it gets harder, I think. (Or the reason for it seems to be missing.)
But anyway, the main reason I posted is to reassure you with the math, a little:If I can't even get close to a kilo a week (and before you criticise, as I say it was a 'goal' rather than a realistic or sensible target) on the minimum healthy calories - then what's going to happen if I start to eat more?!
A kilo a week is a deficit of 1100 calories a day. That's a HUGE amount. If you are losing around .5 kilos per week, that means you are on a deficit of 550 per day, which means you can eat 550 calories MORE and maintain. So I don't think you have to worry about maintenance being difficult.
You might want to try a lower deficit for a while rather than feel frustrated and hungry about not meeting a goal that's just not realistic at your current weight. I think it can also make it easier when you get to maintenance.0 -
arachnofobia7 wrote: »Hi all, sorry this is a bit of a long one, and not really a response.
I'm struggling with this whole thing. Been on 1200 as prescribed by MFP for about a month. I want to go from 64.5 to 54. I realise that MFP gave me this target as I selected to lose a kilo a week. I do know this is asking a lot, and wasn't really expecting to achieve it - but I wanted a decent goal!
Anyway, to my surprise I've actually managed to stick to 1200 most days. I do go over some days but I tend not to eat back my exercise calories so I guess it balances out.
The thing is, as I say I'm about month in and although I have lost weight (which I'm delighted about btw) it amounts to only about 0.5kg per week. So if I'm sticking to the low calories and still exercising as before, why aren't I losing more?
The second thing I've become really aware of is being hungry. The first few days were a bit tough, but I got used to it pretty quickly and actually started to enjoy it. But more and more now I find I feel hungry or unsatisfied. I find that once I have my first meal it's like I awaken some hungry beast in my belly and I'm just starving for the rest of the day! Too get around this I've decided to skip breakfast and just power through to lunch. I try to be a bit more mindful to try to understand if I'm actually craving a particular thing, like more iron or whatever - but generally there's nothing in particular, I'm just 'hungry'.
I try to keep on top of the macros, although I tend to be a bit carb heavy (i eat a fair bit of fruit), and have started to increase my fats a bit but so far it's not helping.
I am scared to go for too much fat in particular as they are so calorific - even the good ones - and because I'm always hungry I'll just end up increasing my calories again!
So really I'm just a bit confused and down about it all at the mo. Logging has been really excellent at keeping me focused,but it's also made me realise I really wasn't eating that much before and I wasn't eating less healthily...
If I can't even get close to a kilo a week (and before you criticise, as I say it was a 'goal' rather than a realistic or sensible target) on the minimum healthy calories - then what's going to happen if I start to eat more?!
Drop the fruits, and try to go easy on carbs. Carbs bind a lot of water and this may impede the scale readings. I'm not trying to demonise carbs but if you don't have much to lose then we have to mobilise all the available tricks to get our body to use up the last bits of fat for energy. For me counting calories was the last resort. I always was rather on healthy side in terms of eating, no smoking or alcohol. Never obese but always rather chubby, very active at the same time. I don't even put on weight in any significant way, it was always about those pesky 15lbs.
So, to cut the story short. I've stopped eating breakfast in order to extend the nightly fasting time, added morning cardio either running or power walking to deplete the remaining glycogen. Milky coffee at 11am and first meal at 1pm. The meals I cook are low carb, low fat and even low in protein. This is how I can have big, nutritious meal on low calorie cost. Lots of green veggies but no fruits. This is how I managed to get my body into the fat burning mode, obviously all that at no more than 1200/1300 kcal.
Low carb, low fat, low protein - what exactly do you eat?
Also your body doesn't magically get into "fat burning mode" based on your food choices.
Lastly, meal timing does not influence weight loss.
I use my mind.0 -
Been on 1200 for 79 days and I've lost 16.5 pounds. First few weeks I was hungry, but I got used to it after that.
(5' 1/2", SW 133)
Concentrate on lean protein, fiber, and lots of veggies.
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1200 is the minimum you should have if you over weight, not if your a healthy weight (although if your morbidly obese docs put people on a 500 cal diet under their care though and close monitoring).0
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[/quote]
Low carb, low fat, low protein - what exactly do you eat?
Also your body doesn't magically get into "fat burning mode" based on your food choices.
Lastly, meal timing does not influence weight loss.
[/quote]
Crazy !!! I know !!! Veggie stews, soups, piece of lean chicken here and there, by low fat I mean not adding extra fat to salads etc , I'm not bothered with fat contents in cottage cheese for instance, also when I do my veggies I add a solid portion of either feta or goat cheese.
I've gone through low carb/keto , high protein, low carb high fat without any spectacular results.
I know that meal timing doesn't influence weight loss, for two months I did 1meal a day thing usually that meal being rather late dinner. By skipping breakfast I save some calories for lunch also I enjoy running on empty stomach and following the idea of Intermittent Fasting I believe that I help body to burn the last bit of glycogen. As we all know, once there is no glycogen the body will mobilise fat to get some energy.
Well, so far so good - at least this time round I see some results. I've never had much to lose, I'm great at maintenance, I've been size 12/14 through my entire life. I think that our bodies might be somehow ''programmed'' to be at certain weight. Since I'm trying to conquer that ''comfort zone'' I may as well do some crazy stuff if I want to see myself in in skinny jeans and shorts first time EVER !
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mamapeach910 wrote: »arachnofobia7 wrote: »
...hmmm...our body is in constant ''energy (not fat) burning mode'' primarily from carbs consumed on a daily basis, then glycogen in the meanwhile with fat being the ''last resort'' energy choice, for this very reason we have to create steady energy deficit to allow our body reach for those ''savings''0
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