Is 1200 too much?

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  • channoncascio
    channoncascio Posts: 1 Member
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    I think it all depends on your height, weight, and other factors. I get told I eat to little all the time, but I am 4' 10" and 110 pounds (very athletic build). I usually do not eat the full 1200 calories, but I get close with 1100-1150. I talked to a couple of people trained in nutrition and athletic training and found the right number for me to lose at an average to .5-1 pound a week of course the weight loss was a lot faster when I first started. Also, make sure you are lifting weights and doing other things at the gym than just cardio.

    Hope this helps.. and remember it is all based off of your body!
  • astrampe
    astrampe Posts: 2,169 Member
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    If you think you're eating low enough calories already then the only option left is burning calories. Exercise!

    NO - worst advise I've seen today...(or this week).
    Eat more - you only have a little to lose - 1 pound a week is fine....You will probably get a huge surprize at the end of two weeks of upping your calories and see a bigger loss - but as another poster said - do not expect to lose 2lbs a week if you don't have much to lose...
    And I will pass out before lunch if I have to eat 1200 cals and exercise that much...Your body needs fuel in order to work - feed it!
  • NikiChicken
    NikiChicken Posts: 576 Member
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    I would absolutely KILL to lose 1 pound a week! Gah! I am losing an average of 2 pounds a month. (yet, I've still lost almost 70 pounds)

    Eating less will NOT necessarily increase the speed your weight loss, but it will make you hungry, set yourself up for binges because you are eating so little and it will not give your body enough fuel to function properly.
  • Espressocycle
    Espressocycle Posts: 2,245 Member
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    You're only 11 pounds from your goal. It SHOULD be slow at this point. Ideally, you should set your goals to lose a half pound a week.

    Ignore the scale and track your progress through measurements, photos and how clothes fit.

    This. And before you do anything, do an audit of your foods, really weigh and measure everything. Especially at the lower goals, it's really easy to think you're under and really be over. I found an extra 150 calories when I actually measured how much cereal and milk I was actually pouring into the bowl.
  • joellemorin
    joellemorin Posts: 12 Member
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    If we dont eat enough calories, our metabolism will shut down and go into "starvation" mode...which will cause the body to try to NOT lose any more weight! So do eat those 1200 :)


    From my own experience, the more I diet, the more it's harder to lose weight. The first time I ever dieted (back in 2003), losing weight was easy! But now, 10 years and 10 different diets after, it's a total different story :/
  • Mario_Az
    Mario_Az Posts: 1,331 Member
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    always start with as much calories you can get away with so when you hit sticking points you have something to work with increase your calories by 100 calorie increments and see if that helps basically a reverse diet so you are at 1200 next week do 1300 and so on and so on till you see a change in the scale then from there you can play with your numbers


    this video might give you more info


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8v6kHIRt_8
  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
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    You're only 11 pounds from your goal. It SHOULD be slow at this point. Ideally, you should set your goals to lose a half pound a week.

    Ignore the scale and track your progress through measurements, photos and how clothes fit.

    Yes. For having such a small amount of weight to lose, 1lb a week is fantastic. I'd be happy with .5lb a week if I were you. Trying to make it go faster is going to be counterproductive.
  • themedalist
    themedalist Posts: 3,215 Member
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    When I first started MFP in July 2011, I ate 1200 calories a day and lost a pound a week. After doing lots of reading on the forums, I decided that was too little (I was hungry a lot!). I increased my calories to 1500 to 1700 a day (depending on how active I was) and consistently lost 1.5 pounds a week.
  • ArieMc88
    ArieMc88 Posts: 18
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    From a personal experience... I was eating at the most 1200 cals a day in hopes of loosing weight FAST. But the scale would not budge like i desired :angry: so I upped my calories and ate more GOOD food and now the weight is flying off. Up your calories and you will see a change
  • jenniferfiedler
    jenniferfiedler Posts: 86
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    You're only 11 pounds from your goal. It SHOULD be slow at this point. Ideally, you should set your goals to lose a half pound a week.

    Ignore the scale and track your progress through measurements, photos and how clothes fit.

    This. And before you do anything, do an audit of your foods, really weigh and measure everything. Especially at the lower goals, it's really easy to think you're under and really be over. I found an extra 150 calories when I actually measured how much cereal and milk I was actually pouring into the bowl.

    ^^This

    I found I ate a lot of extra calories when I didn't measure everything. Give it a try. :) Good luck with the last 11 pounds.

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