Success on 1200 cals/day diet

bethanykimble131

Any success stories from a 1200 calories a day diet?

lz13304

Yes. Actually when I was 15 I was 204 lbs and lost all my weight down to 134 lbs within a year. That was on light excerise and 1200 calories. Then I got really fat when I was pregnant with my son and went up to 218. I went on the same diet and excerise plan and lost it down to 153. I'm still working on losing the rest.

pariskathryn

I went from 210 to 165 just from eating 1200-1350 cals a day. I still eat that little when I have a lazy day, but I prefer to go for runs or long walks most days so I can eat more! hehehe.

veggiecanner

i went from 182 down to 146 on 1200 calories. took me 5 monthes. I did walk alot , but now I ride bike most days. and eat 1500 calories to loose 10 more.

flowerhouse

Hi I went from 172 to 129 over 9month on 1200. I usually ate back my exercise calories otherwise I was just hungry all the time. There were days when I slipped but the important thing is just start again the next day, I used the week calorie intake just to keep focused. I exercised 3-4 x week. I was 46years old at the time and recovering from ovarian cancer & chemo at the time.

My problem was I didn't maintain the exercise regime or maintenance diet and have put 25lb on over past year - so back on the treadmill and this time I will be wiser with maintenance

Good luck with your journey , feel free to add me if you are looking for biddies sound same

TK6299

In August, I was 183 lbs. This is when I started my 1200 calorie with exercise at least 3x a week. I am now 145 lbs and during the course of things, I went completely went off the 1200 cal limit once a week (Beer, pizza, ribs). I am working on maintenance and adding muscle now. It worked for me big time.

Bluepegasus

I'm on 1200 a day, I've lost 16lbs since the start of January, 12lb to go.

erialcelyob

Yeah I lost 30lbs doing that, I'm more active now and could not really cope on that much food but it's a good starting point I guess

capaul42

I've been on the 1,200 since I started January 5th. When I started I was in bad shape, though only 180lbs. I don't exercise. But I started this and committed to 3-4 30minute workouts a week. And I'm down 13lbs and 15 inches. I didn't change my diet much, other than staying within my Calories for the day. I still eat chips and sweets on occasion. But I've also found recipes for healthy treats that feed that craving without killing my calorie count for the day.

ggonza81

I started the 1200 calorie since Jan 9 and been lifting weights and cardio 6 days a week. I feel a lot lighter and clothes fits better. So far I've lost 19 lbs.. 209 and now 190..my goal is 177 or even better.. 150.

rldeclercq4

I've been on 1200 cals since January and have gone from 367 to 326. I'm exercising quite hard though 6-7 days a weeks. Cardio and weights an hour a day. (For context I'm a 29 yo male, on diet plan monitored by md).

KareninLux

1200 has worked for me since 1 Nov 15. Lost 33 lbs. About another =/- 15 to go. Weight loss has slowed though so I am trying to further increase the deficit with exercise.

middlehaitch

I lost eating 1200 cals 6 years ago. 130lbs -103lbs and kept it off.
Being small, 5'1 and older, 54yo when I started,1200 cal plus 55-75% of my exercise calories was an appropriate calorie goal.

Cheers, h.

dwyerpj1

I started on a 1200 calorie diet on January 12th and have lost 19lbs since that date. Only 7 more lbs to go to reach my ideal body weight goal. I feel so much better!

hrhleg

lost 2.4lbs last week!!!! I can't wait for this week's weigh in.

trjjoy

I have lost 11.5kg since the beginning of December. I started off on 1270 calories a day excluding exercise.

aft85

i've only lost a few kilos so far, but i've lost them rather than gained them (except this week, cos i was bad)

aft85

should probably add, i started in january, but didn't buy a scale until february, so i've lost 5-6 kilos since mid-february

bethanykimble131

Wow congrats to all of y'all! I'm excited to know that all of you have had such success. I'm currently on 1200 a day and have lost 13 pounds since January 19th. I am 21 years old 5'5 tall and working towards my goal weight of 125. Keep the success stories coming, I love to hear!

tambra716

I started a 1200 calorie diet on January 9th and am now down 26 pounds. I was 197 pounds to begin

Aria_Luna

I lost 20lbs in about 3months on 1200 calories. Now I'm doing a lot of exercise so I pushed it to 1400 and we'll see how that goes. XP

CallMePat

You can do it. Not quite at 1200 consistently but at 6'3", 330 eating 1200-1400.

rileysowner

To all those males posting they are eating 1200 calories, realize that is the minimum for females. You as a male should not be eating below 1500 and many of you should likely be eating far more than that. Eating extremely low calories is not helpful for long term maintenance of your weight loss. I posted this in another thread, but it is just as applicable here,

I have a bit more time so I am going to write a longer explanation of why a 2 pound per week goal is excessive, and sometimes even 1 pound per week will be as well.

The reality is that a person's body can only burn a certain maximum amount of fat per day regardless of calorie deficit. The amount an individual can burn is directly related to how much fat they have on their body so he more fat you have, the higher the maximum amount of fat you can burn in a day is. Keep this in mind because it is important to understanding what happens based on your calorie deficit. The more fat you have the more you can burn in a day. The less you have, the less you can burn in a day.

So what does that have to do with calorie deficits and weekly weight loss goals? A great deal if you think about it. If the maximum amount of fat you can burn off in a day is limited, then what happens when you deficit is larger than that amount of fat, or to put it differently, what happens if you weight loss goal per week is greater than the maximum amount of fat you can burn off in in week?

Quite obviously the energy to keep your body functioning needs to come from somewhere. The problem is your body cannot get it all from fat. To make up the difference it goes elsewhere, that is, it starts to burn off lean mass. This would mainly be from muscle mass, but can also come from organ mass as well. Instead of losing two pounds a week of mainly fat, what you achieve by too big a calorie deficit or too aggressive a weekly weight loss goal is a loss of some fat up to the maximum your body can burn off along with a chunk of lean mass. The more fat you lose without reducing your deficit or weight loss goal, the more that ratio swings away from mainly fat toward mainly lean mass.

The take home from this is that the less you have to lose, the lower your weight loss goal per week should be. Unless a person has 80 or more pounds to lose, 2 pounds per week is too aggressive which is why 1 pound per week is the recommended weight loss goal. For people who have under 20 pounds to lose, even 1 pound per week is too aggressive, so half a pound per week would be a much better choice.

It is for this reason based on the information you gave that I suggested that 2 pounds per week is too much. Depending on your body composition you may even want to go to .75 or .5 pound per week which will give you more calories. Also realize when you go to a smaller deficit you need to make sure you food logging is spot on. There is little room for error at that point. A digital kitchen scale measuring in grams for solids including those that are grated and ground, and fluid measures for liquids that you don't have grams amounts for.

75in2013

rileysowner wrote: »

The reality is that a person's body can only burn a certain maximum amount of fat per day regardless of calorie deficit.
[...]
Quite obviously the energy to keep your body functioning needs to come from somewhere. The problem is your body cannot get it all from fat. To make up the difference it goes elsewhere, that is, it starts to burn off lean mass. This would mainly be from muscle mass, but can also come from organ mass as well.

Can you please give sources for your statement?

motivatedmartha

I have lost 46 lbs by eating a base of 1200 Cal's per day - 5' 8" female of 60yrs. But I believe this amount of food is only sensible if you are really sedentary so I eat back at least half, and often more, of my exercise calories. When maintaining I eat back all of my exercise calories but I am currently trying to lose the 10lb gain from a 6 week touring holiday - it's coming off happily!

louann_jude

I am currently on a 1200 to 1400 a day diet depending on activity and hunger level. I started on January 3rd weighing 283 pounds and This morning I weighed 240 pounds. I have 80 pounds left to go.

flowerhouse

75in2013 wrote: »

rileysowner wrote: »

The reality is that a person's body can only burn a certain maximum amount of fat per day regardless of calorie deficit.
[...]
Quite obviously the energy to keep your body functioning needs to come from somewhere. The problem is your body cannot get it all from fat. To make up the difference it goes elsewhere, that is, it starts to burn off lean mass. This would mainly be from muscle mass, but can also come from organ mass as well.

Can you please give sources for your statement?

Hi well written thank you. Another factor to be mindful of is if you do not eat the minimum calories required for your body (dependant on whether male or female, age, frame & activity level), then your body will go into 'starvation mode' which means tha your body instinctively tells itself to store fats by producing increased levels of insulin etc which means that you will not lose weight.

fchriselly

today i started the 1200 cal diet. really hope that i will success like you all as well. pray for me

bezza666

1750 - lost half a stone in a week

jarablue

flowerhouse wrote: »

75in2013 wrote: »

rileysowner wrote: »

The reality is that a person's body can only burn a certain maximum amount of fat per day regardless of calorie deficit.
[...]
Quite obviously the energy to keep your body functioning needs to come from somewhere. The problem is your body cannot get it all from fat. To make up the difference it goes elsewhere, that is, it starts to burn off lean mass. This would mainly be from muscle mass, but can also come from organ mass as well.

Can you please give sources for your statement?

Hi well written thank you. Another factor to be mindful of is if you do not eat the minimum calories required for your body (dependant on whether male or female, age, frame & activity level), then your body will go into 'starvation mode' which means tha your body instinctively tells itself to store fats by producing increased levels of insulin etc which means that you will not lose weight.

I've eaten 1400 calories since December 14th of 2015 and I am 6'1 40 year old large framed male. Weighed 296 on Dec 14th. It is now March 21st of 2016 and I've lost 59 pounds with jogging/running on top. I currently weigh 237.0 This may be true for some people but it is certainly not true for me and others from what I've read. Just be smart and eat right and near the recommended values. Don't ever starve yourself. I've eaten whatever I want just managed the portions. I drink soda, eat chips but I don't pig out anymore. The amount of what I am eating has changed. And I do eat way healthier and drink TONS of water though I hate the taste , I know it's oil for my body.

I sometimes eat back 50% of my exercise calories, not all the time but 60% I'd say, now after reading on here that I should eat some back. I feel better than ever and am more mobile then I have been in 16 years.

aft85

i eat back pretty much all my exercise calories. (bar 100 maybe)