Has anyone met there goal weight eating 1200 calories??

Sister_Someone

I have! I used to not eat the exercise back until I began working out more so it was putting me under 1000 net, so now I eat my daily allowance and some of the exercise.

MsQt

I met goal eating 1200.

ash8184

Almost - but you have to be sure you eat lots of protein and good carbs (not junk). Think low fat protein and lots of leafy greens.

If you lift, you can help your metabolism because 1lb of muscle burns more calories than 1lb of fat.

Good luck!

marianne_s

I have a question...

So, if you lose weight eating 1200 calories and not eating back exercise calories.

How many calories are you going to eat to maintain your weight when you reached your goal?

SairahRose

Hi am worried i will gain by just eating 1200 calories a day but im full and don't feel the need to eat any more not even my net calories I have a personal trainer 5x a week will i still lose weight??

Has anyone met there goal weight just eating 1200 calories??

Will you lose weight? Of course you'll lose weight. That's what happens when you eat 1200 calories, you lose weight. All kinds of people have lost weight on 1200, from tiny middle aged women to 6'0 men in their twenties (We are all special snowflakes, except for the fact we all eat the same number of calories? Yep).

I can't tell you what will work for you, only what has thus far worked for me.

I'm 25. I'm sedentary in every day life (I spend a lot of time playing video games at this stage. I work in education, so I'm just hanging out until fall, at least.) I work out 5-6 days a week (depending on my mood. If I don't want to, I won't.) which comes to 3-4 hours a week. So not a whole lot, at all.

My goal is 1825. I lose weight at 1825. I've dropped 15 pounds in 3 months eating between 1650-1825. I've been over and under these numbers but it all balances to an average of 1750 (I keep track of my average calories, it's proven to be insightful)

Now people will say "I'm sedentary, 1200 is right for me!"
Well I'm sedentary and I saw screw that.

"I don't work out for hours and hours!"
Me either. I'm kind of lazy.

"Well it works for me!"
Eating more would probably work to. I could lose on 1200, but why? For the joy of smaller portions? Nope.

"Well I don't eat a bunch of crap!"
Cool, me either. I'm making a nice 6oz piece of fresh salmon (pre cooked) with a nice sour cream and basil sauce. I'm gonna have a side of broccoli and some rice. I'm having turkey and black bean chili for dinner, maybe some more rice, but probably not. I had pancakes, bacon, and a cheese and broccoli omelet for breakfast. I had a protein bar after lifting and I will have room for ice cream later, while still clocking in under goal. So. Not exactly sucking down crap over here.

"Well I'm older."
Well the OP is 26 so /shrug to that.

That said do whatever makes you warm and fuzzy on the inside, but please be aware most people don't have to eat that way. I fully believe most people just can't wrap their mind around a higher number (I know, I know, I would eat more if I could! I tried for a whole two weeks! Kbrowhateveryousay.) If you want to be one of those people, do you. Me, I'll keep losing on 1800+. Also, my salmon is done and I need to sprinkle some cheese on my broccoli. Why? Cause I have the calories/macros for that.

This. Good advice right there.

GhastlyGengar

What I do, is I calculate my BMR, then ensure my NET calorie intake, after logging exercise and food consumption, is just below this to ensure a small, but managable weight loss regime.

Example:
My BMR is 1327
I normally eat, prior to exercise, about 1600. Never more than 1800. My exercise normally subtracts between 400 and 600. So my NET ranges from 700-1200.
I've managed to go from 103.2lbs to 97.9lbs in 4 weeks.

themommie

Yes, I try to stay under 1250 cals a day and am now at goal I have lost 114 lbs, I dont eat back exercise cals, this is what has worked for me

amy3cc

Oh my gosh, exactly! All of you people who are eating 1200 cals and not adding back in your exercise are going to have serious issues maintaining. I lost all of my weight--65 lbs--6 years ago. The most I've come back up is 10 lbs, and I think it's mostly muscle from my kettlebell addiction--my pants still fit. When you net below 1200 cals a day, you are slowly slowing your metabolism down. Your body doesn't know what to do--it's not technically starving, but it's sure not getting enough, so it's holding onto everything you eat. STOP! For your sake, stop. You are probably going to gain a bit of weight for the next couple of weeks while you try to bring your body back up to a normal caloric intake, but good god--just do it. You MUST be 1200 cals or above on a net basis. Add your exercise back in. I try to net around 1400 when I gain a bit of weight, and it's totally fine. I still lose weight. When I'm maintaining I net between 1800 and 2000--so if I run 11 miles (which I do sometimes), I will seriously eat around 3200 cals for the day and be TOTALLY fine. Stop starving yourself. Love the below post. Awesome.

Hi am worried i will gain by just eating 1200 calories a day but im full and don't feel the need to eat any more not even my net calories I have a personal trainer 5x a week will i still lose weight??

Has anyone met there goal weight just eating 1200 calories??

Will you lose weight? Of course you'll lose weight. That's what happens when you eat 1200 calories, you lose weight. All kinds of people have lost weight on 1200, from tiny middle aged women to 6'0 men in their twenties (We are all special snowflakes, except for the fact we all eat the same number of calories? Yep).

I can't tell you what will work for you, only what has thus far worked for me.

I'm 25. I'm sedentary in every day life (I spend a lot of time playing video games at this stage. I work in education, so I'm just hanging out until fall, at least.) I work out 5-6 days a week (depending on my mood. If I don't want to, I won't.) which comes to 3-4 hours a week. So not a whole lot, at all.

My goal is 1825. I lose weight at 1825. I've dropped 15 pounds in 3 months eating between 1650-1825. I've been over and under these numbers but it all balances to an average of 1750 (I keep track of my average calories, it's proven to be insightful)

Now people will say "I'm sedentary, 1200 is right for me!"
Well I'm sedentary and I saw screw that.

"I don't work out for hours and hours!"
Me either. I'm kind of lazy.

"Well it works for me!"
Eating more would probably work to. I could lose on 1200, but why? For the joy of smaller portions? Nope.

"Well I don't eat a bunch of crap!"
Cool, me either. I'm making a nice 6oz piece of fresh salmon (pre cooked) with a nice sour cream and basil sauce. I'm gonna have a side of broccoli and some rice. I'm having turkey and black bean chili for dinner, maybe some more rice, but probably not. I had pancakes, bacon, and a cheese and broccoli omelet for breakfast. I had a protein bar after lifting and I will have room for ice cream later, while still clocking in under goal. So. Not exactly sucking down crap over here.

"Well I'm older."
Well the OP is 26 so /shrug to that.

That said do whatever makes you warm and fuzzy on the inside, but please be aware most people don't have to eat that way. I fully believe most people just can't wrap their mind around a higher number (I know, I know, I would eat more if I could! I tried for a whole two weeks! Kbrowhateveryousay.) If you want to be one of those people, do you. Me, I'll keep losing on 1800+. Also, my salmon is done and I need to sprinkle some cheese on my broccoli. Why? Cause I have the calories/macros for that.

This. Good advice right there.

Rays_Wife

hahahahaha

elisa123gal

sounds like pure misery...setting your life up to eat a wee bit above 1200 calories to stay where you want..cause that is what you'll have to do if you lose at that low level.

(eat more to lose slower so you can eat more later!)

shadus

Well, because while starvation mode is real, it is not nearly as powerful as most people assume. I remember I once did some hardcore looking to starvation mode. The reality is, while your metabolism will slow down, a starvation diet will still result in far more weight loss than a higher calorie one. I believe studiers found that the metabolism doesn't slow down more than 20% in bad cases and 40% in even the most extreme ones.

The actual reason people warn against a starvation diet is because for the large majority of us, if we eat a starvation diet, we will eventually break down and binge. And when we do binge, we will gain the weight back very quickly and potentially gain even more weight back on top of that because starving can harm muscle tissue.

However, the idea that it is impossible to lose weight on a starvation diet is blatantly false. Yes, it is dangerous, and yes, you will almost definitely fail to maintain the diet, but if you somehow manage to follow it, you'll lose weight, all warnings of starvation mode aside.

Let me preface this with... the whole starvation mode misconceptions are a HUGE pet peeve of mine... and yea, I've done the same research and even recently... I was aiming for sarcasm < < F-F-F-FAILURE > > The real danger of starvation mode is the mental changes that can persist up to 8 months after returning to a less restricted diet... that said though, 1200 calories unless you're doing a crap load of exercise or massively morbidly obese isn't going to put you in starvation mode. It's easy to find literal metric tons of great scientific information on adaptive thermogenesis if you don't call it 'starvation mode'. Most people fall in the AT 10-20% range at worst when AT kicks in (worst self recorded was 50%, worst recorded by 3rd party was 40%, but anything above 10-20% is full on starvation (complete fasting) to engage it at that level more or a less)... but it doesn't kick in easily, it takes a serious serious calorie deficit to engage it... not one most people can reach unless morbidly obese (and it's kinda moot because of the deficit at that point) or absurdly active. Every 500 different from your expended amount per day is a lb a week... eating 300 more calories a day (1200->1500) isn't going to be made up by a change in your AT metabolic adaption level because it isn't going to effect it in any significant way even assuming you were at 20% metabolic rate change, you would STILL be 40 calories lower at 1200@20% than 1500@0%... if 1200 was even a reasonable number to put you into *fairly large* AT metabolic changes in the first place... and it's not. Not even close. The whole eat more to lose more idea floating around here by lay people who have never done an iota of research on the matter and who spout it off every single post they make when someone isn't losing weight makes me want to slam my head into my keyboard until I'm unconscious.

*arrrggghghhhhhh*



Edit: ... and to make this post legitimately informative, the cause for most people not losing weight is over estimating calorie expenditure (not their fault, the formula for calculating it wes made for steady state cardio and healthy weight people, figure it somewhere around 50-70% and you'll be a lot more accurate if you're not in a healthy range) or under calculating their food portions (their fault if they're not weighing foods, common underestimation of portion is 20-30% and as calorie deficit increases so does the margin of error on food portions, up to around 50%. Fix it by weighing what goes in your pie hole.) It was a real eye opener when I tried to find a potato that was the size the bag mentioned, 148g... to find none under 190g... and even worse when i saw the size of 4oz of chicken breast vs what i had been eating on average (~12oz) assuming that was an 'average' chicken breast.

Edit: Further, the big problem with starvation mode is the mental stuff some of it you're not even conscious of (like decreases in sleep movement and normal fidgeting) so don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating extreme calorie restriction, just saying the misinformation is infuriating. If someone is going to explain something, do it with out all the broscience bs.

toutmonpossible

Oh my gosh, exactly! All of you people who are eating 1200 cals and not adding back in your exercise are going to have serious issues maintaining.

Never been overweight in my life and have always been healthy. So maybe I know something about my body and staying a normal weight that you don't.

I hate to be blunt, but people who have not figured out how to eat and exercise so as not to gain weight should not be lecturing people who have. People, who, by the way, don't care what you do, but who will speak up if you say silly things like 1200 is the cusp of starvation.

toutmonpossible

Great GIF.

toutmonpossible

I have a question...

So, if you lose weight eating 1200 calories and not eating back exercise calories.

How many calories are you going to eat to maintain your weight when you reached your goal?

Whatever amount you can eat and maintain your weight. There's no one formula that will work for everyone. You observe how your body responds to more calories and whatever exercise you're doing. If you gain weight you eat less or exercise more if you can. You have a mental line in the sand and if your weight exceeds it you bring your weight back to a normal level.

toutmonpossible

sounds like pure misery...

Crying all the way to the Petite Size 2s.

More seriously, as you age your metabolism usually slows down and if you want to stay at a healthy weight you simply can't eat the way you did when you were 20. You admire your body for being amazingly efficient and cultivate other interests besides stuffing yourself without thought on every occasion.

Too many people fail to understand that THIS is the "lifestyle choice." Instead, they chatter on about how they're going to change but secretly think they can go back to living in the manner that got them fat in the first place.

(eat more to lose slower so you can eat more later!)
[/quote]

Qskim

If i eat 1200 a day im lucky to lose 1-2 pound a week i stay under 1000 and i lose an amount i am happy with not at goal yet but im getting close i think it also depends on your height your weight your metab rate x

Just saying, at least by your picture... you ~shouldn't~ be losing more than 1-2lbs a week under any circumstance. The closer you get to your goal weight the less you will lose safely. Generally speaking it's only safe to lose 2-3lbs a week when you're >75lbs over weight... then 1-2 down to 20-30 lbs overweight... then 0.25-1lb till you're down to goal weight.

This poster appears to have been logging for about a week and is drinking most of her calories in booze. Not sure she's terribly concerned about safe weight loss.

As another poster said at least she is honest. That's half the battle.

It also tells me that if she chooses to indulge then she needs to find a middle ground where she can do so without guilt or without forgoing nutrition. I think most of us would at least agree that eating at 1200 requires reasonable nutritional knowledge and a willingness to sacrifice. But if she chooses to drink so be it. She can still cover all the bases and have success without running on the treadmill for ten hours on a Monday just because she thinks she screwed up on a weekend.

I remember the first week I did my diary..big eye opener but I knew it would be - cringed as I put it in but I knew I had to for the sake of being honest with myself. So kudos to OP for squaring up.

She may sit at 1200/whatever during the week to allow for a bigger weekend or she could set herself a daily level with same deficit per day with both options giving her a decent deficit over course of week.

t1nk6

im on a 1200 cal diet, im always under by 200 or less.. but i am losing without any exercise.

im aiming to lose the weight first then exercise to keep it off and eat healthy but have whatever i want in calories.

i dont know if it will work but i cant do anything untill ive lost the weight first .

opinions welcomed.

astartig

Oh my gosh, exactly! All of you people who are eating 1200 cals and not adding back in your exercise are going to have serious issues maintaining. I lost all of my weight--65 lbs--6 years ago. The most I've come back up is 10 lbs, and I think it's mostly muscle from my kettlebell addiction--my pants still fit. When you net below 1200 cals a day, you are slowly slowing your metabolism down. Your body doesn't know what to do--it's not technically starving, but it's sure not getting enough, so it's holding onto everything you eat. STOP! For your sake, stop. You are probably going to gain a bit of weight for the next couple of weeks while you try to bring your body back up to a normal caloric intake, but good god--just do it. You MUST be 1200 cals or above on a net basis. Add your exercise back in. I try to net around 1400 when I gain a bit of weight, and it's totally fine. I still lose weight. When I'm maintaining I net between 1800 and 2000--so if I run 11 miles (which I do sometimes), I will seriously eat around 3200 cals for the day and be TOTALLY fine. Stop starving yourself. Love the below post. Awesome.

Hi am worried i will gain by just eating 1200 calories a day but im full and don't feel the need to eat any more not even my net calories I have a personal trainer 5x a week will i still lose weight??

Has anyone met there goal weight just eating 1200 calories??

Will you lose weight? Of course you'll lose weight. That's what happens when you eat 1200 calories, you lose weight. All kinds of people have lost weight on 1200, from tiny middle aged women to 6'0 men in their twenties (We are all special snowflakes, except for the fact we all eat the same number of calories? Yep).

I can't tell you what will work for you, only what has thus far worked for me.

I'm 25. I'm sedentary in every day life (I spend a lot of time playing video games at this stage. I work in education, so I'm just hanging out until fall, at least.) I work out 5-6 days a week (depending on my mood. If I don't want to, I won't.) which comes to 3-4 hours a week. So not a whole lot, at all.

My goal is 1825. I lose weight at 1825. I've dropped 15 pounds in 3 months eating between 1650-1825. I've been over and under these numbers but it all balances to an average of 1750 (I keep track of my average calories, it's proven to be insightful)

Now people will say "I'm sedentary, 1200 is right for me!"
Well I'm sedentary and I saw screw that.

"I don't work out for hours and hours!"
Me either. I'm kind of lazy.

"Well it works for me!"
Eating more would probably work to. I could lose on 1200, but why? For the joy of smaller portions? Nope.

"Well I don't eat a bunch of crap!"
Cool, me either. I'm making a nice 6oz piece of fresh salmon (pre cooked) with a nice sour cream and basil sauce. I'm gonna have a side of broccoli and some rice. I'm having turkey and black bean chili for dinner, maybe some more rice, but probably not. I had pancakes, bacon, and a cheese and broccoli omelet for breakfast. I had a protein bar after lifting and I will have room for ice cream later, while still clocking in under goal. So. Not exactly sucking down crap over here.

"Well I'm older."
Well the OP is 26 so /shrug to that.

That said do whatever makes you warm and fuzzy on the inside, but please be aware most people don't have to eat that way. I fully believe most people just can't wrap their mind around a higher number (I know, I know, I would eat more if I could! I tried for a whole two weeks! Kbrowhateveryousay.) If you want to be one of those people, do you. Me, I'll keep losing on 1800+. Also, my salmon is done and I need to sprinkle some cheese on my broccoli. Why? Cause I have the calories/macros for that.

This. Good advice right there.

My understanding was you were safe within a thousand calorie deficit. that means some people (the shorter ones) are going to be ok under 1200 calories. Looking at my maintenance calories I'll only be able to eat 1500 to maintain.

I think in order to get skinny adn then stay skinny I am going to have to log for the rest of my life.

trogalicious

im on a 1200 cal diet, im always under by 200 or less.. but i am losing without any exercise.

im aiming to lose the weight first then exercise to keep it off and eat healthy but have whatever i want in calories.

i dont know if it will work but i cant do anything untill ive lost the weight first .

opinions welcomed.

you're doing it wrong. It won't last.

t1nk6

im on a 1200 cal diet, im always under by 200 or less.. but i am losing without any exercise.

im aiming to lose the weight first then exercise to keep it off and eat healthy but have whatever i want in calories.

i dont know if it will work but i cant do anything untill ive lost the weight first .

opinions welcomed.

you're doing it wrong. It won't last.

how do you suggest i do it then? i cant exercise until i lose the weight and have back surgery so i can get mobile again