1200 cals

gawx
gawx Posts: 52 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
almost 2 weeks ago i upped my calories to 1200 after my weight had stalled and i had seen loads of posts about starvation mode ect...
since i did this my weight has not changed at all, not even increased. i was wondering how long i can expect to wait before i can lose weight again? sorry i know theres so many of posts like these but i could really use some answers! thanks :)

19, female, 10st13lb, 5ft 6

Replies

  • __Di__
    __Di__ Posts: 1,658 Member
    Is there any chance you can make your diary public, it is difficult to comment otherwise.
  • Serah87
    Serah87 Posts: 5,481 Member
    Still not eating enough!!!! Figure out your TDEE and BMR. http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
  • __Di__
    __Di__ Posts: 1,658 Member
    Still not eating enough!!!! Figure out your TDEE and BMR. http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

    You haven't seen her diary yet, how do you know she is not underestimating her food calories?
  • Wari87
    Wari87 Posts: 45
    I just started upping my calories too. I would recommend fat2fit calculator. Scooby gives a very low estimate. :)
  • megsmom2
    megsmom2 Posts: 2,362 Member
    You UPPED your calories to an extreme minimum level? For heavens sake eat! Do a little nutrition research...you are hurting yourself eating so little.
  • Wari87
    Wari87 Posts: 45
    You UPPED your calories to an extreme minimum level? For heavens sake eat! Do a little nutrition research...you are hurting yourself eating so little.
    Lol. Exactly this! U should hav been eatin atleast that much already. N u r just 19!!!
  • CAS185
    CAS185 Posts: 20
    Eating too few calories a day will eventually backfire; your body is not getting the nutrition it needs and you mayeventually start binging so that your body gets the nutrition it needs. Find out your TDEE and stick to it.
  • Serah87
    Serah87 Posts: 5,481 Member
    Still not eating enough!!!! Figure out your TDEE and BMR. http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

    You haven't seen her diary yet, how do you know she is not underestimating her food calories?


    I don't have to see her diary to figure out that she isn't eating enough!!
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
    You UPPED your calories to an extreme minimum level? For heavens sake eat! Do a little nutrition research...you are hurting yourself eating so little.

    Glad I wasn't the only one that saw that.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,422 Member
    Is it time for the wall of 1200 links? Seems an awful lot of people are trying to be miserable.

    OP, eat. Like eat around 1700-1900 a day. You're too young to create illness in your body. What you are doing is not healthy. You are not overweight enough to eat so low.

    Set your Goals here to "lose 1 pound per week" (which is what is recommended!). Set your activity level at Lightly Active, or if you are exercising, use Moderately Active.. Add in and eat back your exercise calories. You'll feel great and still lose weight.
  • caviggia
    caviggia Posts: 63 Member
    almost 2 weeks ago i upped my calories to 1200 after my weight had stalled and i had seen loads of posts about starvation mode ect...
    since i did this my weight has not changed at all, not even increased. i was wondering how long i can expect to wait before i can lose weight again? sorry i know theres so many of posts like these but i could really use some answers! thanks :)

    19, female, 10st13lb, 5ft 6

    I think when we all initially started dieting, especially at 19, we didn't know what metabolic damage and that eating at "too much of a calorie deficit" could be a bad thing. I had no clue what I was doing to my body when I would go a day or two without food.
    Thats why she has come to MFP and is trying to research and gain more information from us and message boards.

    May I ask how much you currently weigh? I'm not sure of it says 113? I think starting with what knowing your weight is is most important. Also, do you exercise? If you do, do you eat back the calories you burn off?
  • veracalore
    veracalore Posts: 14
    I would stop looking at the scale. I'm going through something similar right now while I'm 2 lbs from my goal weight (frustrating). First, your weight can flunctuate as much as 13lbs in the course of a day. Measurement is a better way to keep to track of your goals. For example, I haven't lost any weight in the last two weeks (actually gained almost a pound) but I lost an inch and half off of my waist. I bought an electrical impedence scale (about $40) and it tracks fat %, muscle %, bone density, and water %. Through keeping track of those numbers, I learned that my fat % is dropping and my muscle mass is raising (muscle weighs more than fat, thus the stall in weight loss).

    Starvation mode is probably not happening to you. An overall reduction in your basal metabolic rate will occur if you consume less than 50% of your BMR for an extended period of time. However, that reduction will not stop weight loss, it will just slow it down. For instance, if you consume 50% of your calories for several weeks, you may see a metabolic slowing of 10% of your BMR. You'd still be losing weight consistent with a 40% calorie deficit. The reduction in your metabolic rate will not overtake your calorie deficit. But again, this phenomenon will only occur if you are starving for an extended amount of time, in which case you will notice other side effects before a stall in wieght loss (like insanity).

    Also, look at your core nutrition. In reduced calorie diets, it can be difficult you get all the nutrients you need. Make sure you are getting all your vitamins (especially iron and potassium, V8 low sodium is a great source of potassium and there are some great iron supplements on the market). You need plenty of lean protein and a little bit of quality fat (fish oil, nuts, avocado).

    Remember that caloric deficit is the single most important factor in weight loss, so I wouldn't raise calorie intake unless you are consuming less calories than is healthy.

    Hope this is helpful.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,422 Member

    May I ask how much you currently weigh? I'm not sure of it says 113?

    A stone is 14 pounds. If she weighs 10st 13 pounds, she weighs 153, at 5'6" and 19 years old. She's already at a healthy weight.

    She should be eating at maintenance minus 200-300 calories.
  • caviggia
    caviggia Posts: 63 Member

    May I ask how much you currently weigh? I'm not sure of it says 113?

    A stone is 14 pounds. If she weighs 10st 13 pounds, she weighs 153, at 5'6" and 19 years old. She's already at a healthy weight.

    She should be eating at maintenance minus 200-300 calories.

    Thanks for clearing that up, I'm not used to stones.
    I was thinking she was within a healthy weight range from her pictures which made me curious to ask.
  • __Di__
    __Di__ Posts: 1,658 Member
    Still not eating enough!!!! Figure out your TDEE and BMR. http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

    You haven't seen her diary yet, how do you know she is not underestimating her food calories?


    I don't have to see her diary to figure out that she isn't eating enough!!

    How do you know she isn't eating enough? You haven't seen her diary, you only have her word for it that her daily calorie amount is 1200 - if she is underestimating her food, such as not weighing it or putting in "quick calorie" foods, who knows how much she is really consuming!!

    Yes, you do have to see her diary.
  • llkilgore
    llkilgore Posts: 1,169 Member
    Still not eating enough!!!! Figure out your TDEE and BMR. http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

    You haven't seen her diary yet, how do you know she is not underestimating her food calories?


    I don't have to see her diary to figure out that she isn't eating enough!!

    How do you know she isn't eating enough? You haven't seen her diary, you only have her word for it that her daily calorie amount is 1200 - if she is underestimating her food, such as not weighing it or putting in "quick calorie" foods, who knows how much she is really consuming!!

    Yes, you do have to see her diary.

    If her logging isn't accurate then what good would it do to see her diary? You have only her word either way.
  • __Di__
    __Di__ Posts: 1,658 Member
    Still not eating enough!!!! Figure out your TDEE and BMR. http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

    You haven't seen her diary yet, how do you know she is not underestimating her food calories?


    I don't have to see her diary to figure out that she isn't eating enough!!

    How do you know she isn't eating enough? You haven't seen her diary, you only have her word for it that her daily calorie amount is 1200 - if she is underestimating her food, such as not weighing it or putting in "quick calorie" foods, who knows how much she is really consuming!!

    Yes, you do have to see her diary.

    If her logging isn't accurate then what good would it do to see her diary? You have only her word either way.

    At least we could get a better idea rather than just play guessing games, she may be unaware of some stuff she is logging.
  • ClaudiaWay
    ClaudiaWay Posts: 2
    Ladies we should help each other and not bring us down. Lets focus on our goals





    <a href="http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker"><img border="0" src="http://tickers.myfitnesspal.com/ticker/show/1836/7496/18367496.png&quot; /></a><p style="text-align:center;width:420px;"><small>Created by MyFitnessPal - <a href="http://www.myfitnesspal.com">Nutrition Facts</a> For Foods</small></p>
  • harleygroomer
    harleygroomer Posts: 373 Member
    not really such a thing as a starvation mode--or concentration camp victims wouldn't have been walking sticks. I do better when I stall--going on a maintenance diet where I don't try to lose or gain. Do that for a month nd then restart my diet--but I never stop the exercise. Give yourself a break!!
  • melindasuefritz
    melindasuefritz Posts: 3,509 Member
    Still not eating enough!!!! Figure out your TDEE and BMR. http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,422 Member
    I like it. Now we're arguing over whether we need to see her diary.

    I vote, "not at this time."

    Is there a box for that?
  • __Di__
    __Di__ Posts: 1,658 Member
    I like it. Now we're arguing over whether we need to see her diary.

    I vote, "not at this time."

    Is there a box for that?

    Well in that case, we can't actually help her can we, unless we are going to all go down the route of "eat more" - which is foolish because we really don't know what she is consuming.

    The OP wanted help, we need to tools (her diary) to help her. As we don't have the tools (her diary) we can't.

    It is like trying to cut a hedge without shears or any cutting implement.
  • caviggia
    caviggia Posts: 63 Member
    Ladies we should help each other and not bring us down. Lets focus on our goals





    <a href="http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker"><img border="0" src="http://tickers.myfitnesspal.com/ticker/show/1836/7496/18367496.png&quot; /></a><p style="text-align:center;width:420px;"><small>Created by MyFitnessPal - <a href="http://www.myfitnesspal.com">Nutrition Facts</a> For Foods</small></p>

    There have been a few of us trying to convey the "lets help and be supportive and not beat someone down" methodology and try to give helpful suggestions haha but it seems we have been outdone
  • NinerUp
    NinerUp Posts: 8 Member
    I cut my calories down way low and my weight loss stalled. I got frustrated and pigged out. Guess what happened? I lost weight! Im not saying you should pig out but maybe up your calories. Avacados and macadamia nuts are good. Eat fat to lose fat.
  • gawx
    gawx Posts: 52 Member
    thanks for the feedback, i have changed my settings to lose 1lb per week and it now recommends 1,500 cals!
  • msarro
    msarro Posts: 2,748 Member
    You are doing great sticking with things OP. However, folks are right in the thread, it is very possible that you are eating too little. You may also be eating too much, too. The whole 1200 calorie thing is kind of arbitrary - if you're a petite person, your body simply may not need that many calories. Your body doesn't look at 1200 calories and say "OH MY GOD THAT'S TOO LOW!"

    This is a highly personalized thing. At the very least, use a BMR calculator for a rough idea, OR, the very best thing you could do would be to go to a nutrionist/sports clinic and get them to do a BMR measurement. Their measurement would be infinitely more accurate than one you do with a calculator. Some scales even measure your BMR, but I've found this to be really inaccurate (on the scale of hundreds of calories a day). Then from there figure out how much you want to lose each week.

    Just remember as more pounds drop, the amount of calories you need will decrease (less cells in your body that need fuel, less fuel you have to take in). The last few pounds are kind of a balancing act between too many and too little calories. That's why the last few are so hard to lose.

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