Does anyone use the 1200 cal guideline?

Sydneymchamberlain

So, I started at 150lbs in March and I'm down to about 133 now. I'm within the "healthy" BMI for my height now (I was overweight), but I have 15lbs to my goal.

I haven't been counting calories, just eating cleaner and using portion control but my weight loss has slowed. I recently took up biking and swimming, but I think counting calories will help me reach my final goal.

My question is, does anyone actually eat the recommended 1200 calories? I burn about 500 a day between biking and exercising.

Any accurate calculators I can find online? Thanks!

Lounmoun

1200 is my calorie goal without exercise. I usually eat more than 1200 calories when I exercise and you probably should too.
1200 is the minimum recommendation for women to get enough nutrition. You really should not be eating less than that unless you are on a short term doctor monitored diet.

chocolate_owl

With so little to lose, 1200 calories is very likely NOT an appropriate goal. I'd suggest setting MFP up to lose 0.5 lbs per week AND eating back the calories you gain from exercise. You'll probably be eating 1300-1400 before exercise, plus getting your extra 500. If you don't weigh and measure your food, maybe eat 50-75% of your exercise calories to leave some room for overestimation.

st476

I started at 150 and I'm at 133 now too! I eat between 1200-1350 everyday and it's working well for me. I lose around 1.5-2 pounds per week, which is really extreme for someone my height and weight but I really don't feel deprived at all. You could get away with eating a lot more and lose weight slower I'm sure.

janejellyroll

I started about the same place you did (150ish) and now weigh around your goal. For the amount you have to lose and your activity level, I think 1,200 is too low. When I reached the 130s, my goal was 1,250-1,300, but I was eating back exercise calories. I was losing .5-1 pound a week for most of that time.

I would start logging, get a good idea of what you're eating now, and adjust from there. It's really hard to fuel activity and feel good if you're just eating 1,200.

Caroline393

My goal is 1200, and at first I struggled with not going over that but it's gotten easier for me. I've learned portion control and how to make the most of the calories I'm allotted. I also go to the gym daily and gain ~300 from working out. That gives me some wiggle room. I usually eat some of them back, but try to come in around 50-100 calories under if I can. I've lost about 5 lbs this month, so it's working I guess. And I don't feel like I'm starving anymore. The key is lots of lean protein (I eat chicken all the time) because it's way more satisfying than stuff like pasta or bread. I can eat two chicken tenderloins and a side of veggies for dinner and feel perfectly satisfied vs eating a bigger bowl of pasta and then feeling bloated later. Drinking lots of water is also a major help.

fitmek

1200 is too low for me. I've tried it countless times and I sit hungry with a very loud growling stomach all day. Optimal weight loss for me happens around 1350-1420 calories. It's hard for me to even stay that low though most days. If you are working out as much as you say, I would aim for 1700-1800 calories a day because it sounds like you are burning around 400-500 or so with biking and other exercise. If you have lost weight on 1200 and if it works well for you, I wouldn't change much unless you start to stall quite a bit. I personally just cannot stick to that low of an amount.

SCoil123

That number isn't recommended for me. I don't think I could maintain that for more than a day or two.

kimny72

Sydneymchamberlain wrote: »

So, I started at 150lbs in March and I'm down to about 133 now. I'm within the "healthy" BMI for my height now (I was overweight), but I have 15lbs to my goal.

I haven't been counting calories, just eating cleaner and using portion control but my weight loss has slowed. I recently took up biking and swimming, but I think counting calories will help me reach my final goal.

My question is, does anyone actually eat the recommended 1200 calories? I burn about 500 a day between biking and exercising.

Any accurate calculators I can find online? Thanks!

The MFP 1200 goal is without exercise. So you should log your exercise and eat at least portion back. Also, with only 15 lbs left to go, make sure you are not choosing a too aggressive weekly goal. It should prob be one-half pound per week. Good luck!

Francl27

Well, if you include exercise like you're supposed to, I guess I probably ate close to that for most of my weight loss.

cwolfman13

1200 calories isn't a guideline...MFP will give you that target if you say that you're sedentary and you choose an aggressive weight loss goal (which with only a handful of vanity pounds to lose, you shouldn't). It doesn't take into account the energy requirements of exercise...it presumes you are doing basically nothing...if you're training you need to eat more.

KetoneKaren

Yes I am at 1200 calories, which is appropriate for my age, activity level, and height.

As others here have alluded to, setting a deficit based on your stats will help you reach your goal.

Someone already mentioned setting the goal to 0.5lb per week for your recommended calories. That's good advice.

You can tweak things a bit as you go along.

KiraCharman

I try and use the 1200 a day unless I have excersised. If it's a special occasion I use my actual targets that mfp set up for me. Seems to work for me hope it helps

AdmireDeVoll

I'm following 1200 calories and stick fairly close to that, some days 1000 some days like 1400 but it balances out to 1200 a day for the week. I try to focus on packing as much nutrition into as few calories as possible, and if im hungry for no reason ill drink a cup of black coffee and that usually fixes it. (usually thinking about food makes me hungry) If im still hungry then i will have a snack. Exercise helps curb my appetite so i take my one hour lunch break and workout, then just eat like a quest bar at my desk. I dont have any rule for food. I want breakfast for supper? I want a snack for lunch? I want some friking carbs? Sure just keep it under 1200 calories. If you learn to like healthy food and just stop eating junk for a couple of weeks you will stop craving junk food and when u have some it will taste like crap. Ive been loosing pretty steadily. I highly recommend it.

LisaKay91

I do around 1200 a day most days and weigh my food using grams as the unit of measurement.

I don't eat exercise calories back just in case I underestimated my calories throughout the week

Sway2016

I followed 1200 a day for the first 2 months or so. As I increased my activity that went up to 1270. My goal is set to 2lbs. per week. I don't eat calories back because I like the buffer it provides in case I've made any incorrect estimates.

trjjoy

I did the 1200 calorie before exercise thing. I've lost 13kg like that. Low-cal, high volume vegetables should become your Best Friend Forever.

tiffkittyw

I follow 1,200 calories 6 days a week only so I can have 2,200 on Saturday (calorie banking). It's not difficult for me, but sometimes when I add up the macros I'm really getting like 1,250 a day, meh no biggie.

seekingdaintiness

The imaginary mfp diet strikes again!

There is no magic eating back your calories science to weight loss. You don't do it, folks. You exercise to speed your weight loss. It doesn't work in some special different way because you are using this particular diet tracker. You misunderstand this particular software and use it as an excuse to eat more then wonder why you can't lose weight. It would be funny except for how you all misinform others on a daily basis.

kimny72

seekingdaintiness wrote: »

The imaginary mfp diet strikes again!

There is no magic eating back your calories science to weight loss. You don't do it, folks. You exercise to speed your weight loss. It doesn't work in some special different way because you are using this particular diet tracker. You misunderstand this particular software and use it as an excuse to eat more then wonder why you can't lose weight. It would be funny except for how you all misinform others on a daily basis.

Actually, you are misunderstanding. This is exactly how MFP is supposed to work.

You pick a weekly goal - say I want to lose 1 lb per week. MFP gives you a calorie goal so that without exercise, you lose 1 lb per week.

Then you exercise. If you don't eat back at least some of those calories, you will lose faster than you wanted to, possibly undereating, and not fueling your exercise.

So yes, if you are using the MFP calorie goal, you are supposed to eat back exercise calories.

If you use TDEE or some other method that factors your exercise into your goal, then you don't eat those calories back.

godlikepoetyes

WHY do you guys eat only 1,200 calories? If MFP gives you so few, then by all means go with it. But most women, MOST, do not need to eat so few calories to lose weight. I hear about this "1,200" calories all the time. I think it's because many women believe, or fear, they just won't lose unless they eat the absolute minimum. This is simply not the case for most women. I was on another post and a woman, who is 5'8"!! was eating only 1,200! This is absurd. I suggest that everyone do some research into TDEE and to consider the World Heath Organization's definition of food malnutrition/food insecurity--anyone who consumes fewer than 1,800 calories a day is "chronically under-nourished and hungry." Obviously this is an average across the weights of every age, sex, and height of normal weight persons, but doesn't that number put things into perspective? The TDEE for healthy men and women is between 2,350 and 3,000 and those numbers are likely too low.