Does anyone use the 1200 cal guideline?

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  • lauraesh0384
    lauraesh0384 Posts: 463 Member
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    Oh heck no. I wouldn't be able to function on so little calories. I'm far too active to sustain on 1200 calories. My body has gotten so used to 1800-2000 calories that I couldn't imagine eating much below that. I never in my wildest dreams imagined I'd be able to eat that many calories and still lose weight, but I am. I'm 5'6" 157 lbs and my goal weight is 140-145. I wish more people would realize 1200 calories isn't always the answer.
  • Bonny132
    Bonny132 Posts: 3,617 Member
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    I eat 1200 because as a short 5'2 woman with a sedentary lifestyle this is what is recommended to me by MFP. Most days this is easy enough, and when I exercise, my body normally tells me to eat some more, so I do.

    1200 is only a suitable target if MFP recommends it to you based upon YOUR stats though.
  • dragon_girl26
    dragon_girl26 Posts: 2,187 Member
    edited June 2016
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    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.

    No offense, but I don't understand why people think this way. What is the rationale for why your net calorie amount goes up, then, when you exercise? Do you think it's a programming glitch? I have eaten back those calories, and always lost the amount of weight.loss I've set MFP to. That's how it's supposed to work.
    Exercise is meant for fitness; diet is for weight loss. "Speeding up" weight loss is typically never a good thing, because the smaller you are, the better the chances are that you're losing more and more muscle.
  • greenlucozade
    greenlucozade Posts: 2 Member
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    I am sticking to 1200 calories as well but just a question if anyone can help? I usually go over by 200 calories but work out everyday with my exercise bike on a high level- making it very easy for me to burn about 500 calories in 20 minutes. Is this okay? So if I overeat 1200+ as long as I exercise it off will I lose weight? Tonight I ate 1400 but I'm planning to burn off 800 now. Thanks xx
  • godlikepoetyes
    godlikepoetyes Posts: 442 Member
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    greenlucozade wrote: »
    I am sticking to 1200 calories as well but just a question if anyone can help? I usually go over by 200 calories but work out everyday with my exercise bike on a high level- making it very easy for me to burn about 500 calories in 20 minutes. Is this okay? So if I overeat 1200+ as long as I exercise it off will I lose weight? Tonight I ate 1400 but I'm planning to burn off 800 now. Thanks xx

    You'll know if it's working if/when you lose weight.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    greenlucozade wrote: »
    I am sticking to 1200 calories as well but just a question if anyone can help? I usually go over by 200 calories but work out everyday with my exercise bike on a high level- making it very easy for me to burn about 500 calories in 20 minutes. Is this okay? So if I overeat 1200+ as long as I exercise it off will I lose weight? Tonight I ate 1400 but I'm planning to burn off 800 now. Thanks xx

    1200 is your net goal, which means that you are supposed to end at 1200. If you burn off 500 calories you should be eating 1700 so that you net 1200. Now with that said, 500 cals in 20 minutes seems excessive, where is that burn coming from? A lot of people only eat back a portion of those calories, maybe half would be a good starting point, so you would eat 250 + 1200 or a total of 1450.
  • greenlucozade
    greenlucozade Posts: 2 Member
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    WinoGelato wrote: »
    greenlucozade wrote: »
    I am sticking to 1200 calories as well but just a question if anyone can help? I usually go over by 200 calories but work out everyday with my exercise bike on a high level- making it very easy for me to burn about 500 calories in 20 minutes. Is this okay? So if I overeat 1200+ as long as I exercise it off will I lose weight? Tonight I ate 1400 but I'm planning to burn off 800 now. Thanks xx

    1200 is your net goal, which means that you are supposed to end at 1200. If you burn off 500 calories you should be eating 1700 so that you net 1200. Now with that said, 500 cals in 20 minutes seems excessive, where is that burn coming from? A lot of people only eat back a portion of those calories, maybe half would be a good starting point, so you would eat 250 + 1200 or a total of 1450.

    I'm so confused. I feel like I've been doing this all wrong for weeks! On my app it just says goal = 1200, and if I go over I exercise a certain amount e.g. = I ate 1500 and I exercise 800 calories off, does that make sense? I always like to have my remaining calories stay around the 300 mark after exercising. I've been on this diet for almost a month now, I have not weighed myself yet... But not sure if I'm losing weight. How long did it take for everyone to notice weight loss?
  • godlikepoetyes
    godlikepoetyes Posts: 442 Member
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    I think the thing to do is eat the calories MFP gives you and wait and see what happens. You have to be patient. If you eat less than you burn, you will lose weight. I lost weight right away, but I had a lot to lose. I weight once a week. That's how I knew I was losing at first. Later, as my clothes fit differently and my measurements changed, there was more than the scale to verify my loss. But it took time.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    greenlucozade wrote: »
    WinoGelato wrote: »
    greenlucozade wrote: »
    I am sticking to 1200 calories as well but just a question if anyone can help? I usually go over by 200 calories but work out everyday with my exercise bike on a high level- making it very easy for me to burn about 500 calories in 20 minutes. Is this okay? So if I overeat 1200+ as long as I exercise it off will I lose weight? Tonight I ate 1400 but I'm planning to burn off 800 now. Thanks xx

    1200 is your net goal, which means that you are supposed to end at 1200. If you burn off 500 calories you should be eating 1700 so that you net 1200. Now with that said, 500 cals in 20 minutes seems excessive, where is that burn coming from? A lot of people only eat back a portion of those calories, maybe half would be a good starting point, so you would eat 250 + 1200 or a total of 1450.

    I'm so confused. I feel like I've been doing this all wrong for weeks! On my app it just says goal = 1200, and if I go over I exercise a certain amount e.g. = I ate 1500 and I exercise 800 calories off, does that make sense? I always like to have my remaining calories stay around the 300 mark after exercising. I've been on this diet for almost a month now, I have not weighed myself yet... But not sure if I'm losing weight. How long did it take for everyone to notice weight loss?

    You should see something like:

    Goal - Food + Exercise = Remaining

    Goal will always be the same, whatever MFP set you at, in this case 1200.

    Food is the amount of calories you eat and log each day. You can increase the accuracy of this number by weighing your food with a food scale and choosing good entries in the database, using the recipe builder, etc.

    Exercise is an estimate of how many calories you burn. This can be estimated by logging what activity you do in MFP (like walking, 3.5 mph, 30 min) ot entering with estimates from a heart rate monitor or activity tracker like FitBit.

    When you subtract the food cals you eat and add back in exercise you get your remaining cals for the day. Ideally you want this to be as close to zero as possible. 1200 is the goal you are aiming for. If you are seeing 300 remaining at the end of the day, that means you are only netting 900 cals which is really low especially if you are active.

    Have you read the stickied "most helpful posts" at the top of the forum sections? There is a lot of good info there about how to be successful with this tool.

    Lastly, how much weight are you trying to lose? What goal did you choose when you set up MFP (lose 1 lb/week? 2 lb/week?). 1200 is a goal that is not right for everyone, as explained above. If you don't have that much to lose, and are active, it may be too low for you. Losing too quickly runs the risk of loss of lean muscle, netting below 1000 cals/day runs the risk of not getting enough nutrition, not fueling your workouts, etc.

    I actually weigh every day, it helps me to understand the natural fluctuations I see on the scale day to day. Also, you can take measurements and a lot of people rely on those to measure progress in addition to scale weight. Measuring progress other ways is more difficul, you will likely not notice a change in the mirror or in your clothing for about 10 or more lbs.

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