1200 calories too hard!

ne14fitness

I'm finding the 1200 calorie level too hard. When I manage to meet it I don't have any effort left for exercising and most of the time I can't meet it at all; which is disheartening. Take today, for example. I had two pieces of salmon and some chocolate and two cups of tea. That was one meal! I didn't eat anything else and I was right at my 1200 calorie limit! How is it possible to eat three meals a day on this plan???

- Disheartened!!!

suelachman

I am not sure how you are counting your calories but I think you might have miscalculated. I very often eat fruit for breakfast, then I have maybe a salad with tune or feta cheese or cottage cheese, then in the evening will have piece of salmon with stir fry veggies and rice plu have 3 cups of coffee and eat a couple of health bars during the day and am always on or just under my 1200 calories. I always try and do my exercises in the morning and that will on average give me about 300 calories but I rarely use them. I find that I waste my calories if I eat chocolate...just saying Good luck

JussyD89

What was the portion of the salmon?
Skip the chocolate.
Was the tea green? or was it added with milk or sugar? or flavourings?

daughterofelectricfire

I am on 1200 Calories at the moment, when I first started it was really, really hard and I always ended up going drastically over! But, I've found that if I keep myself busy, I'm actually not that hungry. But with me it was more emotional eating anyway.
A good plan (that I use) is that I have about 300 for Breakfast, 300 for Lunch, 300 for Dinner and then 300 for a late night snack! Also, if you are finding it too hard, you could always exercise and then eat back your calories that you have burnt off, that way you can easily eat lots more
Good luck on your journey!

grandevampire

I'm finding the 1200 calorie level too hard. When I manage to meet it I don't have any effort left for exercising and most of the time I can't meet it at all; which is disheartening. Take today, for example. I had two pieces of salmon and some chocolate and two cups of tea. That was one meal! I didn't eat anything else and I was right at my 1200 calorie limit! How is it possible to eat three meals a day on this plan???

- Disheartened!!!

If it is too hard, don't do it, there is no reason to (unless you are a 4'11" sedentary woman). The fact that you don't have enough energy to exercise is a huge sign that this is too low a target for you. It is possible to diet and lose weight at a reasonable and sustainable pace where you don't feel fatigued, don't feel grumpy ("hangry"), and can still progress with your fitness goals and preserve muscle.

I won't repeat all the details, but do a quick search on the TDEE -20%/-15%/-10%/whatever is appropriate given how much you have to lose, which based on your ticker, is not a lot.

If you only have 4kg to lose, by gosh, you don't need more than a 250 kcal deficit. In this case, eating way less won't speed up your loss. When you are within 10 lbs of your goal, you presumably don't have massive fat stores to draw from, so eating at such a huge deficit will make you feel exactly as you described, like crap.

But don't worry, there is a better, more happy way and you can succeed, no doubt about it.

Bearbrat

I am not sure how you are counting your calories but I think you might have miscalculated. I very often eat fruit for breakfast, then I have maybe a salad with tune or feta cheese or cottage cheese, then in the evening will have piece of salmon with stir fry veggies and rice plu have 3 cups of coffee and eat a couple of health bars during the day and am always on or just under my 1200 calories. I always try and do my exercises in the morning and that will on average give me about 300 calories but I rarely use them. I find that I waste my calories if I eat chocolate...just saying Good luck

This, I was a bit confused when I first read the OP post....at least a couple of times a week I have salmon for dinner with asparagus and cottage cheese....The salmon is a 7 oz piece (pre frozen Costco) and is only 340 calories. I think you're right that he/she may have miscalculated.

OP, do you have a food scale? We also can't see what you logged since your diary is private. More information from you would help us to help you more :flowerforyou:

NadineSabbagh

Have you set your goal on MFP to lose 2lbs per week? If so, you might want to consider changing it as 1200 is obviously not a sustainable amount of calories for you. If you want to keep your goals the same, then you might have to look at your nutrition.

I currently eat 1200cals, which I am finding sustainable at the moment, but I'm having to make smart choices with the food I'm actually eating. I can quite comfortably fit 3 good meals into my calories, along with 3 snacks. You probably could have had another meal instead of the chocolate, depending on how much chocolate you ate. I find that whenever I have chocolate it takes a big chunk out of my calories for that day and I have to compromise by having lower calorie meals. I find the easiest thing is to limit my chocolate! Your portion size may be a problem... I don't know much about the calories in fish, as I don't ever eat it, but if that one meals reached 1200 calories then maybe it was just a case of the portion size being slightly too big? Or, like someone above mentioned, you may have inadvertently miscalculated? MFP can sometimes give wrong calorie counts for certain foods!

If you find that you don't have any energy, then it would be wiser to up your calories. You don't want deprive your body of the energy it needs to function!

Good luck, I hope you find something that works for you!

TavistockToad

your ticker says you have 4kg to lose, so set your cals to lose 0.5lb per week, that will give you a decent calorie goal.

sweetchildomine

....I am extremely confused as to how 2 pieces of salmon, a piece of chocolate and tea would equal 1200 calories...Did you cook it in a lot of oil or something? You just have to make smart choices as to how you're eating. 1200 calories can be a lot if you choose the right foods. It took me awhile to get the hang of it but it gets easier.

HeidiMightyRawr

I'm assuming the chocolate was quite a bit if you reached that after only eating 3 things. If so, don't have that every day, or reduce it greatly.

Also though, I do think 1200 a day is really really low and completely unnecessary for the vast majority of people. If you're 4'11, sedentary and have a lot to lose then maybe, but that's a very small % of the population. I've even seen tiny, sedentary people on here eat more than that and have success. It's something to think about especially as you're finding it hard. You should have energy left to exercise and do other things you want with your day.

operation_cute

I'm finding the 1200 calorie level too hard. When I manage to meet it I don't have any effort left for exercising and most of the time I can't meet it at all; which is disheartening. Take today, for example. I had two pieces of salmon and some chocolate and two cups of tea. That was one meal! I didn't eat anything else and I was right at my 1200 calorie limit! How is it possible to eat three meals a day on this plan???

- Disheartened!!!

If it is too hard, don't do it, there is no reason to (unless you are a 4'11" sedentary woman). The fact that you don't have enough energy to exercise is a huge sign that this is too low a target for you. It is possible to diet and lose weight at a reasonable and sustainable pace where you don't feel fatigued, don't feel grumpy ("hangry"), and can still progress with your fitness goals and preserve muscle.

I won't repeat all the details, but do a quick search on the TDEE -20%/-15%/-10%/whatever is appropriate given how much you have to lose, which based on your ticker, is not a lot.

If you only have 4kg to lose, by gosh, you don't need more than a 250 kcal deficit. In this case, eating way less won't speed up your loss. When you are within 10 lbs of your goal, you presumably don't have massive fat stores to draw from, so eating at such a huge deficit will make you feel exactly as you described, like crap.

But don't worry, there is a better, more happy way and you can succeed, no doubt about it.

^^This :flowerforyou: I was at 1200 net when I first started here that lasted about 2 weeks I bumped up to 1300-1400 net because I stopped losing my second week. Now that i've started lifting I started feeling drained, no energy, lazy, and blah (where as before I was beyond energized) and my lifting routine was not progressing well. Now I go by my tdee and eat between 1600-1800 cals per day depending if it was an exericise day and my energy almost instantly went up I have a significant amount of weight to lose, but I lost an inch in my waist this past month, so eating less isn't always the way to changing your body Try upping a couple hundred and see how you feel I bet you will gain all your energy back and it will help with making this something you can stick with Also make sure your eating a "net" amount of calories, meaning if you exercise eat back the calories you burned Other than that, this takes practice, and a bit of trial and error, but you'll get the hang of it if you stick with it

micheypeach

Could you be looking at Kj's instead of Kcals??

crose0056

I like to plan ahead. Fill out my fruits for the day, then protein, a snack then desert (healthy) then fill with carbs of leftover calories. Stick to this plan all day long. Drink lots of ice water, and watch the pounds melt away.

LaserMum

Breakfast:
Fage - Total 0% Fat Free Authentic Greek Yoghurt (Uk), 170 g 97 cals
Sainsbury's - British Strawberries, 200 g 60cals
Total: 157 cals

Lunch
Clover - Butter, 20 g 128 cals
Burgen - Soya & Linseed Bread (800g Loaf) Uk, 2 slice 248 cals
Sainsbury's Basics - Sliced Cooked Chicken Breast, 100 g 108 cals
Total: 484 cals

Dinner
Generic - Pork Loin Steaks, 1 Cooked Steak (130g) 270 cals
Sainsbury's - Frozen Chopped Spinach, 120 g 26 cals
Asda - Freshly Frozen Mixed Vegetables, 100 g 59 cals
Total: 355 cals

Day's Total: 996 cals

Plenty left for extras although chocolate rarely fits in my macros.

My target calories is 1670 - I'm wondering what I can have as a healthy snack to make sure I meet my calorie goals! (or get near to it anyway)!

__Di__

I'm finding the 1200 calorie level too hard. When I manage to meet it I don't have any effort left for exercising and most of the time I can't meet it at all; which is disheartening. Take today, for example. I had two pieces of salmon and some chocolate and two cups of tea. That was one meal! I didn't eat anything else and I was right at my 1200 calorie limit! How is it possible to eat three meals a day on this plan???

- Disheartened!!!

Yes, it IS possible to stick to 1200 calories, but it depends on what you eat.

That choccie, how much did you eat, because two cups of tea and two pieces of salmon would leave a hell of a lot of calories, to use the remainder up for chocolate means your have deliberately foregone other meals and you wonder why you are hungry.......

ne14fitness

Thank you. I think hearing from you all has been really helpful. I think I will up my calorie level a bit and focus more on eating healthy, rather than less. I am and have always been a chocolate addict. So eating 50gms a day is as low as I can go at the moment. I do have more to lose than what I've stated but I changed it in the hope that having smaller goals might not be so mentally challenging. I'll change it - it's not helping me to ignote the painful truth...

LaserMum

If you *must* eat chocolate - fine. But eat it mindfully (Google "eating mindfully", there's loads of information). Don't just shove it in feeling guilty about it. Enjoy it.

Know that you are going to eat it. Savour it. Smell it. Let it melt in your mouth and get all the flavour out of it.

You feel a right *kitten* first time you eat it like this but it works!

I found that eating chocolate this way left me feeling full with less chocolate.

Try it.

vonnywaft

Breakfast:
Fage - Total 0% Fat Free Authentic Greek Yoghurt (Uk), 170 g 97 cals
Sainsbury's - British Strawberries, 200 g 60cals
Total: 157 cals

Lunch
Clover - Butter, 20 g 128 cals
Burgen - Soya & Linseed Bread (800g Loaf) Uk, 2 slice 248 cals
Sainsbury's Basics - Sliced Cooked Chicken Breast, 100 g 108 cals
Total: 484 cals

Dinner
Generic - Pork Loin Steaks, 1 Cooked Steak (130g) 270 cals
Sainsbury's - Frozen Chopped Spinach, 120 g 26 cals
Asda - Freshly Frozen Mixed Vegetables, 100 g 59 cals
Total: 355 cals

Day's Total: 996 cals

Plenty left for extras although chocolate rarely fits in my macros.

My target calories is 1670 - I'm wondering what I can have as a healthy snack to make sure I meet my calorie goals! (or get near to it anyway)!

I would add some sort of seedy meusli or granola type of thing, or just some nuts or seeds to the breakfast. a few salady bits in tthe sandwich at lunch, and maybe a fruit based dessert at dinner. But that's a good day's eating right there anyway.

Sylvitryinghard

breakfast 300 cal
lunch 400 cal
dinner 400 cal
snacks 100 cal

if lunch or dinner is about 300 cal then I have 200 cal for snacks

if my lunch or dinner was much more like 500 cal I just get a protein shake instead for the other lunch/dinner

pinkraynedropjacki

Ditch the choc. It's not hard to eat on 1200 at all....if you eat the right things. Plus there is a reason to exercise....so you can eat more.

I can have a whole block of choc as well as a full chicken dinner cooked in coconut oil, and then still have room in my cals for sushi, rolls with ham/cheese/tomato/salad & then also some other yummy things like eggs, oats, peanut butter on toast.

Hell & that's one day & can still fit in my 1200 if I need it to.

pluckabee

If you cant take chocolate out of your life, try weaning yourself onto darker chocolates and eating a bit less.

CherylP67

I started at 1200 but I was hungry and thought about food all the time. For me, this is my life now. Before; I was eating when I wasn't hungry, I thought about food too much. After doing a lot of research and reading these forums; I decided to up my calories, slowly to sedentary TDEE-20% and eat back exercise calories. I rarely eat to my goal amount of calories because I'm satisfied.

I have had a lot success so far, I'm a 45 year old 5'5 woman, I went from 198 to 173 since May 2. Before MFP, I thought I was at that age where I would have to fight hard to lose weight. I used to feel hungry all the time, but that is going away too.

We can all tell you what works for us, but every body is different. Your best bet is to research and try to figure out what works for your body.

P.S. I eat chocolate several times a week; Lindt Excellence sea salt dark chocolate and coconut dark chocolate are my favorites.

mimieon

Thank you. I think hearing from you all has been really helpful. I think I will up my calorie level a bit and focus more on eating healthy, rather than less. I am and have always been a chocolate addict. So eating 50gms a day is as low as I can go at the moment. I do have more to lose than what I've stated but I changed it in the hope that having smaller goals might not be so mentally challenging. I'll change it - it's not helping me to ignote the painful truth...

50 grams of chocolate should be a bit less than 300 calories so you should be able to fit that in, especially if you up your calories to suit your goals better as some people mentioned before. Just be sure to for the rest eat nutrient dense food. You can try to decrease your chocolate with for instance 1 gram every two days (use a good digital scale ), the difference will be supersubtle and slowly you will get used to less chocolate.

ne14fitness

Good tip!