Is 1200 Calories To Little?
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Yes, but you also said 1200 is the bare minimum Before knowing the first thing about the op's stats.queenliz99 wrote: »
Usually, but OP could be extremely short for all you know.queenliz99 wrote: »1200 is the bare minimum.
Hence, why I asked her stats.
1200 calories is the minimum that MFP will ever recommend for any woman. 1500 is the minimum recommended for any man.
That is why someone might say it is the bare minimum calorie goal without knowing an individual's stats.
https://myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/en/portal/articles/410332-how-does-myfitnesspal-calculate-my-initial-goals-1 -
this is the message you get when you try to close your diary with less than " bare minimum "
Yes, but you also said 1200 is the bare minimum Before knowing the first thing about the op's stats.queenliz99 wrote: »
Usually, but OP could be extremely short for all you know.queenliz99 wrote: »1200 is the bare minimum.
Hence, why I asked her stats.
1200 calories is the minimum that MFP will ever recommend for any woman. 1500 is the minimum recommended for any man.
That is why someone might say it is the bare minimum calorie goal without knowing an individual's stats.
https://myfitnesspal.desk.com/customer/en/portal/articles/410332-how-does-myfitnesspal-calculate-my-initial-goals-
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When I first plugged my stats into MFP, it came back with 1200 a day. I indicated a slower weight loss and my calories when up by 200 per day, which feels more doable. I'm finding some of my favorite processed foods are a death knell for a healthy calorie intake, so they had to be replaced by something not so sugary.0
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When I first plugged my stats into MFP, it came back with 1200 a day. I indicated a slower weight loss and my calories when up by 200 per day, which feels more doable. I'm finding some of my favorite processed foods are a death knell for a healthy calorie intake, so they had to be replaced by something not so sugary.
Yes, depending on your current stats and how fast you indicate you want to lose the weight, the lowest caloric intake MFP will automatically set for women is 1200. If that turns out to be too harsh, lowering your expected rate of loss (from 2lbs per week to, say, 1 pound per week) will up the number of calories you can eat each day while still remaining in a calorie deficit to lose weight.
For a lot of people, a too-aggressive deficit will backfire on them, causing inability to comply which makes them feel like a failure and can trigger binges, which makes them feel like an even bigger failure.
Weight loss is a marathon and not a sprint.
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CAT FIGHT subscribed2
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Female here, 5'6 CW 140 on 1200 calories a day, it is working fine for me, I'm losing 1-2 lbs a week.2
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RreeoowwWWMichael190lbs wrote: »CAT FIGHT subscribed1 -
when i do nothing all day (im doing school and research) but im literally sitting all day.. like 1500 steps sitting all day. It sucks but school is my priority.. well on those days according to my heart rate monitor i burn 1346... for the whole day. So 1200 is a deficit of 146 calories. im 5'2. days i work out and am active i burn easily up to 2500. 1200 isnt low depending on your hight and activity level.2
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Around 1200 calories depending on how active I am is usually enough. I am over 50 and mfp recommended 1200 calories for my age, height and amount I need to lose which is 30 lbs. It's taken 8 months to lose 16 so I am sure I am not starving to death.1
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I'm tall and very heavy (5'8" and a little under 270 right now); I stick to 1200 during the week, but mostly so I can have more on the weekends. I don't find it particularly difficult, but it does take a lot of careful meal planning and shopping. I'm also pretty sedentary, and I imagine an active person would struggle a lot more.1
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Every one of these threads includes so many people who are eating way lower than they need to be for their height, goals, and activity levels. It never ceases to amaze me how many people could be eating more, still losing, and reach their goals without having to "get used to it" or "take careful planning" or manage to get by".
It's just a shame.9 -
Yeah. I find that if I plan my meals ahead it's not so bad eating 1200, but if I don't plan I almost always will go over.1
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WinoGelato wrote: »Every one of these threads includes so many people who are eating way lower than they need to be for their height, goals, and activity levels. It never ceases to amaze me how many people could be eating more, still losing, and reach their goals without having to "get used to it" or "take careful planning" or manage to get by".
It's just a shame.
I respect that, but for me personally (I was the one who mentioned careful planning), this is what works. I need the careful planning to keep me from bingeing, to keep me thinking about making good, nutritious choices, and to allow me the freedom I enjoy on the weekends. I've tried a higher calorie limit during the week and, while I still lost weight, I found it much harder mentally and emotionally. I now focus on my weekly goal and deficit; I eat very low-calorie during the week when it's easy for me to do so because I'm busy with work and school, and on the weekends when I want to drink and snack and relax I can do so without worrying about it.
The important thing, and what I probably didn't make clear in my original post, is that I'm not eating 1200 calories or less every single day and I'm not generating an unusually high overall deficit. My daily average over a week is very close to the ~1700 calories MFP has set for me, which I feel is a good and healthy goal. I agree that sticking to a 1200-or-less daily average is an unsustainable plan for most people (who aren't extremely petite, older, or very sedentary), and can lead to unhealthy behaviors and damage physical health.7 -
WinoGelato wrote: »Every one of these threads includes so many people who are eating way lower than they need to be for their height, goals, and activity levels. It never ceases to amaze me how many people could be eating more, still losing, and reach their goals without having to "get used to it" or "take careful planning" or manage to get by".
It's just a shame.
I respect that, but for me personally (I was the one who mentioned careful planning), this is what works. I need the careful planning to keep me from bingeing, to keep me thinking about making good, nutritious choices, and to allow me the freedom I enjoy on the weekends. I've tried a higher calorie limit during the week and, while I still lost weight, I found it much harder mentally and emotionally. I now focus on my weekly goal and deficit; I eat very low-calorie during the week when it's easy for me to do so because I'm busy with work and school, and on the weekends when I want to drink and snack and relax I can do so without worrying about it.
The important thing, and what I probably didn't make clear in my original post, is that I'm not eating 1200 calories or less every single day and I'm not generating an unusually high overall deficit. My daily average over a week is very close to the ~1700 calories MFP has set for me, which I feel is a good and healthy goal. I agree that sticking to a 1200-or-less daily average is an unsustainable plan for most people (who aren't extremely petite, older, or very sedentary), and can lead to unhealthy behaviors and damage physical health.
Funny, I actually thought maybe I should leave out the "careful planning" comment because I don't actually see that as a bad thing. Most of us who are successful on MFP or with weight loss in general rely on careful planning.
It sounds like you have a very pragmatic approach and I respect that and think there are certainly some instances where 1200 cals can be appropriate, the way you are doing it with balancing cals over the week is similar to my approach with banking cals during the week for higher cals on the weekends.
However there are always so many people who think they have to eat at 1200 or under to lose, just because MFP says so, or because they have their goal set too aggressively, or they just want to lose faster than they were. As you mentioned, for extremely petite, older, sedentary women it might be appropriate but for the majority, it is likely not necessary...2 -
I think we totally agree and I just overthought my response to your comment. I definitely agree that too many people are cutting to 1200 or below when that's not an appropriate goal for most of us, and I hope the OP and anyone else reading this and struggling takes that to heart.2
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If you ask don't you know already?0
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i think a lot of people under eat when they first start out. I live for the days i burn 2000-2500 cals and get to eat more. Unfortunately there are days i am legit sedentary and dont burn anything. Its my choice i could take breaks from school and go do stuff but i actually enjoy the days i lounge around. Wednesday I had 3 papers 2 finals and 2 discussion posts to do for school. I literally got 980 steps.. for the whole day. i basically hit my bmr.0
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I'm tall and very heavy (5'8" and a little under 270 right now); I stick to 1200 during the week, but mostly so I can have more on the weekends. I don't find it particularly difficult, but it does take a lot of careful meal planning and shopping. I'm also pretty sedentary, and I imagine an active person would struggle a lot more.
Well, not really - if they are doing it via MFP they should be eating back their exercise calories -1200 is the NET minimum.
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Oh, definitely, but I think an active person would have a harder time sticking to a 1200 net -- even if it was 1600-1800 total -- than a super-sedentary person like me. When I'm more active I find this way of eating no longer works well for me, even if my total calories are higher to account for the exercise. It's just because 1200 is so very low, I think; adjusting net calories to 1400-1800 makes a big difference.0
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