I don’t understand how some people stick to 1200 calories per day diet,

anechka1981

I don’t understand how some people stick to 1200 calories per day diet, plus exercising and not eating these calories back.

I can barely stick to 1,500 calories intakes, that is to take in to count that I eat back those calories that I loose in the gym.

After 3-4 days of 1,500 calories per day, I start to experience headache, because my body just starting to fed up. I start to have sleeping problems. It's physical uncomfort, so my body reacts to it physically. I make sure I eat dinner at around 8, and go to bed around 10-11 pm, so I don't go to bed hungry, but then I can get up in the middle of the night from hunger. These problems only go away when I start to consume more calories. Sometimes I don’t feel hunger itself, I just feel light in head, during a day or night. If it happens at night, my sleep become very light. So, I'm either can't fell sleep for hours, or keep awaking from every noise. Sometimes, I have to go downstairs at night, and eat something, otherwise I won’t fell asleep till morning. And I have to get up for work at 6 am. My body stops feeling discomfort only when I start to comeback to my normal calories intake - 1,700-1,800. But this is not enough for me to loose weight. This is my normal allowance to maintain the weight that I have now. I'm only 5,2 and 145 pounds. It feels like I’m in the hell circle. I end up going to work hungry, and sleepy. As a result, ending up in absolutely horrible mood. I've always been a healthy eater, but trust me it is possible to gain weight from healthy food as well.

How does anyone cope with their low calories intake?

livingleanlivingclean

You just do. I guess people have different tolerances, just like people have different pain thresholds...

ccruz985

It's damn near impossible and really only doable if you're eating a lot of vegetables. They're so low cal you can really fill up on them. I'm not saying that's what I LIKE to do but that's the only way I ever get it done tbh.

Elise4270

Better choices

TeaBea

Women are different sizes, and different activity levels. It's generally going to be easier for a 5' tall, 135 pound, desk jockey than it's going to be for 5'8" 180 pound, waitress. It's not one-size-fits-all, nor should it be. You do what you are comfortable with.

Back in the day 1200 was one-size-fits-all. I'm not tall, I have a desk job. Very low fat and lots of veggies were how I got thru it. BUT very low fat diets aren't good nutrition, so now I up my calories.

shadowbaby4

It's tough for sure. I'm struggling to stay at 1200. I watch the people around me eat regular-sized meals that I can't have, and I'm so goddamn hungry by the end of the day, and it sucks. I guess the only way to really deal with it is to do this weird psychological flip where you start to see the unpleasant physical feelings as a good thing, as a sign that you're making progress, as the necessary price you have to pay to have the body you want.

I fill up on green tea in the evening to help the hunger pangs. I snack on ridiculous amounts of raw veggies. I accept that I'm going to feel sick and week and miserable for awhile, and it's worth it to me.

Unknown

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asianolikeyou

I do, and I'm never left feeling starving. I eat a high protein, low calorie breakfast (like a cup of nonfat Greek yogurt w/ a 1/3 cup of blueberries and an egg white omelette with spinach) followed by a carb-rich lunch (like 2/3 cup of whole wheat pasta w/ chicken meatballs and a small salad of arugula and romaine topped w/ mushrooms, onions, olives, and peppers) and then a balanced dinner (like grilled salmon w/ steamed broccoli and cauliflower and a baked potato topped with a tbs of sour cream). Sometimes I'll snack during the day, too, on things like veggie sticks w/ hummus or homemade trail mix.

Gisel2015

Not so much of a problem if you are old, short, small boned, and if you were to eat good balanced meals, don't drink, binge, don't eat too many deserts or too often and exercise, and keep snacks to a minimum and under control. Exercise may give more calories to play around with but being old and small wouldn’t make the burn too large.
We are all different and like another poster said, there is not a one size fits all approach. Just worry about you.

everher

livingleanlivingclean wrote: »

You just do. I guess people have different tolerances, just like people have different pain thresholds...

This is all that I can think of.

I've seen people around on the forums who say they get so hungry on 1600 calories it's unbearable. Meanwhile, once I'm done losing weight 1600 calories should be my maintenance number (before exercise).

I'm eating 1300 calories a day now (again before exercise) and it just doesn't bother me.

LadyLeaAZ

I don't even make 1200 calories a day probably bc I'm never hungry, stress kills my appetite.

Today's meal plan
Breakfast: half ham and cheese omelette
Lunch: Rotisserie chicken breast, green leaf lettuce, ranch and cheese.
Dinner: Ravioli, sauce and garlic bread

Snacks: honey almonds or deli meat

Just remember protein keeps you full longer.

You can do it one meal at a time !

enyagoboom

if i had tried to start out at 1200 calories i would have completely failed. even right now i'm at 1310+ some eating back if I'm active for the day. In a month or so I'll cut down to 1200. lots and lots of veggies.

EddieHaskell97

It's easy.


PUT DOWN THE FORK!

Graelwyn75

I have managed to eat lower than 1200 calories, when I was not really doing much in the way of activity, but it was not healthy and I did not do it for long. I am fortunate in that I can lose weight quite adequately on 1600 net calories and maintain on upwards of 2000 (I am fairly active now). Different strokes for different folks, I guess. I know I can get by on a low number, but I have no wish to as my priority now is my health and fitness. Fortunately, I do not have weight to lose anyway.

bizgirl26

I don't know how anyone survives on it either and I love veggies . MFP would set me at 1200 but I changed it . If it takes me longer that is fine. Slow and steady wins the race

rheddmobile

You're not really supposed to eat less than 1200, and not eating back exercise calories means you are eating less than 1200. It's uncomfortable because it's unhealthy.

Someone above said they accepted feeling sick and weak and miserable because that's the way it has to be - but it doesn't have to be that way. You can lose weight without making yourself sick.

quiksylver296

I would freak out and eat the whole house after about 3 days if I tried to stick to 1200 calories, even WITH exercise calories.

descene

The reason I can do it is because I don't get any those symptoms you're talking about. I'm not uncomfortable on a diet until it's in the 3-digit range, but even then the only thing that happens is I binge later on. MFP has me at 1560, but those last 500 calories have been a struggle to get in the last few months.

If you don't mind, I wonder if it's a body weight issue, and I wonder if you're a lot smaller than me. I'm morbidly obese so my theory is I don't get those symptoms on any low-cal budget because I have enough fat reserves to cover it.

P1NKWARR10R

I have been getting 900 to 1100 calories a day and cardio 4x a week, strength 3 x week. It takes a lot of discipline.

canarysal

Planning, earning extra through exercise as top up. I did 5:2 diet couple of years ago and 500 calories was fine when got into habit, just had to make sensible choices and not waste on rubbish. I've had 1200 base from day one being short, it can be done.

OliveGirl128

I'm coming out of a short cut, to get my maintenance range lower (I adjust it seasonally), and I didn't find 1,200-1,400 calories a day to be hard. But, I've been at this for a long time now and know what foods have longer satiety levels for me. I also eat upwards of 1,000 grams of veg/fruit a day, which is a lot of food mass, for a low amount of calories.

As a sidenote-back during my main weight loss phase I did ADF, (alternate day intermittent fasting), which means I alternated between maintenance level calorie days, and then very low 'fasting' calorie days, (500 calories or less). That taught me what real hunger is vs me wanting to eat for other reasons, (boredom, habit, a time on the clock etc). I think going through that process is actually one of the reasons I've been so successful now, long term.

fbmandy55

I would die...

So there's this. http://www.eatmore2weighless.com/

Found this person on MFP several years ago and she explains how low-calorie diets really aren't helping anyone.

rosey203

I do it easily but i'm very inactive. My fitbit says most times i only burn 1400-1500 - which is basically just my BMR. If i didn't do it i wouldn't lose.

laurenebargar

I couldnt last two days on 1,200 im at 1300 right now (manually set) but I generally eat about half of my fitbit adjustment back, which brings me closer to 1,400-1,500 and on that im satisfied. On days I dont eat my exercise calories back in starving the next day, yesterday I went for a hike, had dinner and still was supposed to eat another 1,000 but I couldnt, and today im sitting at work starving. lol

Can I ask why you wouldnt eat your exercise calories (at least a portion)

TeaBea

P1NKWARR10R wrote: »

I have been getting 900 to 1100 calories a day and cardio 4x a week, strength 3 x week. It takes a lot of discipline.

This is sad......your lean muscle mass is fueling your workouts.

Graelwyn75

P1NKWARR10R wrote: »

I have been getting 900 to 1100 calories a day and cardio 4x a week, strength 3 x week. It takes a lot of discipline.

That is not a healthy way too approach things, speaking from personal experience.
That regime will be rapidly eating away at your lean muscle mass and you really don't want to be doing that.
That said, everyone has their own path to walk. I just feel that yours will potentially lead to health problems if sustained for too long a period of time.

P1NKWARR10R

I was getting to big in muscle mass. I had to cut back. Only my bench rep in suffering some. I have went down from benching two 50lbs dumbbells x10 to x5. And my pull up are getting less. But I am feeling better.

P1NKWARR10R

TeaBea wrote: »

P1NKWARR10R wrote: »

I have been getting 900 to 1100 calories a day and cardio 4x a week, strength 3 x week. It takes a lot of discipline.

This is sad......your lean muscle mass is fueling your workouts.

Why is it sad?

ttippie2000

I started at about 300 lbs and went down to 215. I suffered a sports training injury that set me back and, yeah, I gained about 30 lbs back. Doh! Working on it though. Anyway, I've cut most of my weight with a gross calorie intake between 2k and 2.5k calories per day...and felt great. When I eat 1200 calories a day I am tired, listless and sedentary, which doesn't work at all for me.

Machka9

anechka1981 wrote: »

I don’t understand how some people stick to 1200 calories per day diet, plus exercising and not eating these calories back.

We exercise ... and we eat some of those exercise calories back. Why on earth wouldn't we do that?

middlehaitch

'I don't understand how some people stick to 1200 calories a day diet'

Because for some of us 1200 is our maintenance calories.
Eat more- get fat.

(But yeah, I've always eaten my exercise calories on top of my 1200 maintenance. )

Cheers, h.