1,200 Calories
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such strong bashing of the 1200 cal a day diet. i tried 1400 a day for months and didn't lose any weight, and once i went to 1200 i could lose 1-2 lbs a week. annnnd i weigh my food on a digital kitchen scale, and with measuring cups and spoons! sorry i am not as cool as all of you who can lose at 1600. haha not seriously knocking ya, if you can eat THAT much and lose, great! just not all of us can!! just sucks when the OP has a legit question and everyone says she's not eating enough. she may be eating enough for her, no, 1200 isn't maintenance for most unless they are very petite/older, but it might be required for loss for many women. and i don't find it to be uncomfortable either.
that being said - on average, i eat three 350 cal meals and have a protein shake or bar as a snack for my 1200. after the first 2 weeks, my appetite shrunk and i'm not having problems. on days i work out, i can add another 200-300 cals, but with injuries i haven't worked out much.4 -
such strong bashing of the 1200 cal a day diet. i tried 1400 a day for months and didn't lose any weight, and once i went to 1200 i could lose 1-2 lbs a week. annnnd i weigh my food on a digital kitchen scale, and with measuring cups and spoons! sorry i am not as cool as all of you who can lose at 1600. haha not seriously knocking ya, if you can eat THAT much and lose, great! just not all of us can!! just sucks when the OP has a legit question and everyone says she's not eating enough. she may be eating enough for her, no, 1200 isn't maintenance for most unless they are very petite/older, but it might be required for loss for many women.
If you are losing 1-2 pounds per week on 1,200, then that means you had a deficit of around 3,500-7,000 calories per week (or 500-1,000 calories a day). Someone with a deficit of this size would also lose eating 200 calories more per day, they would just lose more slowly. That's just 1,400 calories more, not enough to cancel out a deficit sufficient to lose 1-2 pounds per week.
This sounds like it might be a logging issue (that is, your logging inaccuracies were making you think you were eating less than you were, so reducing it further finally created a deficit) than you actually requiring just 1,200 in order to lose weight. It has nothing to do with being "cool," it's just likely that many women can eat more than 1,200 and still have weight loss.6 -
i was being snarky...for sure. i just hate all the attacks on 1200 when it works well for some people. and my logging and measuring is better now than it was a year ago, for sure. however, i am indeed at 1200 now and if i creep up over 1300 even with my improved food measuring and weighing discipline, i really don't lose weight for weeks at a time. it's going really well and i don't know why i would add more cals until after my injury heals and i genuinely work out more! that's why for me 1200 seems to be the magic number.3
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I do agree that 1,200 has lead me to eat random snacks or if someone offers something I usually accept, I was on 1,500 calories before I put on a few pounds so I switched back 1,200 cals.0
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CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »*kitten* me and that 1200 calories crap...seriously...I also blame mfp for pushing 1200 calories crap to most women.
1200 is the MINIMUM that a female should take in if they are very short,sedentary,elderly or a combo of the 3. most women can get away with more calories but some think they cant lose weight unless they eat the minimum or think thats what you need to lose weight,while many also will eat the lowest they can to lose as fast as they can not knowing the repercussions of eating so little.
I agree with you, but they seem to give that number to a lot of women regardless if they are short or not, this is a good read and I agree fully with the article https://aworkoutroutine.com/1200-calorie-diet/
I don't blame MFP - it's just a default setting. There has to be a default. A higher setting would be incorrect for shorties.
1200 has been with us for decades, back when the average woman was shorter. Programs like Biggest Loser give people unrealistic expectations. It's no wonder people so commonly jack up the weekly weight loss goal (which in turn leads to 1200).
Unfortunately what many people fail to realize (starting out) is that 1200 is the starting point. You earn more calories for exercise.1 -
OP as others have mentioned, 1200 is the minimum amount of calories recommended for women, and that is a NET goal, meaning if you exercise, you should be eating more.
What are your stats: height, current weight, goal weight, and what rate of loss did you choose?
A lot of people have difficulty sticking with 1200/day, and a lot of people, even petite women with a desk job like myself, find that they don't need to go that low in order to lose. I lost most of my weight, ~35 lbs, eating 1600-1800 cals/day.
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RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »*kitten* me and that 1200 calories crap...seriously...I also blame mfp for pushing 1200 calories crap to most women.
1200 is the MINIMUM that a female should take in if they are very short,sedentary,elderly or a combo of the 3. most women can get away with more calories but some think they cant lose weight unless they eat the minimum or think thats what you need to lose weight,while many also will eat the lowest they can to lose as fast as they can not knowing the repercussions of eating so little.
I agree with you, but they seem to give that number to a lot of women regardless if they are short or not, this is a good read and I agree fully with the article https://aworkoutroutine.com/1200-calorie-diet/
MFP don't do anything except apply the maths.
This↑
..and MFP also spits out NET calorie goal - one is supposed to eat exercise calories in addition to that 1200. 1200 + exercise calories isn't particularly absurd for those who are short with a desk job.
In my case, my net maintenance (sedentary job) is estimated at 1400 (before exercise)..Plug 0.5 lb/wk loss into the calculator, and it will spit out 1200 net calories and inform me that it corresponds to 0.4 lb/wk loss estimate.
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www.reddit.com/r/1200isplenty0
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I do think 1/3 and 1/4 lb/week drop down boxes would be a nice addition to the setup.0
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RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »
Yes. That too - Although 1% would be way too high for those that bottom out at the 0.5 lb/wk setting.1 -
I think that it goes both ways. There are people who are small and can survive on 1200, and others (like me) even though short, who cannot. MFP had me at 1200--it started at 1400 + but kept going down as I lost weight. I've been eating at 1650 since I changed my goal to 1 lb. per week. I also work out, and burn from 3000-5500 calories per week from exercises (according to MFP).
I started at 237 lbs. and I'm now down to 206. I was at 1200 for four days and couldn't take it! I still loss 1.6 lbs. the first 10 days on eating at 1650. I did not eat back ALL my exercise calories last week which I had been doing while eating at 1230-1430 calories for 2 lbs. per week. I ate back most of them last week except for 2 days (and had 800 plus burned according to MFP so I ate back about 1/2) In my case I think I might not have needed to be so low to lose the first 30 lbs. I was eating all the exercise calories and still losing about 1.5-2.0 lbs. per week, and so far I'm losing on 1650 plus. I feel SO MUCH better with the additional 450 calories! I'm only 5'3".5-5'4"and over 50. I'm at "lightly active" but there was an inaccuracy somewhere--but at this point I'm happy to be able to eat more!
ETA: When I was in the 1200s, my breakfast was usually oatmeal, with some kind of berry, and a bit of sunflower seeds. I'd have an egg with that. It was at most 350 calories. Sometimes I'd have a smoothie I made out of fresh almond milk, 1 tbsp of peanut butter, 1 tsp. cocoa powder and a banana. About 300 calories. Lunch would be either a salad or a sandwich for about 500 calories, or a leftover from the previous night's dinner. Dinner would have to be 400 calories--a vegetable, meat or fish and maybe small serving of pasta or potato. This was just not enough for me, considering my active lifestyle.0 -
OP asked for suggestions on what to eat with a calorie goal of 1200. 1200 is a reasonable calorie goal for *some* people and none of us have enough information to evaluate whether or not it is reasonable for OP. OP also did not ask people to evaluate whether or not 1200 was the best calorie goal for them.
I am very short and I ate 1200 + exercise calories while I was losing weight. I found it easiest to do that by eating a smaller breakfast, like a piece of fruit, sometimes with a tablespoon of peanut butter. I did that just because I prefer to eat a larger dinner; there's nothing special about eating your calories at breakfast vs. at dinner. On days when I was running, I ate a bigger breakfast after my run. I also ate a lot more vegetables. I wasn't intentionally low-carb, but I did eat less pasta, bread, rice, etc. and more veggies. I used less oil and other fats in my cooking; you often don't need as much oil as a recipe calls for. A typical dinner for me was a vegetarian protein, green vegetables, a little rice, and a low-calorie sauce.1 -
i was being snarky...for sure. i just hate all the attacks on 1200 when it works well for some people. and my logging and measuring is better now than it was a year ago, for sure. however, i am indeed at 1200 now and if i creep up over 1300 even with my improved food measuring and weighing discipline, i really don't lose weight for weeks at a time. it's going really well and i don't know why i would add more cals until after my injury heals and i genuinely work out more! that's why for me 1200 seems to be the magic number.
Your injury might heal a lot after if you ate at maintenance.4 -
I tend to eat between 1200 - 1500 depending on activity for the day, plus I eat more on exercise days. But 1200 is low. For breakfast I have oats soaked in almond milk with nuts and blueberries. For lunch I have something like a chicken / smoked salmon salad with plenty of salad veggies. For dinner I have for example chicken / fish / meat with rice / quinoa and plenty of veggies (get inventive with spices and make your own marinades and sauces). I snack on fruit, nuts, oat cakes, peanut butter etc. I also like a bit of chocolate here and there. I've lost 13lbs in almost 10 weeks and I'm 1-2lb off my goal so I'm now gradually increasing my calories to find my maintenance. MFP seems to set 1200 as a minimum but if you're doing any exercise it's way too low, you'll end up binging. if you want food ideas feel free to add me an nosey through my food diary
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OP asked for suggestions on what to eat with a calorie goal of 1200. 1200 is a reasonable calorie goal for *some* people and none of us have enough information to evaluate whether or not it is reasonable for OP. OP also did not ask people to evaluate whether or not 1200 was the best calorie goal for them.
I am very short and I ate 1200 + exercise calories while I was losing weight. I found it easiest to do that by eating a smaller breakfast, like a piece of fruit, sometimes with a tablespoon of peanut butter. I did that just because I prefer to eat a larger dinner; there's nothing special about eating your calories at breakfast vs. at dinner. On days when I was running, I ate a bigger breakfast after my run. I also ate a lot more vegetables. I wasn't intentionally low-carb, but I did eat less pasta, bread, rice, etc. and more veggies. I used less oil and other fats in my cooking; you often don't need as much oil as a recipe calls for. A typical dinner for me was a vegetarian protein, green vegetables, a little rice, and a low-calorie sauce.
I included my experience because when I read others recommendations I find it helpful to understand the context from which they come. But you are right, OP didn't ask for it and perhaps they don't care.1 -
lucerorojo wrote: »OP asked for suggestions on what to eat with a calorie goal of 1200. 1200 is a reasonable calorie goal for *some* people and none of us have enough information to evaluate whether or not it is reasonable for OP. OP also did not ask people to evaluate whether or not 1200 was the best calorie goal for them.
I am very short and I ate 1200 + exercise calories while I was losing weight. I found it easiest to do that by eating a smaller breakfast, like a piece of fruit, sometimes with a tablespoon of peanut butter. I did that just because I prefer to eat a larger dinner; there's nothing special about eating your calories at breakfast vs. at dinner. On days when I was running, I ate a bigger breakfast after my run. I also ate a lot more vegetables. I wasn't intentionally low-carb, but I did eat less pasta, bread, rice, etc. and more veggies. I used less oil and other fats in my cooking; you often don't need as much oil as a recipe calls for. A typical dinner for me was a vegetarian protein, green vegetables, a little rice, and a low-calorie sauce.
I included my experience because when I read others recommendations I find it helpful to understand the context from which they come. But you are right, OP didn't ask for it and perhaps they don't care.
I wasn't referring to you at all--sorry to make you think that I was! I think sharing experiences is great and you provided some good advice on what worked for you. I was referring to all of the comments that were just criticizing OP's calorie goals and not actually answering their question. 3 -
Since I didn't actually answer the question...
• Filling up on low-calorie-density high-fiber foods, for me, is helpful. (stuff like pea soup, bags of frozen vegetables, padding traditionally more calorie-dense foods (like rice & beans) with lots of veggies, etc).
• Buying lower fat protein sources. (for instance, buying 93/7 beef or at least 85/15 when making a pot of chili instead of the default 80/20 makes a huge difference in calories-especially if aiming to meet a certain amount of protein daily); 'turkey frankfurters' versus the usual hot dogs or polish sausage; if money isn't an issue-then lots of fish, etc.
• staying somewhat 'low carb'. A 120 calorie bread roll will potentially crowd out protein, fat, fiber if you don't play with the math to fit it in. and <100 calories of rice is pretty sad. Crackers & halves of less calorie-dense rolls, if not a trigger food, will fit fairly easily though (and go well with soup).
• Speaking of soup... this is an easy item to tailor to a specific calorie density, and protein and fiber content. Can be very filling for very low calories, and is very quick and easy to throw together in large batches.
• greek yogurt and cottage cheese are fairly low-calorie for the amount of protein. Great breakfast (and snack) options (with limited calories to fit in protein, you'll likely want to get some in at every meal. a starch-only breakfast cereal may make it harder to meet desired protein).
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lynn_glenmont wrote: »i was being snarky...for sure. i just hate all the attacks on 1200 when it works well for some people. and my logging and measuring is better now than it was a year ago, for sure. however, i am indeed at 1200 now and if i creep up over 1300 even with my improved food measuring and weighing discipline, i really don't lose weight for weeks at a time. it's going really well and i don't know why i would add more cals until after my injury heals and i genuinely work out more! that's why for me 1200 seems to be the magic number.
Your injury might heal a lot after if you ate at maintenance.
My injury is 2 broken feet - they are healing well according to my doc, not slowly at all, and they are really inspiring me to lose weight. I have burning pain when i stand for a while or walk more than 1/4 mile. I am waiting for a new gym to open near me that has a swimming pool, which is the only real exercise option for me, but I do need to weigh less so that I don't keep re-injuring my feet. That is of paramount importance right now. Not sure how going from 1200 to 1350 is going to make my feet heal so much faster! (again, no exercise yet, i will increase my cals to prob 1500 when that pool opens).
Case in point - it's good not to assume that people can't have 1200 cal diets because sometimes there really are legit reasons.0 -
I'm a 58-year old female who is 5'1", sedentary (office job) and I don't get much exercise due to back issues. My goal is 1,200 calories a day. I'm losing about a pound a week and have following the 1,200 limit for the past nine months. Most days, I have an Ezekial english muffin with peanut butter for breakfast, a veggie burger (no bun), 3/4 cup of rice or cous cous and a cup and a half of green vegetables for lunch. Afternoon snack is a whole apple and dinner is usually a cup of yogurt or cottage cheese with mixed fresh fruit or a big bowl of oatmeal with raisins and almond milk. For an evening snack, I sometimes have no sugar added hot chocolate with a handful of mini pretzels or an Outshine fruit popsicle. That said, 1,200 calories is way too low for a male. You will be starving all the time and will be prone to binge eating.1
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