1200 calorie question

LivingtheLeanDream

OP you can set your loss to 2lbs a week saying you have 75lbs to lose. Go into MFP settings and tell the app that's your goal and it will work out the calories for you.

CharlieBeansmomTracey

Shay4025 wrote: »

CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »

Shay4025 wrote: »

Hi kchuch77,

I too am starting over again. I have about 40lbs to lose. Last time I tried to lose weight I set my weight loss goals to 2lbs per week, which resulted in failure as it was something I could not maintain. Most doctors recommend 1lb per week which is much more attainable. It takes a calorie deficit of 3500 calories to lose 1lb. If you want to lose 2lbs per week that means you will need a deficit of 7000 calories.

If you are incorporating weight training as part of your weight loss journey, know that as you lose weight and gain muscle you may need to increase your calorie intake. If you don't, as your husband stated you will plateau. This happened to me during my last weight loss journey. I was doing Jenny Craig and I was working with a trainer. Jenny Craig had me on a 1200 calorie diet, but as I gained muscle I notice that I was feeling always feeling hungry and I wasn't losing any weight. As a result, my Jenny Craig trainer up my calorie intake and I started losing weight again.

As for the low carb/high protein diet, I tend to gain weight on this style diet. I try not to follow any diet fad as they are hard to maintain. Instead focus on areas of your health you need to improve. For example, if you are watching your cholesterol then eat foods that are low in saturated fat and cholesterol, if sodium is your problem then a low sodium diet is best for you.

Remember to always listen to your body. What works for someone else may not always work for you. Get your doctor's or a nutritionist opinion on what type of diet will work for you base on your health history.

you arent going to gain much if any muscle on 1200 calories. you may get some newbie gains if new to lifting,or obese and have a lot of weight to lose, buts its not going to be a lot and its definitely not going to be enough that you will plateau and need more calories. most muscle is gained in a calorie surplus. you can gain muscle doing a recomp but that takes a long time and eating at a very small deficit(250 calorie deficit or less) or at maintenance. its also not going to cause weight to stop either.

Like I said one size doesn't fit all when it comes to weight loss. I am not a very tall person and an extra 40lbs for my frame puts me at obesity levels. Therefore on a 1200 calorie diet I did see significant weight loss and I did gain muscle. Now I am not talking body building type kind of muscles, but muscles was replacing the fat that was there. Therefore I had to increase my calorie intake to continue losing weight.

you dont replace fat with muscle,The human body doesnt work that way. fat covers the muscle you have so if you were seeing more muscle its due to losing the fat over what you already have. I am not saying you didnt gain some,but it wasnt a lot. 1200 calories for most people is a 1000 calorie deficit. thats not enough to be trying to build muscle.

its hard for a woman to build muscle even in a surplus,let alone trying in a big deficit . and increasing your calories to keep losing weight? IF and thats a big if you were gaining a lot of muscle you would not need to up your calories to continue to lose weight. muscle per lb burn about 6 additional calories. you would have still been losing weight had you not upped your calories. you upped your calories but you were still in a deficit of calories so you still lost weight