1200 calories: How does that work?

NettaMD26

AnnPT77 wrote: »

It doesn't really matter, if you're varying just by a few. All of our intake and exercise are estimates anyway, and our bodies don't have a clock that clicks over at midnight to figure out how much you ate one day vs. the next.

It can be dangerous (unhealthy) to undereat all the time (that's why the 1200 warning exists), but a little above or below doesn't matter that much. What matters is the overall pattern you set: If you eat fewer calories than you burn, on average, over quite a long period of time, you will lose weight.

Just get close to your goal most days, and you'll be fine. But don't try to lose more than about 1% of your body weight per week (that's undereating) and more slowly is even better if you have only 25 or so pounds left to lose to your final goal weight. And, if you let MFP calculate your calorie goal, eat back at least some of your exercise calories (most people start with 50%). Monitor your results over 4-6 weeks, then adjust your calorie goal based on actual results.

Best wishes!

Is it ok if my calorie goal is 1200 and i get close to it everyday? For example 1147 out of 1200 or 1160 out of 1200?

tinkerbellang83

Gonna leave this one here....

AnnPT77

NettaMD26 wrote: »

AnnPT77 wrote: »

It doesn't really matter, if you're varying just by a few. All of our intake and exercise are estimates anyway, and our bodies don't have a clock that clicks over at midnight to figure out how much you ate one day vs. the next.

It can be dangerous (unhealthy) to undereat all the time (that's why the 1200 warning exists), but a little above or below doesn't matter that much. What matters is the overall pattern you set: If you eat fewer calories than you burn, on average, over quite a long period of time, you will lose weight.

Just get close to your goal most days, and you'll be fine. But don't try to lose more than about 1% of your body weight per week (that's undereating) and more slowly is even better if you have only 25 or so pounds left to lose to your final goal weight. And, if you let MFP calculate your calorie goal, eat back at least some of your exercise calories (most people start with 50%). Monitor your results over 4-6 weeks, then adjust your calorie goal based on actual results.

Best wishes!

Is it ok if my calorie goal is 1200 and i get close to it everyday? For example 1147 out of 1200 or 1160 out of 1200?

Sure. But don't lose weight too fast - if, after a month or so, you're losing too fast, eat more.

CSARdiver

pinksunnyrose wrote: »

My bmr is 1186 at 5”3 so I have been eating around that much to lose weight the past 6-7 months.

Side note: Sly Stallone ate around 1100 cals to lose weight back in his prime.

Actors and other professionals are able to do this as they have entire teams of medical and fitness professionals monitoring them. The average person takes on a good deal of risk attempting to do this themselves.

Note he also fought Apollo Creed and a good portion of the USSR. You going to attempt that?

DomesticKat

I'm short (5'1") and at the top of a healthy BMI range. I'm not young. I'm losing vanity pounds at this point. I am also active. MFP estimates I can lose a half pound a week at 1750. In reality based on my own actual data collection and food log (yep, I use a food scale for everything) I can lose a half pound at about 2000 calories a day. If I did absolutely nothing besides sit in my bed with a bed pan under me, I could subsist on 1200 calories a day.

I think there are a lot of reasons women choose 1200 calories. A few of them include compensating for inaccurate logging and eating more than they think, and being impatient with too aggressive of a deficit (goodbye, muscle, hello higher body fat at a healthy weight). Which is a great way to yo-yo since you're essentially starving yourself and can't stick to it for the length of time necessary to lose the weight. You don't get more street cred for sticking to 1200 calories a day when it isn't appropriate for you. And it's really only appropriate for a small percentage of women who are very short, completely sedentary, and old.