My 1200 calorie story

ErinMLB

MFP had put me on 1200 cal a day, I'm 5'8 and weigh 170 pounds, and have a deskjob, but try to go for a walk everyday, and to the gym 3-4 times a week (attempting to start weight training soon, I'm insanely clumsly so am looking to find someone to show me proper form). But I am SOOOO hungry!, I just did my BMR and TDEE and found out I need to up my calories, so I'm hoping a notice a difference in how I feel.

I'm not concerned about losing weight quickly, especially if while I'm doing it I can feel decent, most the times I just give up because I just feel drained and overwhelmed by this 1200 calorie business!

socioseguro

Everyday on the message boards there is at least one topic about exercise calories and 1200 calories being right or not. I'm not going to tell anyone what to do or not to do but I want to share my story.

When I started back on MFP in May I knew nothing about BMR, TDEE, net calories, starvation mode, etc. and I really didn't care. I knew I wanted to lose weight and get healthy so I plugged my numbers in and was given a number of 1310 by MFP. So I quickly lost 10 pounds and plugged my numbers in again and Walla, 1200 was the magic number, or so I thought.

I quickly lost another 10 pounds. This was over a six week period. I was over the moon happy. But I started to notice some things. First I was reading in the forums about net calories and exercise calories so I looked at mine. I wasn't eating my exercise calories and I put in some huge burns. My net calories were negative more than they were positive. I thought I was doing things right.

But, some other things happened. My hair started falling out, my skin was wrinkling even with 8-10cups of water a day, I was exhausted, my pee was no longer bright yellow from my vitamin, my IBS was out of control, and I stopped losing weight.

So I thought that I'd try increasing to 1500 calories, I couldn't get there because I was "too busy" to eat. Instead I started Zumba. I lost another 4 pounds but still had all these physical symptoms.

I finally messaged someone on MFP who always responded to these 1200 calorie forums non-judgmentally. That changed my way of thinking and I am grateful to this person. I am now eating at my TDEE minus 20%, which is around 2150 calories. I don't make it every day but I also don't eat less than 1800 calories. I do have to supplement with protein shakes. However, I am losing weight at a slow and steady rate, my IBS is under control with food alone, I have boundless energy, my skin looks amazing, my weight fluctuations have gone from 7 pounds to 2 pounds, and most importantly my hair has not only quit falling out but is also growing back.

I just started training with a trainer and dietician. His first comment to me was to quit counting calories altogether. Not going to happen. His second comment, "you're my first female client in months I haven't had to convince to eat more."

This is my story, take it for what it is. Some will agree and some will disagree with what I am doing. I am not telling anyone to change but for those who are frustrated there are other options, that's all I want you to take away from this.

Good luck to everyone in this journey for it is one of the, if not the, toughest battle of your life.

Congratulations on your achievement and many thanks for sharing your story.

I was one of those "1200 calorie dieters" too until I join MFP. I eat at TDDE-10% now and I am much healthier and happier.

Good luck in your journey

RunningMama32

I am so glad I came across this post, I have been struggling to only eat 1200 calories, i'm starving!! I was feeling like I was doing something wrong. How do you find out your TDEE? thanks!!

BluejayNY

My maintenence is 1380 but I end up eating around 1200 most of the time. I truly cannot fathom eating that many calories. When I go up to 1500 I gain weight and plateu around 125/126 lbs. If I go above that I end up closer to 130.

deksgrl

A properly set MFP + exercise goal should be somewhere around the same ballpark as a TDEE -% goal.

Since you have 100 pounds to lose, you could potentially take a 30% cut for awhile. So, for example, 3000 - 30% would be 2100.

MFP's nearly 1700 + exercise probably puts you up around the 2000 or 2100 range.

Eventually as your weight decreases, your percent cut would decrease as well.

Thank you. Thinking about eating 2000 calories puts me in a cold sweat. LOL. I'm gonna try it.

You can look for some calorie dense foods that are not a lot in volume but will boost the calories. A handful of almonds is about 200 calories. Avocado, Olive Oils, seeds, nuts, peanut butter, full fat dairy, not low fat stuff. Hard boiled egg is about 70 I think.

tburkett1915

Your story has me thinking about my diet logic behind 1200 calorie intake. I started MFP out of desparation and frustration. So when I was given the 1200 limit, I saw it as a challenge. I had to prove to myself I could do it. It's been almost 3 weeks and I've lost 10lbs already. Part of me like feeling hunger for some sadistic, guilty reason means the diet's working and my fat $ss deserves to starve for an hour or so. I have days that I go over 1200 but not often. I also do the 5:2 diet and I can feel an eating disorder developing. I haven't decided what to do, I'd like to think I'm conditoning my appetite. I know starving myself isn't good, but I don't know...... Thank you for your story, I'll pay attention to how I'm feeling and adjust accordingly.

deksgrl

My maintenence is 1380

Doubtful, unless you are 4 feet tall.

new_beth_2013

Thanks for your post. Very valuable lesson learned. Question is, will anyone hell-bent on 1200 calories/day pay attention?

Unlikely, but it will help those who are only on 1200 because that's what MFP gave them and not because they are dead set on it.

Yep--been on here a week and following what MFP states I should eat. Definitely going to reevaluate this!! Thank you!!

manique45

Excellent! I also suffered judgemental post from people when I just thought I was doing the right thing... Your story is so similar to mine ) Thanks for posting!

-manique

bethannien

This is such a positive post! Thanks

ShaSimone

Similar story to mine except the doctor was telling me to eat 1200calories as well. Hair falling out and no energy. I wasn't able to sustain that low of a calorie intake and when I increased it my weight has increased as well. Looking back at photos though my face was gaunt and I did not look like I was in good health. I've tinkered with the numbers and now I have what I think of as my secret recipe for success.

Anyone feel free to add me, I log on everyday and comment as much as I can. So glad for MFP and forums with encouraging posts like this.

nikbolok

YAY! Congrats! I'm a convert as well. Didn't know any better til I met the right people on here!

climbamnt

Great story! Thank you for posting, hopefully this will help others!

nikbolok

I am so glad I came across this post, I have been struggling to only eat 1200 calories, i'm starving!! I was feeling like I was doing something wrong. How do you find out your TDEE? thanks!!

Also, member heybales has some spreadsheets that he created where you can plug numbers and measurements in to find all your stats. It's great and very helpful!

erickirb

My maintenence is 1380 but I end up eating around 1200 most of the time. I truly cannot fathom eating that many calories. When I go up to 1500 I gain weight and plateu around 125/126 lbs. If I go above that I end up closer to 130.

Is 1380 your maintenance or BMR? I am assuming BMR which means with no exercise your maintenance would be about 1660, more on days you exercise.

StefPayne

Thanks for posting!! Bumping for later!

KAS0917

MFP had put me on 1200 cal a day, I'm 5'8 and weigh 170 pounds, and have a deskjob, but try to go for a walk everyday, and to the gym 3-4 times a week (attempting to start weight training soon, I'm insanely clumsly so am looking to find someone to show me proper form). But I am SOOOO hungry!, I just did my BMR and TDEE and found out I need to up my calories, so I'm hoping a notice a difference in how I feel.

I'm not concerned about losing weight quickly, especially if while I'm doing it I can feel decent, most the times I just give up because I just feel drained and overwhelmed by this 1200 calorie business!

Did you have MFP set to lose 2 pounds per week? 1200 seems very low to me for your height / weight. With only 20 or so pounds to lose, I would adjust it to lose .5 or 1 pound a week. (or switch to TDEE as you mentioned!) Good luck! I'm 5'6.5" with 30-40 to lose, and I'm losing steadily on 1500 calories PLUS eating back at least some of my exercise calories.

I tried both MFP (set to lose 1pd/week) and TDEE after joining this board (never heard of TDEE before then!) My number goal is actually pretty similar, assuming I set them up the same way. (Example: I have MFP set at 1500 calories + exercise to lose 1 pound. TDEE says 1556 for sedentary or 1783 for lightly active, which is probably closer what I average eating with exercise to lose 1 pound) I'm personally sticking with MFP because I like the visual of 'earning more calories' - but that's just a mental thing! Find what works for you!

MelissaBoydston82

it's good to see others succeeding. I joined MFP sometime in early June. I was set at like 1260 or something, and I lost 10lbs in maybe 8 weeks. After that weight loss, I moved down to 1220. In order to eat a little more than 1220, I would try to achieve high calorie burns. Instead of just working out and enjoying what I was doing, or being happy at what I achieved, I'd feel bummed out if I didn't "burn enough." lol And then on my rest day, I would feel like I could eat much b/c I didn't want to go over my calories. Even though, I was "under my calorie goal" everyday, working out consistently...I stopped losing. Then I went back up a couple of pounds.

I, too, read a lot on the forums and decided to up my calories. I focus on getting plenty of protein, fiber, and WATER! I drink a LOT of water everyday. After the first day, I was back down to the weight I was before I stopped losing, the next day down 0.4lbs, the next day down 2 pounds!!! I am now officially under 200! WOOT!

Epiclobster

Such interesting posts! Also on a 1200/day caloric intake, never noticed any bad side-effects, but I think that also depends on the food that you're eating...I ate healthier than I had in years and in fact I had MORE energy than I had before and my hair and skin looked fantastic! As one poster mentioned - each journey is different and we definitely can't judge each other on what works or doesn't work! And since seeing all these posts, I've done some research on TDEE (didn't know what that was before now!) and realize that I can up my calories without worry - seems legit. Interesting, however, that each TDEE calculator on-line gives a slightly different number...guess I'll pick 3 and average!

Thank you too, to the poster who mentioned some healthy snacks that have a higher calorie count - helps fill in the gaps.

Some research I did on exercise calories made me think about those differently as well. While exercising on a machine (treadmill, bike, etc.) it will give us a rough idea of how many calories burned (or enter into MFP). So, say you run for 30 minutes and the machine/MFP tells you you've burned 300 calories (hypothetically). They aren't calories burned completely from the exercise because in 30 minutes, even if you did nothing but lay on the couch, you would have burned calories, so you need to subtract the calories you would have burned just existing from total the calories you burned exercising...this will give you a more accurate picture of the calories you burned during the exercise...make sense?!!...I'm not good with the words...words are hard...!!

Good luck to everyone on their journey!

ConnorLynne65

Thank you so much.