How to have energy on 1200 calories?

Amani800
Amani800 Posts: 18 Member
edited December 20 in Health and Weight Loss
So I usually have 1500 cals per day and maintain 129 pounds (5ft5.5). But I was recently on a medication that messes up metabolism/the way your body processes food and stores fat ect. So despite being on the same diet and exercise regime, I gained around 9 pounds within a few weeks.

I was on this same type of medication 3 years ago, and that time gained 14 pounds within a couple of months. After coming off the meds the weight wouldn't shift (like now), until I finally had had enough and went for a 1200 cal diet. I then lost about 16 pounds in less than two months on that diet.

Since I find myself in the same position again, I'm now back to the 1200 cal diet. I've been on it for nearly a week and have seen some movement, so want to keep at it.

The only issue is I'm really struggling energy wise. I feel like I can barely carry myself for long when I walk, I'm having slight dizzy spells, and I can't think as clearly or do work as well. I don't even feel hungry, just weak and rubbish. I'm also anxious, as I can't help but feel what I'm doing can't be healthy if I'm feeling this way. Btw I do eat back my exercise calories.

So I would like to know if anyone else feels this way on 1200 calories. And if anyone has any tips to keep energy levels up etc. Thanks.
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Replies

  • Je55ica_79
    Je55ica_79 Posts: 278 Member
    What do your doctors say?
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,432 MFP Moderator
    MikePTY wrote: »
    Amani800 wrote: »
    MikePTY wrote: »
    psuLemon wrote: »
    If you lost 16 lbs in two months on 1200 calories, you maintain at 2200.

    You are lean, so increasing calories is likely the better option

    This. Something is not adding up. You can't both maintain on 1500 calories a day and also lose 2 pounds a week on 1200 calories a day. One of those two things has to be incorrect.

    If you paid attention you'd see that this is because of the medication I've been on messing with my system.

    It still doesn't track. Medication can affect your metabolism, but it can't alter the laws of physics. You can't both maintain on 1500 and lose 2 pounds a week on 1200. If you lose 2 pounds on 1200 you should also lose about 1.5 pounds on 1500. If the medication affects your metabolism, it would be affecting it for both values in the same way.

    It's quite possible that your medication caused you to put on some excess water weight and it just eventually left on its own when you were off the medication for a set amount of time. In that case, it should do the same if you stay at 1500 and just be patient. I would not eat at 1200 if your doctor is recommending against it and it is harming your energy.

    It's a bit confusing, but I think the 2 lbs a week was from 3 years ago, prior to medication.
  • Maxxitt
    Maxxitt Posts: 1,281 Member
    edited March 2019
    Just taking your original question about having energy on 1200 calories, my experience is that I do better when those 1200 calories consist of at least 100 g of protein, at least 40 g of fat, and the rest carbohydrates consisting of whole fruits, vegetables of all types, and whole grains.
  • Amani800
    Amani800 Posts: 18 Member
    aes1219 wrote: »
    What medication caused this?

    The medication is fluoxetine.

    This person explains the complexity of weight gain/loss on SSRIs better than I can:

    https://www.quora.com/Do-antidepressants-lead-to-weight-gain/answer/Mark-Dunn-64
    https://www.quora.com/Will-tapering-off-SSRIs-cause-weight-loss/answer/Mark-Dunn-64

  • aokoye
    aokoye Posts: 3,495 Member
    Amani800 wrote: »
    aes1219 wrote: »
    What medication caused this?

    The medication is fluoxetine.

    This person explains the complexity of weight gain/loss on SSRIs better than I can:

    https://www.quora.com/Do-antidepressants-lead-to-weight-gain/answer/Mark-Dunn-64
    https://www.quora.com/Will-tapering-off-SSRIs-cause-weight-loss/answer/Mark-Dunn-64

    I'm almost positive that there have been numerous threads on MFP in which people have said they've been able to lose weight while on fluoxetine (among others SSRIs). This also this study (click the link in the upper right hand corner for the full text).
  • fcanad
    fcanad Posts: 48 Member
    To the original question, how is your salt and potassium? Are you tracking (and meeting!) those daily goals?
  • Amani800
    Amani800 Posts: 18 Member
    I have to chime in about certain medications for example Beta Blockers and other BP meds. I have been on these medications for about 4 years (I used to be normal weight) And I know it messes with my metabolism. I have been doing DDPY for 3 months everyday except one. The last 24 days, logged into this site counting calories and intake about 1750 daily or less ( I am now down to 1500 a day. And not 1 pound lost. Not even half a pound. I have tried over the last 4 years: Keto, Paleo, Vegan, Vegetarian, all meat. No weight loss. Talk to the doctor? They say get more active and talk to a nutritionist. I basically am a nutritionist now after 4 years of this lol. Most Doctors just want you on more meds!

    Thanks for your response. I totally understand your struggle. I actually caught my doctor out recently. First he tried to convince me that my weight gain was a result of Christmas and that Fluoxetine doesn't cause weight gain. Then he completely backtracked a few minutes later and admitted it can. I think he was trying to get me to stay on it cause he saw how much it helped my anxiety.

    But it's really frustrating when people don't understand that in some cases you have absolutely no control over your weight when on certain meds. I'm part of an SSRI support forum that's full of stories identical to yours, so every day I see posts reminding me how prevalent it is
  • Amani800
    Amani800 Posts: 18 Member
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    Really we are all getting caught into semantics, a bit, and you, OP, are getting caught into your mind-*kitten* issue of having had this medication that has messed you up.

    It really doesn't matter what or how caused your weight gain. and it really does not matter what you may know or think you were eating in the past... what matters is what you're DOING NOW.

    #1: You've lost 16lbs in two months this indicates either a water weight drop or a fat drop commensurate with a 1000 Cal a day deficit or some combination.

    #2: You feel like **kitten**. This is not a desired result independent of anything else.

    #3: you do not have a medical life threatening need to lose the weight today. You're losing weight, one would think, in order to feel better. Feeling like **kitten** is not accomplishing your goal, not really!

    So what can you do?

    You can:

    Use a weight trend application. It doesn't sound like you have been. Feed back all your weight data and concentrate on your trend. Consider your trend to be your weight.

    EAT MORE OF YOUR CURRENT TYPE OF FOOD AND CALORIES. If you've been counting 1200 now under your current conditions and you've been losing at a rate commensurate to a 1000 Cal a day deficit, eat 1700 of the current type of calories and cut that deficit in half.

    WHAT IS THE WORSE THAT CAN HAPPEN? You will either lose slower while feeling better (mission accomplished), or you will NOT lose while feeling better (mission will need to be tweaked in a few weeks in order to get you back into losing without feeling like **kitten**).

    I mean, honestly, you can always go back to eating 1200 and feeling rubbish if this eating a bit more and feeling better backfires... right?

    Missed this the first time. Thank you for this
  • Amani800
    Amani800 Posts: 18 Member
    aes1219 wrote: »
    Have you considered upper your calorie intake and exercising to burn more calories? I wear a fitbit and days that I am really active I can burn over 3,300 calories, on days where I am lazy and just work I can burn as little at 1,700 calories. That's 1,600 difference in a day.

    While I dont don't have time to burn that many extra calories every day, even having 2 or 3 really active days a week helps (these days for me consist of hiking 5+ miles while baby wearing plus rock climbing for around 3 hours). Of note, I am 5'5 140 lbs.

    Thank you. I was wondering if this would help
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