Anyone struggle sometimes with their calorie intake goal? I’m on 1200

petrinaradford

I’m on 1200 calories per day, if I do about an hours cardio and about 10 - 15 minutes of weight training I’ll allow myself to about 1400-1500 calories per day.

I’ve completely stopped drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes.

I am 160cms my BMI is way high. It is 37.1 which is obese.

I’m finding the 1200-1400 mark of calories, some days are hard to stick to. Lately I’ve been going over to about 1700. I’m craving, or maybe I’m just being greedy hmm.

I wanted to lose about 1kg per week. Do you think I’ll still be able to lose weight with this amount of calories I’m using?

Anyone have their own stories?
I wanted to try stay motivated to only stick to 1200-1400 calories but it can be challenging.

harper16

There's nothing wrong with slowing down your weight loss to 1 lb or 1.5 lbs a week.

Wendyanneroberts

Some people want 2lb a week loss, but over time it becomes a struggle. Making it difficult & then "binge" occasionally, undoing the hard work. Or even stop because its to hard.

If you slowed down your weight loss, as suggested above. By eating those few extra calories, on a daily basis. Makes it easier to continue, then over time, the consistency will pay off.

Help build daily habits, which will help through maintainance.

Edited to add: I'm managed to lose 59lb, by taking it slow and steady. Built daily habits and have finally put an end to constant yo yoing with weight. (1,549 days and maintaining at present).

hipari

I'm joining the choir here and also suggesting eating more to lose slower.

You didn't mention your weight or goal, but I sneaked a look at your height+BMI. If I understand correctly, you have about 30kg to lose to reach normal weight BMI. At 1kg per week, that would still be more than half a year, and you would most likely have to slow down as you get smaller, so let's say 9 months total for 30kg. The hunger and cravings from eating too little for your body will most likely not go away. Half a year is a long time to be hungry and miserable, and honestly you're very likely to quit something that makes you miserable.

With that said, which one do you prefer?
1) the thought of spending the next 9 months hungry and miserable while you lose weight, and then emerge from that misery after 9 months having to learn how to eat at your new maintenance calories and enjoy life and foods again without going overboard
2) the thought of spending the next 18 months enjoying life without hunger and learning new eating habits while you lose weight, and then make a smooth(er) transition to maintaining your weight loss

Even the slower loss rate is not all fun and games every day, but it's also a lot easier. If you're planning on going until normal weight BMI, you'll be doing this for several months anyway. Several months is a long time to struggle unnecessarily.

Xiaolongbao

petrinaradford wrote: »

I’m on 1200 calories per day, if I do about an hours cardio and about 10 - 15 minutes of weight training I’ll allow myself to about 1400-1500 calories per day.

I’ve completely stopped drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes.

I am 160cms my BMI is way high. It is 37.1 which is obese.

I’m finding the 1200-1400 mark of calories, some days are hard to stick to. Lately I’ve been going over to about 1700. I’m craving, or maybe I’m just being greedy hmm.

I wanted to lose about 1kg per week. Do you think I’ll still be able to lose weight with this amount of calories I’m using?

Anyone have their own stories?
I wanted to try stay motivated to only stick to 1200-1400 calories but it can be challenging.

Firstly well done on quitting cigarettes. That’s a huge achievement. Stopping drinking alcohol will probably also make weight loss easier (not saying people can’t drink and lose weight but if you’re not drinking that leaves more calories for delicious food!).

I’m exactly the same height as you and by the profile photo quite a bit older. Given the amount of exercise you are doing I’d be ravenous on the number of calories you’re sticking to. Right now I am trying to stay on 1200 because I’m completely sedentary (pulled a muscle so really trying hard to let it heal) but generally I try to stay under 1400 with no dedicated exercise (so I add exercise calories to that).

So I agree with everyone else. You’re in this for the long haul. Don’t make it so hard for yourself that you’re miserable and end up quitting.

Duck_Puddle

Are you logging your exercise in mfp? I’m backing into your weight through a BMI chart, but if that’s correct, then an hour of cardio for someone at that weight will burn quite a bit more than 200 calories.

Meaning the 1700 you’re eating is likely the very bare minimum if you log your exercise and eat those calories back (which you should be doing).

I’ve been “at” 1200 since my first day on mfp 8+ years ago. I have also logged all of my exercise and eaten all of those calories. I have almost always been in the range of 1600 calories/day (I’m guessing I’m a lot older than you based on the profile pic).

So start by logging your workouts and eating those calories. That should help. A lot.

I would eat my arm off if I tried to stay at 1200-1400.

Duck_Puddle

I also wanted to add you don’t get bonus points for suffering through weight loss. There’s no added virtue in eating the lowest possible calories.

The true nirvana comes in eating at a way that you can continue to eat-forever (so including treats every now and then), and that allows you to get through your daily life with enough energy to enjoy life, do some exercise (for your health), not be cranky because you’re hungry, and also getting enough nutrition to feel good.

That nirvana is almost never going to be at 1200-1400 calories.

The winner is the one who can eat the most and still lose.

meharmahshahid

For me, mfp had set my calorie intake to 1200, but it was more than enough for me. I ended up eating around 1100 calories everyday, and that is when I didn't even subtract the calories i burned with workouts. Yesterday I realised that it is too low and set my intake to 1400. It is soooo difficult for me to eat 1400 calories. This is a pic of my day 1 1400 calories meal plan, and I've reached this calorie number without even subtracting my workout burned calories yet. I am 5'5, and 139 lb. So my advice for you is that try to stay 1200 for a week or so, then increase it to 1400 or 1500, as you will get used to it and feel full.

harper16

meharmahshahid wrote: »

For me, mfp had set my calorie intake to 1200, but it was more than enough for me. I ended up eating around 1100 calories everyday, and that is when I didn't even subtract the calories i burned with workouts. Yesterday I realised that it is too low and set my intake to 1400. It is soooo difficult for me to eat 1400 calories. This is a pic of my day 1 1400 calories meal plan, and I've reached this calorie number without even subtracting my workout burned calories yet. I am 5'5, and 139 lb. So my advice for you is that try to stay 1200 for a week or so, then increase it to 1400 or 1500, as you will get used to it and feel full.

You have your weight loss set at .5 lbs a week?

thelastnightingale

As a fellow shortie who is lighter than you, I can tell you that 1,200 calories is doable if you don't move at all like me right now. (Housebound due to Covid.)

If you're still getting out and about, and especially if you're doing 75-minute workouts, 1,200 calories sounds too low. If you're proper ravenous rather than a little bit hungry, your body is telling you it needs more fuel: listen to it.

I personally think 1kg per week weight loss is unsustainable at your height. If you're at the start of your journey, you'll manage it - I managed a 1kg+ weight loss every week for four weeks. However, that's largely because a lot of the weight loss wasn't real.

Now that the water weight has gone, I'm losing on average 1.5lb per week (0.7kg). You'll find at this height, the weight loss will slow down eventually, but that's OK. A loss is a loss. And you don't want to go too aggressive anyway, as you want to try to maximise keeping skin elasticity as you lose.

Well done on cutting out the alcohol and cigarettes, those are massive victories in their own right.

IAmTheGlue

I think that you have gotten some great input here. A couple of things that I am keeping in mind this time ( and I’ve lost 100 pounds TWICE...

1. I have to keep doing this forever. So very low calories may be okay for a brief period of time, I need something sustainable.

2. Just keep going. Have a bad meal? A bad day? A bad week? Log that ish and go on. Better to lose one pound a month forever than get frustrated and gain it all back.

Need a friend? Feel free to add me. 😊 I hope we all win in the end!

emalethmoon

I set my goal at 1200 because I KNOW I'm going to screw up and eat more than I budgeted for. So if I go to 1350, it's not that big of a deal. If I set my goal at 1350, I'd end up eating like 1500 so.... set it at what you're comfortable with and then live your life and don't let a high day turn into a high week (month, year).