1200 cal/day - is it possible?!

Danicalifornia3

I'm currently eating about 1200 calories a day and not eating back my exercise calories. It's by far the best method for weight loss I've tried so far. At first it seemed like I was still hungry at the end of the day, but after a week or so your body gets used to it. I work a lot on my feet all day and it can be stressful at times, which actually causes me to be less hungry overall. However, the best diet is the one that works for you. It's better to maintain a slightly higher calorie diet than to eat 1200 a day and just give up completely. If anyone would like to add me to their friends, feel free. I've been on MFP for awhile but this is actually my first forum post haha.

agoonia1

I'm 5'3, 59kg, on a 1200 cal diet and also a pescatarian (I only eat fish out of all meats). I have learned to eat more veggies on a daily basis and drink my two litres of water a day. Now I almost never feel hungry and I am usually somewhere around my calorie goal, even if I let myself have a little sweet treat every once in a while. I also feel more energetic and motivated to just live. Check out some vegan recipes, they are usually low-cal, really healthy and filling.
Good luck

kimd2090

Hi! I am also on a 1200 cal diet, and I can tell you that it is nearly impossible for me UNLESS i do excercise! Strength training is good, but maybe in between reps do some sort of cardio to get the heart rate up...If you can't "jump around" (I struggle with that too!), try setting into a light squat position (not really deep squat so it's not so hard on knees) and doing fast cross body punches. Those will really get your heart pumping and then you will burn more calories since you have incorporated strength with your cardio. Feel free to add me too, and when you do on your homepage you can see what your "friends" have done for they day including viewing their diets! Good Luck.

BrendaLee

I can't do 1200 calories/day. It just isn't enough food for me to work with. I do, however, do okay most days on 1350.

hulahoopmama

I aim for 1200 and usually make it, but I do eat around 1500 and workout 300cals a day.. so not sure if that is 1500 or 1200

Over the past 2 weeks I haven't gone down at all and its very discouraging so I tried to mix things up by overeating for a day, ahha... I guess I j ust wanted to feel over "full" for once to remember, to let go, say goodbye.

Now its back to the 1200cals. Sometimes I wish I could just fast instead! Eating nothing is so much easier then eating right.

jayrudq

I apologize upfront, but from your description, you should be able to eat 1200 calories. What are you eating everyday? And how much? You sound like you are pretty restrictive from the get go, so I am a little confused.

PinkkCamel

I'm pretty restrictive with what I eat. There's pretty much nothing processed in my diet apart from cottage cheese/ yoghurt if you can call that processed..? I rarely have bread (maybe 1-2 times a week if lucky and it's usually just 1 slice as 1 serving). And whole wheat or normal couscous. I've set my diary to public. Sometimes I get really fed up with counting calories and stuff and dont log. I seriously hate calorie counting with a passion because you end up becoming so miserable and obsessed with food. Since I've had an eating disorder in the past (and over-recovered...) it's really bad for my mental health I think. However it seems to be the only way I can keep semi-on track at least (although today I went a bit over :l ) but yeah.

The other thing is that some days I find it difficult to maintain this sort of eating style when I'm in fully control. Hence when it comes to meeting friends to go out and eat, or someone brings in food to share for a special occassion at work/uni or something; counting becomes impossible almost and in my head I feel like I've stuffed up the entire day and then just go all out eating :l And then I hate skipping meals so I'd just end up eating too many calories -_- Making healthy choices in restaurants and stuff is easy for me but I still feel like I completely stuff up my diet for the day if I don't know exactly what's in the food I order. I know some people say accept when you eat too much/eat bad stuff of whatever and move on. But my brain doesnt work like that -.-

I guess maybe it's just issues I need to somehow work through and try to figure out how to get around these mental obstacles ):

KMMRN

A few tips:

-If you increase your activity level then you can increase your calorie intake a bit. (If your not trying to loose weight you can also increase it)
- Try to have one protein at every meal so that you stay fuller longer I know you said you don't eat meat except fish, so try to eat fish, beans, tempeh, nuts or other meatless protein alternatives.
- Look up healthy foods that take longer for the body to digest so that they keep you fuller longer.
- Try to drink at least 8 glasses of water per day (Before meals so you feel fuller faster and still have calories to use for snacks in between meals when you feel hungry and drinking water in between meals can help you feel less hungry too.)
- Eat your calories don't drink them, try to just stick to water and an occasional glass of juice if needed 100% natural fruit juices if possible.
- Try to stay away from processed foods (breads, junk food, anything deep fried) these tend to be highest in calories and don't give your body the energy or nutrients it needs to stay full or energy to operate at its best.

Hope this helps!

These are great tips! I'd like to add that it is hard to eat while you are doing cardio, so if you increase it you will have less time to eat, and some people find that their stomach shuts down for a few hours after cardio (no appetite).

staps065

I try to maintain a NET calories of 1200, That means I eat more than 1200 calories I just exercise and eat back most of, if not all of the calories I burn from exercise... Has worked well for me for the last 31/2-4 months. Hard to do when I don't exercise and have little calories to eat back, so I exercise almost every day...

jayrudq

I'm pretty restrictive with what I eat. There's pretty much nothing processed in my diet apart from cottage cheese/ yoghurt if you can call that processed..? I rarely have bread (maybe 1-2 times a week if lucky and it's usually just 1 slice as 1 serving). And whole wheat or normal couscous. I've set my diary to public. Sometimes I get really fed up with counting calories and stuff and dont log. I seriously hate calorie counting with a passion because you end up becoming so miserable and obsessed with food. Since I've had an eating disorder in the past (and over-recovered...) it's really bad for my mental health I think. However it seems to be the only way I can keep semi-on track at least (although today I went a bit over :l ) but yeah.

The other thing is that some days I find it difficult to maintain this sort of eating style when I'm in fully control. Hence when it comes to meeting friends to go out and eat, or someone brings in food to share for a special occassion at work/uni or something; counting becomes impossible almost and in my head I feel like I've stuffed up the entire day and then just go all out eating :l And then I hate skipping meals so I'd just end up eating too many calories -_- Making healthy choices in restaurants and stuff is easy for me but I still feel like I completely stuff up my diet for the day if I don't know exactly what's in the food I order. I know some people say accept when you eat too much/eat bad stuff of whatever and move on. But my brain doesnt work like that -.-

I guess maybe it's just issues I need to somehow work through and try to figure out how to get around these mental obstacles ):

Wow, I looked at your Diary and you are doing great.

I am sorry about the counting...we are all different. I, personally, kind of like it. It is a game I play in my head figuring out calorie counts. I am also not super strict about it and give myself a fair amount of leeway.

Have you tried pushing your calories back, if you are hungry at night? I rarely eat breakfast, and at that, it is midmorning and almost exclusively a high protein meal. Because I enjoy eating with my family, I reserve the majority of my cals for dinner (including wine). I have gotten used to it and go all day without eating much fairly easily.

I wish you the best of luck.

sianquin

I eat 1300cal a day, I'm never hungry. I eat 6 times a day, my first 4 meals all have protein and carbs, then dinner has protein and veg/salad. before bed i have a cup of soup or some light babybel. I avoid bread 90% of the time but i have baked potatoes and brown rice atleast once a day, I have a protein shake as my morning snack if I've been to the gym . This was a diet plan set out for my by my personal trainer and it's working really well. I limit my fruit to one piece a day to cut down on sugar but i have alot of veg.Also i drink alot of water and make sure this is the first thing i do in the morning before I eat any food. So far it's working really well for me.

My dairy public if you want to have a look.

t1954

Yes, it can be done. I have been doing it for 13 months. It requires focus and commitment.

igotabulletproofheart

Just a note, foods like bread and cheese can be a part of your clean diet. I have the cleanest diet of anyone I know and I have bread and cheese on a daily basis, whether they're together or with different foods.

If you're finding it difficult to control yourself, use your mfp diary to plan meals and change the meal names to times. I changed my meal names to 3pm, 5pm, 7pm and 9pm so I have to eat my meals at those times. Also, counting macros really helps. I know that if I was only counting calories and not macros then my calories would consist of carbs and junk but because I'm counting macros, I HAVE to hit that protein amount. It's became a habit I can't get rid of, but thankfully a huge part of me doesn't want to get rid of it because it keeps my diet clean and my body functional. :bigsmile:

ErinBigney

I am on 1200 cal/day and have been for about 4 months
And I never feel hungry sometimes I even find it hard to
Meet the 1200 I do it by eating as clean as possible so meat veggies
Fruit and nuts I do still eat cheese and have great meals.
I eat 6 times a day so I never feel deprived. Feel free
To add me and check out my dairy if you want. I admit I am
Pretty repetitive in what I eat throughout the day but have something
Different for supper everyday this is just because I like what I'm
Eating in the day and its easy lol.

PinkkCamel

The only bread available to me is highly processed stuff which is mainly why I try to steer clear of it. It's kind of like wonder white hi fibre low gi white bread. I don't have a problem with avoiding bread though =p Although I do miss having it more frequently sometimes. Yeah macros; I find keeping macros in check is super hard with sugar. what kind of macro ratio should one aim for when not terribly active? I know low carb and higher protein is better but atm, my protein recommendations are over 100g which I find quite a lot?! Excess protein damages kidneys but I'm not sure how much is 'too much'?!

naphina

I see a lot of people saying not to snack...but that's actually what keeps me going. I am a pastry chef on a 1200 cal diet, don't eat any dairy or land meat (I eat fish for the lean protein) and try to stay away from wheat because that helps me to stay away from processed foods. Gives me a better excuse to not eat them ;p

But I am constantly keeping fruits and veggies around me. I also will boil up some eggs to keep around with me as well. I eat a smallish breakfast, but not with "typical" american foods. I'll eat fish, rice, left over dinner, eggs, salads, smoothies and on occasion I splurge and make some gluten/dairy free pancakes. I don't really eat an actual meal for lunch anymore. Sometimes I'll sit down with a salad topped with vinaigrette, but otherwise, I'm constantly snacking. And try not to eat past 7. It's best to let your body have 12 hours to digest between your dinner and your breakfast.

I suppose this is easy for me because I've always cooked and made things from scratch, and not everyone's body handles things the same. But you can snack. You just have to snack on the right things.

NRSPAM

You probably put your activity level at sedentary, or lightly active, and since you're 19, I highly doubt you're either of those. Sedentary is if you spend most of your day (90%) lying or sitting. I think MF gives a bad description of your activity level. I got a bodymedia, and found that if I sit/lie around all day, (once when I was sick) I still burned 1,900 cal's. I typically burn 1 cal/min, at rest,. even in my sleep. So if I was in a coma, I would still burn 14,400 cal's/day. I hate 1,200 cal diets, and I feel sorry for people who try to torture themselves with them. It's not healthy, you will plateau eventually, and it's unnecessary. Try finding the post, "in place of a roadmap." It's very helpful. Also, if you go to a gym, they likely have a body fat analysis machine, that can tell you your BMR, Basal metabolic rate, which tells you how many cal's you burn at rest, then you need to eat at a deficit. When you add exercise calories, you can eat them back. Some people eat back half their exercise cal's. I have a bodymedia device, that tells me what I burn all day long. On the days I workout, I burn 2,600-3,200 cal's, depending on how much I do, so I typically will eat 2,000 cal's/day, and have been losing 1lb/week, as planned. Good luck OP!

FlaxMilk

If 1200 doesn't feel doable for you, it probably isn't. Try eating 1500 calories a day and see how you feel and what your weight loss is like.

grandmonie01

zGoo

Bama56

if you must, 1200 calories per day is actually very easy to do eating 4x300 cal meals per day. cutting out empty calories is a big factor in getting you there.

shapefitter

Always the same questions, on here. A girl up to the age of 7, uses 1200 a day. Do your research.

Inner_Goddess

For me, I find that 1200 is completely doable. Since I began 60+ days ago, I have only gone over 1,000 Net Calories 12 times I think. So my calorie intake is lower than the 1200 recommended.

I generally eat 5 small meals a day and I'm never hungry. Yes, I have gone over 4 times, but never by more than 100 calories. I find myself full and full of energy. I gave up soda, alcohol (except for a special occasion) and caffeine. I always post everything that goes into my mouth so my numbers aren't skewed and that I'm getting an accurate reading for my self.

I struggled the first few days and logging calories isn't always easy, but if I can't readily determine the calories, then I make a different choice (for now).

It works for me. I'm happy to say that I'm down 28 lbs in 9 weeks and haven't felt this good in years.

jodes18

If 1,200 cals is that bad for you then why does MFP give me that as my NET Calories?
I'd like to eat more as i am always hungry and it's probably why i give up after a month but, i dont see how i can eat more when thats my net, i'm only 5'0

aurorareigns

I eat a lot of veggies with each of my meals.

jsar321

Disclaimer: though I'm a fellow shorty (5'2"), I'm no expert at dieting. I just started last Saturday and am also limiting to 1200.

I took a peek at your diary. Some observations:

You seem to have a regular pattern for breakfast. If you find the calorie counting tedious,(if you haven't started this already) you could take advantage of the MyMeals feature to enter an entire meal in one click.

You seem to either skip dinner a lot or stop entering calories toward the end of the day. I never skip dinner, only because I'm The Cook for three other people and I love dinner; it's my biggest meal. I tend to hoard calories for the end of the day to spend on dinner since I the most tired ( and my resolve may weaken) and there is the most social pressure to eat during this meal. Maybe spread the calories out more evenly throughout the day?

I eat a small breakfast of coffee/soy milk and a hard boiled egg. It sounds nuts maybe, but to me, the one egg lasts me longer than a bowl of high fiber cereal and milk/milk substitute. The damn cereal makes me more hungry than skipping altogether! This small breakfast allows me much more wiggle room for the rest of the day. I actually didn't have to alter this part of my day when starting this diet. This has been my breakfast for over a year now.

Some entries are missing or incomplete. From one of your posts it sounds like you have a tendency to give up on a day if it gets too far off track calorie-wise and stop tracking. I know how that is! I tell myself I'll get it right tomorrow and (worst case) if I screwed it up enough I would just throw caution to the wind and eat whatever and "start fresh tomorrow". Try to record the bad with the good and you'll see bad habits that you can try to circumvent next time.

When I was 19, I was always hungry and had an enormous appetite! I can really sympathize. Things seem to be much easier at my age, as far as control, while the ability to "get away with" eating more has diminished (oh and the extra weight doesn't carry as well either, lol). Hang in there!