scared about 1200 calories? HELP!

dreamsofloveanddietcoke

OK, So I am really making an effort to be a happy, healthy, and a well-rounder (not in the body of course!) person. Yet, I am afraid that i am not going to lose weight at 1200 calories. In the past i have lost weight with under 1000 calories (I thought i was self recovering from an eating disorder, yet i was vegan and restricting my meals to under 300) and i have lost weight on 300 or less. However during that period of unhealthy strategies, i would gain weight on 800 calories. I feel like I'm not going to lose weight, or I am going to eat a bit extra one day and ruin ALL of my work. I am considered overweight now and I am not using any eating disorder behaviors, i simply want to get back into a healthy weight range to look and feel better! Can I really lose weight on 1200 calories? Even though i have tons of educational work and don't have time EVERYDAY to exercise?

ladymiseryali

You could lose weight eating MORE than 1200 calories. I lose weight while eating 1400-1600 a day. I would suggest figuring out your TDEE and then minus 250 calories from it. Here's a link to a calculator that can do that for you.

http://scoobysworkshop.com/

AmyRhubarb

I'm wondering if you haven't messed up your metabolism by eating so low in the past - the metabolism slows to match the intake, so that you have to eat lower and lower in order to lose - hence gaining in the past on 800 cals. Bad situation.

I feel like I'm not going to lose weight, or I am going to eat a bit extra one day and ruin ALL of my work

This is also a concern - you are not going to ruin any work by eating a bit extra for one day, especially on 1200 cals. I go over my goal at least once or twice a week (and my goal is 1900 cals a day) and doesn't ruin anything. I've hit goal weight, lowered body fat percentage, dropped several sizes, and am still lowering BF% a bit.

I'm no expert, but from what I've learned around here, it takes some time to get a damaged metabolism back on track, and to do so, you may in fact gain a little weight at the start. But it's worth it to get that thing functioning as it should, fueling your body properly, getting good nutrition, and losing fat - and keeping it off!

Check the link ladymiseryali shared, and here's a couple of other good ones:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/974888-in-place-of-a-road-map-2k13
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/7965-in-place-of-a-road-map
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/3834-eat-more-to-weigh-less (information here on a metabolism reset)

Good luck.

geekyjock76

There are a few inquiries if you don't mind answering.

First, you mention recovering from an eating disorder where you ate as little as 300 calories on some days. Did you seek treatment for your ED or did you try recovering entirely on your own?

Additionally, you are presently concerned that you won't lose weight even with 1200 calories. If you successfully recovered from your ED and no longer engage in any unhealthy eating patterns, you must have increased calories and spent a considerable length of time maintaining this maximum amount, correct?

Thus, my question is what is the maximum amount of calories you have chronically eaten until your weight finally stabilized?

There are several objectives and criteria to meet to consider rehabilitation successful. One of those includes increasing calories to the maximum amount until weight stabilizes and maintaining this amount for an extended period of time until your health reaches an optimal level.

If you have not completed that objective and are still under-eating, then the last thing you should be considering is restricting for the purpose of fat loss.

Furthermore, if you are still under-eating, then that is the reason you gain weight when increasing calories closer to maintenance.

Allow me to explain.

Compare chronically assuming a semi-starvation diet to experiencing a famine where you rapidly lose weight. A few major adaptions occur: one being a significant decrease in total daily energy expenditure. TDEE is the amount of energy your body needs - in calories - throughout the day to maintain weight when taking into account every little process that expends energy. When you chronically restrict calories, the total amount of energy expenditure reduces as you lose weight. Simply put, it means that you have to eat less and less over time to maintain your weight. Thus, you could have had a TDEE of 2100 calories to maintain your previous weight; but after six months of severe restriction, you're now maintaining present weight by eating substantially less.

With your adjusted TDEE being so low, and having lost a considerable amount of weight relatively fast, your body wants to replace this lost weight in order to survive. This is why the elevated serum levels of the hormone, ghrelin, are screaming at you daily to eat. Thus, your body treats these "additional" calories as a surplus to replace the lost weight. Unfortunately, a lot of the weight you lost came from lean mass (bone, connective tissue, and muscle). The reality is that you'll not only return to your original weight, but you'll recover very little lean mass. This means the difference in weight in volume will be replaced with fat mass meaning, even at your original weight, you'll have a much higher body fat percentage.

gigglesinthesun

perhaps getting your BMR tested in one of those bodpods would give you an idea of whether your metabolism has been damaged or not. If your BMR is significantly lower then a 'normal' BMR for someone your size then you would need to take this into account for your future diet plans.

dreamsofloveanddietcoke

I went into a short treatment facility far after my daily limit of between 0 and 300. I have in fact gained most of the weight back and am over the ideal weight for my body now. I have had binging in the past, anorexia and bulimia as well. When I was in treatment my metabolism had been fully recovered and adapted quickly even with the increase of calories. This was about a year ago. I had left, not fully recovered, and continued eating disorder behavior but ended up overeating after restriction or purgeing and gaining weight. I have not purged for months and generally binge more than I had been able to restrict. For a couple months I have made efforts to be healthy and conscious of my eating patterns, not too hungry not too full. I feel that it is an appropriate time to attempt weight loss for health and happiness at this time. I do not want to be unreasonably skinny, just healthy but less than I am now. As I said I am overweight now and my goal would be to lose about 30-35 pounds, absolutely no more than that. This would put me at the middle of the healthy weight range and personally, although I don't look like a model at this weight-not even close- I have felt my best at this weight, healthiest, most vital, and stable.

Mokey41

Are you setting a realistic goal and is eating at 1200 realistic for the amount you want to lose? How many calories a day were you eating before deciding you want to start restricting again?

Knowing your stats, age, weight, height, goal weight would be helpful before anyone offers advice on whether 1200 calories would be an appropriate amount. FWIW, I'm 5'2", 115 lbs and 56 yrs old. My BMR is 1194 and I maintain on around 1500 calories so I doubt that 1200 is even a substantial amount for someone 20 yrs old to be eating at any time.