If 1,200 Calories is too low- Then What's Just Right?

southerndream24

OMG, are we beating this horse again?

I really wish people would let the poor thing rest in peace. It's been through enough.

YesIAm17

OMG, are we beating this horse again?

I really wish people would let the poor thing rest in peace. It's been through enough.

The only thing worse than beating a dead horse is getting on one.

Mr_Knight

Harris-Benedict Formula BMR = 1955 calories
Sedentary TDEE (little or no exercise, desk job) = 2346 calories

No way, those numbers are WAY to high. You can't use those formulas on someone carrying that much fat.

Use Katch-McCardle with the given height/weight and @ 60% body fat and you get a BMR of 1300ish and a sedentary TDEE of 1600ish.

So now let's factor in the conventional wisdom that morbidly obese can comfortably handle 2 pounds/week weight loss. That's a deficit of 1000 calories/day, which puts the intake well below 1000 calories/day.

Which is consistent with the minimum number of calories needed to meet macro/micro requirements.

YesIAm17

Harris-Benedict Formula BMR = 1955 calories
Sedentary TDEE (little or no exercise, desk job) = 2346 calories

No way, those numbers are WAY to high. You can't use those formulas on someone carrying that much fat.

Use Katch-McCardle with the given height/weight and @ 60% body fat and you get a BMR of 1300ish and a sedentary TDEE of 1600ish.

Not disagreeing, cuz I just don't know if you are wrong or not. Any sources? Obviously if you are right I want to confirm and add to my arsenal of knowledge. Any links to calculators that use that formula?

P.S. You look like that dude from Kids In The Hall and News Radio (that show with Andy ****, Joe Rogan, Phil Hartman, Kathy something or other etc)

ETA: Dave Foley... is that you??? :laugh:

iechick

I did a post on the controversy of eating 1,200 calories. People for the most part disagreed with this number- Saying it was too low, bone would be lost, it's dangerous, and some even said "Good Luck Not Loosing Weight" OUCH.

But almost NO ONE mentioned what they thought WAS a good number to eat. People also mentioned it's based on age,weight,and lots of factors-

Here are the Factors:

Age: 26
Weight: 260
Height: 5'2
Activity Level: Work out 1 hour 5 days a week (Circuit Training)
Rest of the day: Mostly sedentary
No health issues

I hope as many people who were against me eating 1,200 calories will suggest what they believe is correct

Thanks All

I did alternate day intermittent fasting, (JUDDD), rotating between low calorie days (under 500) and maintenance calorie days ( around 2,000 give or take), and it worked brilliantly for me. If I averaged it out it worked out to around 1,400-1,600 calories a day. It also helped me learn what real hunger was vs habitual/boredom eating, broke my night time binge snacking habit and I lost the weight effortlessly with no stalls/plateaus. I also transitioned into maintenance without any problems, except I've continued to lose weight I also did no exercising while I was actively losing weight. So while I agree with the others that say that in most circumstances eating 1,200 calories or less every day without higher calorie days thrown in is not a great idea, I also think that there are unconventional methods like intermittent fasting, that can be really helpful for some people.

There's a JUDDD group here if anyone is interested, as well as a 5:2 group which is very similar.

eazy_

If you start at 1200 where will you cut once your body adapts? 1000? 800? You need to leave yourself somewhere to go - trust me.

This is a good point. when you start off with the most aggressive possible approach, you don't have anywhere to go when you hit a plateau other than VLC...and while 1200 NET seems pretty miserable to me, I couldn't imagine how incredibly un-enjoyable my life would be having to drop it further than that. Hell, I get hangry with my 2200 calories to cut.

You have to realize OP that this is all a long process...you're not going to just linearly drop a couple Lbs per week...you need to leave yourself options for the very long haul that is in front of you.

This is just Chicken Little "slowed metabolism/starvation mode" fearmongering. If you can't lose weight by eating 1200 calories a day "net", then you're either very short, very female, or old, or some combination of the three. Or you're a medical marvel, and you should see a doctor.

Is it possible to reset yourself by taking a break and eating at maintenance for a period of time then going back to the vlcd?

Mr_Knight

Any links to calculators that use that formula?

http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/

P.S. You look like that dude from Kids In The Hall and News Radio (that show with Andy ****, Joe Rogan, Phil Hartman, Kathy something or other etc)

Canadians rock, eh. :drinker:

Mr_Knight

Is it possible to reset yourself by taking a break and eating at maintenance for a period of time then going back to the vlcd?

Start running/cycling, eat back those exercise calories, and your burn rate will climb right back up in a matter of weeks.

If you don't want it to drop in the first place, just make sure you run 5km 3x/week, that'll take care of it.

Mcgrawhaha

i lost almost 100 pounds in 11 months eating 1200 per day 28 days a month and had 2 very high calorie days per month... i am almost 5 foot 10... im now on maintenance, and still losing... according to the anti 1200 crowd, im a failure... wierd being that my ticker shows success, and my pics show a fairly healthy body, not just a bunch of "saggy skin and bones..."

any how... you can get everyones opinions, but it comes down to you, what you want, what you can do, and what results you are looking for... good luck to you!

YesIAm17

Any links to calculators that use that formula?

http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/

P.S. You look like that dude from Kids In The Hall and News Radio (that show with Andy ****, Joe Rogan, Phil Hartman, Kathy something or other etc)

Canadians rock, eh. :drinker:

The info bubble pop overs for the different formula options suggest that the Harris-Benedict "results tend to be more effective for obese" while the Katch-McCardle is "more accurate for those who know their body fat percentage".

OP didn't provide their BF%, so to me Harris-Benedict seems to be what that calculator recommends using.

Using that calculator with OP's numbers, Harris-Benedict as the calculator seems to recommend, and No Exercise setting...

Your BMR is: 1955
Your TDEE is: 2346

2346 - 20% = 1876.8 and we're back to 1877.

HEATHERACU73

Thank you for posting this question.

I'm new to all this so even though some people are tired of this dead horse, it's educational for new people. I've learned a lot from all your posts.

stealthq

Harris-Benedict Formula BMR = 1955 calories
Sedentary TDEE (little or no exercise, desk job) = 2346 calories

No way, those numbers are WAY to high. You can't use those formulas on someone carrying that much fat.

Use Katch-McCardle with the given height/weight and @ 60% body fat and you get a BMR of 1300ish and a sedentary TDEE of 1600ish.

So now let's factor in the conventional wisdom that morbidly obese can comfortably handle 2 pounds/week weight loss. That's a deficit of 1000 calories/day, which puts the intake well below 1000 calories/day.

Which is consistent with the minimum number of calories needed to meet macro/micro requirements.

??

Funny - the numbers you are giving are pretty close to what I'm getting at 5'3", 39 yrs. old, 120 lbs, and sedentary. %BF somewhere between 23-25%. I think with the OPs extra weight, she can safely add on another 100-200 calories and maybe more to that TDEE. I do agree that 2300+ seems awfully high.

OP, you're going to need to pick a set of numbers that sounds doable to you and run the real world experiment - don't be afraid to adjust your calories to find where you need to be. But don't start at 1200. At your height and weight, you'd need a medical condition to need to be that low.

stealthq

i lost almost 100 pounds in 11 months eating 1200 per day 28 days a month and had 2 very high calorie days per month... i am almost 5 foot 10... im now on maintenance, and still losing... according to the anti 1200 crowd, im a failure... wierd being that my ticker shows success, and my pics show a fairly healthy body, not just a bunch of "saggy skin and bones..."

any how... you can get everyones opinions, but it comes down to you, what you want, what you can do, and what results you are looking for... good luck to you!

From your profile: "Every other Saturday, I take a break from "dieting" and eat as I please. I still log, just so I know the "damage" I did (lol) I eat an average of 4000 calories on this day."

So actually, you did NOT eat 1200 calories a day. You eat an average of 1485.71 (1200 + 4000 / 14) calories a day. Big difference. And yes, regular 'break' days need to be factored in.

Mr_Knight

From your profile: "Every other Saturday, I take a break from "dieting" and eat as I please. I still log, just so I know the "damage" I did (lol) I eat an average of 4000 calories on this day."

So actually, you did NOT eat 1200 calories a day. You eat an average of 1485.71 (1200 + 4000 / 14) calories a day. Big difference. And yes, regular 'break' days need to be factored in.

Your math isn't right. It's 5600 extra calories across 30 days. Still only totals up in the 1300s.

Mr_Knight

I think...

That's fine.

But until IIFYM replaces K-M math with your math, I'll go with K-M.

QuietBloom

But almost NO ONE mentioned what they thought WAS a good number to eat.

I've done that a number of times. You can figure out the minimum possible calories based on macro requirements:

1g protein per pound of LBM -> 4 calories/pound of LBM
0.3g fat per pound of LBM -> 2.7 calories/pound of LBM

Let's say it's 140 pounds of LBM -> 938 calories

Now figure out your fat oxidization potential. Use 25 calories/day/pound of fat stores. For 40 pounds of fat stores, that's 1000 calories.

Now figure out your non-exercise TDEE - let's assume 2000.

Now put it all together to figure out your required carb intake:

2000 - 938 (protein+fat) - 1000 (fat stores) -> 62 calories -> 15g of carbs.

So your minimum net caloric intake, for the hypothetical person described above, if you do everything perfectly, is 1000 calories/day, consisting of 140g of protein, 15g of carbs, and 40g of fat.

Adjust numbers as necessary for your situation. Continue to recalculate over time as fat stores deplete.

WTF?

QuietBloom

i lost almost 100 pounds in 11 months eating 1200 per day 28 days a month and had 2 very high calorie days per month... i am almost 5 foot 10... im now on maintenance, and still losing... according to the anti 1200 crowd, im a failure... wierd being that my ticker shows success, and my pics show a fairly healthy body, not just a bunch of "saggy skin and bones..."

any how... you can get everyones opinions, but it comes down to you, what you want, what you can do, and what results you are looking for... good luck to you!

No darling. You allowed yourself 2 very high calorie days per month. AND you were eating at least 1200 calories the rest of the time, not below it.

perfect_storm

This may not be a popular answer but I stuck to the number MFP gave me and that was 1200 calories, I did eat my exercise calories back and lost 37 lbs in 4 months have maintained with around 1800 to 2000 (on a cheat day the 2000) with out a problem. I think every body is different and you have to find out what works for you w/o feeling exhausted or drained listen to your body while you try to figure this out. Good luck.

suziepoo1984

I did not read the other posts, so sorry if this is redundant-

Set MFP to sedentary and to lose 1-2 pounds per week(based on how much you need to lose, lower difference to goal weight, reduce the weight loss factor)
Calculate calories burned during exercise(preferably using HRM) and add that to calorie goal.
Eat this amount and track your weight over a period of time and adjust accordingly.

cafeaulait7

Harris-Benedict Formula BMR = 1955 calories
Sedentary TDEE (little or no exercise, desk job) = 2346 calories

No way, those numbers are WAY to high. You can't use those formulas on someone carrying that much fat.

Use Katch-McCardle with the given height/weight and @ 60% body fat and you get a BMR of 1300ish and a sedentary TDEE of 1600ish.

So now let's factor in the conventional wisdom that morbidly obese can comfortably handle 2 pounds/week weight loss. That's a deficit of 1000 calories/day, which puts the intake well below 1000 calories/day.

Which is consistent with the minimum number of calories needed to meet macro/micro requirements.

Well, she would know if her TDEE is closer to 1600 or 2350. OP, it depends on how much you normally eat. If you know you normally eat a lot of calories a day to maintain your current weight, there is no reason to assume your metabolism is particularly low.

I would not jump to 1200 or under 1000 (!!) calories first thing. You do want to lose weight more quickly if possible because of your size, but I'd probably try 1600 or so for an aggressive approach that may be comfortable enough. If it causes symptoms, bump it up some. Just my 2 cents, though, and I'm nobody

Once you get down to a healthier BMI, try to keep it more in line with your BMR at that weight. Always try to eat at least that if possible. It's too slow to eat there if folks have enough weight to lose, but try to transition to that as soon as you can. I'd do a day a week at BMR just to be safe, myself.