Weight gain if I eat over 1200 calories

tech_kitten

You can only eat white meat, eggs and veg, fruit if you want to lose weight.

You must eat lots of protein to burn fat 120 g. of protein a day

Calories in - Calories out. I definitely advocate eating healthy, but cutting out so much food that you love to eat will make you want to binge, which will drive you over your calorie goals. I would advocate, however, cutting back on so many of the foods that have tons of calories and very little nutritional value. Does this mean that you can't have pizza or cupcakes? No. But if eat stuff that makes you full for less calories, you might be more likely to not be hungry so much that you splurge so often.

MBrothers22

i doubt your actually calculating your calories right. Plus having calories from dominos and cupcakes is not the way to do it lol

You can eat WHATEVER you want as long as it fits in your calories.

trogalicious

You can only eat white meat, eggs and veg, fruit if you want to lose weight.

You must eat lots of protein to burn fat 120 g. of protein a day

being this wrong should just hurt. It should absolutely cause physical pain.

Velum_cado

You can only eat white meat, eggs and veg, fruit if you want to lose weight.

You must eat lots of protein to burn fat 120 g. of protein a day

Oh crap, must be why I haven't lost any weight then.

...

GC527

Consistency is the key to losing and maintaining. Allowing yourself a cheat day here and there is okay but the bulk of your diet needs to be fresh veggies, lean protein, and healthy carbs. Your body doesn't know what to expect nutrition wise each day and you are probably retaining fluid too with the types of food that are in your diary. I agree with some other posts before me that are wondering about your accuracy in calculating your caloric intake as far as weighing, measuring and being totally honest about what you are eating.

Get your measurements in check
Drop the snacky foods full of sodium and carbs
Be consistent

trogalicious

You can only eat white meat, eggs and veg, fruit if you want to lose weight.

You must eat lots of protein to burn fat 120 g. of protein a day

Oh crap, must be why I haven't lost any weight then.

...

same here. We've been doing this all wrong.

tech_kitten

You can only eat white meat, eggs and veg, fruit if you want to lose weight.

You must eat lots of protein to burn fat 120 g. of protein a day

Oh crap, must be why I haven't lost any weight then.

...

same here. We've been doing this all wrong.

LOL ^^ 153 lbs lost. Love it! Way to go!

Ang108

Hi all!
I've noticed that in my past year or so of dieting, whenever I eat over 1200 calories, I gain weight. Meanwhile, I read on here that people are losing weight eating 1800-2000 calories. I don't really understand how it works, and I'm confused as to how that works lol. I'm 5,6 and about 145 pounds or so. Anybody know why this happens to me?

With all due respect, I think you are under estimating your calorie intake. I am 4' 11" and a little bit, past my mid sixties and have lost 50 pounds eating 1200 calories. I am by no means special and I think that if you eat 1200 calories at your height and weight, you should lose also.
Also, if we assume for a moment that you really gain weight if you eat more than 1200 calories, why do you do it so often ? You eat too many cookies, sweets, candy and white bread and not enough protein, fruit and vegetables. Of course if you would eat 1200 calories even that would allow you to lose weight. You'd not be very healthy, but you would lose.
Make sure you weigh and log everything correctly and maybe make some changes towards better health.

nimbus_488

I replied to the wrong string...it looks like there is no delete button.

F00LofaT00K

You can only eat white meat, eggs and veg, fruit if you want to lose weight.

You must eat lots of protein to burn fat 120 g. of protein a day

^FALSE.

I lost 40lbs eating calories from dominos and cupcakes. ANYWAY. . . figure out how many calories your body actually uses to maintain your current weight and reduce that number by a little bit. At your weight, half a pound a week should be sufficient. You don't need to starve yourself on 1200 calories to lose weight. Get a scale and weigh your food and increase your calories to a realistic number.

nimbus_488

If you are truly eating 1200 a day and gaining weight , it is possible that you have a very low resting metabolic rate. If this is the case then you are not exercising and are in the low activity category. It would be a slow weight gain. You would need a lot of time to determine though. If you are on the the few poor souls with this low of a resting rate (there are people reported with a resting rate of 1100) then this could be the issue. I would see your doctor or sign up with a good endocrinologist if you think this is a real observation. They would be able to run tests to help you determine.

_HeartsOnFire_

You can only eat white meat, eggs and veg, fruit if you want to lose weight.

You must eat lots of protein to burn fat 120 g. of protein a day

I don't eat meat, I eat fruits, veggies, pizza, ice cream, tofu, eggs, yummy burritos, and I'm losing weight.

It's about moderation not deprivation.

_HeartsOnFire_

You can only eat white meat, eggs and veg, fruit if you want to lose weight.

You must eat lots of protein to burn fat 120 g. of protein a day

being this wrong should just hurt. It should absolutely cause physical pain.

You're right it really should...

GC527

You can only eat white meat, eggs and veg, fruit if you want to lose weight.

You must eat lots of protein to burn fat 120 g. of protein a day

I don't eat meat, I eat fruits, veggies, pizza, ice cream, tofu, eggs, yummy burritos, and I'm losing weight.

It's about moderation not deprivation.

bahahaha! :drinker:

amusedmonkey

I have the same problem! Except.. it's not a problem

Now let us assume you are measuring everything and logging accurately. You eat 1200 worth of calories a day. Your body is used to carrying waste and loading glycogen (and whatever water comes with that) from 1200 calories. Let's say you "slipped up" and ate 2000 calories one day. The amount of waste/glycogen/water will be much higher! That's why people tend to gain as much as 5 pounds (more in my case) on an off day. Now if you continue eating 2000 calories, you will have a new base weight (whatever you used to weigh at 1200 calories plus some).

It's a good idea to determine what you usually weigh on your usual calorie target, and what you do on a specially heavy calorie day. That would be the range in which your weight tends to fluctuate. You can safely eat more calorie and notice that in a few months your range will be getting lower and lower.

AllonsYtotheTardis

You can only eat white meat, eggs and veg, fruit if you want to lose weight.

You must eat lots of protein to burn fat 120 g. of protein a day

You must be a ton of fun at parties

jenmom2myboys

You can only eat white meat, eggs and veg, fruit if you want to lose weight.

You must eat lots of protein to burn fat 120 g. of protein a day

Uuuumm, no

424a57

Hi all!
I've noticed that in my past year or so of dieting, whenever I eat over 1200 calories, I gain weight. Meanwhile, I read on here that people are losing weight eating 1800-2000 calories. I don't really understand how it works, and I'm confused as to how that works lol. I'm 5,6 and about 145 pounds or so. Anybody know why this happens to me?

You don't say how much you have gained or lost, but your profile indicates you've lost about 10 pounds since you started. Your diary, in the last year, started in August (8-1/2 months ago) and you've logged calories in 160 of those days (about 5 months). So, consistency seems to be a problem, but we'll put that aside for now. If you've lost 10 pounds in 8-1/2 months, and assuming that your non-logged days are similar to your logged days, that works out to a 137 calorie per day deficit.

Assuming all that is correct, it seems to me you're doing pretty well. You are losing at a reasonable rate. Your BMR is about 1500 (http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/), but you've been eating less that that. My advise is to try raising your intake by about 250 calories per day, and offsetting that with another 100 calories of exercise (maybe walk an extra mile each day).

Good luck.

=====
Diary analysis:

Calories: 199809 / 160 = 1248 CHO/FAT/PRO: 53/28/16
Chol: 118.8mg Sodium: 1571.7mg Fiber: 13.5g

Exercise: 105 TotCal: 32325 TotMin: 5227 Cal/day: 307 Cal/min: 6.2

Breakfast 221 (146)
Lunch 338 (151)
Dinner 449 (151)
Snacks 499 (150)

Net: 1046
TDEE: 1466

amirahdaboss

Thank you guys for your wonderful advice. I try to log my foods as accurately as possible, but I have not invested in a food scale just yet, I'm still looking into it. I am not totally new to dieting, I have lost about thirty pounds on my own before using MFP, but it came off extreme,y slowly, over the course of a few years. I find that most of the time I stay well below my goal during the week, and i do find that my weight has actually dropped, and my mind automatically thinks I should "celebrate" and eat all the leftover calories I didn't eat during the week on the weekends. I also have an extremely sweet tooth, which doesn't help at all. So basically, it's a never ending cycle of losing weight during the week, then gaining it back over the weekend, and going through a pattern of losing or gaining the same few pounds. It's very frustrating to me

jenmom2myboys

In looking at your diary I agree with the others. I dont think you are logging accurately and there are some days when you are way over 1200. How do you determine .13 of a fritter?