Is 1200 Calories Enough??

CatWhispererrrr

Hi All, I have been using MFP for about a month now and LOVE it, my calories are set at 1200, and i generally get an extra 250-450 from working out 5-6 days a week. In total in about a year I have lost about 35lbs, plateaued for couple of months, but in the last month or so, on this 1200 calories (and generally eating my calories back) I have lost about 10 lbs. I am wondering if that is too much to have lost too fast?? I like the results but I don't want to crash! Also, if I go over my calories, I feel VERY guilty and start to freak out a bit!!! Any tips/suggestions/insight into if this 1200 calories is legit?

ottermotorcycle

Hi there. Glad to see you're enjoying MFP so far.

Personally, I tried the 1200 calorie diet and had horrible effects from it. I was 18 and at a healthy weight, just wanted to lose about a pound a week for maybe 2-3 months, but I mostly sat on my butt all day so MFP gave me a 1200 calorie goal. I was hungry. Then I had lots of mood swings. Then I started going to the gym to give myself "room" to eat, which became obsessive quickly. I did get to my goal weight... but I set a new, lower one. It wasn't a healthy road for me.

Do you know what your BMR is? You can calculate it here: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

Generally, I use BMR as a lower limit for calorie intake. Since your BMR is the number of calories your body needs to just keep your organs functioning, if you were in a coma, anything below that is likely to have a negative effect. That could be something as simple as feeling extra tired or your metabolism might adapt to a lower calorie intake, thus making it harder to lose weight. There's a lot of debate about this, and I invite you to do more research, but that's the number I would use.

BMR + exercise calories is a decent way to go. That way, your deficit is made up of all incidental exercise - waking up, showering, eating, running errands, anything you do in your day that isn't your workout.

AllOutof_Bubblegum

MFP is quite notorious for setting calorie goals FAR too low, regardless of height and weight. For example, it told me to eat 1200, and my BMR (the bare amount of calories I need to LIVE) is 1280. And I am extremely tiny, only 5 feet. So unless you are smaller than me, or bedridden, it is almost a CERTAINTY that you are eating too little. (This can result in lean muscle loss, chronic fatigue, metabolism damage, and bingeing due to over-restriction.)

Go to

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

and enter your height/weight/activity level.

Subtract 10-20% from the number it calculates for you, and that is the number of calories you should be eating a day in order to lose weight. With this method you do not eat back your exercise calories, as they are already figured into your daily goal.

CatWhispererrrr

This is great -- thank you! Once a week or so, I feel the NEED for a cheat meal (Sushi, a burger, pizza ect) and at least once a week I just have super low energy. I suspected that the 1200 was too low, but i just liked seeing the results. I am afraid now that it might be effecting my body negatively. I just calculated my BMR and it says 1500 -- I am 5'6, 26 years old, and currently 153lbs and 30% body fat. My goal weight was somewhere between 145-150lbs (depending on how I look/feel rather than pure scale), with about 28% body fat. If i up my net calories to 1500, will I still be able to reach that goal, and should I eat my exercise cals?? I am very close to looking and feeling my best - i just want to do it the most healthy way possible, and still be able to enjoy what I eat and so on!

awaxwingslain

Hey,
I got into a lot of trouble in the past eating 1200-1400. I worked out for an hour 5-6 days a week and ended up almost hospitalized because I lost so much weight and my body ran out of fuel. If you feel yourself getting lightheaded or you are getting less and less energetic, you are not eating enough. Your body is smart and if you eat healthy while responding to your hunger cues and keep active, you will naturally end up in the low region of your body's natural set point.

I'm not a professional by any means but I've had a lot of experience with this and I've had to work with several dietitians over the past year and most of them seem to support this opinion. If you feel like you are not eating enough, you aren't. Just my two cents

ottermotorcycle

This is great -- thank you! Once a week or so, I feel the NEED for a cheat meal (Sushi, a burger, pizza ect) and at least once a week I just have super low energy. I suspected that the 1200 was too low, but i just liked seeing the results. I am afraid now that it might be effecting my body negatively. I just calculated my BMR and it says 1500 -- I am 5'6, 26 years old, and currently 153lbs and 30% body fat. My goal weight was somewhere between 145-150lbs (depending on how I look/feel rather than pure scale), with about 28% body fat. If i up my net calories to 1500, will I still be able to reach that goal, and should I eat my exercise cals?? I am very close to looking and feeling my best - i just want to do it the most healthy way possible, and still be able to enjoy what I eat and so on!

If you set your goal to your BMR, eat back your exercise calories. But you are very close to your goal (congrats!) and may find you need to increase your calories again soon, as you should be losing less than a pound each week. Or you can not do that, and just really enjoy your cheat meal, or have a "maintenance day" once a week. You want to go into maintenance slowly to prevent gaining weight back again.

CatWhispererrrr

This is what I am afraid of, there have been a couple times after a workout when I feel light headed.