Yes, 3000 calorie diets work!

Quasita

You see, because as long as your calorie intake level is a healthy one, you can make this happen. Do you.
It's not even something to be jealous of, when a person has a higher calorie goal. We all base our numbers on the bodies we currently have, and go from there. All levels work, if they are appropriate for the body in question.

However, just as people might say, they can't believe you can lose weight at any size eating as much as I do, meaning it wouldn't work for them... It follows that 1200, 1650, 6000, 900, whatever intake isn't going to work for everyone. A bunch of threads stating that a certain level works... well, it's pretty irrelevant in the end. For me, 1200 doesn't work, 1650 doesn't work... I have to eat at least 2800 calories right now if I want to see change happen.

So again I say, find your numbers, and do you. Make sure this is about YOU. Your body is yours, and you have to find what's going to work for you

likitisplit

I love the perspective you provide!

Mr_Knight

It's not funny the third time.

maz504

It's not funny the third time.

Well aren't you just a ray of sunshine? I don't think this one was meant to be funny, she mainly just has a good point.

amwbox

Its true.

In my case I can easily lose weight on 3000 calories. Just VERY slowly.

Some people only seem to have luck when eating a lot. For me, the less I eat the more I lose...which seems logical, since eating more only slows down my rate of loss.

Different people different methods.

Quasita

It's not funny the third time.

The assumption made here is that I intended to be funny.

Since this is general weightloss help, and we've already had two lower diet goal posts, I figured we needed a little bit of perspective.

One of the biggest "mistakes" people make when they start out is assuming that a goal that worked for someone else is going to work for them too. Rather than taking the time to figure things out, they look for articles talking about the lowest "safe" calorie intake and look for forum posts to support that.

The debate happens every day, but the majority of the time, posters are not speaking up for the fact that you can eat a lot and lose weight. Especially in response to exceptionally heavy people like myself. The general consensus seems to be, you've got a lot to lose, so you can cut a lot, and almost always posted by someone that has never had to structure a diet for a body over 250lbs.
The reality is, we're all of different sizes and nutritional needs, and the best and safest way to lose weight is the way tailored to YOU, and no one else.

Unknown

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annesoucy57

Totally agree with your post, each have to figure the number of calories, according to gender, height, weight, age and activity level.

Unknown

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Mr_Knight

It's not funny the third time.

The assumption made here is that I intended to be funny.

Now THAT is an assumption. :laugh:

scarrletti_girl

i agree i have a friend doing 1200 a day and she is gaining weight. i told her she is starving herself her body needs more calories because she just went straight from gaining 50lbs in 6 months to eating 1200 cals a day just like that nothing in between. i played around with how many calories i should eat and i am thinking of putting it up another 100cals a day because you never know how many cals your eating to gain all the weight you gained until you track it and then you should adjust it according to that.as long as its a satisfying deficit it should work especially with exercise.

likitisplit

It's not funny the third time.

The assumption made here is that I intended to be funny.

Since this is general weightloss help, and we've already had two lower diet goal posts, I figured we needed a little bit of perspective.

One of the biggest "mistakes" people make when they start out is assuming that a goal that worked for someone else is going to work for them too. Rather than taking the time to figure things out, they look for articles talking about the lowest "safe" calorie intake and look for forum posts to support that.

The debate happens every day, but the majority of the time, posters are not speaking up for the fact that you can eat a lot and lose weight. Especially in response to exceptionally heavy people like myself. The general consensus seems to be, you've got a lot to lose, so you can cut a lot, and almost always posted by someone that has never had to structure a diet for a body over 250lbs.
The reality is, we're all of different sizes and nutritional needs, and the best and safest way to lose weight is the way tailored to YOU, and no one else.

When I started I was 215 pounds and lost bunches at a 2100 calorie diet + exercise (I was getting about 2800 calories a day). I wouldn't have been able to sustain the weight loss if I'd tried to cut at a lower rate. I would have starved and binged.

No_Finish_Line

It's not funny the third time.

The assumption made here is that I intended to be funny.

Since this is general weightloss help, and we've already had two lower diet goal posts, I figured we needed a little bit of perspective.

One of the biggest "mistakes" people make when they start out is assuming that a goal that worked for someone else is going to work for them too. Rather than taking the time to figure things out, they look for articles talking about the lowest "safe" calorie intake and look for forum posts to support that.

The debate happens every day, but the majority of the time, posters are not speaking up for the fact that you can eat a lot and lose weight. Especially in response to exceptionally heavy people like myself. The general consensus seems to be, you've got a lot to lose, so you can cut a lot, and almost always posted by someone that has never had to structure a diet for a body over 250lbs.
The reality is, we're all of different sizes and nutritional needs, and the best and safest way to lose weight is the way tailored to YOU, and no one else.

Have you ever seen 'my 600 lbs life'? I never understood why they force them onto a 1000 calorie a day diet when a 2500 or even 3500 would probably be enough to make the scale go down.

however, i suppose these people's health problems are serrious enough that they are basically at deaths door wether they realize it or not. So maybe its that important for them to lose weight as quickly as possible.

But, if a renouned doctor is prescribing a 1000 calorie a day diet for someone who probably needs 4000 cals or more to sustain thier current body weight... I think that goes a long way to prove that the notion that someone will somehow break thier metabolism buy eating too few calories is pretty much bull****. the starvation mode thing is complete bull

Agree that there is a 'diet' or calorie level that will ultimately be more sustainable for someone and therefore be 'better'... but it really has nothing to do with being safe or unsafe.

obviously if your doing this when you DON"T have a lot of fat too lose then its unhealthy, unsafe.

Unknown

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No_Finish_Line

The debate happens every day, but the majority of the time, posters are not speaking up for the fact that you can eat a lot and lose weight. Especially in response to exceptionally heavy people like myself. The general consensus seems to be, you've got a lot to lose, so you can cut a lot, and almost always posted by someone that has never had to structure a diet for a body over 250lbs..

I'll bite at this one too because I feel like the opposite is true. Usually the message is "eat more to lose weight" and it's almost always posted by a guy/girl that wanted to go from a 4 pack to a 6 pack.

of beer?

No_Finish_Line

i agree i have a friend doing 1200 a day and she is gaining weight.

somethings not right there unless shes like 4 ft tall

gotolam

i agree i have a friend doing 1200 a day and she is gaining weight. i told her she is starving herself her body needs more calories because she just went straight from gaining 50lbs in 6 months to eating 1200 cals a day just like that nothing in between. i played around with how many calories i should eat and i am thinking of putting it up another 100cals a day because you never know how many cals your eating to gain all the weight you gained until you track it and then you should adjust it according to that.as long as its a satisfying deficit it should work especially with exercise.

Your friend is gaining weight because she is either lying to you or to herself. Have her watch a show called Secret Eaters.

If she is remotely within standard averages, it is literally impossible for her to gain weight at 1200 calories and the last thing she needs to do is eat more.

KylaDenay

i agree i have a friend doing 1200 a day and she is gaining weight. i told her she is starving herself her body needs more calories because she just went straight from gaining 50lbs in 6 months to eating 1200 cals a day just like that nothing in between. i played around with how many calories i should eat and i am thinking of putting it up another 100cals a day because you never know how many cals your eating to gain all the weight you gained until you track it and then you should adjust it according to that.as long as its a satisfying deficit it should work especially with exercise.

Your friend should reevaluate her weight loss. Start over. She is doing something all wrong.

EDIT: I do agree with this post. I think it is different for everyone. Something that works for someone may not work for the other.

No_Finish_Line

i agree i have a friend doing 1200 a day and she is gaining weight. i told her she is starving herself her body needs more calories because she just went straight from gaining 50lbs in 6 months to eating 1200 cals a day just like that nothing in between. i played around with how many calories i should eat and i am thinking of putting it up another 100cals a day because you never know how many cals your eating to gain all the weight you gained until you track it and then you should adjust it according to that.as long as its a satisfying deficit it should work especially with exercise.

Your friend is gaining weight because she is either lying to you or to herself. Have her watch a show called Secret Eaters.

If she is remotely within standard averages, it is literally impossible for her to gain weight at 1200 calories and the last thing she needs to do is eat more.

i think the important thing to realize here is that its very easy to THINK your eating a certain amount of calories... but either through denial or carelessness or whatever, your actually eating a lot more.

time for food scale and measuring spoons for the woman one the 1200 cal diet...and agree that she should probably up her calories

No_Finish_Line

3000 calorie intake works for me too. When I want to bulk.

you always have the most constructive comments.

ekmcdan

Thank you OP. Out of the.. ahem.. "series" (sarcasm) of posts, this my favorite. It does depend on each person, really! I personally did the 1200cals/day thing for about a week because MFP suggested it for my goals. It wasn't TERRIBLE, but it was only a week and I was a bit hungry now and again. I'm sticking with doing 20% off of TDEE and seeing how it goes.

Unknown

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_Terrapin_

Yes, to bulk, I need to get close to 3,000. Currently a little deficit at 2,300.

No_Finish_Line

3000 calorie intake works for me too. When I want to bulk.

you always have the most constructive comments.

You're always a bit sensitive there huh WK.

And I was not attempting to add anything constructive. I was stating a fact, for me.

i've never seen you add anything at all

Unknown

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Quasita

It's not funny the third time.

The assumption made here is that I intended to be funny.

Since this is general weightloss help, and we've already had two lower diet goal posts, I figured we needed a little bit of perspective.

One of the biggest "mistakes" people make when they start out is assuming that a goal that worked for someone else is going to work for them too. Rather than taking the time to figure things out, they look for articles talking about the lowest "safe" calorie intake and look for forum posts to support that.

The debate happens every day, but the majority of the time, posters are not speaking up for the fact that you can eat a lot and lose weight. Especially in response to exceptionally heavy people like myself. The general consensus seems to be, you've got a lot to lose, so you can cut a lot, and almost always posted by someone that has never had to structure a diet for a body over 250lbs.
The reality is, we're all of different sizes and nutritional needs, and the best and safest way to lose weight is the way tailored to YOU, and no one else.

Have you ever seen 'my 600 lbs life'? I never understood why they force them onto a 1000 calorie a day diet when a 2500 or even 3500 would probably be enough to make the scale go down.

however, i suppose these people's health problems are serrious enough that they are basically at deaths door wether they realize it or not. So maybe its that important for them to lose weight as quickly as possible.

But, if a renouned doctor is prescribing a 1000 calorie a day diet for someone who probably needs 4000 cals or more to sustain thier current body weight... I think that goes a long way to prove that the notion that someone will somehow break thier metabolism buy eating too few calories is pretty much bull****. the starvation mode thing is complete bull

Agree that there is a 'diet' or calorie level that will ultimately be more sustainable for someone and therefore be 'better'... but it really has nothing to do with being safe or unsafe.

obviously if your doing this when you DON"T have a lot of fat too lose then its unhealthy, unsafe.

The thing you have to remember about that show is that, as far as I understand it, most of the people on there are undergoing bariatric surgery.

When you have your stomach stapled, the dietary expectations change. You are also placed on a boatload of supplements to supply for deficits you experience through the caloric restrictions. Most people who are not under bariatric care that adopt less than 1200 calorie diets are not under medical supervision, nor are they taking a customized supplemental regimen during the time that they are following such a drastic cut.

Typical bariatric care diets range from 1000-1400 calories a day, because the majority of people have a stomach reduction done... Whether it is a bypass, a sleeve, or either one combined with a duodenal switch. They are strictly monitored on this diet, and once they have lost a significant portion of the weight, they are slowly refed to a higher number of calories through a very strict eating protocol. These people are also signed on for supplements for the rest of their life. That is, if they stick to it. The diet has to be cut significantly for more than just weight loss purposes. Removing parts of the digestive tract in the way that is done during 3 of the 4 weight loss surgery types actually impacts the individual's ability to absorb calories, fats, and other nutrients, and eating an otherwise normal diet leads to the risk of bowel obstruction and death.

A large number of people that undergo these surgeries fail and regain at least some of the weight. Without the closely monitored guidance of a medical professional, the person is subject to possible systemic side effects. The supplement regimen and other medications that are used during the bariatric post-op period play a huge part in why the person's metabolism continues to work. There is also some relevance to the fact that because of the size of the stomach post-op, eating 8 meals a day keeps certain digestive activities going full time, which in turn lends itself to the fact that the metabolism doesn't have much "down time." These people, however, do indeed have significantly impacted metabolic rates post surgery, which is why they gain so quickly if they resume an otherwise normal calorie load for someone of their height and age. I suggest you do more research on the subject before concluding that it is somehow proof that metabolism isn't affected by 1000 calorie diets.

At my heaviest, I weighed close to 500 pounds. If I had had weight loss surgery, my expected diet goal was 1200 calories a day along with the large amount of supplements. Since I opted not to do surgery, and therefore did not have these impacts to my metabolism and digestive tract, my physicians (both the bariatric surgeon I spoke with and my general physician) stated that I should not drop my diet under 2000 calories. There are many things that start happening when you drop things too low and hold that pattern for too long, and that does include a type of preservation mode to the metabolism that is measurable and diagnosable through bloodwork. I've been down that road before, during the transitional period from anorexia to more normal eating patterns, and I can assure you that while it may not be common, VLCD in an individual who does not have an altered digestive tract can have severe impacts on their energy conversion and metabolic processes.