confused, 1200?

nanatig

I'm now about confused, Mfp set me 1200cals this I have now settled into and lost 4lb in my first week, I'm not feeling hungry (except when meal time comes around) I've upped my water intake, and my exercise.
Now I read its all wrong! So what am I suppose to be doing?
Obviously got it very wrong in the past or I wouldn't be fat would I?
Help please.

JenniferRHughes

I guess I am confused..why is this wrong? If it is working, it is right and four lbs is great. I guess I need to read the responses as well.

katia0203

My target number is 1200 calories too, but it just seems really low, especially since things don't seem to adjust based on how many calories you burn with exercise. Clearly if you work out 5x/week and burn hundreds of calories, your body might need a few hundred more per day. Is that what you mean?

cppeace

There's nothing really wrong with 1200 calories unless you are a very large person. 1200 is really the minimum you should take in though, for a woman, unless you are very petite. Just try and keep your protein high and if you add exercise eat most of those back too. If you don't feel weak, tired or hungry then 1200 can work for you, but if you ever feel these things increase your calories.
There's simply a misconception around here that you have to eat 1200 calories or similar to lose weight. We are all individuals and should eat as such.

nanatig

No I just read some guy claiming that 1200 is starvation but how can it be if you change your intake to healthy food no crap and feel full and satisfied?
Also when excerising do you have too eat the cals burned that shows on you food diary?

Stopin_da_yoyo

Male vs female....we all have diff cal needs and also depends on activity level....

No u do not have to eat back ca ls..this is an option is all......

MelodyandBarbells

No I just read some guy claiming that 1200 is starvation but how can it be if you change your intake to healthy food no crap and feel full and satisfied?
Also when excerising do you have too eat the cals burned that shows on you food diary?

So to do 1200 many people eliminate any semblance of food that may have got them to their current weight. The problem is when they get sick of this excessive restriction and binge, undoing their efforts. If I could consistently do a lower calorie intake per day I probably would, but experience of myself and others points towards using the additional calories.

Your calorie needs are computed based on no exercise. If you do exercise you should plan to eat back some of those calories to fuel this additional activity. Plus it's simply another option for more food. MFP exercise calories can be very high though, so a lot of people use a heart rate monitor in an attempt to get more accurate exercise calories, or just eat back only a portion of what MFP gives them, say , 50 to 75%

cppeace

Ok, this is how it works: you tell mfp your size, your activity level (based on average everyday stuff job, house cleaning, pet activity etc) and how much you want to lose a week. They give you a calorie number based on those figures.
If say you decide to do some extra exercise, or unusual amount of house work, or bring a dog on an extra long walk, you log those as exercise calories. Now, for most people the mfp calories database is off, so most will only eat back 1/3-3/4 of their exercise calories ontop of there normal daily intake of calories. Getting a heart rate monitor is best for calculating your exercise in most cases to get accurate calories burned.
So for example:
Monday:You have a rest/normal day and eat 1200 calories with no exercise.
Tuesday you did 30 minutes of aerobics and burned 250 calories you eat 1450 calories
Wednesday you took a long long walk and burned 450 calories so you eat 1650
Thursday you rested and eat only 1200 calories
Friday you had to help in the garden or do unusual chores and burned 150 calories plus you exercised burning another 200 calories so you eat 1550 calories.

Being a little under calories won't hurt you, but being waaay under for long will eventually make you unhealthy and you don't want that.

melaniecheeks

You're saying "it's all wrong" based on what some random guy on the imternet says?

1200 is low. About as low as any female should aim for on a regular basis. And in many cases it is too low.

But if its working for you, and youre getting enough decent foods within that, then continue.