less than 1200?

thelassiemickyjames

I've been doing 1200 calories per day, excercising (hard) alot, and keeping a close eye on my salt intake. I am losing only 0.5-1 lb per week. I thought with my plan I would be losing at least 2 lbs per week. Why is the minimum calories one should consume in a day 1200, when everyone is of such different sizes? Why is a woman who is 5'9" and Ideal weight somewhere between 150-170(random guess) have the same minimum calorie standard as someone like me, who's 5'2" whose ideal weight would be 100-115?
So, I guess my real question is, should I drop my intake to 1000/day to see better results? seeing as I am a smaller person than alot of women who plan to eat 1200? Seems like larger people burn more calories...

aynur05

I've been doing 1200 calories per day, excercising (hard) alot, and keeping a close eye on my salt intake. I am losing only 0.5-1 lb per week. I thought with my plan I would be losing at least 2 lbs per week. Why is the minimum calories one should consume in a day 1200, when everyone is of such different sizes? Why is a woman who is 5'9" and Ideal weight somewhere between 130-150 (random guess) have the same minimum calorie standard as someone like me, who's 5'2" whose ideal weight would be 100-115?
So, I guess my real question is, should I drop my intake to 1000/day to see better results? seeing as I am a smaller person than alot of women who plan to eat 1200? Seems like larger people burn more calories...

No, definitely don't go below 1200 ...
So are you including the calories burned during exercising to your 1200 calorie count??

cheppy

hey,
I am quite small. Less than 5 feet but I still need at least 1200.
I think that this is the lowest recomended caloric intake for most people that will be able to provide all the nutrients that we need. I am not very sure but I think that is why most of us are supposed to aim for at least 1200.

jedday

here is a website that explains things better then here

http://www.annecollins.com/guide-to-calorie-needs.htm

thelassiemickyjames

I've been doing 1200 calories per day, excercising (hard) alot, and keeping a close eye on my salt intake. I am losing only 0.5-1 lb per week. I thought with my plan I would be losing at least 2 lbs per week. Why is the minimum calories one should consume in a day 1200, when everyone is of such different sizes? Why is a woman who is 5'9" and Ideal weight somewhere between 130-150 (random guess) have the same minimum calorie standard as someone like me, who's 5'2" whose ideal weight would be 100-115?
So, I guess my real question is, should I drop my intake to 1000/day to see better results? seeing as I am a smaller person than alot of women who plan to eat 1200? Seems like larger people burn more calories...

No, definitely don't go below 1200 ...
So are you including the calories burned during exercising to your 1200 calorie count??

I'm not sure what you mean, but I literally eat/drink no more than 1200 calories per day, and burn 300-600 calories at the gym 4-5 days/week.

marniehodges

You need to eat at least 1200 cals. a day to maintain good health, keep your organs working properly, etc. And that's with NO exercise. On days you exercise you should be eating at least 2/3 of those cals. burned back. If you burn 600 calories, bump you total calorie intake for the day up to 1600-1800. You need to refuel your body and feed those muscles with good protein and nutrients. You will lose weight, I promise. This web site takes into account the amount of calories you would burn in a day (depending on what you set your activity level at) if you did nothing in a day but breath. We all burn calories without doing anything just by "living", so if you were to eat nothing in a day you would be in a sever deficit. That is why even when you eat your exercise calories back you will still lose weight.

I hope this makes sense. Good luck and eat more to lose more :drinker:

reemasolanki

Are you in total eating 1200 calories? As if you burn 300-600 calories a day then in an ideal situation you should be eating those back too. Your body burns on average 1500-1650 calories a day, so a 1200 calorie intake should see you loose some weight, but that is based on the assumption that you do no exercise. If you are doing exercise, then you should be eating back at least some of those calories or your body may have a net calorie intake on less than 1000 which could make it go into starvation mode and that slows down weight loss as it tries to retain the food you have eaten. There are lots of forum post on this site about this. I burn about 200-300 calories a day, but then I take in 1400-1500 a day in food to make up for that, and I am losing weight, albeit slowly but it is still going at a healthy pace.

honeypie03

I'm 5ft 1inch and I have around 3 stone to loose... I am consuming around 1400 calories per day. I think 1200 is the bare minimum. As long as you are eating regularly throughout the day e.g. breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner and then maybey another snack, your metabolism speeds up and you will start to loose more weight. I'm only at the end of my first week here, but I have lost 6lbs already through eating regularly and doing at least 30mins of exercise per day.

NightOwl1

I've been doing 1200 calories per day, excercising (hard) alot, and keeping a close eye on my salt intake. I am losing only 0.5-1 lb per week. I thought with my plan I would be losing at least 2 lbs per week. Why is the minimum calories one should consume in a day 1200, when everyone is of such different sizes? Why is a woman who is 5'9" and Ideal weight somewhere between 130-150 (random guess) have the same minimum calorie standard as someone like me, who's 5'2" whose ideal weight would be 100-115?
So, I guess my real question is, should I drop my intake to 1000/day to see better results? seeing as I am a smaller person than alot of women who plan to eat 1200? Seems like larger people burn more calories...

No, definitely don't go below 1200 ...
So are you including the calories burned during exercising to your 1200 calorie count??

I'm not sure what you mean, but I literally eat/drink no more than 1200 calories per day, and burn 300-600 calories at the gym 4-5 days/week.

Then you're not doing it right. You need to back the calories you burn from exercise. So if you burn 300-600, you need to eat that on top of the 1200 you already eat. You're not losing like you want to because you're not giving your body enough calories. Your body thinks it is starving, so it slows down your metabolism to store energy and fat. If you eat more, you'll see better results.

kandy80cat

i eat around 1200 calories per day and burn roughly 400-500 calories exercising so i get extra exercise calories added to my daily allowance


for example
today so far i have burned 111 calories going for a brisk walk with my dogs so when i add this exercise to my food/exercise tracker i get a extra 111 calories added to my daily allowance, if i go to a aerobic class later today and burn 300 cal i get a extra 300 cals on my allowance

you need to use thee extra calories or you body goes into a sort of starvation mode and tries to keep all the fats in your body .

i think ive got it right

J9Fab

I've had the same battle recently & saw a nutritionist who looked at my diary and said I was not eating enough to match the large amount of exercise! My body has gone into "famine/starvation". What that means is that my body is now hanging on tightly to whatever fat stores I have because it thinks I am not feeding it enough. My metabolism has therefore slowed making it even harder to lose the weight.

So I have to now consciously eat 5-6 small meals a day (ie every few hours) so I set my watch to remind me. I have a piece of fruit, chopped carrot, nuts or yoghurt mid-morning & mid-afternoon and this helps me keep at minimum 1200 calories per day. Hopefully my metabolism will pick up again & I will be able to lose the weight.

It is a hurdle that will be overcome. Try eating more frequently (but smaller meals if need be) and your weight should readjust & start losing again. Don't forget too that muscle is heavier than fat so as you tone up, you might not show less on the scales but you will in the measuring tape & the fit of your clothes.

And definitely don't go below 1200 calories.

Cheers!

Seesaa

I am 5'9 and the ideal weight is not 130-150 it is 150-170...so...yeah lol just keep it in perspective.

thelassiemickyjames

I am 5'9 and the ideal weight is not 130-150 it is 150-170...so...yeah lol just keep it in perspective.

yeah, meant no offense, I just didn't know what it was for that height and was too lazy to look it up really quick, that does sound alot more ideal for someone of that stature. I'll go ahead and change it, too, so people don't think I'm crazy. hahah

Seesaa

I am 5'9 and the ideal weight is not 130-150 it is 150-170...so...yeah lol just keep it in perspective.

yeah, meant no offense, I just didn't know what it was for that height and was too lazy to look it up really quick, that does sound alot more ideal for someone of that stature. I'll go ahead and change it, too, so people don't think I'm crazy. hahah

not what i was sayin, but thanks lol
some times it is hard to grasp how much you should lose in a healthy way and what you want to lose. If you are smaller you aren't going to lose that fast. or that much. but if you are losing weight that is accomplishing something and going towards your goal. you are going at a steady pace and at the pace you should be because recommended loss for normal weight loss people is a pound or so. If you are 400 + like me then you can expect more...until you get to the lower numbers and then i gets to be less.

Danilouise86

I have spent way too much time going below 1200 thinking that would accelerate any results and FINALLY it stuck in my head how wrong that logic is. Back when I first started dieting (ever!), it worked for a month, but now that I recall I actually started losing more weight faster when my diet was over (I was working out and eating 1200 cal/day (not including my burned cal so I was actually only getting 700 cal/ 5 days a week) to get ready for a theater performance) and I ate whatever but relatively healthy. Which just goes along with the idea that results come when your body gets the food it needs. Now I cant even attempt the 1200 cal thing bc my body automatically decides its in starvation mode. I can maybe do it for a week, but I get tired and cranky and my body is like "Don't even try it body, I'm gonna hang on to it all.". It's just no fun to deprive yourself. My metabolism is very testy from all the yo yo dieting I've done. Now I am finally fueling my body properly in accordance to my workouts and I feel great. I have so much more energy to work out and in four days lost a pound already! Also my metabolism must really be ramped up given I automatically get hungry every 2 hours. It almost gets sort of annoying lol. So i would totally agree and say as scary as it sounds sometimes to know you have to eat more and it seems to conflict our twisted logic that we must eat less to lose, eat the 1200 with the added burned calories and see what happens. It wouldn't hurt to try. I am pretty sure that you will see results.

Good luck