1200 calories/day too low?

mc1217

i thought by eating a net of 1200 calories a day, i would be losing more than 1 pound per week. i've been eating like this for a while now, and i usually lose 1 pound & 1/2 or even 2 pounds/week... recently though, i'm losing a pound a week. i'm wondering if i should increase my calories by 200 or so, per day? even thinking about this makes me kinda nervous though... of course i worry about gaining :ohwell:

here's some extra info about me/what i've been doing/lifestyle:
----i'm 5'4, 152 lbs/female/23 years old
----started off weighing 185... lost the first 7 pounds unintentionally (in the summer of '10), which inspired me to start exercising & counting calories on 9/14/10. since then, i've lost an additional 26lbs, which puts my total weight loss at 33 lbs (& yes, i include those 7 lbs on my weight loss ticker b/c i was 185 for over a year & i'm gonna take credit for those 7lbs ).
----i do the zig-zag method for calories... so, i may actually eat more/less than 1200/day, but in 1 week my caloric intake totals around 8,400 [7x1200=8,400]
----i'm pretty much sedentary at work... although there is some daily heavy lifting of files (i work at a law firm)... but i don't think that adds up to much.
----i work out 4 days a week for 1hr & 45 mins-2 hours (cardio & lifting weights on certain days).
---1200 (net) a day tends to satisfy me... i wouldn't say i'm "full," but i'm not starving at the end of the day either

...like i said, i usually eat a net of 1200 calories/day, but maybe i'm eating too little? after all, i think am getting more muscle, so maybe i need more calories? how much weight (if you're a woman), do you typically lose per week, eating 1200 calories?

i know weight loss slows down as you get closer to your "healthy weight," but i' still wanted to bring this up, just in case i could be making more progress if i increased my calories... thanks for any help/advice!

ajbeans

Increasing by 200 calories a day wouldn't make you gain weight. The worst it would do would be to slow your loss. You have to eat more than your maintenance calories to gain. (You'll find the maintenance number on your goals page.)

Have you recalculated your goals recently? Sometimes your needs change as you lose weight. You may not be physically able to lose more than half a pound or a pound per week at your current weight. I'm not. The only way I can get a deficit big enough to lose 2 lbs per week would be to net far under 1200 cals per day, and that's not something I want to do.

You could try bumping up your cals by 100 or so and see what happens. Like I said, you won't gain. And it might give you a benefit. If nothing else, you'll have more room for your zigzag. But after a certain point, losing more than 1 lb per week just isn't feasible, or healthy.

dihardcheer86

Does you gym offer skin fold testing--that way you can get an approximate body fat percentage--gotta feed those growing muscles

NightOwl1

A pound a week is healthy weight loss. At your current weight it would be hard for you to lose 2 pounds a week healthily. The less fat you have, the slower your body will lose it. So you are not going to lose weight as fast now as you would have 33 pounds ago.

As for increasing the calories, I am always supportive of that as you get closer to your goal. Your body can only sustain on 1200 for so long, and the less fat you have, the harder it will be for you to do that. If you can lose about a pound a week with a higher calorie count, you will be doing well.

mc1217

thanks everyone for your input! i appreciate it :flowerforyou:

i think i might try increasing my daily caloric intake by 100 or so, as was suggested. i know i'm being paranoid by thinking that 100 extra calories/day could increase the number on the scale much, but i guess it's just that part of me that is scared to think about "falling off the wagon," so to speak. i guess i also need to accept the fact that my weight loss may be kinda slow from here on out. i think im just nervous that if it starts coming off any slower (i.e.: 1/2 lb per week), then what if it eventually just stops for good? not a plateau, but actually stops before i'm at a desired weight?

as for the skin fold idea... i think im too scared to try that just yet! although, that might be something i look into later (just to have for my personal knowledge).

oh, & it's not so much that i mind losing a pound per week, it's just that i thought it was odd losing a pound a week at 1200 (a fairly low amount).

mc1217

Have you recalculated your goals recently? Sometimes your needs change as you lose weight.

well, i looked into this just now, and i had my settings at losing 1lb & 1/2 per week. MFP suggested 1200 calories (which is probably the lowest it will ever suggest to someone), but then said "you will lose 1.2 pounds per week..." (not 1.5) eating 1200 calories (at my current weight/height). then, when i changed my settings to losing only 1lb/week, it suggested 1290 calories, but said "you will lose 1lb per week..." so, i guess i do need to increase my calories (did that make sense? lol).

mamagooskie

Upping your calories would be great to try. Back in November I decided to up my daily intake by 200 per day and I stopped exercizing for 1 month (I was soooo burnt out from previous months of overdoing exercize etc) and I lost 12 lbs that month.....when technically I should have only lost 4 lbs but my body needed the calories and the rest/break and it worked well for me.

You just need to experiment with different things to find what works.

GOOD LUCK!

crystalsnowgirl

Maybe you have been gaining or converting fat to muscle? BTW we are about the same with goals and stuff may I friend you?

mc1217

Upping your calories would be great to try. Back in November I decided to up my daily intake by 200 per day and I stopped exercizing for 1 month (I was soooo burnt out from previous months of overdoing exercize etc) and I lost 12 lbs that month.....when technically I should have only lost 4 lbs but my body needed the calories and the rest/break and it worked well for me.

You just need to experiment with different things to find what works.

GOOD LUCK!

wow! that must have been a nice surprise-- 12 lbs in a month & no exercise! haha

yeah-- i think i may need to up my calories some... a few weeks ago i had a day where i ate ANYTHING i wanted to. i had no calorie limitations for 1 day. i got right back on my eating/exercise plan the next day, weighed a week later, & had lost 3 lbs! so, maybe i do need a little increase for a bit. i ate a ton of food today (slipped up for the first time, on accident, in 5 months!), so maybe i wont increase my daily calories for a week or so... thanks for sharing your experience!

mc1217

Maybe you have been gaining or converting fat to muscle? BTW we are about the same with goals and stuff may I friend you?

i do think i have more muscle... but im not sure how much & im not brave enough to measure my fat with that weird pincher tool... lol. glad you friended me