But I don't WANT 1200 calories

NewVonnie

Just because you aren't hungry doesn't necessarily mean that you shouldn't eat 1200 calories or more. If you've been eating little for a long time, your stomach will have shrunk and you won't be that hungry. This is a coping mechanism for our bodies in times of little food so we won't feel as hungry. Does that mean it's healthy to eat less than 1200? Maybe, maybe not. Everybody's different.

Listen to other signs. Are you tired often? Do you get tired easily when exercising? Do you ever feel faint after doing exercise? Are you putting on weight if you eat 1 day above average? Has your weight loss stalled? These are signs that you're probably eating too little.

I agree

AngelaAbbott391

I also have issues with the concept of "starvation mode". I'm not sure I buy into this notion that if you don't lose weight, you should up your calories. If it wasn;t possible to lose weight from eating less, Auschwitz victims would have been fat, right?

Interestingly, I googled to see if it was a myth and I found this:

http://fattyfightsback.blogspot.com/2009/03/mtyhbusters-starvation-mode.html

Thoughts?

This is sooooo true. Too many people are listening purely to numbers and not to things like this and our bodies!

bunchesonothing

I don't always think the "if it works, it's okay" idea is always the best plan to follow with weight loss. Yeah, if you eat 500 calories a day, you will continue to lose weight if you manage to not binge. Is this the stick we want to measure things by?

srp2011

I don't understand how 1200 can be the minumum for a 5'8 person who weighs 135, and a person like me who is 4'11 and 116. I makes sense that I would need less right? I get what you mean about being smaller and not needing as many calories. I'm not sure where that specific number came from , but I would like to know the mininum calories i could be eating and still be getting the right nurtrients.

I agree - the 1200 cal/day is an estimate developed by nutritionists who are trying to come up with a number that will be a bare minimum for most people. Most and bare minimum are the key words. The idea that everyone needs 1200 calories a day is pure and utter hogwash, and as a scientist a can't stand the number being tossed around willy-nilly by everyone on here. Guess what - a 6'0" man needs a lot more than 1200 cal/day to avoid being unhealthy or going into starvation mode, but I see know-it-alls on this site telling men or large women that as long as they eat 1200 cal/day they'll be fine. Bullsh**. By the same token, a very petite woman may not need 1200 (assuming the foods she is eating are nutrient dense (and 1200 calories/day of junk food doesn't mean they are getting enough to be healthy).

Seriously, do you really think someone who is 6'3" can get by with the same amount of vitamin c, or iron, or selenium, or protein or what have you as someone 4'11"? Does this really make sense?? Seriously?? 1200 cal/day was likely derived looking at a large sample size of average people, and taking the median or mean that would be sufficient to keep them going, and allowing a few standard deviations of that figure to capture much of the population - but there are still outliers who that number doesn't fit - and in a numerically large population, the number of outliers is likely also to be large.

Everyone needs to figure out what works for them - some calorie levels are really outside the acceptable range (too low, like 600 cal/day; or too high - most of the US), but around the 1200cal/day figure, it is a gray area that each individual needs to determine rationally, through experimentation and looking at data (like BMR), for themselves.

nmoreland

I also have issues with the concept of "starvation mode". I'm not sure I buy into this notion that if you don't lose weight, you should up your calories. If it wasn;t possible to lose weight from eating less, Auschwitz victims would have been fat, right?

Thoughts?

Auschwitz victims had nothing to eat, so their bodies started to eat themselves (part of starvation mode), and they probably dealt with health issues the rest of their lives from that.
As for starvation mode when it comes to trying to lose weight, it is a reality and can happen if you undernourish your body for an extended period of time. I believe that what happens is your body adapts to getting a certain amount of calories each day and will hold onto it all, so weight loss stalls. People have upped their calorie intake for a week or so to "trick" their metabolism into working again. I hope this makes sense.

I agree that you should not be eating the same number of calories as a person that is much taller then you. The only way to be sure that you are eating what you should would be to talk to your doctor or a nutritionist.

rileysowner

I don't understand how 1200 can be the minumum for a 5'8 person who weighs 135, and a person like me who is 4'11 and 116. I makes sense that I would need less right? I get what you mean about being smaller and not needing as many calories. I'm not sure where that specific number came from , but I would like to know the mininum calories i could be eating and still be getting the right nurtrients.

I agree - the 1200 cal/day is an estimate developed by nutritionists who are trying to come up with a number that will be a bare minimum for most people. Most and bare minimum are the key words. The idea that everyone needs 1200 calories a day is pure and utter hogwash, and as a scientist a can't stand the number being tossed around willy-nilly by everyone on here. Guess what - a 6'0" man needs a lot more than 1200 cal/day to avoid being unhealthy or going into starvation mode, but I see know-it-alls on this site telling men or large women that as long as they eat 1200 cal/day they'll be fine. Bullsh**. By the same token, a very petite woman may not need 1200 (assuming the foods she is eating are nutrient dense (and 1200 calories/day of junk food doesn't mean they are getting enough to be healthy).

Seriously, do you really think someone who is 6'3" can get by with the same amount of vitamin c, or iron, or selenium, or protein or what have you as someone 4'11"? Does this really make sense?? Seriously?? 1200 cal/day was likely derived looking at a large sample size of average people, and taking the median or mean that would be sufficient to keep them going, and allowing a few standard deviations of that figure to capture much of the population - but there are still outliers who that number doesn't fit - and in a numerically large population, the number of outliers is likely also to be large.

Everyone needs to figure out what works for them - some calorie levels are really outside the acceptable range (too low, like 600 cal/day; or too high - most of the US), but around the 1200cal/day figure, it is a gray area that each individual needs to determine rationally, through experimentation and looking at data (like BMR), for themselves.

Just so you know the 1200 is for women and 1500 is for me. I believe the numbers have to do with what is considered by aid organizations and WHO as the point where people are starving. There are problems with those numbers in some sense, because the people in question would not be in a situation where they are largely sedentary like most people in the developed world are and the like, but they are good average minimums. However, if you are really short or tall they will not apply. A very sedentary female who is 4'11" and has a small frame could probably survive, but maybe not, on 1200 calories, and a 1500 minimum for a male at 6'10" would be way below any acceptable low end of calories at 1500. If the OP is very short, 1200 might be too high, but hunger levels are not an accurate gauge of that. If they really want to know go to one of the places that have the devices to measure ones metabolic rate. Then they have hard numbers to work on. Or they could experiment seeking to find the point where they are maintaining their weight. In the case of the OP it sounds like she is losing weight at the point she is currently at. The problem is a point will come where she needs to stop losing and start maintaining. If she feels she can't eat more now, that will be a problem then because to maintain she will have to eat more.

bizco

1200 calories is a generic number. It's not right for everyone. It's a baseline minimum given out as a floor by MFP based on prior research by the medical community. NOT everyone will need a minimum of 1200, very small people can go under, and bigger people need more.