why "1200"

Nikkiairforcewife

So yeah this is a really good debate. The three pillars I have come to believe in for losing weight are:
1. Eating less calories,
2. Exercising regularly and
3. Include building muscle mass.

You have to figure out how many calories you can eat in order to lose 1-2# a week. My goal is 1# a week, 3500 calories equals one pound. No matter what size you are, it is the same for everybody. You just have to figure out what it takes for you to lose 1# a week. For me, I lose weight by eating less than 1000 calories, exercising 30 min a day and increasing my muscle mass. I am not going to starve -- when I get hungry, I can eat something from my daily planned menu, log it, and stop thinking about food so much. I'd rather not eat extra calories and have to exercise more.

Eating less than 1000 calories is not healthy. There are several institutues that have research the needs of a body to maintain proper body function and all have come back with 1200 calories for women and 1500 for men (this includes teh Nation Institute for Health and American College of Sports Medicine). Decreasing your calories to below these standards (which are very low to start with) can affect your long term weight loss. Decreasing below your Basal Metabolic Rate can slow your metabolism, decrease thyroid function, decrease muscle mass, and have adverse affects on several organs, digestion, etc...

When you reduce the calories too low, your body may not go into starvation mode but your body doesn't function properly. Also, over time, if you don't eat enough, your body will store fat due to the metabolism slowing down. Your metabolism is contolled by the amount of muscle you body has. The more muscle, the faster your metabolism is (unless you have a thyroid issue or other medical condition). The AmericanCollege of Sports Medicine suggest 1.2 - 1.4 g of protein per kg of weight.


So for a 150 lb person, that comes to 88-95g of protein


150/2.2 = 68.1
68.1*1.2 (1.4) = 88/95g


Obtaining that much protein would be difficult with 900 calories, considering 400 of those calories would have to be from proteins alone. keep in mind the below.

1 gram of carbohydrate = 4 calories
1 gram of protein = 4 calories
1 gram of fat = 9 calories

Here is a link with some good information.

http://www.shapefit.com/basal-metabolic-rate.html

Also, keep in mind, when you don't eat enough calories, your body utilizes proteins from your muscles to fuel your body and holds onto the fat. If you want to run an experiement on your, go get some body calipers or get someone to test you to calculate your total body fat. Work out for 30-60 days and go back to see if anything has changed. Even if your weight changes or doesn't, if you haven't been able to decrease your overall body fat, then you aren't gaining lean body mass (LBM). In fact, there are many cases that I have seen women lose 10 lbs but there overall body fat was unchanged. This means, that your body lost weight by losing LBM. The lower the LBM, the slow your metabolism, the lower it will take to lose weight, the quicker you will plateau and so forth. I can't tell you how many people I have worked with that have hit a plateau and each time, we increased their calories and the weight loss started again. You may just have not hit that point yet but I would highly suggest you reconsider your method.

Beside, if you can eat more food and lose just as much weight, why wouldn't you?


Hope this is helpful, I just want to make sure you aren't hurting your body. Below are some links with some good information in them. Enjoy


http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/reference_calorie.asp

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/

http://www.cordianet.com/calculator.htm

If you are listening to fat2fitradio you are on the right track. They repeat over and over why you need WAY more calories than the basic 1200 to keep your metabolism fired up and your body losing weight.

Sure those people are dropping weight, but it's probably also muscle. Like you said. Not just fat. Personally, I want to lose the fat and keep the muscle. So even though I know I could be losing more weight per week, slow and steady is my motto. Lose the fat. Keep the muscle. Make a lifestyle change. Not just drop the weight fast.

minadeathclutch

So yeah this is a really good debate. The three pillars I have come to believe in for losing weight are:
1. Eating less calories,
2. Exercising regularly and
3. Include building muscle mass.

You have to figure out how many calories you can eat in order to lose 1-2# a week. My goal is 1# a week, 3500 calories equals one pound. No matter what size you are, it is the same for everybody. You just have to figure out what it takes for you to lose 1# a week. For me, I lose weight by eating less than 1000 calories, exercising 30 min a day and increasing my muscle mass. I am not going to starve -- when I get hungry, I can eat something from my daily planned menu, log it, and stop thinking about food so much. I'd rather not eat extra calories and have to exercise more.

hm thats why you've lost 0 lbs?

thisismynewmindset

"starvation mode" is a hack..... first of all it is made to seem like it happens overnight....it doesn't, not even in a week.....this site in particular over exaggerates it. I haven't eaten over 1,200 cals since I started "changing my lifestyle" and I'm not by any means "starving" or in "starvation mode"
my ticker can account for that!

That's great for you that you have lost a lot of weight in a short amount of time. However - I do not think you completely understand "starvation mode" - it is not about keeping you full (therefore not "starving") and yes you are probably in starvation mode (even though you are continuing to lose) because it is more about sustainability. Once you have reached your goal weight, if you want to keep it that way, you will have to continue eating under 1,200 cals a day forever. Otherwise, if you start to eat normally again, you will gain the weight you lost plus more. However, if you ate more than 1,200 calories DURING your diet, you can start to add more daily calories once you reach your goal weight and not gain any more weight.

Trust me I, as well as many others, have learned the hard way. IF YOU WANT TO MAINTAIN YOUR GOAL WEIGHT ONCE YOU REACH IT, DO NOT ENTER STARVATION MODE DURING YOUR DIET!