Confused about the 1200 base. Too little!

Jennifernellwebb

I am losing my weight and I stay between 1000 and 1200 a day. If I inch over that any at all, I hop on my treadmill and work it off. I eat fruits and veggies ( a lot throughout the day ) so I stay pretty full and satisfied. I notice that some people on here will eat out a lot and I, personally, have done that a couple of times and shorted my food for the day because of that indulgence so I stay away from those cravings at all cost. I eat the most for the very least along with getting my nutrients. It is working for me for now so I stick with it and hope for the best.

erburton1973

When you add your exercise, you gain lots more calories that you are allowed to eat. It just means that you have to be active and increase your exercise if you want to lose weight. I was very surprised about 1200 calories at first too until I entered my exercise!
Hope this helps!

alias1001

I was on 1200 calories for a few years throughout my weight loss journey - it's really plenty when you know what to eat that's low calories but filling, I ate a lot and often - 3 small meals per day plus 3 snacks per day - I found it fine, sustainable and it certainly did me no harm. I'm on about 1500 now and it seems like looooooooooads to me still lol

I feel similar--you CAN get used to eating smaller amounts of food and making the right substitutions.

I've set my calorie goal at 1100 calories, and generally I make it to that number. Some days will be 200 under, some 200 over. (I'm 5'1" and 121 pounds now). MFP says a maintenance intake is something like 1575 for me, which sounds about right.

It's do-able, but like everyone said, it's a personal measurement.

anelahm

tagging this post, lots of good info

espinozAgal

i am at 1200 a day and it works fine for me. I'm down 47 pounds and I feel good. Some days I have a hard time eating enough to get to 1200, so I don't force it. I eat when I'm hungry, and stop when I'm satisfied.

genann

I eat between 1400 and 1500 calories a day and I'm losing weight. I really can't do the 1200 calories a day thing, I feel too deprived.

nickcoffey

The balance for a diet is calories AND EXERCISE. I am suppost to be eating 1500 calories a day and I end up eating a little over 2000 a day and it is really easy for me to gain a 500 calories back with exercise. If you did not know, everytime you do a exercise and record it, right underneath your calories for the day it will day in small print "You have earned 823 calories today through exercise!" If you just starve yourself you body is just going to hang on to all of the fat and nutrients you have and burn them off very slowly through time. But if you eat just a little bit healthyer and add exercise into your life you will see results because you body is fine burning off all of the calories that you ate just as long as you DO NOT STARVE YOURSELF! I really hope I have helped you figure out why you arn't losing weight and anyone else that is stuck on the scale!

LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo

Most people recommend having their base at 500 lower than their BMR. If I followed that accurately, I would have my baseline at around 1,000 calories per day, which I would be fine with, but I'm giving the MFP way a shot. If you followed the minus 500 rule, then your baseline would actually be around 1100 to 1200.

Also, what is a TDEE.

NO, you should not eat below your BMR. BMR is the amount of calories you burn doing nothing but lie on bed for 24 hours. I don't know what exactly a TDEE is but its like Total Daily Calorie needs. For you to know your daily calorie needs, you have to multiply your BMR by your activity level, so let's say your BMR is 1800 * 1.2 (assuming you're sedentary) = 2,160 so therefore you need 2,160 cals/day for you to maintain your current weight & if you want to lose 1 lb. a week, you should be eating 1,660 cals/day.

I find the 1200 cal/day too low either unless you're a woman 5'0 or under in a healthy weight range but its not suited for my height & my athletic body build. More so if you're overweight or obese because the heavier you are, the more BMR you have.

emsieems

I'm so glad I came across this topic. I am in the same position. I am managing 1200 okay but have not lost a bean in 3 weeks and am exercising a lot, some days I go for a really long run and burn 800-1000 calories and struggle to make up to 1200 calories with the exercise calories added in. I think I'm going to try and eat more and see where it gets me.

sugarbone

1200 is easy for me because I have almost no appetite, trying to hit 1400-1600 a day would be impossible without eating extremely cal dense food like cake and pizza. It's not too low to function if MFP has recommended it, in general, but it differs from person to person. If your TDEE is 2500 you should at the least have 1500 cals recommended, though, assuming you chose 2 lbs per week (1000 cal deficit per day)?

sugarbone

For people with large fat stores (in the obese category or the upper ranges of overweight), the target of 1200 isn't too low because there is not really the same danger of starvation mode and 1200 is sufficient to get adequate nutrients from the food you do eat. I think that it is key to listen to our bodies, and if your body is telling you that it's not enough, then it probably isn't enough.

As for your 1500 minimum, if you selected the maximum 2 pounds a week, then that is the 1000 calorie deficit that MFP should have calculated from the 2500 TDEE. Did MFP give you the 1200 number, or did you just try it out on your own?

I am considered obese. I am 5ft3 and 185lbs (thanks pregnancy!) and the 1200 gives me headaches and I get strong stomach pains. I realize this is a net and that is the amount I should be eating if I dont exercise (again, typically only on Sundays) and I really feel like it isnt enough. Perhaps 1300? MFP gave me the 1200.

If I set it to a 1.5lb loss per week I get 1490 cals. Would anyone say that I have correctly put my exercise activity as active? Or should I change it to lightly active?

What's your day like? If you spend more than 5-10 hours sitting you're probably lightly active or even sedentary. Active lifestyle by MFP is considered someone is on their feet and walking or lifting or working all day. As far as feeling hungry and ill, your body is just not used to that amount of food - you can gradually lower the income over the weeks until you are used it (which you'll have to do anyways if you're losing weight haha)

kitinboots

My BMR is apparently about 1350 - so it makes sense to me to aim for 1200 to lose a couple of pounds.

xSophia19

my calorie goal is 1300 a day. I reach this goal easily. And what ever excercise i do, i do not eat my calories back! I find that eating back excercise cals doesnt help me loose weight, infact i gained like 6lb 2 weeks ago because I was eating all of my excercise cals back, it probably didnt help that it was mainly junk food tho!

Soo id say stay at around 1300-1400 a day, and dont eat back excercise calories you should be loosing at least 1lb a week. And also drink plenty of water to help

sugarbone

my calorie goal is 1300 a day. I reach this goal easily. And what ever excercise i do, i do not eat my calories back! I find that eating back excercise cals doesnt help me loose weight, infact i gained like 6lb 2 weeks ago because I was eating all of my excercise cals back, it probably didnt help that it was mainly junk food tho!

Soo id say stay at around 1300-1400 a day, and dont eat back excercise calories you should be loosing at least 1lb a week. And also drink plenty of water to help

If you're eating back your exercise calories properly, it should be impossible to gain weight. The law of thermodynamics does not allow you to put on weight when you consumed exactly how many calories you spent - you probably overestimated your exercise or underestimated your calories. The point of eating back your calories is to keep you at the level MFP has set which should already cause weight loss.