1200 cals a day?

BethanyMasters

I never recommend people to a 1200 limit. Its basically the absolute minimum your body needs to function and unless you are in a comatose state its not enough.

I used to try to do it at I hit plataues constantly and got frustrated all the time and quit more times than I care to remember.

Do yourself a favor and set your activity level to at least lightly active and make sure you eat at least some of your exercise calories.

when I came back to mfp after my last fall off the wagon that's what I did and I've been averaging 2 lbs a week for over 2 months now.

LeetahEast

It also depends on your level of activity. 1200 calories is your NET calorie goal. Just being alive you will burn 1200 calories, (Which is why this number is the lowest it wants you to go). However everything you do in the day above and beyond that burns calories. Which would help you loose weight if you didn't do any specific exercising. However, if you do a 500 calorie burning workout, you should add close to 500 calories to your intake, otherwise your body goes into starvation mode and starts storing fats instead of burning it. Your body burns muscle for energy a lot easier than fat. So when your body goes into starvation mode, it burns muscle to protect itself.

So 1200 calories is all you want to eat that are left for your body to feed itself on,unless you are doing any sort of physical activity. The NET calorie goal means calorie intake MINUS active calories burned. So, if you exercise and burn 500 calories, you can eat up to 500 more calories. If you eat 1700 calories and burn 500 in an exercise, then you have maintained your calorie goal of 1200. You don't want to be eating only 1200 calories and doing a 500 calorie workout because your body would only have 700 calories to live off of, causing your body to go into that starvation mode I talked about.

Hope this helps a little!

rileysowner

is anybody elses calorie intake ridiculously low? I'm almost 200 pounds surely 1200 calories a day isn't good?

What did you set your goal for and you activity level at. For most people if they set their activity at sedentary and goal as 2 pounds per week then their calories will be really low. Also remember MFP assumes you will eat your exercise calories so you would usually not be at 1200 but at least a few hundred higher than that. I find their are way too many people here at the 1200 cut off including a lot of men. 1200 is the minimum established by WHO for women while 1500 is the low cutoff for men below which a person is considered to not be able to get sufficient nutrition and be starving. The usual problem is either under estimating ones activity level or wanted to lose too fast.

flowerpower263

i know it sounds rediculously low for 200 lbs. but if you do some research into your food you will find it will work for you. i don't know what kind of food you are used to eating but if you adjust it a bit you will see a dramatic change in your weight very quicky and you will not be starving. here are a few products that will help you through. breakfast 100 cal english muffins, egg beaters only 35 cal. per egg 1/2c oatmeal w/fat free milk. lunch soup, rye bread and butter, or any of the great frozen dinners with calorie counts on the package ie. healthy choice, lean quisine etc. dinner any type of fish, chicken, turkey, or turkey burgers. you just need to stop and read the labels when you are shopping all veggies salads (watch the dressing). my favorite is desert! jello makes all kinds of puddings as low as 60 cal each, also quakers rice chips. they come in cheddar, ranch and other flavors. popsickles under 40 cal, weight watcher mini cakes 60 to 100 cal each. and the list goes on and on. i didn't mean to be so winded but i hope this will help you move forward to a healthy "thin" life" i personally love my new body!!:drinker:

mark03264

How much do you have MFP set to lose a week? 1 pound per week is the recommended setting and it is the rate that almost all healthcare professionals suggest. At one pound per week your daily calorie deficit is 500. At 2 pounds it is 1000. Most people have a far easier time sticking to a 500 calorie a day deficit. At 1000 per day you also run a much greater risk of losing muscle mass which will slow your metabolism making further weight lose and maintenance more difficult.

karenzephyr

It also depends on your activity level- mine is second from highest- trying to lose 2 lbs per week- and I can eat 1450.

GeauxDonielle

I keep mine set on 1200 because if I put it on the 1400 I tend to eat too much. By being stricter I am less likely to exceed 1400 because I think twice when I see the red! Lol red means stop and I believe that's what it triggers in my head so I choose healthier foods instead of spending a bonus 200 on junk. Do what works best for you and listen to your body. Be smarter then your junk food brain too!! I also try to look at it like a bank account.