what does 1200 calories a day look like?

aaaanni

Hi everyone,

I'm just through my first week and have dropped 1/2kg. I'm 169cm's and weight 69kg. Hoping to get down to low 60's.

I'm a wildlife officer and work 10 day shifts, often with after work activities and so sometimes i am either too busy or exhausted to exercise to up the amount of calories i'm allowed. So i'm just wondering what a typical day of food looks like for others as at the moment, on days i can't exercise all i seem to eat is apples, salad with tuna, carrots, 90cal muslie bars, fish/chicken and steamed/stir fried veg, mashed pumpkin and then try to fill up on coffee (with soymilk) or teas without milk as i'm hungry all the time (i don't want to have artificial sweetners either so diet soda etc is out).

The other things is alcohol... my job involves a lot of 'beers after work' or on trapping nights, and i've changed to low carb beers that are only 88cal each but i feel if i am going to have a few beers i basically have to starve all day to compensate... I love a social beer and do not want to give this up if possible... i have already cut down from daily beers

What is more important - daily cal intake or weekly intake? e.g. if i go over my cal intake one day, can i make up for it the next? like bank my exercise calories for days i go over? or will this likely affect my overall weight loss?

Thanks everyone!

hush7hush

I think your daily cals matter more, personally. Your body doesn't know catch-up calories.

It's not hard to live on 1200 cals/day. You're more than welcome to check out my diary if you'd like.

I do leangains IF, so it's a little odd timed.

significance

In the end, it's your long-term average intake that counts, but psychologically, it is hard to make up for the day before by having an even more restricted diet the following day, and physically, it causes problems if you go too far (i.e. binging then fasting). If I know I have something coming up that will use more calories than usual, I try to do more exercise than usual, or else "save up" calories in the preceding week rather than try to make up for it afterwards.

LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo

although its OK to splurge for sometimes but you should be staying within your daily calorie needs. its too hard to burn off excess 1,000 calories so its not good to be over the cals on most days. frankly i can't survive with 1200 cals because my BMR alone is more than that amount & we all know we can't eat below our BMR. if you're a muscular type of person or if you're work requires you to be very active then 1200 cals is way too low for you. 1200 is only good for sedentary people or for women whose height is 152cm (5'0) or below unless you're severely overweight or obese & can handle larger calorie deficits

KMPeddle

I would recommend looking for higher protein foods, they`re what keep you full. It`s actually more harmful to starve yourself all day in order to `have a few`at the end of the day. Without food your metabolism will slowdown to conserve the energy that it has.

Try looking for recipe books that are published by dietitians, I`ve had a lot of luck with those with healthy, balanced, lower carb high protein ideas.

Riverofbeauty

I think my diary is public, and I eat around 1200 a day, though I'm ready to up it now, to move onto maintaining.

baycat107

For me, it's the overall average calories. If I eat an average of 1800 calories, I lose weight. Some days are 1300, others are 2300. And it helps to see that when I have a bummer day and eat and drink 3000 calories, it hardly affects the average. So I don't beat myself up or give up, knowing that as long as I get back on track the next day, it doesn't matter.

Pebble321

1200 calories looks like way too few calories for me!

If you find you are hungry all the time, you may be under-eating. Make sure you have your activity settings right (it doesn't sound like you have a sedentary job) and maybe change your rate of weight loss to 1 pound or 1/2 pound per week. This will probably give you more cals to eat and might make this process easier to stick to.

I started out with a 1/2 pound weight loss per week which had me eating 1660 net calories (so that means eating the cals from exercise as well as my daily allowance). I changed the settings around a few times and have been eating anywhere between 1450 - 1700 net cals per week and have lost 46 pounds. So, my message is, don't feel you have to starve yourself to lose weight, it's not essential or desirable!

I don't think it hurts to go over one day and under the next, a lot of people deliberately do this to mix things ups (google "calorie cycling" or "zigzagging"). Personally I try to stick to a stable net calorie allowance and if I undereat one day I don't catch up the next deliberately, but you need to find what works for you.

Edited to add: I just re-read your post and see that you are 69kg. This means you don't have very much weight to lose and you should probably be eating WAY more than 1200 at this stage.

engineman312

it sucks because i know how much fun social drinking is. why don't you factor in two beers into your diary on days when you go out, and thats it. limit yourself. its all about control, discipline, and moderation.

good luck!

shauna121211

It sounds like you have a pretty active job? Make sure that you are set at the default "sedentary" because you probably burn more calories than someone like me that sits at a desk all day. Even with a sedentary lifestyle, 1200 calories just isn't enough for me. I struggle to meet 1400 so maybe if it's tough for you, re-evaluate that goal. Change it to losing 1/2 a week (1/4 kilo) instead of 1 lb a week. You don't have much to lose, so you shouldn't expect or try to lose is very fast.

jayliospecky

I agree with the people who said 1200 cals may not be enough for you. It doesn't sound like you have a sedentary job, or maybe you're trying to lose too much per week? Personally, now that I have the breakdown on MFP in my food diary, I totally notice that the days when I seem to feel hungry all day are days when I have gone under in protein. So I would definitely suggest keep the protein levels up.

ohnogogo

Here is what a typical day looks like for me with a 1200 calorie goal. This actually comes out to 1125 calories. This gives me an extra 75 to play with in case I am hungry that day and need to add a snack or maybe have something extra with a meal.

Breakfast: Strawberry Banana Smoothie (1 fresh banana, 1c whole frozen strawberries, 3/4c water - blended until smooth) - 173 calories

Mid-Morning Snack 1: CranBran Vitamuffin (these might be good for you as they taste good, are filling, come individually packaged and are easy to carry with you) - 100 calories

Mid-Morning Snack 2: Homemade vegetable juice (I have a juicer but you can look for a good bottled veggie juice, just watch the sodium!!) - 86 calories

Lunch: Sandwich made with Sammy Bread (brand from Whole Foods), Chicken, Tomato, Lettuce & Mustard - 278 calories
radishes - 37 calories

Afternoon Snack 1: Large peach - 68 calories

Afternoon Snack 2: Two rice cakes with Better Than Peanut Butter (this is the best stuff ever!) on them - 170 calories

Dinner - Halibut with Mango Papaya Salsa - 160 calories
Romanesco Cauliflower - 70 calories

Evening snack - Cherries - 90 calories

liza001

My diary is open. I've been logging 1200 cals for past 3 weeks on this site.. Feel free to look ..

2 things...

1. Nutrition, younwill be satisfied if you are eating healthy foods. Balance of protein carbs and fats

2. Beers, alcohol can mess with your sugar levels.. Increase hunger...

I had to give it up while losing. ;(

onwalker

this is what my new 1200 diet is going to look like... I actually feel like I've eaten too much...

breakfast- boiled egg + lemon juice in water

snack- apple

lunch- 20 grapes
sandwich on wholemeal bread with a lil bit of chicken, a lil bit of low fat cheese, hummus and veggies veggies veggies.

snack- banana and 6berries mashed up- tastes like ice cream
-10 cashews

dinner- half a chicken breast stir fried in a lil oil
+ vegies galore! can of tomatoes as a base and a bit of crushed galic, then a stick of celery, 4 heads of brocolli 10 snow peas....

oh I drink lots of water and tea with milk.

will eat exactly the same tommorrow except... will put different veggies in with my chicken to make it interesting, and because i'm lazy/busy I make all my sandwiches and freeze them on a sunday for the week.

liza001

Woohoo now thats organize! I like it and it's nutritious too.. Well done! I like how you make your sandwiches in advance and freeze them.. I can see my family grabbing them and micro them to have hot and melted cheese or better still toasting them ...

onwalker

Ah yeah I make sandwiches early... because I start work quite early in the morning... and if i don't make them in advance I'm can't alwyas be bothered making them in the morning... and end up going to the bakery instead and getting tempted by all the cakes!

Pebble321

Its a great idea to make sandwiches ahead of time. I do that with fruit and muesli and yoghurt for breakfasts, but should get some other things ready too.
I could never survive on that meal plan every day though, I would be SERIOUSLY hungry and grumpy and probably ready to gnaw my husbands arm off by bedtime. Have you done this for a while or is it a new plan?

onwalker

New plan... but I did the same thing about 5 years ago and had never felt heatlhier.... that time I only realised how much i had lost when i went to the nurse and she told me I was 47 kg was shocked to had lost 8 kg in 6 months!

Its basically just avoiding white sugar, white flour and saturated fats as much as possible.... the first 2 or 3 days are the hardest but the longer you do it the less the cravings become.

The breakfasts and lunches are the same everyday 5 days a week.... dinners aren't always super healthy.... sometimes they have alot more calories so will eat 1500 calories... but thats life

cj411

Sounds like you have a very active lifestyle, so 1200 calories is not enough!

If you are looking for low calorie foods to eat throughout the day though, to keep up your metabolism, try to snack on raw veggies (carrots are surprisingly tasty, and you can have a bit of low fat dip if you are getting bored). Lettuce has next to no calories and I eat it by the bagfull.

emergencytennis

1200 looks like absolutely nothing. If I have not done any exercise then I end up with a couple of hundred calories left to concoct a dinner out of.

Exercise and log it, or else you are going to starve. I mean, or else I am going to starve.

emergencytennis

Well, that was apostasy, clearly. Sorry, all.