Under 1200 calories

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natalie1994x
natalie1994x Posts: 34
in Health and Weight Loss
Would it be ok to reduce my calories to under 1200 so i lose weight quicker

Replies

  • alabughosh
    alabughosh Posts: 132 Member
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    Its not that much quicker. If 1200 gives you a 1000 calorie deficit, then that's the most efficient area to be. You could drop it a couple hundred calories, but it would hardly make a difference in the weight loss...maybe .2 pounds per week more max. Plus you'll be hungrier and therefore it will be harder to stick to.
  • nibbynoo
    nibbynoo Posts: 250 Member
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    i know everyone bats around 'starvation mode' but ive been told if you go below 1200 your body holds onto everything.

    try measuring yourself as well as weighing you might be losing more than you think.

    unfortunately the weight didnt go on over night so its not going to leave over night! i wish i could just not eat for a week and be done with it! lol
  • jamiek917
    jamiek917 Posts: 610 Member
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    1200 is the minimum required to maintain proper body function. use the online calculations to figure out a close BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) for your age/height/gender/activity level, and use that as your minimum. anything below that is technically starvation mode.
  • mallory3411
    mallory3411 Posts: 839 Member
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    You are free to do what you want however going under 1200 will cause your body to eat away at your muscles and not your fat at first. Not a healthy thing to do.

    You didn't gain it all quick so don't try to lose it all quick. For a lot of people 1200 is far too low for them.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    You can decrease, and your metabolism will just decrease to match.

    Oh, you may get a week or two out of slowly diminishing loss before it matches again.

    But are you sure you want to keep going that way? Think about, you can only eat so little and exercise so much before you cause your body some real problems.

    In fact, think about that 1200. That was based on subtracting some number, 1000 perhaps if you selected 2lb/week, from maintenance calories.

    And how was your maintenance calories found out?

    You selected an activity level. Probably sedentary.

    Which was based on your estimated BMR.

    About the only thing in that whole set of equations that has any relevance to you, is the estimated healthy BMR figure.

    Eat under it long enough for constant basis, and make it worse by exercising and not feeding the workouts - and it will lower. Which means your activity calories really isn't that high, because your system is just that much slower.

    Feel like losing out on free 400-600 calorie burn each and every day?

    You've researched other things probably, research what a BMR means, and then use MFP Tool to calculate your BMR, and because you may have selected wrong activity level and probably selected wrong weight loss weekly goal, you are now eating below your potential healthy BMR every day.

    So change the activity level to probably 1 above sedentary, and select 1 lb week.
    Hopefully that is above your BMR figure.
    Feed your workouts, and increase your daily non-exercise activity. That is the activity that draws mainly from fat stores and doesn't need to be fed.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    Or just go for a whole different setup to maximize the free BMR burn, don't worry about exact exercise calories and eating them back, get used to eating the same amount every day that you would at goal weight, and set it and forget it.

    Just requires a little homework upfront to truly estimate your daily activity with exercise.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/477666-eating-for-future-you-method

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/496449-spreadsheet-for-calculations

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