Seriously ... 1200 calories or less

sssygirl

Lets be clear, MFP only gives you the 1200 calorie option if you CHOOSE that you want to lose 2 lbs a week. You also get to ADD in calories if you work out.

I find that if I stay around 12-1300 on days I do not work out, I still loose weight. But if I do weights and walk for an hour..you bet I am going to eat more!

The whole point of this site in my opinion is to OPEN your eyes to WHAT and HOW MUCH you eat! For me it was a real eye opener. Not what I was eating..but my portions were WAY OFF!

Best of luck to everyone and I would not suggest staying under 1200 calories consistently for long term.

This site has helped me get rid of the DIETING habit and focus on clean and healthy eating with the ability to indulge. But I also am much more picky about what I choose to indulge in...and I make sure I work out that day! Ha Ha!

jdavis193

I completely agree with this post, however you have to remember we have all been told for years (especially women) that you eat 1200 calories to lose weight. And honestly having MFP say the same only further engraves if into our minds. I am happy to see a movement towards eating more, but it will take time for everyone to see how you are able to not strave and still lose weight. I truly believe this because I know and understand the science behind it...however I have gradually increased my intake to 1700 (15% of my maintence) and you know what I have gained weight. I know my body will adjust but that is hard for someone people and they give up and go back to 1200 or they read this and never increase because their goal is weight loss and they beleive 1200 will give that to them.

At 1200 I was a crazy lady, starving and more moody then normal (which is tough, haha). So I know 1200 is not healthy for me just by the side effects. Hopefully we will all come around in time...until then I love to see discussions and examples of how it truly works for others.

This is so true I was eating 1200 and I was starving adn I would eat dinner and be like that is it. I would be hungry an hour later and I would be working out 5-6x a week 40+min.

A_Fit_Mom

I lost all the weight I wanted eating 1200 calories and not exercising. I now eat 1400 to maintain. I also have a food scale so I know my portion size is correct. I think a lot of people are eating more calories then they think.

I agree! I think people are "kidding" themselves a bit and not logging in everything. Forgetting to log that little snack they had, or cooking oils. Etc.


I am eating anywhere from 1200-1400 calories a day, depending on exercise. It is working for me, I have more energy than I ever have before. Everyone is different, and their bodies react differently.

I will tell you, that I use to eat 1200 calories for years, till I was pregnant and that is how I gained my weight, I got use to eating more and never lowered my calories after my second child. At 1200-1400 calories, I am never starving and I enjoy everything I am eating. I just think it is silly to care so much about what other people are eating, unless they post and ask for specific opinions.

sparkly96

When i joined Weight Watchers in 2004 i was given 1200 calories a day to lose weight and at that time it was a different program than what they have now. Every 50 calories counted as 1 point so i was given 24 points for the day and i believe 10 extra points for the week to use as i saw fit. The program was wonderful and i got a lot of great tips and learned portion control and how to eat healthy and balance everything out. As advised by Weight Watchers you should see a doctor before starting any weight loss program to make sure it is ok for you and you are healthy enough. After you lose the weight your points/calorie allowance changes and are recommended "X" amount of calories in order to maintain the weight in a healthy manner. I dont remember what mine were up'ed to. It was successful and i kept off the weight until recently. I only put the weight back on because i started up with my bad habits. Weight Watchers determinesd your daily caloric intake by weight, age and height. If it wasn't a healthy way to go why would a big diet "chain" give this diet plan to their members? If they didnt have any success and people were going into starvation mode and not successful losing weight with Weight Watchers they still wouldn't still be in business.

zoeluiisa

My mother sees a dietician and she says never eat less than 1500 cals , and to eat peanut butter if you're not eating quorn/meat in a day because nutrition is important its relaly hard to get the right nutrition in less than 1500 cals unless you really know what you are doing.

Remember though that MFP calculates daily calories differently - ie the exercise is not built in. Most dieticians' recommended calories include a standard average amount of exercise in them - MFP's don't, you add them as you do the exercise and then eat them back. EG I am on 1,200 daily cals, but once I've eaten back my exercise cals I've usually had the 1500 your mum's dietician recommends.

carriecarrot

I tried 1200 calories to speed up my weight loss and I ended up waiting until I was extremely hungry and would break down and binge on 1000 + calories. At 1490 calories (MFP, 1 lb a week weight loss) I didn't go crazy and binge but I did feel restricted but I did lose 11 lbs in about a month and a half but that was my first attempt on MFP. I stopped logging in and gained the weight back, this second time around I am eating 1600 calories and making sure I work out everyday and it feels a lot better and easier. You just have to find what works for you.

veganbaum

Well I did somehow. Either way, I changed it up and got negative results, so I'm going back to my normal that gave me positive results.

you need to give it more than a week, everybody is warned that when they initially raise their calories from such a low level they may experience a small gain but it is only water weight.

You topped off your glucose stores finally by upping the calories.
You can see a 3lb gain easy from just glucose and water weight, but that will come off.

It is not FAT.

FAT, WATER, doesn't matter. I'm sticking to what worked for me. That's all that counts right? What works for ME, MYSELF, and the girl staring back at me in the mirror.

But it's water weight and should come off the following week. So if you could eat more than 900 calories a day, which allows your body to get the proper nutrition it needs, and still lose weight then why wouldn't you, instead of not providing your body all the nutrients it needs? When you suddenly up your calories, you will see a non-fat gain on the scale - water/glucose. Then it will drop off. It's not a real weight gain. You should give changes at least a month to see real effects, not a week.

LauraSmyth28

When I stick to my 1200 net I lost weight. Some days I only burn 200 cals, today I burnt almost 500. I'll eat some back, not all because I could be over/under estimating food/exercise.

When I read posts like this in the past it made me panic, google stuff, I made changes....and my weight loss stopped.

So to summarise, don't give advice unless someone asks for it.

If someone is losing, is happy and is getting healthier....it's all good.

iqnas

Eat people, eat.

TourThePast

Giving "one size fits all" advice like that is rather silly at best...

If you eat under at 1200 calories:

1) metabolism will slow down
2) body will try to retain what little that you eat as fat for energy
3) when you eat high calories again, you bet that you will gain all that weight you lost back

Anyway, that's just me venting. Not picking on anyone, it's more out of me wanting to help people.
Because I've been there and I've done that, and 1200 calories or less is not the way to go. You got to
eat to lose weight, SOUNDS RIDICULOUS RIGHT? well it ain't, not even the slightest. =]

Well done for being taller than me and heavier than me. It must be lovely to be able to eat so much. If I want to eat more than 1200 calories a day and lose weight at more than a third of a pound a week, I have to do a significant amount of exercise.

My maintenance calories, that's TDEE not BMR, are just over 1400 a day.

I lost the majority of my weight (from obese to healthy) by eating 1200 calories a day. It took a long LONG time.

It did NOT take a long time because I was in starvation mode, but simply because I was on a very low calorie deficit, ie around 200 calories a day.

And frankly, it's bad enough having to deal with that, without having to listen to self-righteous "advice" telling me I'm not eating enough!!!

markpmc

I didn't read past the 1st page of comments. I think the 1200 cals/day is for men and 800 cals/day is for women. But hey I'm a guy so I just might be wrong

That said I've never been below 1400 cals/day when shedding body fat. I'm usually close to 2000 cals +- 300.

ironanimal

This has probably been posted many many times, but I'm sick of people posting
topics saying they can't lose any weight, and you ask how many calories they consume.
And they'll tell you less than 1200. Are you serious? are you joking? A 10 year old eats more than that.

First of all, go find out what your calorie maintenance is.
Second of all, decrease the amount of calories by 10-20%. For example, if maintenance is 2000 calories
then to lose weight, consume 1600-1800. That's it, it's that easy. Why are people under eating?
Every single athlete which competes in a sport with specific weight divisions, whether it be an MMA fighter
or a wrestler or a boxer etc, and especially body builders (when it comes to cutting weight)
will tell you exactly the same thing, if you want to cut weight, eat 10-20% under your maintenance.
If you eat under at 1200 calories:

1) metabolism will slow down
2) body will try to retain what little that you eat as fat for energy
3) when you eat high calories again, you bet that you will gain all that weight you lost back

Anyway, that's just me venting. Not picking on anyone, it's more out of me wanting to help people.
Because I've been there and I've done that, and 1200 calories or less is not the way to go. You got to
eat to lose weight, SOUNDS RIDICULOUS RIGHT? well it ain't, not even the slightest. =]

I'm sorry you're fed up, but I'm equally fed up of seeing posts criticising people who eat 1200. And I'm sick of 1200 being this fixed, magic number that applies to everyone.

HOW can one number apply to everyone? Our maintenance calories are all wildy different, because our heights/ages/occupations/sexes are all different - so surely our lower calorie limit is also going to differ.

If my maintenance is 1700, and I would like to lose a pound a week, then that takes me to 1200 because there are 3500 calories in a pound. If you are lucky enough to have a maintenance of 3000, then obviously it is different for you.

Why 1200? Because that's a basic guideline as to how many you calories you should be eating in order to get enough NUTRITION to sustain an adult human being. Calories are not the be all and end all of healthy eating.

This post is long overdue. And people who say 'I started eating more and stopped losing weight' - you need to give your body time to adjust. A calorie increase can't become effective immediately, going from low to normal intake, as your metabolism slows down if you eat too little over an extended period of time.

djtessatessa

some people definitely lose weight when eating less than 1200 cals a day. I certainly did, to the tune of 15 lbs. Why are people on here so judgemental?

TourThePast

Simple equation to find out what your intake should be, see below:

your weight x 7= your intake to lose weight

As you lose, recalculate!

819 calories a day at my current weight.

Nope, don't think that's going to be happening any time soon! :bigsmile:

cressievargo

Just because you are eating under 1200 and losing weight doesn't mean you are losing fat...

srhula

It took me about 2 weeks of logging every thing I ate to figure out at what calorie intake causes me to lose and which one helps me to maintain. I think you have to experiment with it and BE HONEST and log everything. I know for a fact if I eat less than 1400/day I lose and if I hit 1400/day, I maintain. It's great peace of mind knowing this information and I only would have known it by tracking everything. I think sometimes people under state what they actually eat in a day.

TourThePast

Why 1200? Because that's a basic guideline as to how many you calories you should be eating in order to get enough NUTRITION to sustain an adult human being. Calories are not the be all and end all of healthy eating.

Wrong, it is a guideline to the amount an AVERAGE WOMAN needs to get enough nutrition.

Note the words average and woman.

For men the figure is 1500.

For women who are far shorter or less muscular than average the figure is lower than 1200, for women who are far taller or more muscular than average the figure is higher than 1200.

Just because you are eating under 1200 and losing weight doesn't mean you are losing fat...

I do weight training. I have my body fat tested regularly at my gym, and have actually gained a small amount of muscle during the last year. This is possible because I had taken a long break from weight training so was able to take advantage of "beginner benefits" and because my calorie deficit was extremely low.

gaia3rd

My BMR is 1317 so at -20% my daily calorie intake would be at 1053?? See that doesn't make sense. I am only 5'0" and 120. What the heck should I be eating? MFP has me set at 1200, and I've been trying to eat back some of my exercise calories lately. I would like to lose another 10 lbs.

You do not take 20% off your BMR - BMR is the amount of calories it takes your body to to stay alive (heart beat, lungs work, etc). You take 15-20% off your TDEE - a completely different thing. And, with only 10 pounds to lose, it would be recommended you try to lose no more than a half pound a week.

ironanimal

Why 1200? Because that's a basic guideline as to how many you calories you should be eating in order to get enough NUTRITION to sustain an adult human being. Calories are not the be all and end all of healthy eating.

Wrong, it is a guideline to the amount an AVERAGE WOMAN needs to get enough nutrition.
Note the words average and woman.

For men the figure is 1500.

For women who are far shorter or less muscular than average the figure is lower than 1200, for women who are far taller or more muscular than average the figure is higher than 1200.

A basic guideline. As in, a simple guideline. As in, a guideline that works for the majority of people. I was quite happy to see you explaining your side of this, being a rather little person Perhaps I should've expanded, but yes, it's for the average woman. I personally thought the men's was 1600 but I can't be bothered to go check . Either way, that is quite low for most men.

People need to work out their own individual needs, and not rely on this program too heavily - 1200 is simply a safety net designed for the average female.

To clarify for those getting the BMR and TDEE confused - BMR is Basal Metabolic Rate; the amount of calories burned in a coma every day. TDEE is Total Daily Energy Expenditure - the amount burned in your day, based on your BMR multiplied by between 1.2 and 2 depending on your activity level. You subtract 10-20% from your TDEE in order to calculate the healthiest weightloss for yourself, but bear in mind that if you don't see weightloss immediately on starting this and you've been eating a low amount of calories (compared to your BMR) your metabolism will be downregulated and you may well gain a little before you lose - but, the end result is maintainable, steady weight loss that easily transitions to maintenance at your goal.

sparkly96

When I stick to my 1200 net I lost weight. Some days I only burn 200 cals, today I burnt almost 500. I'll eat some back, not all because I could be over/under estimating food/exercise.

When I read posts like this in the past it made me panic, google stuff, I made changes....and my weight loss stopped.

So to summarise, don't give advice unless someone asks for it.

If someone is losing, is happy and is getting healthier....it's all good.

Well said!