Seriously ... 1200 calories or less
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Bump - to read later0
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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.
Yes, a basic guideline based on averages, for the average adult. We are not, in real life, all average, some of us are taller/bigger/more active, and some of us are smaller/thinner/less active. Therefore, surely our needs (for calories AND for nutrition) vary?0 -
Height: 5'5"
SW: 120
CW: 117
Age: 49
Maintanance Calories: 1389
According to the Hamwi forumula, a weight of 113 is recommended. Fuhrman recommends 115. That works for me. I've been 112 for most of my life. It's only this last year that I've gained weight.
None of the calculations posted here work for me. I don't think it would be healthy for me to eat 10-20% less than maintenance. I'm eating a 1200 calorie diet and exercising. I eat my exercise calories back. I log everything immediately and meticulously. According to MFP, I should lose .5 pounds per week. It's slow and frustrating but I'm sticking with it.
I need to lose about 3-5 pounds more or convert my "flubber" into something more toned. I'm more concerned about what I see in the mirror than what the scales say. If I gain weight but it's all muscle - awesome.
If anyone has a better suggestion on how to go about it, please comment. Any advice is appreciated because I don't think all the calculations posted work for me.0 -
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!
Are you kidding me? That cannot be accurate in any way shape or form. I'm 34 years old, 5'5" and weigh 122. This would give me 854 calories a day. Are you kidding me? That's almost 600 calories UNDER my BMR. Even if I were lying in a coma I would need more calories than that to sustain myself.0 -
If you are were eating 1200 calories a day and NOT working out, I hate to tell you alot of the weight you lost was muscle not bodyfat.0
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Chill Winston. I already acknowledged the rule is for average people, thereby implying different people have different needs and I also said, to quote;Yes, a basic guideline based on averages, for the average adult. We are not, in real life, all average, some of us are taller/bigger/more active, and some of us are smaller/thinner/less active. Therefore, surely our needs (for calories AND for nutrition) vary?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.0 -
Go find other calculators to double check your calorie need if you think you are high or low. Even if you are under 100 lbs and lead a sedentary lifestyle, you still need 1200 calories just to keep your body going every day. My Net sometimes ends up below 1200, but I eat close to 2,000 per day.
Don't know the rules about posting links to other calculators so feel free to delete this or tell me to edit it: http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/calories-to-lose-weight
Just did this and this is what it said...
To stay at the same weight, you would need approximately 2033.19 calories a day.
Your minimum calorie need is 1200 calories. To lose weight, choose an option from the table below.
Who knows what to do!!0 -
Height: 5'5"
SW: 120
CW: 117
Age: 49
Maintanance Calories: 1389
According to the Hamwi forumula, a weight of 113 is recommended. Fuhrman recommends 115. That works for me. I've been 112 for most of my life. It's only this last year that I've gained weight.
None of the calculations posted here work for me. I don't think it would be healthy for me to eat 10-20% less than maintenance. I'm eating a 1200 calorie diet and exercising. I eat my exercise calories back. I log everything immediately and meticulously. According to MFP, I should lose .5 pounds per week. It's slow and frustrating but I'm sticking with it.
I need to lose about 3-5 pounds more or convert my "flubber" into something more toned. I'm more concerned about what I see in the mirror than what the scales say. If I gain weight but it's all muscle - awesome.
If anyone has a better suggestion on how to go about it, please comment. Any advice is appreciated because I don't think all the calculations posted work for me.
where did you get these calculations? they do not seem accurate at all.0 -
ZoeD,
Right on the money! Depending on the time of the year I raise or lower my weight as much as 5 pounds(on Purpose)when I'm ready to bring it back down I set up for.75 poinds per week.
Some people lossing larger amounts of weight would prefer to lose 2-3 pounds per week. They will need to make correct caluclations for that to happen.
It comes down to your caloire needs vs the amount of weight you want to lose and the time frame you want to lose it in...0 -
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Chill Winston. I already acknowledged the rule is for average people, thereby implying different people have different needs and I also said, to quote;Yes, a basic guideline based on averages, for the average adult. We are not, in real life, all average, some of us are taller/bigger/more active, and some of us are smaller/thinner/less active. Therefore, surely our needs (for calories AND for nutrition) vary?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.
1200 isn't a basic guideline - it is the minimum for basic nutrition.
The daily recommendation is 2000 for a female.
I can't imagine anyone getting in their daily amounts of protein, fat, carbs and vitamins on 1000 calories.0 -
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.
THANK you for posting this. Every time I get on the forums, I always begin to question how many calories I'm eating. Then I get confused because there are so many conflicting answers on this forum. I'm just going to stick with what I know (and with what my doctor confirms is healthy for me).
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Interesting last paragrpah
"Important Note:
Regardless of what the calculator tells you, going under about 1000-1200 calories for a woman and 1300-1500 for a man can be detrimental to weight loss as this can cause your body to try harder to retain weight by slowing your metabolism. This is commonly called "starvation mode" and is a natural reaction to too low a caloric intake. As such, do not go lower than these numbers without the advice and consent for your physician. If the calculator gives you numbers smaller than this, it is probably because you are small in stature and not exercising much. If so, the best advice I can give is to increase your activity level and this will allow a more normal caloric intake."0 -
Chill Winston. I already acknowledged the rule is for average people, thereby implying different people have different needs and I also said, to quote;Yes, a basic guideline based on averages, for the average adult. We are not, in real life, all average, some of us are taller/bigger/more active, and some of us are smaller/thinner/less active. Therefore, surely our needs (for calories AND for nutrition) vary?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.
Who's Winston?
Sorry if I over-reacted. It just feels that people on 1200 get a lot of grief sometimes. Not pointing at you specifically, but I've read posts implying that anyone netting 1200 is stupid, or that they're irresponsible, or even that they're anorexic. I hope I'm none of those things, I came on MFP to lose weight, so for now at least I'm going to work with what MFP has advised. I may change later, who knows? But either way, I still maintain that it cannot be as simple as one rule for everyone!0 -
Just going to throw this out there...
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/littlemili/view/this-is-why-you-shouldn-t-undereat-197922
I did the starvation thing. I plateaued at 800 net calories. Dropped to 200-500 net calories. Still plateaued. Now I can lose weight on 2100. Wish I hadn't been so pig headed and arrogant as to ignore the 1200 guidelines. It would have saved me a lot of trips to the emergency room.0 -
Thanks for the link. 0 -
Ok.... so I've been doing the 1200 calorie thing for the past few weeks, but this thread has helped me see the light that I need to eat more to lose weight. I've changed my goals and thus my targeted caloric intake to match. And, I have started eating close (within 10-50 calories) to my target. My question is... how long will it take for me to start losing weight with this "new" method? Will it happen right away, or will it take my body a few weeks to adjust?0
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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!
Are you trying to kill me? There is no way I could live on 931 calories a day! I'd be chewing my arm off! I'm also a fun-sized 4' 10.5" and currently eating between 1550 and 1600 calories and losing approximately .5 a week. I also started off at the mfp recommended 1200 and was absolutely starving. I was glad for the information I was able to find on this site and have learned quite a bit.0 -
I am still totally confused too on how many calories I should be eating. Everyone has different opinions. I tried 1200 since I wanted to lose 10 pounds - 1 per week - and that is what MFP calculated me at, but I was so hungry by bed time and have had a really hard time sticking to that. I happened to have a dr appt today and asked him about it. He recommended 1500. So I am going to try that and shoot for .5 a week. He said "the tortoise always wins this race". I've never counted calories before, so I dont really know what I had been eating before starting this. But I'll find what works for me. 0
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I feel bad for everyone thinking they have to eat 1200 calls a day starving their bodies.. I was there too. I lost a lot fast and then totally stalled out... If you're exercising. There's no way u should only eat 1200 a day.. Different story if you don't exercise and u are sedentary. I now eat around 1600 and still lose weight. Not any slower or faster than before0
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