Is 1200 Calories a day too little?

winter34

For me personally, at 5'4 and 154 lbs, 1200 calories is WAY too little. I eat 1600 calories NET every day, and I'm very active. Depending on my exercise that day I usually eat around 2000-2600 calories a day.

I would die on 1200 calories, lol.

Sarauk2sf

My doctor, who MADE me sign up for MFP while I was in his office, would like me to eat 800 to 900 calories per day.

If I make sure that every calorie is good, nutritious, whole foods. I am pretty comfortable at that number.

His philosophy is "the faster you lose the weight, the more likely you are to keep it off".

I'm not sure if that's true, but at 1,200 calories per day (MFP's suggestion for me), I was losing about 1 lb per week. Lopping off that other 300-400 calories per day has me losing about 2 lbs a week.

Best wishes on your health and wellness journey!

I would honestly change my doctor if he suggested something like this.

Doctors are not trainined in nutrition and are notoriously bad at giving out 'diet' advice. His philospohy is totally wrong - the faster you lose weight the more likely you are to put it back on.

winter34

I just joined this site today. I am 5'3 144 pounds I am at 1200 caloires as well. I calculated everything I ate today and it added up to 1600. I did not exercise today and I am still hungry. I work out 3 times a wk. I do an athletic circuit class 2 x a wk for an hr and run 2 x a wk about 8 miles total for the wk. My goal is to loss 15 pounds. I am new to this site so can anyone tell me should I be at 1600 on the days I work out and 1200 for the days off?

psuLemon

I just joined this site today. I am 5'3 144 pounds I am at 1200 caloires as well. I calculated everything I ate today and it added up to 1600. I did not exercise today and I am still hungry. I work out 3 times a wk. I do an athletic circuit class 2 x a wk for an hr and run 2 x a wk about 8 miles total for the wk. My goal is to loss 15 pounds. I am new to this site so can anyone tell me should I be at 1600 on the days I work out and 1200 for the days off?

its probably because you are aiming for 2 lbs per week to why you are alloted 1200 calories. Unfortunately the site is only as smart as the person who is inputting the goals based on your height and weight you should aim to lose 1/2 lb per week so you reduce the chances of losing muscle. You should also eat 50-75% of your exercise calories or even better go onto fat2fit.com and use their bmr calc and then look at your activity level including exercise. Eating 1200 will jist make weight loss harder than it needs to be. And unless your bmr is below 1200 calories, which you would need a condition for that to be true, then eating below your bmr will end up slowing your metabolism.

Moral of the story - food is fuel. You dont see athletes eating 1200 calories so why would you? And idk about you but i rather have the body of an athlete as its fit and not flabby.

malins2

I would say 1200 net calories are enough if you make smart food choices. As long as I make sure to eat a lot of protein I don't have a problem loosing muscle when I lose weight. Lots of veggies and protein to keep you full and stay away from bad carbs.

malins2

I just joined this site today. I am 5'3 144 pounds I am at 1200 caloires as well. I calculated everything I ate today and it added up to 1600. I did not exercise today and I am still hungry. I work out 3 times a wk. I do an athletic circuit class 2 x a wk for an hr and run 2 x a wk about 8 miles total for the wk. My goal is to loss 15 pounds. I am new to this site so can anyone tell me should I be at 1600 on the days I work out and 1200 for the days off?

When you enter your exercise, your calories will go up with the same amount you burned working out. So for the days off it would be 1200, but on the days working out higher depending on how much you have worked out. I hear different things about whether you should eat all those calories back or not... I try to aim for eating some of them back, but not all.

rygma2010

I think that they would adjust your intake as you lose weight. I weigh 210 and they gave me 1230 calories, I am doing alright I just came back a couple days ago.

yarwell

its probably because you are aiming for 2 lbs per week to why you are alloted 1200 calories.

A 5'-3" woman with a sedentary lifestyle can easily end up at the dumb 1200 - BMR 1350 * 1.2 = 1620 so even 1 lb/week gets you the 1200.