I can't live on only 1200 calories

amygaycheme

I was given a 1200 calorie plan and I am starving. Can I eat even raw veggies to take the edge off? I am eating good food but it all adds up quickly. Please help!

angelashay42

How tall are you? How much do you weigh?

Try filling food like oatmeal, greek yogurt, eggs, peanut butter, fruit, veggies, shredded wheat, edamame, etc.

heartkermit

Try eating foods with more fiber. Broccoli, Sweet Potatoes, Lentils apples
But 1200 is the min amount the MFP recommends. I am at 1270 a day before my work out calories and I sometimes have to add extra snacks in.

JessieArt

What did you set your goal at. I had the same issue. I changed my goal to lose 1 1/2 pounds per week and it gave me more calories. It gave me 1340 calories per day, however, I eat about 1450. It works for me. I'm full and I'm losing!

AmyRhubarb

Who gave you that number - is that what came up when you filled out your info n MFP, or is it from elsewhere? I can't live on 1200 either - I'd be so hungry! I am set at 1700 calories per day, I'm 5'8", 139lbs, 44 years old, set to lose 1/2 lb a week. And I am losing, even with going over my calories several times a week. I track everything, but if I'm hungry, I eat (healthy foods).

Check out the info in this group, Eat More To Weigh Less: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3817-eat-more-to-weigh-less

Plenty of people there eating more healthy calories, exercising, and losing the fat without being hungry. Gotta fuel that body to make it function efficiently!

Pebble321

I'm not surprised, that is extremely low calories for most people.
Most people can lose weight eating more than 1200 cals - the usual reason that you see this is when you don't have a lot of weight to lose and you choose an unrealistic weight loss goal (ie. "lose 2 pounds a week).
Try resetting your goals to lose 1/2 or 1 pound a week, be realistic about your activity level ( most people aren't sedentary) and eat the extra cals you burn exercising.

Jenni129

Veggies sound like a great idea. Sometimes I drink a glass of water to fool my stomach when it is growling.

knjm4v

Yes I agree, try adding more fibrous foods from good carbs and also maybe eat more dense protiens. Will keep you full longer. Lets be freinds on mfp to encourage each other. my name is Jackie.

liog

I am 5' 6" and have my profile set to lose 1 pound a week. The goal MFP gave me is 1600 calories. I try to net between 1400 and 1600 with exercise.

skydivelife

Eat tons of protein. It has the same cals (4 per gram) as carbs and will keep you fuller way longer. It'll also fuel your muscles.



Wellfitlife.me

navstone

Feeling like starving all the time won't help you stick to the plan. Up by just a couple hundred and be very aware of making each one a good cal.

enyo123

I was given 1230 per day to lose 1 pound per week. I actually eat closer to 1400 now that I'm paying attention. (More on weight lifting days.) Work out more and eat back your calories.

sisierra

lol you could, you just have to choose your food carefully. But i recommend changing your goal, I assume you set it to lose 2lbs per week? Why not start slow and go for 1 or even 1.5? That will automatically give you about 500 more calories

sarahtbland

If you exercise and burn calories you can add more calories into your daily amount.

cheshirequeen

If you exercise and burn calories you can add more calories into your daily amount.

agreed
im maintaining right now. it says 1980 for me. i work out 6-7 days a week for around an hour. the more you work out, the more you should eat. veggies are really a great filler and so is water.

nicoletherese14

The only way I can do it is by exercising every day and eating back the calories I burn. Also focus on eating a lot of protein rich foods. However if it is a real struggle and you are constantly hungry you are better off upping your calorie intake so that you have more energy to exercise and go about your daily life, you'll still lose weight!

SwimTheButterfly

When I first started i set my calories at 1790. I lost 18lbs the first month. I tried lowering my calories to 1200, I flipped out, as soon as I set the calories that low, i started feeling like I was starving. So set my calories to 1480. I end up eating between 1100 to 1300..usually under 1200..even with working out. But I MUST have the OPTION..in 50 days I have lost 25 pounds. NicoleTherese is correct, focus on clean eating and getting in your protein. YOU CAN DO IT!

Kincar

Who gave you that number - is that what came up when you filled out your info n MFP, or is it from elsewhere? I can't live on 1200 either - I'd be so hungry! I am set at 1700 calories per day, I'm 5'8", 139lbs, 44 years old, set to lose 1/2 lb a week. And I am losing, even with going over my calories several times a week. I track everything, but if I'm hungry, I eat (healthy foods).

Check out the info in this group, Eat More To Weigh Less: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3817-eat-more-to-weigh-less

Plenty of people there eating more healthy calories, exercising, and losing the fat without being hungry. Gotta fuel that body to make it function efficiently!

^^^This.

I eat 1550, which is a bit over my BMR, plus most of my exercise calories. I started losing again when I started eating more. The Eat More To Weigh Less group has tons of good info. I highly recommend checking it out.

Pohudet

Mfp gave me 1200 cal a day to lose 0.7 pound a week. Because 1200 cal is too little for me, i try to exercise and burn extra calories aevery day. For example, today my kickboxing class came to 500+ calories. So i could eat 1700 cal. Actually because i aslo took a yoga class ( about 100 cal), i could eat 1800 cal today.
When i cannot go to. Lass, i just skip the rope - it is about 100 cal for 12 minutes for me.
So, want to eat more - workout more.

MinMin97

bump

kazzari

I agree, I'd be starving, too. My cals are set at 1350 for a 1/2 lb. per week weightloss. That's tough enough. Then again, in 45 days I've lost 1-1/2 lbs. total, so maybe I do need to drop it.

Jorra

Then don't. There's no point in being miserable when you don't have to be.

atjays

Everyone picks the max weight loss per week and everyone gets the 1200 calories by default. Unless you enjoy starving to death, I mean literally starving to death, you need to eat more and exercise. I've had two friends on here end up in the hospital because of the 1200 calories crap. Read once in a while, nobody recommends that strategy, you'll just gain it all back the first day you cheat.

riskiestlavonn

If MFP gave you that number, I would say that you should change your settings. I feel like your weight loss is just going to be miserable if you're hungry all the time (at least it was for me until I decided to up my calories). I eat around 1700 calories a day total. I'm never hungry and I've been able to continue losing weight at around 5 pounds per month (three months total).

ucsneakerz

Protein shakes are a good low calories stomach filler too!

EDesq

I was given a 1200 calorie plan and I am starving. Can I eat even raw veggies to take the edge off? I am eating good food but it all adds up quickly. Please help!

NO ONE is asking You to eat only 1200 calories per day! You people need to STOP, just STOP and THINK!!! You want to go to work, do an exercise routine, be active and energetic in your life, take care of home and family...and live a full LIFE, AND you expect to DO this on 1200 calories per day! NO this is not the Agrigrian or Industurial Age where you need 4000 -6000 calories per day to keep you going but I have learned that MOST adults need more than 1200 calories per day to be REALLY productive! AND YES, you can eat and lose weight!

I learned this the HARD WAY, doing 1000-1200 calories per day' getting hungry, then overeating on the wrong stuff...yo-yoing back and forth, then one day I said, "I'm NOT on a diet, this IS MY LIFESTYLE. So I planted Myself at 1500 calories per day avg (because we will eat less some days and some days more), made Healthy Choices 80% of the time, 10% Good Choices and 10% Not so good choices (but in Moderation > Treats, ecause I knew if I did not give Myself a piece of cake or some cookies or a candy bar or a few french fries or nachos or sugar in My coffee I would not stay on board.)

So I Live a Healthy Lifestyle, do moderate exercise, have enough energy to power my day, don' t beat Myself upwhen I eat some chips or cookies because I LOG it in! I feel good about Myself and the way I Live and I ENJOY LIFE!

OH, by the way, I have LOST 120 Lbs in 2 years, basically just by EATING RIGHT and being able to STICK TO A PLAN! If you can not Stick to a Plan, you won't get healthy or lose weight NOR Maintain it!

BrionyTallis

And I couldn't either ... when I first signed into mfp it recommended 1260 cals for me but calculated my bmr at 1400. I set my weight loss at 1 lb per week. So adding exercise would be seem to be the way to go to make the math work.

I've seen recommendations to eat 200-300 calories above bmr and see if you lose weight after a couple of weeks. If you are losing weight at the rate you would like then great!

If gaining weight or not losing at the rate you want, cut back 100 calories and/or increase exercise. I've also attended a weight loss management class where it was recommended splitting the difference between a cut in calories and an increase in exercise. So that would mean a 50 cal cut from food and a 50 cal increase in exercise.

Repeat the process until you find the right balance of calorie cutting and activity that works for you. You'll have to do these adjustments as you lose weight also because it takes less calories to run your body as you lose (I think mfp recalculates at 10 lbs of weight loss).

Whatever you do I would suggest that as my friend PU_239 says ignore the scale (well at least as much as you can) because it is how you look and how you feel that is important.

Hope this helps!

BTW, any mistakes here are my own and I am sure if I have made one .... someone will correct me. I am certainly not an expert just relating what I have garnered here and there.

Brandicaloriecountess

So don't. That is too low and certainly below your BMR. I did eat 1200 for longer than I should have but as I worked my way up I was still losing @ 1600 a day. I am trying to get my metabolism going again so I can lose the last 14 pounds without starving!!

AmyRhubarb

It really is sad that for so long we've all been told that to lose weight we've got to exercise more and eat less. Makes no sense - start working your body harder and give it less fuel to do so! :noway:

A better way to look at it would be to say exercise more and eat WELL to fuel your body and allow it to function properly. Eating the bare minimum while pushing yourself through exercise every day will burn you out in a short amount of time, even with healthy food choices. Your body is getting mixed signals as you push it to work hard but then don't give it enough fuel to function, so it begins to try to hang on to what little fuel you do give it rather than burning it efficiently, eventually jacking with your metabolism, slowing it down.

it is a process, and I've learned a lot by reading the info here and on the group page I linked in my last post. It takes some time to figure out what works best for you as far as diet, how many calories you need to meet your goal, etc, etc, but you can adjust as you go along! And when you feel great and you look great as the fat begins to burn off and your body gets stronger and leaner with all the good food an exercise, it's all totally worth it!

BrionyTallis

here is some other good information for you that I just happened across

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/596064-how-to-get-rid-of-a-plateau?page=1#posts-8549905

taso42

TOPIC: I can't live on only 1200 calories

So eat more.