1200 CALORIES IS ALL I GET?!?!?! HELP - NEED IDEAS

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  • omearac
    omearac Posts: 1
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    Cardio and strength exercises will burn fat and build muscle while increasing your metabolism which will allow you to eat more. Stay active, that's the key!!! I exercise everyday alternating muscle groups so that my muscles don't get used to the movements and to give them a rest. I make sure that I burn the equivalent of one meal a day - 400-500 calories. While diet is extremely important, exercise is the KEY to losing weight and keeping it off!!!!
  • glennstoudt
    glennstoudt Posts: 403 Member
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    Move more.
    And maybe some different non scale goals?
    Good luck
  • Leimaro
    Leimaro Posts: 148 Member
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    To lose weight I have 1300 calories to consume without exercise. If I think may go over, I eat foods that make me feel full but low in calories, like fruit or veggie smoothies, air popped popcorn, fruits, salads, etc.
  • betteringmyselfeachday
    betteringmyselfeachday Posts: 99
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    When you eat healthy, it is a lot harder to stay under calories then you would think.

    Instead of pasta, I do spaghetti squash.
    I do berries: black, strawberry, blueberry, etc.
    I do grapes, bananas!
    lettuce is pretty much a freebie at 10 cals a cup!
    Switch to whole grain bread (they make some that are under 50 cals) instead of white bread
    Limit your amount of dressings, dips, etc
    NO SWEETS!
    Water, green tea, and sometimes add in a gatorade (if your working out hard your body needs a boost). You can always try flavored water packets (5 cals a piece).


    Do most, if not all your grocery shopping in the produce section.

    You can always look at other peoples food diaries for suggestions!
  • somedaysoon84
    somedaysoon84 Posts: 82
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    POPCORN! it is usually my go to after dinner snack. a whole bag of butter lovers is about 112 cals, and i can't finish a bag by myself, so everyone gets in on the action. if i'm having a craving for sweet.... i'll toss in a TBSP of choco chips (80 cals) while the popcorn is still hot.

    otherwise i eat TONS of cucumbers. and celery with no fat ranch. cucumbers are great cut up in white vinegar, a little salt, sugar and dill. leave in the frig overnight. we call them QUICKLES ;)

    strawberries are about 50 cals per cup, and i love them with low fat/ no fat yogurt. i eat that a lot as part of my breakfast

    I have the opposite problem, that i have a hard time eating to 1200 after excersize (300-350 cals a day), total 1500. i almost have to cheat with snacks some days.....

    and salads!! i make my own dressing, so i can control cals, and fats. but i have been known to eat a whole bag of salad in one sitting.... i wouldn't recommend that..... but salads are pretty much guilt free if done right!
  • Jotell
    Jotell Posts: 139 Member
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    I actually had a plateau problem all last week. After my group workout with my team at the gym my trainer who is also my nutritionist had told me that for women we are to eat 100grams of protein a day and if you plateau eat more protein till you start losing again. By eating lean means (if you're not a vegetarian) or eat more soy or tofu for your protein if you are vegetarian. Greek yogurts are also very filling and low in calories if you get the light greek yogurt. My favorite brand is Zoi Greek Yogurt.
  • lindsay0515
    lindsay0515 Posts: 52 Member
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    Honestly, if you've gotten stuck on a plateau and you've only been eating 1300 calories, you are probably plateauing because you are eating too few calories. I don't know your height/weight stats (well, you said where your weight has been stuck...), but your body may be holding on ferociously to those precious pounds because you aren't giving it enough calories to feel comfortable letting them go. Run your numbers past the BMR calculator on fat2fitradio.com and see what it tells you about your Base Metabolic Rate and what your calorie goals should be. I was stuck for about a month on a plateau when I was eating just 1200 calories a day, and after changing my calorie goals to about 1600 a day (plus exercise calories) I have started losing again. It did take a week or two at the higher calorie level to see the pounds come off again (probably took my body that long to figure out how to process nutrients properly again), but I feel much better, have a lot more energy, and am seeing much better success. Good luck!

    Agreed! My body doesn't like 1200 calories (and neither do I!) so nothing was happening for me. I upped my calories to at least my BMR each day and I'm losing - and I feel wonderful!
  • Psychoanalytic
    Psychoanalytic Posts: 261
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    Honestly, if you've gotten stuck on a plateau and you've only been eating 1300 calories, you are probably plateauing because you are eating too few calories.

    This.
  • rextcat
    rextcat Posts: 1,408 Member
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    apples:bigsmile: cuz i hate my dentist....on a purely professonal level:bigsmile:
  • islandnutshel
    islandnutshel Posts: 1,143 Member
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    Exercise and Eat more
  • itsjusdanielle
    itsjusdanielle Posts: 3
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    there are salad dressings that have no calories and no fat or try salsa for dressing if eating salads that cuts calories back big time. Measure your meat to 100 grams at a time and add lots of green leafs that makes you feel like you're eating more and cuts calories too!! I have trouble even reaching 1200 and i'm twice your weight. you can do it!
  • Francesca3162
    Francesca3162 Posts: 520 Member
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    Feel free to take a look at my food diary. Started at 1200.... lotsa veggies and fruits, recently upped mine because I was plateaued for more than a month.
    If I want something extra to eat, I have to burn it off through exercise.. mostly walking briskly...

    Add me as friend if you want!
  • mes1119
    mes1119 Posts: 1,082 Member
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    The more you exercise, the more you get to eat... Thats how I cope. I stay active and work out to burn at least 500 calories a day and then you get to eat 1700! Celery and cucumber can be eaten in copious amounts and add up to next to nothing on your diary...

    exactly, work out more and you can eat more.
  • jwilli16
    jwilli16 Posts: 4 Member
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    I carry small lunch bags of carrots, sweet peppers, turkey/chicken, melon of all kinds, raspberries, broccoli, etc in a big lunch bag all day. I also buy in bulk and watch a program while chop up everything and put it into small lung bags, there are also reusable lunh bags and tupperware if your earth conscious, so a whole watermelon may cost five bucks but then you cut it up and it gives a nice snack for a whole week, I hope some of his was helpful
  • SPNLuver83
    SPNLuver83 Posts: 2,050 Member
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    If you eat back your workout calories you will have more than 1200.

    And if you are stuck upping your calories usually works better.
  • jenniejengin
    jenniejengin Posts: 785 Member
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    I play around with my calories, give or take 200, but never under 1200. I am finally going down in weight after being stuck for a while. I also increase the amount of calories I burn per exercise. That is what helped me.
  • jkrim941
    jkrim941 Posts: 226 Member
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    If the problem is being full, check out shirataki noodles :smile: I just ordered some, so I can't vouch totally for them, but I'm hearing good things so far.

    They are a little chewy, so if you are wary- buy the angel hair style. The macaroni actually reminds me of the consistancy of a very tender calamari. Something that i don't mind one bit.

    Check out Hungry Girl. You can sign up for the newsletters or google search recipes. I am a chinese food nut and her EZ Egg Fauz Young is amazing. It tastes like the real thing (only better IMHO) and you can have a HUGE portion for less than 200 cals. When I say huge, I mean huuuuuuge.

    I also like baked sweet potatoes with black bean and corn salsa. I nuke the potato wrapped in paper towel for 4 mins, then flip and another 4 mins. It's really easy to store at work and quite tasty with a texmex flair.

    Fresh fruit is always a good idea. Berries are very low calorie and super nutrient dense.

    I don't like vegetables very much, but i like the detox salad that Whole Foods has on their buffet line. There is a great copycat recipe out there from eat-spin-run-repeat. I use it all the time.

    I agree with eating more of your calories instead of taking them in liquid form. I often find that I lack in certain areas and make myself a protein shake on those days. I use almond milk and a lower calorie sustained release protein powder. It comes out to about 200 cals per shake, about what I would eat for an evening snack.
  • Leslie85
    Leslie85 Posts: 265 Member
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    MFP put me at 1200, which I later found out was below my BMR- not by much...but still under. I calculated my BMR at 1309, so I changed my calories to 1309. I had no idea that just 109 extra calories a day would make me feel so much better! I also exercise, and eat the majority of my calories back. Honestly, if I were you, I would calculate my BMR and eat that plus your exercise calories.
  • ArtGeek22
    ArtGeek22 Posts: 1,429 Member
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    Make sure you eat lots of protein and fruits and veggies are really low cal. Also, drink plenty of water. If you divide it up you get roughly 300 calories for every meal, plus extra cals for snacks, which can be a lot if you fill up on the good stuff. I am also on 1200 calories and it has worked well for me. Good luck :flowerforyou:
  • emnk5308
    emnk5308 Posts: 736
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    Apples, cucumbers, carrots =) Mmm <3
    I eat 1100 a day. Recently I started using protein shakes to replace a meal, VERY filling. I've also got fat free peanut butter and wheat bread for snacks. For dinners I usually eat a Lean Gourmet frozen dinner. I haven't gone over yet =) There have been days where I had to exercise so that I could eat more though.

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