Why do I have to eat a minimum of 1200 calories?

Nikocan

Ok, so I dont get this..Why is it essential for me to eat 1200 calories and up my intake? Not that it is a problem but why? I am a crazy overeater but since I started logging in foods to my food diary, I have become conscious of what I eat and that has kinda tackled the over eating part. So now, I eat what I feel right eating and I don't starve myself. The moment I feel even a slight twitch of hunger, I eat something. The only difference is, whereas earlier I used to reach out for a slice of cheesecake, I not reach out for crackers. Again, I dont feel tired or empty or constantly hungry like the regular dieters..In addition I am working out and expending almost all the calories I have taken..So what is the big deal about eating more now?

Also, I have enough fat sources to burn. Won't the body just get the nutrients from all the stored fat? I know I maybe sounding like an ignorant fool but I can't seem to get my head around it. Anybody care to explain?

Thanks,

Niko

purpleipod

Because your body needs fuel? Why not just eat the 1200 calories?

Shayztar

Welcome to the forums. This question is asked often. But I'll try to sum it up.

1000 - 1200 calories is the bare minimum a person should eat in order to not die of malnutrition. It's great that you feel you have overcome your over eating, but you should eat at the very least 1200 calories. MFP defaults to this number so that people don't sure them for getting sick or dying. If you WANT to eat less than that, then you can go change your settings manually, but I wouldn't suggest that. The only people I have seen manually set them lower are people with under eating disorders (or recovering from).

My suggestion? Before you start a possible unattainable diet full of plateaus and yo-yos and binges, consider reading up about BMR and TDEE and figure out your calorie intake from there. My BMR is 1600 roughly, and I try to NEVER eat less than that. And I usually eat my exercise calories too. And I breastfeed and eat those caloires. I am losing weight. 1200 or less is not necessary.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

Nikocan

Welcome to the forums. This question is asked often. But I'll try to sum it up.

1000 - 1200 calories is the bare minimum a person should eat in order to not die of malnutrition. It's great that you feel you have overcome your over eating, but you should eat at the very least 1200 calories. MFP defaults to this number so that people don't sure them for getting sick or dying. If you WANT to eat less than that, then you can go change your settings manually, but I wouldn't suggest that. The only people I have seen manually set them lower are people with under eating disorders (or recovering from).

My suggestion? Before you start a possible unattainable diet full of plateaus and yo-yos and binges, consider reading up about BMR and TDEE and figure out your calorie intake from there. My BMR is 1600 roughly, and I try to NEVER eat less than that. And I usually eat my exercise calories too. And I breastfeed and eat those caloires. I am losing weight. 1200 or less is not necessary.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

Thanks. That was very helpful. But you know, having just over come the desire to over eat, this thing I should eat more is throwing me off balance. I feel weirdly guilty eating more now...and this coming from a person who can wolf down an entire tub of ice cream is saying something.

Pebble321

Welcome to the forums. This question is asked often. But I'll try to sum it up.

1000 - 1200 calories is the bare minimum a person should eat in order to not die of malnutrition. It's great that you feel you have overcome your over eating, but you should eat at the very least 1200 calories. MFP defaults to this number so that people don't sure them for getting sick or dying. If you WANT to eat less than that, then you can go change your settings manually, but I wouldn't suggest that. The only people I have seen manually set them lower are people with under eating disorders (or recovering from).

My suggestion? Before you start a possible unattainable diet full of plateaus and yo-yos and binges, consider reading up about BMR and TDEE and figure out your calorie intake from there. My BMR is 1600 roughly, and I try to NEVER eat less than that. And I usually eat my exercise calories too. And I breastfeed and eat those caloires. I am losing weight. 1200 or less is not necessary.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

Thanks. That was very helpful. But you know, having just over come the desire to over eat, this thing I should eat more is throwing me off balance. I feel weirdly guilty eating more now...and this coming from a person who can wolf down an entire tub of ice cream is saying something.

You know, it's not about eating MORE, its about finding the right amount to keep your body healthy.
- The amount of calories you were eating previously (including those tubs of icecreams!) was probably well over 3000 a day (just a guess but lets run with that).
- The amount that your body needs to function and stay healthy and maintain your weight is probably somewhere around 2000 (that's just an average, MPF will tell you your actual number - have a look at "maintenance calories on your goal page).
- 1200 is already a big drop from 2000, why stress your body and risk not getting enough good nutrition to keep your healthy?

It takes a bit of experimenting to find the right amount of calories for your body - a good way to do it is to eat the calories MFP has recommended, plus what you burn exercising, for a month. At the end of the month - does your weight loss correlate to what MFP has predicted (assuming you have logged accuarately and have actually eaten around the recommended calorie number)?
If not, then you know you need to change things around a bit.

Shayztar

Thanks. That was very helpful. But you know, having just over come the desire to over eat, this thing I should eat more is throwing me off balance. I feel weirdly guilty eating more now...and this coming from a person who can wolf down an entire tub of ice cream is saying something.

I am just assuming that you are new to your diet too. If that's so, I think your feeling is normal. I felt the same too. For me tho, it was like, I'm not eating, I am successful at my diet. But it blew up in my face because then I would binge because I was so damn hungry! LOL I was eating less than my toddler when I was eating 1200. But I lost a bunch then stopped losing even eating only 1200 cals. I was ruining my metabolism. My body was locking down the fat for winter storage like a caveman. heh. I upped my calories slowly and gained a little bit of water. Took a few weeks, but then started losing weight like nuts. I'm not kidding. Some days I eat 2000 calories and record a loss the next day. It's all metabolism baby!

Just take baby steps until you feel you have better habits. If I've learned anything, it's that the changes made have to be sustainable. Here is a site that suggests you eat for the future weight you want to be. Feel free to plug in your numbers. The amount of calories will astound you.

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/
^ Click on the pie chart link

Add me as a friend if you want. My diary is open, so you can see I'm not lying.

Shayztar

It takes a bit of experimenting to find the right amount of calories for your body - a good way to do it is to eat the calories MFP has recommended, plus what you burn exercising, for a month. At the end of the month - does your weight loss correlate to what MFP has predicted (assuming you have logged accuarately and have actually eaten around the recommended calorie number)?
If not, then you know you need to change things around a bit.

You have made amazing progress! Normally, I implicitly trust the "old-timers" on the site. They have all been very successful. But we have to agree to disagree. MFP is a calculator. Not sure what OP har inputted as weight loss goals in whatever time period, but I have noticed that most average people looking to lose 20 - 60 lbs say they want to lose as much as possible as fast as possible - 2 lbs a week. Then MFP gives 1200 calories. There are exceptions. But I am one of the people who live by not eating less than at least BMR.

BMR calories is what the hospital would feed you if you were in a coma so that you don't waste away to nothing. It is what they would feed you to keep you where you are. 1200 calories is the BMR of a 4 foot 100 lbs woman.

If you find your BMR, then just rolling over in bed is a caloric burn above that. Your activities of daily living is a burn above that. Exercise is a HUGE burn above that. Depending on the size of the burn, you don't want to put yourself below net 1200. It's confusing, right?

There is a group on this site called "Eat More to Weigh Less". They live by the rule to never eat below your net BMR. I'm not that brave, but I appreciate the mathematics.

Nikocan

It takes a bit of experimenting to find the right amount of calories for your body - a good way to do it is to eat the calories MFP has recommended, plus what you burn exercising, for a month. At the end of the month - does your weight loss correlate to what MFP has predicted (assuming you have logged accuarately and have actually eaten around the recommended calorie number)?
If not, then you know you need to change things around a bit.

You have made amazing progress! Normally, I implicitly trust the "old-timers" on the site. They have all been very successful. But we have to agree to disagree. MFP is a calculator. Not sure what OP har inputted as weight loss goals in whatever time period, but I have noticed that most average people looking to lose 20 - 60 lbs say they want to lose as much as possible as fast as possible - 2 lbs a week. Then MFP gives 1200 calories. There are exceptions. But I am one of the people who live by not eating less than at least BMR.

BMR calories is what the hospital would feed you if you were in a coma so that you don't waste away to nothing. It is what they would feed you to keep you where you are. 1200 calories is the BMR of a 4 foot 100 lbs woman.

If you find your BMR, then just rolling over in bed is a caloric burn above that. Your activities of daily living is a burn above that. Exercise is a HUGE burn above that. Depending on the size of the burn, you don't want to put yourself below net 1200. It's confusing, right?

There is a group on this site called "Eat More to Weigh Less". They live by the rule to never eat below your net BMR. I'm not that brave, but I appreciate the mathematics.

No no..it actually makes a lot of sense..I understand..The way I am doing it..though I dont feel hungry, I think I eventually will. Right? So goal for tomorrow is 1200. I will eventually try and eat in accordance to my BMR but this is the first step. Its funny this transition in me..I'm only spurred on cause I am losing a bunch of weight. Crazy loss this week..I hope you understand..

Shayztar

No no..it actually makes a lot of sense..I understand..The way I am doing it..though I dont feel hungry, I think I eventually will. Right? So goal for tomorrow is 1200. I will eventually try and eat in accordance to my BMR but this is the first step. Its funny this transition in me..I'm only spurred on cause I am losing a bunch of weight. Crazy loss this week..I hope you understand..

OMG of course I understand! It's such a big change. Like Rubybelle said, you probably were eating excessive calories. Now you're making a change and you are learning new habits. Nothing wrong with that. Just don't be surprised when eating 1200 doesn't cause weight loss anymore.

itsjustdawn

Welcome to the forums. This question is asked often. But I'll try to sum it up.

1000 - 1200 calories is the bare minimum a person should eat in order to not die of malnutrition. It's great that you feel you have overcome your over eating, but you should eat at the very least 1200 calories. MFP defaults to this number so that people don't sure them for getting sick or dying. If you WANT to eat less than that, then you can go change your settings manually, but I wouldn't suggest that. The only people I have seen manually set them lower are people with under eating disorders (or recovering from).

My suggestion? Before you start a possible unattainable diet full of plateaus and yo-yos and binges, consider reading up about BMR and TDEE and figure out your calorie intake from there. My BMR is 1600 roughly, and I try to NEVER eat less than that. And I usually eat my exercise calories too. And I breastfeed and eat those caloires. I am losing weight. 1200 or less is not necessary.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

LOVE LOVE LOVE your reply!!

Pebble321

It takes a bit of experimenting to find the right amount of calories for your body - a good way to do it is to eat the calories MFP has recommended, plus what you burn exercising, for a month. At the end of the month - does your weight loss correlate to what MFP has predicted (assuming you have logged accuarately and have actually eaten around the recommended calorie number)?
If not, then you know you need to change things around a bit.

You have made amazing progress! Normally, I implicitly trust the "old-timers" on the site. They have all been very successful. But we have to agree to disagree. MFP is a calculator. Not sure what OP har inputted as weight loss goals in whatever time period, but I have noticed that most average people looking to lose 20 - 60 lbs say they want to lose as much as possible as fast as possible - 2 lbs a week. Then MFP gives 1200 calories. There are exceptions. But I am one of the people who live by not eating less than at least BMR.

BMR calories is what the hospital would feed you if you were in a coma so that you don't waste away to nothing. It is what they would feed you to keep you where you are. 1200 calories is the BMR of a 4 foot 100 lbs woman.

If you find your BMR, then just rolling over in bed is a caloric burn above that. Your activities of daily living is a burn above that. Exercise is a HUGE burn above that. Depending on the size of the burn, you don't want to put yourself below net 1200. It's confusing, right?

There is a group on this site called "Eat More to Weigh Less". They live by the rule to never eat below your net BMR. I'm not that brave, but I appreciate the mathematics.

Yes, you're quite right that 1200 is proably too low for the OP - but in view of the fact that she is struggling to eat 1200 I didn't want to scare her away by suggesting that she change her weight loss goal to "lose 1/2 pound a week" and eat those cals plus exercise. At least if she consistently eats 1200 plus exercise she'll be better off than she is at the moment.
And thanks for the compliments, I've just ticked over 500 days logging on, so I'm happy to be classified as an old-timer

OP - great. Eat a bit more and you'll probably find that your body adapts and even demands more! And that's OK!

danibabs

It takes a bit of experimenting to find the right amount of calories for your body - a good way to do it is to eat the calories MFP has recommended, plus what you burn exercising, for a month. At the end of the month - does your weight loss correlate to what MFP has predicted (assuming you have logged accuarately and have actually eaten around the recommended calorie number)?
If not, then you know you need to change things around a bit.

You have made amazing progress! Normally, I implicitly trust the "old-timers" on the site. They have all been very successful. But we have to agree to disagree. MFP is a calculator. Not sure what OP har inputted as weight loss goals in whatever time period, but I have noticed that most average people looking to lose 20 - 60 lbs say they want to lose as much as possible as fast as possible - 2 lbs a week. Then MFP gives 1200 calories. There are exceptions. But I am one of the people who live by not eating less than at least BMR.

BMR calories is what the hospital would feed you if you were in a coma so that you don't waste away to nothing. It is what they would feed you to keep you where you are. 1200 calories is the BMR of a 4 foot 100 lbs woman.

If you find your BMR, then just rolling over in bed is a caloric burn above that. Your activities of daily living is a burn above that. Exercise is a HUGE burn above that. Depending on the size of the burn, you don't want to put yourself below net 1200. It's confusing, right?

There is a group on this site called "Eat More to Weigh Less". They live by the rule to never eat below your net BMR. I'm not that brave, but I appreciate the mathematics.

No no..it actually makes a lot of sense..I understand..The way I am doing it..though I dont feel hungry, I think I eventually will. Right? So goal for tomorrow is 1200. I will eventually try and eat in accordance to my BMR but this is the first step. Its funny this transition in me..I'm only spurred on cause I am losing a bunch of weight. Crazy loss this week..I hope you understand..

Right now the way you are cutting calories is a complete shock to your system - that's why you're seeing a big loss. Depending on how much you were overeating before, you'd probably see a big loss if you were eating at 1200-1500 too.

Eating all your calories is important for sustainable, consistent losses. If you severely under eat for too long - well, essentially you start to starve your body because you simply are not giving it enough to function. In my experience, I only feel hungry on rare occasions, when I'm out doing something and haven't eaten in a long while. But I eat anyways, cause I have to feed my body, and I eat healthy food. And I'm losing weight and holding onto my muscle mass.
It is kind of a confusing thing to wrap your head around and really requires a leap of faith but the longer you're on here the more you'll learn and play around with your approach. I know I've changed up my exercise routine and eating patterns a bunch of times as I learn more and get better at taking care of myself.
Feel free to friend me or shoot over any questions and I'll do my best to help

barbsuz

You want to keep your metabolism revved up - and remember that nutrition is so important! Eating less than 1200 calories is not healthy or sustainable and you should be eating additional calories based on your exercise. My fitness pal calculates that for you. Honestly, just trust and follow the plan. You NEED those 1200 calories - minimum. Good luck!

ekglas

Something else to think about:

If you restrict your calories too quickly, your body rebels and will readjust its BMR to a lower setting. It does this because it thinks you are starving and will need to conserve energy to survive in the long run. You will also feel tired and won't have as much energy to exercise.Thus, you are more likely to plateau. So not only will you be giving up lots of yummy food and important nutrients, you will also be tired and won't even be losing more weight than if you'd just followed the lovely ladies' advice above.

I recommend finding that sweet spot they recommended above and then when you feel yourself plateauing reducing your calorie intake a little. That way your body isn't thrown into starvation mode and you can lose weight.

lastly, studies have shown that people who lose weight more quickly are actually less likely to maintain that weight. Partly because of what I previously stated, but also because crash diets are harder to maintain in the long run that step by step lifestyle changes.

Hope this helps! Keep up the good work!
-Emily

Nikocan

It takes a bit of experimenting to find the right amount of calories for your body - a good way to do it is to eat the calories MFP has recommended, plus what you burn exercising, for a month. At the end of the month - does your weight loss correlate to what MFP has predicted (assuming you have logged accuarately and have actually eaten around the recommended calorie number)?
If not, then you know you need to change things around a bit.

You have made amazing progress! Normally, I implicitly trust the "old-timers" on the site. They have all been very successful. But we have to agree to disagree. MFP is a calculator. Not sure what OP har inputted as weight loss goals in whatever time period, but I have noticed that most average people looking to lose 20 - 60 lbs say they want to lose as much as possible as fast as possible - 2 lbs a week. Then MFP gives 1200 calories. There are exceptions. But I am one of the people who live by not eating less than at least BMR.

BMR calories is what the hospital would feed you if you were in a coma so that you don't waste away to nothing. It is what they would feed you to keep you where you are. 1200 calories is the BMR of a 4 foot 100 lbs woman.

If you find your BMR, then just rolling over in bed is a caloric burn above that. Your activities of daily living is a burn above that. Exercise is a HUGE burn above that. Depending on the size of the burn, you don't want to put yourself below net 1200. It's confusing, right?

There is a group on this site called "Eat More to Weigh Less". They live by the rule to never eat below your net BMR. I'm not that brave, but I appreciate the mathematics.

Yes, you're quite right that 1200 is proably too low for the OP - but in view of the fact that she is struggling to eat 1200 I didn't want to scare her away by suggesting that she change her weight loss goal to "lose 1/2 pound a week" and eat those cals plus exercise. At least if she consistently eats 1200 plus exercise she'll be better off than she is at the moment.
And thanks for the compliments, I've just ticked over 500 days logging on, so I'm happy to be classified as an old-timer

OP - great. Eat a bit more and you'll probably find that your body adapts and even demands more! And that's OK!

Thank you so much for explaning it all to me.. It makes perfect sense and I'll try and up my calories. I really will. Thanks again..:)

Nikocan

Thanks everyone for all your guidance and explanations. I've got it now and I will work on it. This is why I love this site, everyone is so ready to help. Wish I had gotten here sooner..Thanks all..:)

bathsheba_c

Welcome to the forums. This question is asked often. But I'll try to sum it up.

1000 - 1200 calories is the bare minimum a person should eat in order to not die of malnutrition. It's great that you feel you have overcome your over eating, but you should eat at the very least 1200 calories. MFP defaults to this number so that people don't sure them for getting sick or dying. If you WANT to eat less than that, then you can go change your settings manually, but I wouldn't suggest that. The only people I have seen manually set them lower are people with under eating disorders (or recovering from).

My suggestion? Before you start a possible unattainable diet full of plateaus and yo-yos and binges, consider reading up about BMR and TDEE and figure out your calorie intake from there. My BMR is 1600 roughly, and I try to NEVER eat less than that. And I usually eat my exercise calories too. And I breastfeed and eat those caloires. I am losing weight. 1200 or less is not necessary.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

This is just about everything you need to know.

By the way, while your body does use stored up fat for energy, there are tons of nutrients that can't be stored in the body and need to be constantly replenished. If you are eating fewer than 1200 calories, you are running the risk of not getting enough of these nutrients and damaging your health. For example, your body can't store Vitamin C, so either you get enough from diet or you get scurvy and your teeth fall out.

MinMin97

Sure Nikko,

It takes a little time to absorb all the concepts on mfp, so don't feel badly for that. You are doing a good job, and will refine what you do many times until you get results!

It's great you have learned to think before you just start eating. You want to eat in such a way you will be successful in losing the extra fat on your body. That is what you do when you eat enough calories to fuel your body, its muscles and other functions like the exercises you do to strengthen muscles and cardiovascular system. You need to eat enough calories to support those functions, or else you will work against your own efforts. This is repetitive, but I say it again, Fuel your basic body functions, plus, Fuel the exercises you do to build muscle and cardiovascular system. You need to eat enough to do that much!

Don't eat below your bmr for days on end! It happens sometimes, but don't keep doing that. Strength train your muscles, and fuel them with plenty of protein (like 1g/lb lean body mass) at least. Get some cardio in. Find your calorie goal. Eat nutritious, sensible meals, plenty of water, and avoid going over your calorie limit.

pkfrankel

A lot of members have told you why you need to eat 1200 calories so I suspect you got your answer. But here's a tip that may help you stay on track. It's not always how much you eat but what you eat. Complex carbs, such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains can take more than an hour for your body to digest leaving you full longer. Keep that in mind when snacking.

DeeVanderbles

Niko, I struggle to reach my 1200 calories, too. I haven't been at this too terribly long but I found an easy/quick way to increase your calorie intake is to make yourself a protein smoothie. I had this one for breakfast after my workout, I put all the ingredients into the recipe calculator on here and it is supposedly like 400 calories. It makes 1 serving. I think it makes about 10oz.

1 scoop chocolate whey protein (you could probably use 1 scoop of vanilla and a tsp of cocoa powder)
1 cup low-fat plain or vanilla yogurt
1/4 tsp banana extract (could probably use 1/2 a banana)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup blueberries
ice.

Blend.
For mine, instead of using ice, I use frozen fruit. It's delicious and helps me keep my calories up.

ETA - even with this smoothie I'm only estimating to take in about 1500 calories today with my meals and snacks planned out. Better than 1000!