is 1200 enough?

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  • GailEMac
    GailEMac Posts: 90 Member
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    I started off eating 1200 calories (and working out) and successfully lost 17lbs. My scale stopped moving so I increased to 1350 and a few days later I'd dropped a pound! It works! You dont need to starve yourself to lose weight.

    ^^^ What she said :-)
  • Orient_Charm
    Orient_Charm Posts: 385 Member
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    I lived on 1200 calories for 4 months, and mostly I didn't eat back my bunred calories. and I don't have any problem.

    I lost 16 Kg withien that time...
  • imchicbad
    imchicbad Posts: 1,650 Member
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    when you excersize you will gain muscle. the inches will come off but the scale wont movie AT FIRST. Then the inches and fat fall along with the scale. dont get caught up in the numbers. Your clothes will tell you the truth.im at 1500- work out 3 -4 times a week for an hour. Im not starving, and im not worried if i miss a day. and the inches fell of, besides weight fluctuates 3-5 pounds on a daily basis. i was a 7/8 and now in a 3, lost a total of 7 inches 3 in the waist and 4 in the hips, and the scale didnt move for 2 months but my clothin size kept droping- " do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth" :huh:
  • Neahpata
    Neahpata Posts: 322 Member
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    water retention

    Personally, I would eat a little more than 1200, just to fuel your workouts and prevent the loss of lean mass.

    Also find it silly that she is gaining weight because she's not "eating enough". It's water retention, not fat (and DEFINITELY not muscle). I doubt that she reduced her metabolism so much that her TDEE is below 1200.

    Yes, you are retaining water because your muscles are trying to heal themselves. Just keep with the program and you will start seeing results. Anytime you start or change your fitness program that will happen to a certain extent. You are definitely gaining muscle or fat. Barring a disorder you need to eat 3500 calories OVER your TDEE to gain fat. And a women would not gain that much muscle in a week, we just don't have what it takes to do that. Men couldn't even pack on the muscles like that.
  • moonfire628
    moonfire628 Posts: 56
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    In my humble opinion MFP settings aren't sacred. You're a young mom? You workout? In my opinion no. It's not enough. I'd suggest calculating your TDEE and BMR and then eating somewhere in between there. Futz with the exact numbers til you start losing.

    Don't forget the water.

    THIS!

    A MFP pal had me look at this website

    http://calorieline.com/tools/tdee

    Wow, thanks so much for posting this website! I entered my stats, and according to Calorie Line, I need to be eating almost 2000 calories a day, after adding in my exercise. Holy... I was struggling enough getting to 1200, I have no idea how I'm going to get 2000. :'(
  • half_moon
    half_moon Posts: 807 Member
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    Water retention. Don't worry about it. 1200 calories has worked out just fine for me thus far. Eating 2000 calories a day will NOT help me lose weight. Maybe some people have a high metabolism, which is fine, but that just sounds like an excuse to have less self control. Also, make sure you aren't weighing yourself after eating or in late afternoons. Morning is the best!
  • jynxxxed
    jynxxxed Posts: 1,010 Member
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    I know this isn't really related to your specific question, but MANY people who I have known that do the 30 day shred lose inches way quicker than they're losing pounds. If you haven't already, measure yourself and keep track like that as well. :)
  • alikonner
    alikonner Posts: 67
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    So I decided to up my calories to 1300 and start eating back some of my excursive calories... based on some things I've read and what some people are saying.. I know it's not a significant change, but I'm hoping that will help. I know people have not always lost weight on the 30 day shred.. and that might be somewhat of the problem.. but I'm going to see how this works now.

    Thanks for all the input! It really helped!
  • jensan37
    jensan37 Posts: 151 Member
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    I was in the same boat as you... didn't lose any weight doing 30 DS for about 3 weeks and eating around 1200-1300 calories. Since then I've upped my calories to 1400-1500 and gone back to favorite cardio workouts- walking or step aerobics 5-6 times a week- and I've been losing about a pound a week. Good luck!
  • raerae514
    raerae514 Posts: 171 Member
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    I have been eating around 1200 calories a day (according to MFP guidelines) and doing the 30 day shred for about a week and have actually gained a 1.5lbs! Am I doing something wrong? I have been reading about people upping their calorie intake but I'm not sure I know what's right and what to do!


    1. GET YOUR 8 CUPS OF WATER - Your muscles are constantly repairing themselves now that you're doing 30 Day Shred. If you don't get enough water, you will RETAIN water and it makes your weight go up. Also staying hydrated keeps away muscle soreness.

    2. MUSCLE WEIGHS MORE THAN FAT - If you've been doing it for a while, maybe you've gained 1.5 lbs of muscle already, maybe you're really good at it, who knows!

    3. EAT YOUR CALORIES - But don't go by what MFP is telling you. SO many people complain that the calories are off for them. I got a heart rate monitor and I learned that I was burning over 100 calories more during 30 DS than what MFP was telling me. And if you're netting only about 1000 calories a day, that is not enough, you need to eat more than that if you want your mussels to grow and your fat to go!

    This is from my own experience actually and it's my best advice. But form what you're saying I'm willing to be that extra 1.5 lbs is water weight. Drink more water and it'll be gone within a day or 2, I promise :)
  • alikonner
    alikonner Posts: 67
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    I have been eating around 1200 calories a day (according to MFP guidelines) and doing the 30 day shred for about a week and have actually gained a 1.5lbs! Am I doing something wrong? I have been reading about people upping their calorie intake but I'm not sure I know what's right and what to do!


    1. GET YOUR 8 CUPS OF WATER - Your muscles are constantly repairing themselves now that you're doing 30 Day Shred. If you don't get enough water, you will RETAIN water and it makes your weight go up. Also staying hydrated keeps away muscle soreness.

    2. MUSCLE WEIGHS MORE THAN FAT - If you've been doing it for a while, maybe you've gained 1.5 lbs of muscle already, maybe you're really good at it, who knows!

    3. EAT YOUR CALORIES - But don't go by what MFP is telling you. SO many people complain that the calories are off for them. I got a heart rate monitor and I learned that I was burning over 100 calories more during 30 DS than what MFP was telling me. And if you're netting only about 1000 calories a day, that is not enough, you need to eat more than that if you want your mussels to grow and your fat to go!

    This is from my own experience actually and it's my best advice. But form what you're saying I'm willing to be that extra 1.5 lbs is water weight. Drink more water and it'll be gone within a day or 2, I promise :)

    Thank you! I am going to look into a heart rate monitor to get for myself. Also, the water thing makes sense, I haven't been drinking as much water as I should be... I will definitely be doing more of that.

    Thanks!
  • glennam1
    glennam1 Posts: 172 Member
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    when I did the 30 day shred back in Jan (there was a group of us) .... quite a few women actually gained that first couple of weeks....so don`t worry about the slight gain (I myself lost 3 lbs , but 11 inches or something like that in the month) as for the calories it really depends on you....... if you`re starving up them if not then don`t , BUT make sure you are netting at least 1200.......I finally upped mine from 1200 to 1410
  • girl6_nyc
    girl6_nyc Posts: 37
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    In my humble opinion MFP settings aren't sacred. You're a young mom? You workout? In my opinion no. It's not enough. I'd suggest calculating your TDEE and BMR and then eating somewhere in between there. Futz with the exact numbers til you start losing.

    Don't forget the water.

    THIS!

    A MFP pal had me look at this website

    http://calorieline.com/tools/tdee

    OMG thank you for this site! It very clearly explains a lot that I was a bit confused about!
  • Orient_Charm
    Orient_Charm Posts: 385 Member
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    In my humble opinion MFP settings aren't sacred. You're a young mom? You workout? In my opinion no. It's not enough. I'd suggest calculating your TDEE and BMR and then eating somewhere in between there. Futz with the exact numbers til you start losing.

    Don't forget the water.

    THIS!

    A MFP pal had me look at this website

    http://calorieline.com/tools/tdee

    Thanks you for this site....

    The difference between MFP and this site is ( 119 ) cals....The new site gave me 1939 while MFP 1820.
    Still MFP have the advantage of giving the calculations without any workout, and when I do some workout it will be calories credit for me....
    I mean for me it’s useless to tell me ( If you do 3 workouts per week so your calories level is 2200 ) and what if I did only 2, and what if I did 5 ???? I have to go to more estimations and reduce or increase my calories……
  • suziecue66
    suziecue66 Posts: 1,312 Member
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    In my humble opinion MFP settings aren't sacred. You're a young mom? You workout? In my opinion no. It's not enough. I'd suggest calculating your TDEE and BMR and then eating somewhere in between there. Futz with the exact numbers til you start losing.

    Don't forget the water.

    THIS!

    A MFP pal had me look at this website

    http://calorieline.com/tools/tdee

    That site looks good. I liked the explanations. Also you can log your goal calories and goal exercise for the week. Let's you know if you made goal. If you ate a little more you could then exercise a little more to make it up etc.
  • suziecue66
    suziecue66 Posts: 1,312 Member
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    In my humble opinion MFP settings aren't sacred. You're a young mom? You workout? In my opinion no. It's not enough. I'd suggest calculating your TDEE and BMR and then eating somewhere in between there. Futz with the exact numbers til you start losing.

    Don't forget the water.

    THIS!

    A MFP pal had me look at this website

    http://calorieline.com/tools/tdee

    Thanks you for this site....

    The difference between MFP and this site is ( 119 ) cals....The new site gave me 1939 while MFP 1820.
    Still MFP have the advantage of giving the calculations without any workout, and when I do some workout it will be calories credit for me....
    I mean for me it’s useless to tell me ( If you do 3 workouts per week so your calories level is 2200 ) and what if I did only 2, and what if I did 5 ???? I have to go to more estimations and reduce or increase my calories……

    You enter your goal calories and goal exercise and it tells you if reached goal. I think if say you missed an exercise session of say 300 cals you make up for it by eating 300 less calories or doing an extra exercise session next week or so. I think it has a free trial for month.
  • suziecue66
    suziecue66 Posts: 1,312 Member
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    I'm really liking calorieline.com

    It worked out that at my current weight of 165 if I stayed in bed all day my REE would be 1350 calories - I would maintain my current weight eating this calorie amount.
    If I was 165, sedentary, no exercise, burned some calories just being out of bed, I would have to eat 1620 to maintain my weight.

    For my goal weight of 120 if I stayed in bed all day my REE would be 1146 calories - I would maintain my current weight.
    If I was 120, sedentary, no exercise, burned some calories just being out of bed, I would have to eat 1350 to maintain my weight.

    So once I get to goal of 120 unless I include some exercise I would only be able to eat 1350 to maintain my weight. If I included daily exercise with a calorie burn of say 300 I would be able to eat 1350 + 300 = 1650 calories daily and maintain my weight of 120.
  • Helloitsdan
    Helloitsdan Posts: 5,565 Member
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    I'm really liking calorieline.com

    It worked out that at my current weight of 165 if I stayed in bed all day my REE would be 1350 calories - I would maintain my current weight eating this calorie amount.
    If I was 165, sedentary, no exercise, burned some calories just being out of bed, I would have to eat 1620 to maintain my weight.

    For my goal weight of 120 if I stayed in bed all day my REE would be 1146 calories - I would maintain my current weight.
    If I was 120, sedentary, no exercise, burned some calories just being out of bed, I would have to eat 1350 to maintain my weight.

    So once I get to goal of 120 unless I include some exercise I would only be able to eat 1350 to maintain my weight. If I included daily exercise with a calorie burn of say 300 I would be able to eat 1350 + 300 = 1650 calories daily and maintain my weight of 120.


    How tall are you and how often do you work out?
  • suziecue66
    suziecue66 Posts: 1,312 Member
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    It has calculations, the more you exercise the higher your caloric amount.
  • suziecue66
    suziecue66 Posts: 1,312 Member
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    A dietician just put my mum on 1200 calorie diet, she is 4' 11" and 187 pounds.

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