Do I really need to eat 1200 calories a day?

dfeuser

After reading these post, I am going to use the 2.0 Roadmap and see what I need to adjust. Thanks for all the help. I was a little disappointed this morning with my weight loss but now I am excited again. I appreciate it! Have a great day!

now_or_never12

Try to eat more than 1,200. When you don't eat enough to properly fuel your body sure you will lose weight but you will lose much more muscle than fat. The less muscle you have the less your body burns.

musiche

Hi!

I lost 80+ pounds eating just like you do. Here's the good and the bad:

I started out eating about 1500 and exercising 4-5 days per week for an hour plus. Pounds started dropping, I got excited and started eating less to speed things up. I was eventually eating around 1000-1200 calories per day, like you. I felt fine, despite being hungry sometimes, but I never felt weak or like I was going to pass out. I was dropping around 6 pounds per week. I lost weight fast.

I plateaued at 183. My BMI is between 140 and 165. I have never been able to get below 183, no matter what I do, for the last 3 years.

Here's the bad: I totally screwed up my metabolism. When I'm supposed to be eating 2940 calories to maintain (I get a LOT of exercise these days - physical job and working out 6 days per week), I can eat 1000 calories less than that consistently and not lost a single pound. My body refuses to lose anymore weight, it just shuts down my metabolism, I get cranky, irritable, lose energy. It sucks. I never used to feel like that, I used to just be able to lose weight and it was relatively easy. That is no longer the case, and that sucks big time.

Big calorie deficits work, BUT they only work SHORT TERM. Sustaining a huge calorie deficit long term will cause damage to your body because it adapts to the lifestyle and compensates. We DO NOT WANT THIS.

After trying for a year to drop another 20+ pounds, and decreasing my calories more and more in hopes that I would succeed, I gave up when I got a BodyMedia Fit armband that tells me my actual caloric burn each day, 95% accurately. It told me I was burning over 3000 calories per day (I had no idea it was that high!) and I was eating between 1400 and 1600 calories per day and NOT LOSING A SINGLE POUND, or a quarter of a pound - nothing. For months and months, years even. It was then that I realized I had really screwed myself up. I lost a ton of weight, and kept eating with the same deficit, and that became normal for my body and it adapted 100%. That's never what I wanted. I should have increased my calories at some point and tried to maintain, because that's all I've done for the last 3 years anyway, is maintain that weight, the whole time never eating enough, or eating like a normal person who maintains their weight.

So, I have spent the last month or two increasing my calories. I currently eat around 2800 calories per day and I haven't gained any weight, lol. Doesn't that just sound ridiculous?!?! I have DOUBLED my caloric intake, I STILL run a deficit, and I haven't gained or lost any weight. I wasn't sure if this was my answer, but I decided to give it a try. The numbers makes sense. I gotta say, I feel a lot better than I used to!!! A LOT! I had just accepted that feeling wiped and cranky after workouts was normal, and that running out of steam in the afternoon was normal. I thought I had maxed out my weights at the gym cuz I couldn't lift anymore. I never got hunger pangs anymore, my blood sugar would just bottom out and I'd feel like I weighed a thousand pounds, I just thought I had a high metabolism and needed to eat more often, not necessarily more. That was totally wrong, my metabolism was super slow, not fast... All of that was wrong, wrong, wrong. I don't feel any of those lows anymore thankfully. I don't get super cranky after workouts, I never run out of energy (I feel like a kid again!), I have increased my weights at the gym twice in the last 2 months!! (I am seeing PROGRESS again, and I am so happy!). The scale hasn't gone down, nor up, but seeing all these NSV's is getting my motivation, enthusiasm and excitement all flared up again.

PS - they say the danger of less than 1200 calories is really nutrient deficiency, so make sure you are taking a multi-vitamin. I highly suggest exercising more so you can eat more (for nutrient's sake), and maintain whatever deficit it is that you want that way.

I also suggest 'zigzagging' you calories, meaning don't eat 1200 EVERY single day or your body WILL adapt. ADAPTATION is our enemy. Avoid patterns that become predictable to your body!!! If your body adapts to a life of starvation, your fat loss will slow and eventually stop. Try zigzagging your calories like this for example> Eat 1200 today. Tomorrow, eat 1800. The next day eat 1400. The next day, 1200, the next day 1200, the next day 2000. If your body is give a couple of days per week to know that there IS food and we're not going to starve to death, you will be able to maintain a lesser deficit for a much longer time and fend off the dreaded plateau - and it WILL COME, we all get there, and that's when the REAL work begins. Do yourself a favour, and don't get too eager.

Slow and steady wins the race!

78Octane

Dang people, get you panties out of a bunch. I'll post whatever the hell I want. If you have a problem, don't respond back.

musiche

There must be at least 10 of these posts per day. Try using the search feature and you will get all of your questions answered. Not trying to be rude, but it gets old repeating the same thing everyday pertaining to the whole 1200 calories per day scenario.

Lol, then don't repeat yourself. Let someone else share. :P

We can all post "whatever the hell we want", just like you, so unbunch YOUR panties, Mr. Octane.... ;P