1200 calories a day... I'm confused

rosemaryhon

I am okay with how fast I am losing. I mean, faster would be nicer but realistically, if you lose slow and consistently, it is more likely to stay off....

I hope this ^^ is true . I'm okay with losing slowly too. It's taken me 5 months to lose 25 lbs (about 1 lb a week give or take). But I haven't lost an ounce in near 3 weeks! At least I haven't gained neither I'm plugging along patiently, trusting it's just a temporary lull, and have my fingers crossed this slow weight loss will aide me keeping it off.

adammcphee1

People you are eating to few calories this is the problem and why ur struggling to lose weight. If u dont give ur body enough calories then ur metabolism slows right down and ur body starts to store as much as it can it also starts to break down lean muscle both of these things not good! Easy fix increase ur calorie intake. I can heard the collective gassp as I just blown ur minds but its true. Now I have jst filled in the form there and its telling me I should eat 2290 calories in a day but I know that I should be eating at least 3000 in a day this way my body is properly fuelled for going to the gym and exercising and is ready to cut fat and build lean muscle also ur metabolism will not slow ur body will lose fat quicker and when u start building lean muscle this also speeds up ur metabolism now im not talking about turning u into a body builder jst toning up and now if I was to eat 3000 calories worth of mars bars n cakes then yes it would get messy but a health balanced diet and ur good to go also make sure you drink at least 1 1/2 ltrs of water a day this will boost ur metabolism considerably. Also leave the scales alone what you should be concentrating on is changing you body shape this is done with exercise and healthy eating if you starve you body yes u may loss abit at the start but it will quickly slow and as soon as you stop starving your body boom back on comes the weight my way this does not happen you need to be more sensible about it and think more long term people

missamy0321

Ok I am 5'6" and 175 lbs. I gained 40 lbs in just over five months. I went to see a weight loss physician and she has me on 1000 calorie diet and adipex, lasics, and potassium. Every where I have read says 1000 calories is to low. I want to lose but I want to lose the right way so I can keep it off. I am affraid if I'm mot eating enough my body will store the fat and I won't lose at all. But why wouldnt I trust a dr ? Advice?? I don't seem to even have the energy to excercise ....I get light headed and nauseous But I thought that was because of my change of diet.

TeaBea

Ok I am 5'6" and 175 lbs. I gained 40 lbs in just over five months. I went to see a weight loss physician and she has me on 1000 calorie diet and adipex, lasics, and potassium. Every where I have read says 1000 calories is to low. I want to lose but I want to lose the right way so I can keep it off. I am affraid if I'm mot eating enough my body will store the fat and I won't lose at all. But why wouldnt I trust a dr ? Advice?? I don't seem to even have the energy to excercise ....I get light headed and nauseous But I thought that was because of my change of diet.

Find your BMR - basal metabolic rate.....calories your body would use if you stayed in bed all day

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

If 1000 is much lower than this.....you are likely losing fat+muscle. It's not that your body is storing fat, when you don't get enough nourishment your body has to "take" what it needs from existing muscle tissue....nourishment is more than vitamins....protein & fats are important.

I would increase your calories to at least your BMR .....you might feel like working out. Light headed and nauseous....something's not right.

eddiesmith1

I am confused also. I to am on a 1,200 cal diet. I see everyone else talking about 1,800, 2,200 cals etc. and I wonder why mine is so low. I am not hungry at all, but I am not losing weight very fast. Looking for some help.

it's a variety of factors. First is how sedentary are you. If work is desk bound and you don't get much exercise then you will have a lower number . also the goal (ie 2 pounds a week which works when you are obese ore at the higher end of overweight) will subtract 1000 calories a day from your TDEE
I set mine at 1220 based on a desk job that is p[retty much sedentary. My TDEE using several calculators was about 2220 and I was obese at the start (no longer) and I'd like to lose 2 pounds a week at least until the last 10-15 pounds of the goal and I will reassess then. I don't eat only 1220 though I eat what I burn through exercise so most days I eat 15-1600 calories in reality
the problem with looking at 1200 and saying it's a magic number is you may not need to lose much and that big a deficit will cause more muscle loss than fat loss a bad thing. weight loss is a long term race not a sprint and the long term winners all seem to be the people who adopted Slow and steady versus aggressive eventually.

vtgal106

I am not sure if this is the place to ask this, but I thought I would try. I am at the 1200 calorie mark myself and when I track I can stay with my calorie goal with exercise added in.

My concern is this: I am always over on my sugars and protein, but don't even come close to carb goal, as I really don't eat carbs often.

Is this a problem? I don't eat added sugar so I am feeling frustrated. For example, If I have balsamic vinegar on my salad, a apple, and then peanut butter, milk, or yogurt during a day then I am automatically over on sugar. If I have 2 eggs in the AM, 4 oz of chicken at lunch, and 4-5 oz talapia at dinner, I am over on protein. Help me to understand. Should I be concerned about this? That seems unreasonable. The volume is not out of control.

mamasun44

I have not been able to lose weight on my own , until now .. On most days I cant get 1200 calories in . This is not so much about the number 1200 , but what you eat to get to 1200 calories .. I am finally getting it that by making better choices about what I put in my body really isn't a diet. It is how you choose to treat my body and health . It doesn't mean I wont eat the goodies once in awhile .

TeaBea

I have not been able to lose weight on my own , until now .. On most days I cant get 1200 calories in . This is not so much about the number 1200 , but what you eat to get to 1200 calories .. I am finally getting it that by making better choices about what I put in my body really isn't a diet. It is how you choose to treat my body and health . It doesn't mean I wont eat the goodies once in awhile .

Less than 1200 calories is not a good way to "treat your body"......it's like saying "the number on the scale is more important than body composition"

Healthy weight loss spares existing muscle mass....this means you lose fat (mostly) and reduce your body fat %. Eating too few calories is like using muscles for fuel.

I took a look at your diary....2 words.........low fat. Dietary fat does not make a person fat. It's easy to get 1200 healthy calories............nuts, nut butters, avocado, olive oil. Also protein....think of your goal as a minimum.

dinkthepink

I seem to have lost 4 pounds in 1 week eating 1200 a day... is this normal? I'm only trying to lose a final 15lbs and i'm considered a healthy weight already. (i'm only lightly active and I eat all the calories earned by exercise)

Tanya949

I weigh 223 lbs, 5'4" and I eat 2185 calories per day, losing 1-1.5 lbs per week. You need to EAT to lose weight. Eat too little and you will lose at first, but then your body will say you are starving yourself and start holding all the calories... thus stalling. Find out your BMR ( cals burned if you slept for 24 hrs), TDEE (total calories burned in a day with all activity) and eat between them. Very few people have a BMR of 1200 or below. Never NET below your BMR, or you are not eating enough to just exist.

Use this... http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

R3dVamp

People you are eating to few calories this is the problem and why ur struggling to lose weight. If u dont give ur body enough calories then ur metabolism slows right down and ur body starts to store as much as it can it also starts to break down lean muscle both of these things not good! Easy fix increase ur calorie intake. I can heard the collective gassp as I just blown ur minds but its true. Now I have jst filled in the form there and its telling me I should eat 2290 calories in a day but I know that I should be eating at least 3000 in a day this way my body is properly fuelled for going to the gym and exercising and is ready to cut fat and build lean muscle also ur metabolism will not slow ur body will lose fat quicker and when u start building lean muscle this also speeds up ur metabolism now im not talking about turning u into a body builder jst toning up and now if I was to eat 3000 calories worth of mars bars n cakes then yes it would get messy but a health balanced diet and ur good to go also make sure you drink at least 1 1/2 ltrs of water a day this will boost ur metabolism considerably. Also leave the scales alone what you should be concentrating on is changing you body shape this is done with exercise and healthy eating if you starve you body yes u may loss abit at the start but it will quickly slow and as soon as you stop starving your body boom back on comes the weight my way this does not happen you need to be more sensible about it and think more long term people

Thank you, I have recently discovered this also, and am working my way back to eating my correct maintenance level. I do expect to gain some weight back, until this is resolved, but once my metabolism catches back up and is working properly again at least i will have something to cut from.

tmaryam

Ok I am 5'6" and 175 lbs. I gained 40 lbs in just over five months. I went to see a weight loss physician and she has me on 1000 calorie diet and adipex, lasics, and potassium. Every where I have read says 1000 calories is to low. I want to lose but I want to lose the right way so I can keep it off. I am affraid if I'm mot eating enough my body will store the fat and I won't lose at all. But why wouldnt I trust a dr ? Advice?? I don't seem to even have the energy to excercise ....I get light headed and nauseous But I thought that was because of my change of diet.

Please follow your doctor's advice, not MFP. If you're uncomfortable with that doctor's plan, get a second opinion from another doctor and a nutritionist. There's a reason he/she put you on those meds and that diet, reasons we do not know without seeing your lab results and medical records. I don't want to hijack the thread, sorry. Hang in there!

tryclyn

I weigh 223 lbs, 5'4" and I eat 2185 calories per day, losing 1-1.5 lbs per week. You need to EAT to lose weight. Eat too little and you will lose at first, but then your body will say you are starving yourself and start holding all the calories... thus stalling. Find out your BMR ( cals burned if you slept for 24 hrs), TDEE (total calories burned in a day with all activity) and eat between them. Very few people have a BMR of 1200 or below. Never NET below your BMR, or you are not eating enough to just exist.

Use this... http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

complete nonsense

If she is losing at stated kcal number then that is not nonsense.
Eating between BMR and TDEE is more accurate when calculated by actual personal data to be sure, but not nonsense.
Starvation...not exactly what is happening, but I wouldn't call it nonsense. Exaggeration maybe, but not nonsense.
So...

For the OP I would suggest some reading

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1187899-in-place-of-a-roadmap-short-n-sweet-reposted
http://nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/521728-upping-cals-what-to-expect-why-you-need-patience

lemonsnowdrop

What you eat vs how much you eat makes little difference. 1200 calories of junk is processed essentially the same as 1200 calories of healthy food. You're just missing out on important nutrients, but it won't stunt weight loss as much as people here are saying. 3000 calories of healthy food will make you gain weight! For example, I ate 190 calories in chocolate the other night, or something, but I won't lose weight slower than someone who ate a 190 calorie salad.

Also, the whole "if you don't eat enough, you won't lose weight" thing is simply untrue. You will never not lose weight from eating too little. I'm not encouraging VLCD, because it's unhealthy as unsustainable, but my feeling is that the people struggling here are either overestimating calorie burns or underestimating how much they eat.

Starvation mode as people define it here is nonsense. Do adequate research before throwing the term around.

ETA: The links mentioned in the post above me are great resources!

R3dVamp

What you eat vs how much you eat makes little difference. 1200 calories of junk is processed essentially the same as 1200 calories of healthy food. You're just missing out on important nutrients, but it won't stunt weight loss as much as people here are saying. 3000 calories of healthy food will make you gain weight! For example, I ate 190 calories in chocolate the other night, or something, but I won't lose weight slower than someone who ate a 190 calorie salad.

Also, the whole "if you don't eat enough, you won't lose weight" thing is simply untrue. You will never not lose weight from eating too little. I'm not encouraging VLCD, because it's unhealthy as unsustainable, but my feeling is that the people struggling here are either overestimating calorie burns or underestimating how much they eat.

Starvation mode as people define it here is nonsense. Do adequate research before throwing the term around.

ETA: The links mentioned in the post above me are great resources!

Part of your information is correct, but the other half is incorrect. Starvation mode in an incorrect term, its more like preservation mode. if you eat below you BMR you may lose something but the body then starts to preserve your fat reservations in order to sustain your body and keep your organs functioning the longer you do this the harder it becomes to lose weight as this slows down the metabolism.

After the exhaustion of the glycogen reserve, and for the next 2–3 days, fatty acids are the principal metabolic fuel. At first, the brain continues to use glucose, because, if a non-brain tissue is using fatty acids as its metabolic fuel, the use of glucose in the same tissue is switched off. Thus, when fatty acids are being broken down for energy, all of the remaining glucose is made available for use by the brain.

After 2 or 3 days of fasting, the liver begins to synthesize ketone bodies from precursors obtained from fatty acid breakdown. The brain uses these ketone bodies as fuel, thus cutting its requirement for glucose. After fasting for 3 days, the brain gets 30% of its energy from ketone bodies. After 40 days, this goes up to 75%.[6]

Thus, the production of ketone bodies cuts the brain's glucose requirement from 80 g per day to about 30 g per day. Of the remaining 30 g requirement, 20 g per day can be produced by the liver from glycerol (itself a product of fat breakdown). But this still leaves a deficit of about 10 g of glucose per day that must be supplied from some other source. This other source will be the body's own proteins.

After several days of fasting, all cells in the body begin to break down protein. This releases amino acids into the bloodstream, which can be converted into glucose by the liver. Since much of our muscle mass is protein, this phenomenon is responsible for the wasting away of muscle mass seen in starvation.

However, the body is able to selectively decide which cells will break down protein and which will not. About 2–3 g of protein has to be broken down to synthesize 1 g of glucose; about 20–30 g of protein is broken down each day to make 10 g of glucose to keep the brain alive. However, this number may decrease the longer the fasting period is continued in order to conserve protein.

Starvation ensues when the fat reserves are completely exhausted and protein is the only fuel source available to the body. Thus, after periods of starvation, the loss of body protein affects the function of important organs, and death results, even if there are still fat reserves left unused. (In a leaner person, the fat reserves are depleted earlier, the protein depletion occurs sooner, and therefore death occurs sooner.)

That is the correct usuage of starvation mode, currently your low calorie diets are causing more of a preservation of the fatty stores in preperation for going into starvation mode, this is why you will fall off the rails and go on a binge, its the body telling you that you need to eat more food. Once you binge you re supply all the fuels your body needs weather from good or bad foods and the viscious cycle starts again.

c4txangel

I eat 1000-1200 NET calories a day and it feels like I'm constantly eating and ALWAYS stuffed.
I feel before I continue... I need to mention that I am
1. A "Foodie" ... I love food. I love to eat and I do. A LOT.
2. 5'2"/120lbs/19%Body fat... I have curves, but I'm not a bone rack. I am super happy with my weight.

I eat 1000 -1200 NET calories a day. Meaning, If I workout and burn 500 calories, I probably consume 1700. If I don't workout that day or just do stretching, I eat 1000-1200. There are a few things that will effect your weight loss.

METABOLISM! Some people (like my husband) have naturally super fast metabolisms. (You may all go bite a rock, by the way) Then there's those, like me, who don't. Everyone in my family is fat. Overweight by a lot. I have learned how and what to eat to kick start my metabolism. I do this by eating healthy and eating extremely often. (Every 2 hours)

I don't feel fulfilled unless I eat a good amount of food. So... I eat a lot of foods low in calories and mix them with foods that keep you full a long time, and digest easily. I try to eat at least 5-8 times a day and 200-300 calories each time. Here are some examples of a typical day for me:

I cook everything I have to saute in a greenie pan to lower the amount of fats I have to cook with.
Meal 1. 1/4 C. Rice Cereal made with 1/2 c. water, 1/4 c. Unsweetened 30 cal Almond milk (I start this simmering in a tiny pot while I cook the rest) 1 C mushrooms, 6 tbs eggwhites, and 2 C spinach.
Meal 2. 1 gala apple w/ 1 tbs organic peanut butter
Meal 3. 120 g. of french style greenbeans, sauteed with a tiny spritz of olive oil and sprinkled with truffle salt.
Meal 4. (Usually after my workout) Beachbody Shakeology Protein Shake
Meal 5. Half a can of low sodium tuna made with 1 tsp of low calorie mayo, calorie free ranch dressing, and 1 tsp spicy brown mustard, 1 tbs of dill relish... I eat it on 1/2 sliced cucumber.. 1 C. raw broccoli and 1 tbs boathouse yogurt ranch (Only 45 calories for 2 tbs)
Meal 6. a pear
Meal 7. 3 c. spring mix, 1/2 avocado, 1 gala apple, 2 tbs Brianna's Lemon Tarragon salad dressing

I drink a gallon of water a day and somewhere between 2-4 C of black coffee. I also drink unsweetened tea.

For workouts I I do about 1.5 hours a day... I mix up Insanity, Brazil Butt Lift, T25, and I swim. I also use 1 scoop of Beachbody E&E pre-workout formula before every workout.

I hope this helps any of you curious about eating a lot, but not consuming too many calories. Here is a link to a list of super low calorie foods:

http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20640804,00.html

wrysosrs

I don't get the absolute hate 1200 kcals gets. Like that is the exact cut off point between being healthy and immediately killing yourself. Given the fact that people underestimate what they eat by up to 50%, a 1200 kcal diet may actually be an 1800 kcal diet given the person.

Then everyone gets on muscle loss...are none of you obese? Do you not have extra muscle due to carrying your extra weight? Fat and muscle will come off of you and it's no big loss. It takes a long time for an anorexic to eat so little that they're bones are protruding, it's not an overnight event. Muscle loss on an obese person is not a big deal because we have more muscle than the average joe. Heck I'd love to lose some muscle in my calves, they're huge!

1200 kcals works for me for now, it's short term while I'm forced to be sedentary and once I can move around again it'll increase but gosh darnit ya'll love to jump down peoples necks for eating less than you like it's some competition.

Are we sure VLCD makes people irritable because it always seems the people who are eating more attack those who are eating less.

albayin

I'm just as confused. My fiance says I'm not eating enough but that's the only way I can lose. And it has been EXTREMELY slow. I saw an equation where you have a calorie range. Do your goal weight X 100 for your low. For high, add 300 to that. Whether or not you have a high or low day depends on your workout. But if I eat that many calories I feel like I'm eating too much. Maybe that is not taking into account your workout calories... I DONT KNOW! Haha. Sorry I can't help. Looking forward to responses!

So am I...the only way I can lose is to eat but still feeling hungry by the end of the day but then all I hear is that this is not the right way...If I eat more I maintain...I guess I just haven't found that subtle middle ground where I eat just enough but still lose...hard, super hard..after 2 years I still haven't figured it out...

KaelaLee88

After 8 weeks religiously following 1200 per day, I am pleased to say that I've given it up!

Initially I lost, but then my weight loss became slower and slower - complete standstills for weeks. I gained twice and got upset, grouchy, moody, tired and started struggling with sleep.

I read a post where a fellow MFP recommended that if you have 40lbs or less to lose, change your weight loss goal to 1.5lbs per week. I have now done this and things are much better! I eat 1300 calories per day and have started losing again.

As previously said by others, it works - just not for everybody :-)

Kaela x

Carenda1219

I was told by my beach body coach that MFP does NOT consider your workouts daily when it calculates your calories. In order to have that calculated you have to manually put in all of your workouts. So basically if you are eating 1200 cals a day and then working out 6 days a week you are not really at a healthy number because you are burning more cals then you are eating.