Seeing a lot of rude comments about 1200/cal....

rosej31

I eat 1200 calorie a day some days more than others, it all depend on your body and workouts. I totally agree with Basillowe66.

lizman11

Congrats on great results! Just what I needed to hear! I just started tracking regularly a few weeks back and find that 1200 is a good goal. If I fall under due to exercise it doesn't seem to interrupt my loss. Sometimes I do use the exercise to offset food... but not often. The best thing I've done is add columns for fiber and sugar to my charts. The sugar especially is valuable to track. Once I started tracking sugar and staying balanced results are positive. I'm moving in the right direction and pretty psyched about it.

tbruegg

I' m a grazer so I eat 5 to 6 small meals a day and they usually add up to 1200 calories. Everyone needs to do what works for them. I also am not an overly active person.

kairach0827

Im 5'2 and Im on 1500 calories is that because Im bigger ? will the amount go down as I lose weght ?

wftiger

anything under 1200 cals a day is considered starvation mode. food for thought.

For crying out loud. Take the time to read the study that you are trying to quote. There is NO SUCH THING.

1Kristine1

anything under 1200 cals a day is considered starvation mode. food for thought.

People who are never hungry rarely lose weight. Also food for thought.

im rarely hungry eating 1600cals/day and Ive lost 30lbs...

ToughTulip

I started at 1200 calories a long time ago and was miserable

I now eat 2000 calories minimum to lose and look better than ever

tbruegg

Just did my BMR on this site and it say's 1268 a day.

Platypusimus

12,000 calories

Im jealous

lol! I didn't even catch that at first!

IronPlayground

First this:



Then this:

ktweld

I am also new and have a lot of weight to lose and MFP set me at 1200. It is day 3 and I have not made it yet but have been very close. I figured that was a win because I was probably easily consuming 2000/2500+ daily and this diary tool is truly an eye opener for me. Someone in this topic recommended the Scooby calculator and it actually gave me over 1450 per day so I split the difference and manually set my MFP daily goal to 1325 but again - I just want to really use the tools to see what I am eating and to maintain a balanced, better diet that I will be able to do for life. My favorite thing so far is viewing food diaries - I have gotten some great food ideas because I always thought I couldn't possibly find enough foods that I like to maintain a lower cal diet. I am excited about this venture even with some of the negative things on the forums. It is up to me how I use this site and the tools.

optigal

I am not sure why anyone would complain about a 1200 calorie diet. That is what I am on. It is what my doctor suggested. I am working with a personal training and they think that I am doing great. My trainer reviews my diary and lets me know what I should change like eat more protein or make sure to get more diary fiber.. I do have days that I feel I need to eat some of my exercise calories and I do. I say each person is different so you have to do what works for you. I personal talked to my doctor about it and see him every 8 weeks to make sure I am doing it the right way. Hope this helps.

I am also on a 1200 calorie/day diet as recommended by my doctor. I trust that she will not steer me wrong, and she also said that if I still felt hungry consuming 1200 calories to increase it to 1500. It's working for me!

sscad

Lifecycle of an MFPer

1. Start out at 1200 calories
2. Complain about how you're "stuffed" at 1200 calories and don't understand why everyone wants you to eat more
3. Make a post calling out the mean people
4. Gradually up your calorie goals when you grow tired of being "stuffed" on asparagus spears
5. Realize that you're still losing weight and feeling much better
6. Try to help 1200 calorie people
7. Get called an arrogant ahole one too many times
8. Retreat to chit-chat forum more or less permanently, only occasionally emerging to lay down a burn

:laugh: This is true, more or less,

Zaphyre13

Some research shows calorie restriction is good for longevity and health. It's probably challenging long term but ultimatley you have to listen to your own body. I used to get really caught up in what other people said about health and nutrition. Now I research and make up my own mind. There is so much information and misinformation out there you really need to find what works for you.

BetterCrazyThanLazy

anything under 1200 cals a day is considered starvation mode. food for thought.

Please read on the subject before throwing it out there... just saying.

No, your body will NOT go into starvation mode if you stay below 1200 calories a day. You would have to burn through all of your body fat first and we all know THAT doesn't happen overnight...

skatx

The thing is that 1200 calories too low for most people, but MFP kind of uses it as the "default" for women who want to lose weight. MFP won't let you set your goals to any lower than 1200, but in reality, the limit should probably be even higher than that. I suggest you go to this website to find out your BMR (basal metabolic rate): http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/

Your BMR is the amount of calories it takes your body every day just to stay alive. You'll notice it's probably more than 1200. Therefore, you should probably be eating more than 1200; your body needs it!

Congrats on your progress so far! I lost some weight eating at 1200 at first too, before I found out about BMR and stuff. Read around the forums; there's a LOT of information available. After I got educated I started eating more like 1400-1500 calories a day, I lost weight just as fast and was much happier. Good luck!

This is one of the most confusing things I have read so far. I am on the 1200 cal/day plan, which only lets me lose 1.6 pounds per week, and although I've been on MFP for 2 months, I've lost only 6 pounds. This BMR chart says I should be eating about 1700 cals/day (on sedentary activity) or 2300 cals/day (moderate exercise) to lose 39 lbs. That is so much of a difference - how is this explained? And shouldn't a person trying to lose weight eat LESS than their BMR requires in order to lose and not maintain?

deksgrl

The explanation is.... MFP is designed to lose weight on diet alone, not exercise. It gives you a deficit of 500 calories a day for a pound a week, or 1,000 calories for 2 pounds a week, but only down to a minimum of 1,200 calories. Then when you DO exercise you also need to eat that amount of calories to give you fuel for your workout and maintain the appropriate deficit.

Example, eat 1200 calories, then exercise and burn 250, you need to eat 250 more or 1200 + 250=1450. Or burn 500 so you eat 1200+500=1700.

Losing 2 pounds per week is not appropriate for everyone, those who do not have a lot to lose for example. But everyone says they want to lose 2 pounds per week. For some people it is fine. But it requires doing a little research and finding out what is right for you. And just because you lose weight on 1200 doesn't necessarily mean it is right for you. Eventually, if your BMR is more than 1200, you will need to start eating more.

BetterCrazyThanLazy

The thing is that 1200 calories too low for most people, but MFP kind of uses it as the "default" for women who want to lose weight. MFP won't let you set your goals to any lower than 1200, but in reality, the limit should probably be even higher than that. I suggest you go to this website to find out your BMR (basal metabolic rate): http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/

Your BMR is the amount of calories it takes your body every day just to stay alive. You'll notice it's probably more than 1200. Therefore, you should probably be eating more than 1200; your body needs it!

Congrats on your progress so far! I lost some weight eating at 1200 at first too, before I found out about BMR and stuff. Read around the forums; there's a LOT of information available. After I got educated I started eating more like 1400-1500 calories a day, I lost weight just as fast and was much happier. Good luck!

This is one of the most confusing things I have read so far. I am on the 1200 cal/day plan, which only lets me lose 1.6 pounds per week, and although I've been on MFP for 2 months, I've lost only 6 pounds. This BMR chart says I should be eating about 1700 cals/day (on sedentary activity) or 2300 cals/day (moderate exercise) to lose 39 lbs. That is so much of a difference - how is this explained? And shouldn't a person trying to lose weight eat LESS than their BMR requires in order to lose and not maintain?

Your BMR is what your body needs just to get your organs functioning. Your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) is what you burn when you include your daily activities - walking, sitting, cooking, etc.

For example, I am 5'4" and 138 lbs and my BMR is 1430 so technically, I should not be eating below 1430 a day. My TDEE (not including workouts) is about 1650. So if I want to lose weight I will try to eat at around 1430 cals a day minimum and work out to create a higher caloric deficit. This is what has been working for me. And even though my daily is set to 1200 I usually eat most of my work out calories back and try not to NET below 1200.

But everyone looks at it differently so you will get a lot of different answers to your question.

deksgrl

BMR means basal metabolic rate. This is the amount they would feed you in a coma to fuel only your basic bodily functions.

It doesn't make sense to eat less than this ever. It is what makes your organs and brain work. Then you stress your body and your hormones by eating less than that?

hipsdontlie1

Haha TRUE