1200 is not difficult.
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My diary is open and I think that I eat big, healthy meals yet consistently find myself below my goal of 1200. I just do my best to hit my macros. Feel free to have a look (maybe look at yesterday and the day before because it's only 11am here so today isn't full yet). Feel free to criticize if I'm doing something wrong, but I'm not hungry, I don't feel like I'm starving myself, and if I work out for an extended period of time, I just try to supplement it with a big green smoothie or something in the like.
I suggest more protein. You are getting 60ish grams on your best days and as low as 19 grams on others. A spoonful of hemp seeds in your green smoothies will bump up both protein and Omega 3 and Omega 6 that work with protein in your body. :flowerforyou:
Thank you!! That's so helpful! I'm not a huge fan of red meat and I'm just beginning to look for other high protein alternatives! You're the best
They are the best source of plant protein because of the ratio of Omega 3 and Omega 6, and the fact that most sources of vegetable proteins aren't "complete proteins," but hemp seeds are a complete source.
I put them in my baked oatmeal that I eat for breakfast. Of course, the whole oatmeal bar is 486 calories because it also has peanut butter and eggs and brown sugar and milk. It's my "work breakfast."
One study in the Journal of America Medicine stated that 72 grams of protein per day (for a woman) was optimal to help prevent loss of lean body mass.
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It's silly how people get fixated on the number 1200. Some of us are well under five feet tall and have much lower BMR/RMR. Sub-1200 can be a safe, healthy option for such people, if they are sedentary.
Seriously, I'd never wished I were taller (am 5' 2") until I started counting calories... I want a higher BMR dammit!
Like!0 -
These threads just make me hungry.
How could you possibly be getting adequate fats and proteins in?
My last logged day I had 50 g of protein (higher than the recommended amount based on my body weight) and 30 g of healthy fats, and I wasn't putting in the effort I usually do, so those were both low numbers for me. But adequate.
I guess it depends what you're doing. I lift a lot of weights so I try to stick to 30/30/40 macros0 -
Oh yah im real silly...well considering that eating 1200 is going to get you some weight loss then your gonna stop so you may end up doing it years or you give up return to over eating and gain it all back.
Or best case you add cals because you realize eating 1200 is dumb and just a low set number that means nothing and that you coulda ate 1500-1800 a day and still lost weight...probably more fat actually because on your crash diet your losing muscle to but hey who needs that enjoy your loose skin and chicken wings.
Hey what do i know not like ive lost much weight and lost little to no muscle nor do i have any loose skin to be found.
Enjoy your 1200 cals im gonna keep eating my 2200 and shedding fat and keeping my muscles.
You appear to be male and outweigh me by more than 100 lbs (at your high weight on your ticker). You are more than twice my weight but eat less than twice as much as I do in addition to being male and more muscled. Why would you expect that I can lose weight on similar numbers to you? If I could eat that much and lose (much less not gain), you'd be able to eat more than what you are now. (I have to be active to avoid maintenance/gaining on 1500, and for a lot of reasons, that's not possible for me right now. But even when active, I don't lose much on 1500, whether or not I've been in maintenance or in a deficit or an overage prior to that.)
Even at your current weight, you outweigh me by a significant amount and I'm sure have a much higher muscle mass which requires more calories.0 -
Losing the weight fast can also mean ur losing muscle along w/ fat. I'd rather lose slowly & keep my muscle mass.
Also eating that low is slowing ur metabolism down like crazy.0 -
Because only people who eat 1200 calories to lose weight gain it back. Everyone else makes a lifestyle change by virtue of eating 500 more calories a day, even if proportionately that's the exact same factoring in height and weight. They then never gain their weight back and don't have to worry about eating at maintenance.
Generalize much?0 -
I'm a whole 7 inches taller than you. I would die on 1200 calories a day. To me its not worth it. At 5 feet I could see how that could work though.
Thank you! (For being able to see that one number does not fit all and that 1200 can be appropriate for some.) I'm all in favor of eating as much as you can to reach your goals. That number is just different for all of us.0 -
Glad you can stick with it, but some of us prefer to minimize lean mass losses and would rather lose slower to do so.
If your profile pic is current, you clearly don't have as much fat to lose as I do.
I have noticed that often when someone posts about eating 1200 cals a day, people are quick to jump in to say it's not enough, but slow to ask how much they have to lose.
When I get closer to a healthier weight, I will slowly increase my calories, but for now, 1200 is working, and not difficult.
and I'm not in a coma.
Isn't the general idea tho, the more u weigh the more you can eat because you burn more moving around than people who weigh less?0 -
Because only people who eat 1200 calories to lose weight gain it back. Everyone else makes a lifestyle change by virtue of eating 500 more calories a day, even if proportionately that's the exact same factoring in height and weight. They then never gain their weight back and don't have to worry about eating at maintenance.
Generalize much?
:laugh:
The fact that you took my post seriously speaks volumes about the accuracy of the general tone surrounding this issue.0 -
I guess it depends what you're doing. I lift a lot of weights so I try to stick to 30/30/40 macros
Those are my goal macros too. Right now I'm content eating the normal recommended level but once some life circumstances change, I will be concentrating more on boosting protein again. Due to dietary restrictions, the highest I can usually get is 90-100 but that's more than enough for someone of my weight and activity level. I was gaining better use of my muscles following this when I was lifting weights regularly--quadrupled my weights in a short amount of time (and not because they were too light to begin with.)0 -
Oh yah im real silly...well considering that eating 1200 is going to get you some weight loss then your gonna stop so you may end up doing it years or you give up return to over eating and gain it all back.I don't know. I come in well under 1200 day. I feel full and satisfied. I've been losing weight. I exercise. Maybe it won't always work. But then I will change things to work again. People are all different, which is fine - even great. If someone wants advice, then give it. Otherwise, some of us figure it out for ourselves.
Good idea and when 1100 or what ever you eat under 1200 stops working might as well drop it to 800 lol....Christ i just ate 700 calories of greek yogurt you guys blow my mind.....Why in hell would you not want to eat as much as possible and still lose weight?....I dunno about you but if i had to live the rest of my life eating 1100 calories id shoot myself plain and simple. You keep eating your 1000-1100 calories and screw up your system then gain all the weight back and then some when you get sick of eating bird sized food.
Now you're being silly...why would you have to eat 1200 for the rest of your life?
Eventually, you'd have to go into a maintenance mode, wouldn't you?
Or best case you add cals because you realize eating 1200 is dumb and just a low set number that means nothing and that you coulda ate 1500-1800 a day and still lost weight...probably more fat actually because on your crash diet your losing muscle to but hey who needs that enjoy your loose skin and chicken wings.
Hey what do i know not like ive lost much weight and lost little to no muscle nor do i have any loose skin to be found.
Enjoy your 1200 cals im gonna keep eating my 2200 and shedding fat and keeping my muscles.
Perhaps you're confusing "this works for me" with "this is what you should do". I said what works for me, not you. You missed another scenario... i eat 1200 cals a day, lose a lot of weight, go on to be a competitive power lifter and keep the weight off for 10 years.
You do what works for you. 0 -
It's silly how people get fixated on the number 1200. Some of us are well under five feet tall and have much lower BMR/RMR. Sub-1200 can be a safe, healthy option for such people, if they are sedentary.
Seriously, I'd never wished I were taller (am 5' 2") until I started counting calories... I want a higher BMR dammit!
I know plenty of women on here who are short and eat more than 1200 calories per day. Hell, I know someone who is 4'11" and eats 2,000+ calories per day. She is fit and healthy. Height matters a little, but it is not everything.0 -
Oh yah im real silly...well considering that eating 1200 is going to get you some weight loss then your gonna stop so you may end up doing it years or you give up return to over eating and gain it all back.I don't know. I come in well under 1200 day. I feel full and satisfied. I've been losing weight. I exercise. Maybe it won't always work. But then I will change things to work again. People are all different, which is fine - even great. If someone wants advice, then give it. Otherwise, some of us figure it out for ourselves.
Good idea and when 1100 or what ever you eat under 1200 stops working might as well drop it to 800 lol....Christ i just ate 700 calories of greek yogurt you guys blow my mind.....Why in hell would you not want to eat as much as possible and still lose weight?....I dunno about you but if i had to live the rest of my life eating 1100 calories id shoot myself plain and simple. You keep eating your 1000-1100 calories and screw up your system then gain all the weight back and then some when you get sick of eating bird sized food.
Now you're being silly...why would you have to eat 1200 for the rest of your life?
Eventually, you'd have to go into a maintenance mode, wouldn't you?
Or best case you add cals because you realize eating 1200 is dumb and just a low set number that means nothing and that you coulda ate 1500-1800 a day and still lost weight...probably more fat actually because on your crash diet your losing muscle to but hey who needs that enjoy your loose skin and chicken wings.
Hey what do i know not like ive lost much weight and lost little to no muscle nor do i have any loose skin to be found.
Enjoy your 1200 cals im gonna keep eating my 2200 and shedding fat and keeping my muscles.
Perhaps you're confusing "this works for me" with "this is what you should do". I said what works for me, not you. You missed another scenario... i eat 1200 cals a day, lose a lot of weight, go on to be a competitive power lifter and keep the weight off for 10 years.
You do what works for you.
Not to be a negative nancy but you don't know what works for you either. You won't know until you've shown that you can keep your weight off for years and for life.0 -
Well, that's only one part of the equation. Also consider that the more *fat* you carry, the bigger the deficit you can do safely. And if you're REALLY sedentary, you might not be moving around enough (except during purposeful exercise, and if you eat your burnt calories... well, that changes a lot too, doesn't it?) for your excess weight to allow you to eat more.Isn't the general idea tho, the more u weigh the more you can eat because you burn more moving around than people who weigh less?
There is no single formula, no single number that works for everyone. People are all different. 1200 calories a day can mean very different outcomes for different people.
I was doing sub-1200 net calories at the beginning and it worked just fine back then. Now? No way.0 -
Speaking as a diagnosed food addict, 1200 calories at this point would be impossible for me. I wish I could eat only natural, whole foods but just staying at 1800 calories is good enough for me! 1200 is the bare minimum anyone should go though, you need that just to keep your body going so I hope anyone eating that is very careful and if you exercise be sure you eat those calories back!
Good job though to everyone!! I am struggling big time with this weight loss. I wish 1800 calories were easy for me ugh0 -
bump for later0
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If you don't have an extremely active lifestyle and are short 1200 is perfectly fine. I'm around 5' 7" and I swim a lot so I eat 1400 on sedentary days and up to 2000 on active days. It really depends on the person. So to some people 1200 is that difficult, to others it might not be. My net is usually around 1200.0
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Everybody's different. Congrats on the 160. I'd like to shake your hand. I hope to be there sometime next year.0
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I agree! Seriously gotta love the "anti 1200 calorie" people rapidly denouncing the idea without any true knowledge of the health of the OP. People love to berate others offering their generalized advice applicable to everyone. What works for them won't necessarily work for others...I eat at 1200 too. I eat all the time. Every few hours. I'm never hungry. I feel great, except when I hit "clock in".
I'm also short. I can't even reach the cereal. :sad:
I understand that taller people need to eat more.
I'm satisfied at 1200. I don't like people telling me I need to eat more.
Different strokes for different folks.
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another thing to add that I notice is a lot of people who say that a low cal diet is that easy don't tend to weigh all their foods and prep 100% of their meals. Its very easy to underestimate calories.0
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Not to be a negative nancy but you don't know what works for you either. You won't know until you've shown that you can keep your weight off for years and for life.
Yeah but that really applies to everyone, not just those on 1200. But it's usually only the people on 1200 that hear that, even if it's proportionally the same as someone eating 1600.0 -
But you're not taking into account the different levels of activity in those people. That alone will differentiate caloric intake.It's silly how people get fixated on the number 1200. Some of us are well under five feet tall and have much lower BMR/RMR. Sub-1200 can be a safe, healthy option for such people, if they are sedentary.
Seriously, I'd never wished I were taller (am 5' 2") until I started counting calories... I want a higher BMR dammit!
I know plenty of women on here who are short and eat more than 1200 calories per day. Hell, I know someone who is 4'11" and eats 2,000+ calories per day. She is fit and healthy. Height matters a little, but it is not everything.0 -
I see taller women here posting things like "my BMR is 1600." Do you know what I would do for a BMR that high!?I know plenty of women on here who are short and eat more than 1200 calories per day. Hell, I know someone who is 4'11" and eats 2,000+ calories per day. She is fit and healthy. Height matters a little, but it is not everything.
Never said all short ladies need sub-1200 to lose weight. My whole point is that there is no magic number that means the same outcome to EVERYONE. One short lady might need 2000+ calories, another might need as little as 1300. Hell, even I can't do 1200 net these days, even though I was doing just fine at 1000 net back when I was obese.0 -
I too have done 1200 before, but as someone who WANTS to run marathons, I simply need more calories.
It is possible as long as you are eating lower calorie, higher protein foods.0 -
another thing to add that I notice is a lot of people who say that a low cal diet is that easy don't tend to weigh all their foods and prep 100% of their meals. Its very easy to underestimate calories.
:laugh:
And that's my explanation for why people say they were on 1200 calories and in starvation mode!
I do measure my food because I'm awful at eyeballing portions. Terrible. If I get hungry or tired, I eat more. It works for me. Usually 1200 is enough. But there have been times when 1800 didn't feel like enough. I've learned to go with it unless it becomes a pattern.0 -
Not to be a negative nancy but you don't know what works for you either. You won't know until you've shown that you can keep your weight off for years and for life.
Yeah but that really applies to everyone, not just those on 1200. But it's usually only the people on 1200 that hear that, even if it's proportionally the same as someone eating 1600.
Of course it does but I was talking to the original poster who says she knows what works for her.0 -
Speaking as a diagnosed food addict, 1200 calories at this point would be impossible for me. I wish I could eat only natural, whole foods but just staying at 1800 calories is good enough for me! 1200 is the bare minimum anyone should go though, you need that just to keep your body going so I hope anyone eating that is very careful and if you exercise be sure you eat those calories back!
Good job though to everyone!! I am struggling big time with this weight loss. I wish 1800 calories were easy for me ugh
Love your friendly, open-minded post here. Good luck to you! You've got this. You've got the right attitude. :flowerforyou:0 -
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When I get closer to a healthier weight, I will slowly increase my calories, but for now, 1200 is working, and not difficult.
and I'm not in a coma.
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The part about not being in a coma made me smile I
Mine has me at 1640 a day, but I sometimes barely make it above 1200. There have been a couple days where MFP tells me that I'm eating too few calories, but I'm not hungry. Just as you said, I'm eating real food, not junk and I'm not going to eat after 10:00 at night just to get to 1200.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I agree with you =]0 -
What I do with my clients who I believe have chronically restricted calories is up their intake to find out what their true TDEE range is. Many end up becoming paranoid at the idea but the reality is most have no clue what their true maintenance range is. Without knowing this range, it's rather unwise to even initiate a fat loss strategy.
One of my current clients is a 5 foot tall, naturally very petite woman with a lean body mass of 83 lbs who reached a plateau on 1450 calories. Because I knew she had habitually restricted calories before coming to me, I told her she was going to gradually up calories to 1950 and maintain for two-and-a-half months and she freaked out, believing she'd gain a lot of fat. After 75 days of eating at 1950 calories, doing heavy strength training 3 days a week and completely omitting cardio, she weighed the exact same (121.5 lbs) and had an identical body fat percentage (31.3%) compared to prior to upping calories. She was shocked to see how significant her energy needs actually were. We deemed that if she consumed between 1850 to 1950 calories, at that level of activity, she was able to maintain weight.
This Monday, we began her 2nd attempt to reduce body fat and I have her set to lose 0.5 lbs per week, eating 1550 calories for her first three training days and 1430 during rest days. After this initial week, I'll up her calories to 1700 x 3 and 1525 x 4 which she will maintain. I suspect, now that her resting metabolic rate and endocrine system are better primed for fat loss, she should start losing on a more sustainable level while maintaining lean body mass until she reaches 19% body fat at an estimated 102 lbs .0 -
It's not hard ... but it's also not the best plan for most people.
I have no idea why people think that's the magic number and even then try to eat less than that...
If you do your settings correctly, very few people would come up with 1200.0
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