Question for you all...

lisamarie2181

Over and over on these boards I see the calorie debate with 1200 cals.

Just wondering, how many of you that say you are at 1200 cals, are only EATING 1200 or are you actually NETTING 1200?

There is a big difference between the two and I think a big reason people get so much flack for their 1200 cal diet.

If you are only eating 1200, any exercise you do is going to NET you below 1000, this is why people don't agree with your eating habits if this is what you are doing. If you ate 1200 and burn 500, that means your body is only getting 700 to use. I think some people just don't understand this. You will drop weight by restricting your calories no matter how low you go, but if this is not the right range for you, you could be causing damage on the inside.

When I started my journey, I had no understanding about the whole net vs eating cals, and not understanding what it will do to my body. I came on here and started listening to everyone talking about BMR and TDEE and understanding why it is important to stay within those numbers, took the time to do my own research and understand this whole concept.

Because this topic is talked about so much here, I would really like to get the opinions of people, I know some really do understand the whole NET cals thing, but I think a lot don't, and maybe just need a bit more knowledge on the subject. When it comes to a lifestyle, you are never going to know everything, there will always be something new to learn. There are a lot of well educated people on this site that do know what they are talking about, and I have learned a lot from them.

And please people don't take offense to my question. I am not bashing your diet, I am just really curious to see how many people really do understand the difference between eating and net. I don't feel MFP really explains it well to newbies and I know for sure when I started on here I had no clue. I see the question about eating back exercise cals all the time, so it is apparent there are people on here that don't understand the concept. Having an open mind is very important in this process. Doing something cookie cutter instead of finding out what is best for you may not be the best way.

Would love to hear peoples opinions and understanding of this concept. :flowerforyou:

Koldnomore

I NET 1800.

MFP is just a tool, it will tell you what to do based on what you tell it. Many new people don't bother to do any reading before jumping in with both feet - if they did then we wouldn't be seeing all the same questions over and over because the answers are already there. 'People' are just too lazy to look. ('people' refers to SOME people, not all people or even a specific person just in general)

There is a BIG thread right on top of the general forum that screams...READ ME..and yet 90% of all new people who come here don't bother to even do that. There are PAGES of discussions about NETs, BMRs, TDEEs ,Eating more, eating less, low cal, strength training, eating back calories, not eating back calories..over and over - this is why people get flack. It's not because they are eating 1200 calories, its because they have not bothered to do any research on their own.

So you are probably right..'people' have no clue because 'people' are lazy and just want a quick fix, fast way to lose weight right now

If 'people' DID look then they would not be asking the same tired questions or they would be asking more intelligent questions with SPECIFICS not just 'how much do I eat' or 'do I eat enough' or 'should I eat more' . It's not the tool that's the problem..

lisamarie2181

I agree MFP does put it out there for us to find, I think some people don't come on the boards at all so I am sure they would have a hard time understanding, but you are right, it does take some reading around on here.

I have always been open minded to listening to other peoples approaches and seeing what they find works for them. I don't get defensive about my way of eating, all I can do is offer advice and it's up to the person to take it or not. I want this to be for life, so learning from people on here that have been through it, or are in the nutrition field or trainers, etc., it's getting free advice!! Why not take advantage? At least that is how I look at it.

Thanks for your post

Di3012

Over and over on these boards I see the calorie debate with 1200 cals.

Just wondering, how many of you that say you are at 1200 cals, are only EATING 1200 or are you actually NETTING 1200?

There is a big difference between the two and I think a big reason people get so much flack for their 1200 cal diet.

If you are only eating 1200, any exercise you do is going to NET you below 1000, this is why people don't agree with your eating habits if this is what you are doing. If you ate 1200 and burn 500, that means your body is only getting 700 to use. I think some people just don't understand this. You will drop weight by restricting your calories no matter how low you go, but if this is not the right range for you, you could be causing damage on the inside.

When I started my journey, I had no understanding about the whole net vs eating cals, and not understanding what it will do to my body. I came on here and started listening to everyone talking about BMR and TDEE and understanding why it is important to stay within those numbers, took the time to do my own research and understand this whole concept.

Because this topic is talked about so much here, I would really like to get the opinions of people, I know some really do understand the whole NET cals thing, but I think a lot don't, and maybe just need a bit more knowledge on the subject. When it comes to a lifestyle, you are never going to know everything, there will always be something new to learn. There are a lot of well educated people on this site that do know what they are talking about, and I have learned a lot from them.

And please people don't take offense to my question. I am not bashing your diet, I am just really curious to see how many people really do understand the difference between eating and net. I don't feel MFP really explains it well to newbies and I know for sure when I started on here I had no clue. I see the question about eating back exercise cals all the time, so it is apparent there are people on here that don't understand the concept. Having an open mind is very important in this process. Doing something cookie cutter instead of finding out what is best for you may not be the best way.

Would love to hear peoples opinions and understanding of this concept. :flowerforyou:

For the first three months of my 1200 calories per day, I did NOT eat back my exercise calories. Thereafter, I went into them by 50 to 100, the rest I left.

I hasten to add, I never, ever went into starvation mode and I continually lost until I got to my goal weight.

soehlerking

Netting.

lisamarie2181

Over and over on these boards I see the calorie debate with 1200 cals.

Just wondering, how many of you that say you are at 1200 cals, are only EATING 1200 or are you actually NETTING 1200?

There is a big difference between the two and I think a big reason people get so much flack for their 1200 cal diet.

If you are only eating 1200, any exercise you do is going to NET you below 1000, this is why people don't agree with your eating habits if this is what you are doing. If you ate 1200 and burn 500, that means your body is only getting 700 to use. I think some people just don't understand this. You will drop weight by restricting your calories no matter how low you go, but if this is not the right range for you, you could be causing damage on the inside.

When I started my journey, I had no understanding about the whole net vs eating cals, and not understanding what it will do to my body. I came on here and started listening to everyone talking about BMR and TDEE and understanding why it is important to stay within those numbers, took the time to do my own research and understand this whole concept.

Because this topic is talked about so much here, I would really like to get the opinions of people, I know some really do understand the whole NET cals thing, but I think a lot don't, and maybe just need a bit more knowledge on the subject. When it comes to a lifestyle, you are never going to know everything, there will always be something new to learn. There are a lot of well educated people on this site that do know what they are talking about, and I have learned a lot from them.

And please people don't take offense to my question. I am not bashing your diet, I am just really curious to see how many people really do understand the difference between eating and net. I don't feel MFP really explains it well to newbies and I know for sure when I started on here I had no clue. I see the question about eating back exercise cals all the time, so it is apparent there are people on here that don't understand the concept. Having an open mind is very important in this process. Doing something cookie cutter instead of finding out what is best for you may not be the best way.

Would love to hear peoples opinions and understanding of this concept. :flowerforyou:

For the first three months of my 1200 calories per day, I did NOT eat back my exercise calories. Thereafter, I went into them by 50 to 100, the rest I left.

I hasten to add, I never, ever went into starvation mode and I continually lost until I got to my goal weight.

Yeah I think starvation mode isn't the best term to use around this place lol
What I take starvation as, well when a lot of people on the boards us the term, is the slowing of the metabolism, not actually starving. I do believe this happens and why a lot of times people say they are not hungry eating say 900 cals. You body just gets used to having a small amount of food, so it adjusts to that.

Congrats on your success! You look fantastic

ascotton80

I am NETTING 1200.

With the exercise calories i eat, my actual total calories average around 1500 per day.

BrunetteRunner87

Back when I was on 1200 calories, I was netting. But I don't see why anyone cares what everyone else is eating anyway.

mynameiscarrie

RIght now I'm at 1200 calories and I NET 1200. I've tried other calorie settings and the higher I go, the less I eat back. during my whole time using MFP, I've usually netted between 1200-1400 per day

JustJennie1

I eat 1500 calories period regardless of my workouts.

Sometimes it's a little bit more sometimes less sometimes spot on.

I don't really pay attention to what I net because of the fact that my calorie "burn" is probably incorrect and if I eat the calories that I have set in my goals then I will not fall into the trap of over eating because I "burned" 1,000,000,000,000,000 and therefore I can eat as much as I want to net my goal.

melmonroe

I've been actually have 300-800 calories a day (actual calories eaten) because I am trying to figure out my allergies and binge foods -- semi-fast if you will for health reasons. I'm hungry (and learning what it means to be hungry) AND still working out. :ohwell:

I eat my calories mostly in the late morning so I start my day great.

From this process, I learned that true hunger is NOT a feeling of mental/physical unease (what I used to think) but instead a very real gnawing/painful feeling so strong I cannot sleep through it. Amazingly, something as simple as a boiled egg eliminates that pain.

Considering a boiled egg on a pile of raw greens is less than a 100 calories and stops REAL hunger, 1200 calories is more than enough for me. :drinker:

Anyone who challenges me on this might consider a moment that it did take a severe unhealthy over eating imbalance to get me here and so it WILL take an equal or greater under eating imbalance to restore my healthy weight position. :happy:

mynameiscarrie

I've been actually have 300-800 calories a day because I am trying to figure out my allergies and binge foods -- semi-fast if you will for health reasons. I'm hungry (and learning what it means to be hungry) AND still working out. :ohwell:

I eat my calories mostly in the late morning so I start my day great.

From this process, I learned that true hunger is NOT a feeling of mental/physical unease (what I used to think) but instead a very real gnawing/painful feeling so strong I cannot sleep through it. Amazingly, something as simple as a boiled egg eliminates that pain.

Considering a boiled egg on a pile of lettuce is less than a 100 calories and stops REAL hunger, 1200 calories is more than enough for me. :drinker:

Anyone who challenges me on this might consider a moment that it did take a severe unhealthy over eating imbalance to get me here and so it WILL take an equal or greater under eating imbalance to restore my healthy weight position. :happy:

I'm sorry, but that is the stupidest and most unhealthy thing I have ever heard. Your body needs fuel. 300-800 calories a day is not fuel.

Oishii

Mfp thought, from the data I entered, that my pre exercise maintenance calories should be 1700kcal. I assumed I must be 'lightly active' as I was a teacher, but in fact, my maintenance is more like 2400 odd, plus exercise calories (or that's what I've succeeded at maintaining at).

So I lost far too fast on 1200 kcal NET and also became anaemic, which may or may not be coincidental...

So 1200 net is not a 'magic number' that is automatically enough for anyone, even if mfp's calculations recommend it...

lisamarie2181

Thanks for your comments ladies!!

I kinda wonder when people make threads and posts things, if they just put that they NET a certain amount they wouldn't get such a backlash. I made this topic because I sat and read a post that was over 10 pages long of comments, some not so nice comments and some attacking the OP comments, and people getting defensive because someone disagrees...common thing that happens when those kinds of threads get posted because it seems that people are assuming they are only eating 1200. In this case the OP really was only eating 1200 and not eating more on exercise days, and I am not one to blast someone for their choices, nor join the crazy debate, but I am curious if she understood the difference between the two or not. It doesn't make her wrong, like I said there is so much to learn about being healthy and losing weight, that why I feel having an open mind is so important.

I think some give really good advice for sure, there are always gonna be nasty ones in there, it is the internet after all lol I have a lot of friends of my FL that don't eat the way I do or follow a different cal guideline, and I support them all the same, I don't try and lecture them about what they are doing wrong or right, if they ask me for help, I give them my advice based on my experience and knowledge from my researching and always offer to support them in anyway I can if they are interested in my ideas. I think some people that mean well just come off sounding harsh, and may not know where the other person is in their journey.

JustJennie1

I've been actually have 300-800 calories a day (actual calories eaten) because I am trying to figure out my allergies and binge foods -- semi-fast if you will for health reasons. I'm hungry (and learning what it means to be hungry) AND still working out. :ohwell:

I eat my calories mostly in the late morning so I start my day great.

From this process, I learned that true hunger is NOT a feeling of mental/physical unease (what I used to think) but instead a very real gnawing/painful feeling so strong I cannot sleep through it. Amazingly, something as simple as a boiled egg eliminates that pain.

Considering a boiled egg on a pile of raw greens is less than a 100 calories and stops REAL hunger, 1200 calories is more than enough for me. :drinker:

Anyone who challenges me on this might consider a moment that it did take a severe unhealthy over eating imbalance to get me here and so it WILL take an equal or greater under eating imbalance to restore my healthy weight position. :happy:

Wow. You need some serious help.

melmonroe

mynameiscarri - thanks for the encouragement. :flowerforyou: You can have the 2 WHOLE pizzas I would eat after I having binge/allergy foods. I'm new at learning what those allergies are AND trying to avoid creating new ones.

For me, it's medical and physical where blood sugar level drops where there my mind says "no" but my body goes through the motion of eating everything in sight. Willpower does NOT work for me.

My point is that real hunger, is not simply UNEASE FOR ME but a gnawing tummy. It does not take much to satisfy that for me if I do not eat binge foods or stuff I am allergic to.

Your post appeared to me to be flaming me... Are you hungry? Perhaps for binge foods?

Jenny - I was wondering if you happen to be a doctor -- especially "my doctor" to make such a diagnosis?

lisamarie2181

I've been actually have 300-800 calories a day (actual calories eaten) because I am trying to figure out my allergies and binge foods -- semi-fast if you will for health reasons. I'm hungry (and learning what it means to be hungry) AND still working out. :ohwell:

I eat my calories mostly in the late morning so I start my day great.

From this process, I learned that true hunger is NOT a feeling of mental/physical unease (what I used to think) but instead a very real gnawing/painful feeling so strong I cannot sleep through it. Amazingly, something as simple as a boiled egg eliminates that pain.

Considering a boiled egg on a pile of raw greens is less than a 100 calories and stops REAL hunger, 1200 calories is more than enough for me. :drinker:

Anyone who challenges me on this might consider a moment that it did take a severe unhealthy over eating imbalance to get me here and so it WILL take an equal or greater under eating imbalance to restore my healthy weight position. :happy:

That does sound kinda scary, are you being monitored by a dr or nutritionist? Something along those lines? I would be careful if you are doing this on your own accord and not being supervised. That is an extremely low amount, especially if you are working out on top of it. Please be careful.

ETA : I saw you said you had problems with your blood sugar, have you ever looked into cutting the carbs/sugars down? You still get to eat a normal amount of cals, but by reducing those things alot of times it helps relieve cravings and binge tendencies because your body will get used to not having them. Good luck to you either way, I have never looked into such a drastic approach, so can't say yay or ney completely either way lol

melmonroe

That does sound kinda scary, are you being monitored by a dr or nutritionist? Something along those lines? I would be careful if you are doing this on your own accord and not being supervised. That is an extremely low amount, especially if you are working out on top of it. Please be careful.

Thanks Bella - Yes, I'm being very careful and consulting a nutritionist. Adding simple foods back into my life one at a time. 1200 calories is adequate to ward off hunger. I'm measuring quantities of certain foods trying to prevent that feeling of unease that causes binges. I'm supplementing with herbs, probiotics, pharm-grade vitamins and minerals omegas etc. There is a lot going on here and it's not pizza/candy/pie/fries finally!

I have eliminated sugars but sometimes I mess -- I had something a simple as a whey protein drink with SIX grams of sugar and nearly lost it yesterday.

Thank you for your considerate comment!

OregonLaurel

Anyone who challenges me on this might consider a moment that it did take a severe unhealthy over eating imbalance to get me here and so it WILL take an equal or greater under eating imbalance to restore my healthy weight position. :happy:

So to become healthy after having been unhealthy you have to continue to be unhealthy until you're healthy? Hmmmmmm...
I've lost 125 pounds and was morbidly obese so I think I can say with some certainty I've had a huge lifestyle switch from binge/severe over eating and sedentary lifestyle to generally healthy eating and lots of activity. I didn't need to "under eat" to get there.

junipearl

i was netting 1200 for awhile (or slightly less to leave room for error in my burned calories) and didn't see much difference.

so now i am trying to actually EAT 1200 -1400 per day, no matter how many calories burnt and I am going to see if that works better for me.

EDIT: and another reason that I don't eat them ALL back is because biking 25km per day to and from work gives me an extra ~700 calories to eat which is just a ridiculous amount to try to stuff in my stomach lol

slackerwoman

I just set mine to 1200. Had it around 1610. I plan on netting the 1200 though....not eating 1200 and then exercising part of it off.

lisamarie2181

I am so glad to hear a lot of you that do the 1200 are netting. If you feel not netting 1200 is working for you, then do what you need to, but if you start to get fatigue or any lacking side effects, I hope you do consider some alternatives. I keep hearing people were losing hair!! That would freak me out! I have PCOS, so it is an expected side effect, and I have lost a lot of hair over the years so it is a lot thinner than it used to be, but if that happened with no medical issues, I would get nervous too!

Most people I see asking the questions about being stalled or the weight isn't moving, a lot of times it seems they eat a bit too low, and could be a big reason why they are stuck. I know now that is why I hit a plateau and just wouldn't budge and had to research to find the best thing for me to try.

I am not just speaking of people at 1200, I kinda just used that as an example because it is the most "hyped" number you see on these boards, and seems to be the bare minimum for most people, it is more the netting vs eaten. Like I said I came here and had no clue what that meant lol