Being told 1200 cal a day= starvation mode

Miss_Mabee

This is news to me too! I work in retail and always wish customers a good rest of their day or weekend and did not realize that I was offending anyone. Now I know!

Arewethereyet,

Your response would be more useful if you told me what vcld means.

Also, "have a nice day" is a flippant phrase that strikes we older folk in the same way a thumb flip off the noses does. Sorry to tell you that, but it doesn't create a sense of community here when you say things like that.

Best wishes,
Amanda

Amanda,

Sorry, I did not mean it in that way at all! I always wish every one a lovely or nice day and honeslty mean it.

Very Low Calorie Diet = VLCD

:flowerforyou: Jeannine

Matt_Wild

Do you want to live on 1200 forever? Me neither. Eat as much as you can and still slowly lose weight. IMO I'd never really drop anyone below 1500-1600 calories a day.

ironanimal

Starvation mode is only a myth and doesn't exist. If it did, you wouldn't see people in third world countries that are skin and bones from lack of calories.

Everyone is different. You have to figure out what works for you. I've lost 100 pounds in 8 months eating 1200 calories. It works for me but it may not work for others.

If you feel 1200 isn't enough, try to up it by 100 calories for a week and see how it goes. What works for one person, wont always work for the other.

Good luck!

How delightfully ignorant.

Starvation mode is a term used to describe metabolic slowdown. It allows your body to survive on fewer calories in times of famine and take advantage of periods of abundance by storing the excess as fat.

In third world countries, there are no periods of abundance.

RedBullLiz

If you feel you're eating just fine without working out on 1200, then you have nothing to worry about.
When you do workout, those burned cals, yeah, you do eat 'em back. Just try not to eat all of them back. Hehe.
Would kinda defeat the purpose of exercising, right?? Hehe

The reason they might mention that is probably because their food consists of too much empty cals.
Like, food high in cals that don't fill you up. I dunno though. But that's what it sounds like.

I'm not a professional or health doctor, it's just my opinion. We'll all learn eventually - through an actual nutritionist (;

Good luck on your journey!!

heybales

Hello! So I was sharing w/ coworkers that I have recently started using MFP and that it gave me a daily calorie intake of 1200 (with the information of me wanting to lose 2lbs a week, & working 4x a week 1hr workouts)

Just one major issue here.

That exercise goal was merely a goal - nothing about it was counted in the math to figure out your daily goal.

Your daily goal already has your deficit in it.

When you now exercise, you have increased your daily burn, and your deficit, beyond smart and safe range.
So that's why you get extra calories to eat back.

Besides, 1200 is the lowest recommended level for safety reasons for a sedentary person. Are you doing NO exercise?

Much like minimum building codes are purely for safety reasons, NOT for performance, longevity, or aesthetics.
Do you want to be stronger, do this for longer, and actually look better? Then 1200 is probably not for you.

amflautist

It depends on you and your own metabolism I think.......I had a metabolic test done a year ago and
for my body response on their testing equipment ...etc..they had be all hooked up....it said 1300 is
what I needed a day to maintain......as we age we need less food and that is kindof the cut and dry of it....
I know if I eat 1500 or over too many days in a row I gain.....I also know that for my body if I stick at 1200 and under
and exercise on a schedule i can loose about half a pound a week......
It depends on your own body burn...if that makes any sense

Yes, it does depend on your individual metabolism. I have had numerous tests. My metabolism is naturally low, and has been so my entire life. Normal hr for me is 60. Normal bp is 105/60. I am 6' tall and athletic. My brain works very well on 1000 calories per day. I have a phd in astrophysics and still work at solving mathematical equations every day.

I reject the 1200 calorie starvation myth. Emphatically!

stbrad6896

I say ignore everyone else's "expert" advice and listen to what you're body is telling you. If you feel fine and healthy on 1200cals then you probably are. If you feel drained, have no energy to work out, or have other health related problems then eat a bit more. 1200 is my daily goal and it suits me fine. Some days I'm under, some days I'm over, I think it all evens out in the end. I feel great, I have energy, I'm losing weight at a reasonable and steady pace, so I'll keep it this way.

Aviva92

Well, even with the fact that I entered "2lbs a week" in my settings, MFP still set me up loosing 1.5 lbs a week...at 1200. I guess what I will do is stick with the 1200 for a week or two, see how it goes...then if I need to, adjust.

Thanks for all the input guys, I appreciate it and find it all very interesting

for me 1200 calories in the application only calculates to me losing 0.6 pounds a week. I don't buy it that this is too low. I lost over 20 pounds with this strategy.

I haven't read the entire thread, but as others have said if you eat healthy foods, it should be easier to stick to 1200 calories. If you find that you feel starving and run down, definitely up the calories. That never happened to me though. I was fine on 1200.

GGJane

I am not sure if medically it would be considered starvation mode because my previous doctor gave me that limit for calorie intake! Also she gave me the very same carb and fat limits, so I am thinking it was spot on! Some days when I drink all of my required water I just do not feel as hungry, so I seem to eat less. I guess we shall see how it plays out huh? I was given the 1200 calories a day too...we can do this!!! J

kathyms13

Im going to get boring now. I was born just after the 2nd world war when food was rationed there was no fast food we had to live on small amounts of cheese meat and whatever we grew or made with the little we had. Sweets chocolate were for special occasions , my father like most grew veg and kept chickens for meat and eggs, but do you know we were healthy no over weight kids people had to walk everywhere so we used the fuel we ate to live, and ...... guess what, no starvation mode no low metabolic rate people were healthy. i asked a doctor friend once about it, he said ....... in the war the people who were kept in prisoner of war camps never came out fat. People who even now dont have money or food in poor countries dont get fat they have to seek what they can to live. My message is WE SHOULD DO WHAT SUITS US, i eat more veg lean meats and fresh foods very similar to the way things were as a child. We over ate we got fat, we cut back it comes off, if we go back to eating to much then we get fat again.
The simple thing is everyone should eat sensibly, and think of it not as a diet but a new way of life.
Kathy jumps off soap box ....... have a good day.

JanaCanada

I started MFP in September. Age 53.menopausal.

Step 1: 1200 cals. I did not eat back exercise calories, but I didn't exercise that much, either. I lost an average of 2 lbs. per week. Wow..that was speedy....but I was starving... I mean, I was so hungry all the time, I could have eaten the wallpaper.

So, I started playing with the numbers:

Step 2: I increased to 1500 and started riding a staionary bike every day. I ate back ALL the exercise calories. Doing it this way, I averaged .5 lb. per week. OK, a bit slower loss than Step 1, but I wasn't starving anymore. Still, I wanted it off faster....so...

Step 3: Last week, I went back to 1200, but I ate back only half my exercise calories. Lost only .5 lbs. this week. Doing it this way, I am losing at the same rate of speed as Step 2, so I decided to go back to Step 2 because I was able to eat more.

My point being: Do what works for you. If you aren't getting the results you want, change it up. I don't think I have it right for me yet, but I'm working on it.

reneecgc

In the beginning of my journey I had my calories set at 1200. I was told by many of my instructors it was too low. I also ate more on the days I did work out which at the time was 5 times a week. I struggled on the days I did not work out and I was hungry. I put my calories up to 1400 on my non workout days and around 1500 or more on my workout days. This being said I lost just as much weight if not more and I was not hungry. My philosophy is that if you are hungry you are doing something wrong. Good luck with your weight loss. I eat 1800-2100 calories a day now and I only workout 3 times a week. No problem maintaining. I lost 60lbs in a 6 month period. I weigh 155( I fluctuate between 152-155) at 5' 7" and I am a size 8. Just so you know people think I weigh 135lbs if 155lbs sounds like a lot.

Aviva92

Do you want to live on 1200 forever? Me neither. Eat as much as you can and still slowly lose weight. IMO I'd never really drop anyone below 1500-1600 calories a day.

just because you lose weight on 1200 calories, why would that mean that you have to live on it forever? i think that any sort of calorie deficit could result in a metabolic slowdown. i don't believe that 1200 is some magic number. if you slowly up your calories to maintanance level after losing weight on 1200, i don't believe that will result in gaining it all back. just as your metabolism slowed down a little from eating less, i believe it speeds up when you start to eat more. it's not slowed down forever. i think gaining it all back happens when you just go completely back to old habits.

arlenem1974

I have been eating 1200-1250 for the last 2 months and I lost 15 LBS. I'm not hungry or tired. I'm 5'1" and 38 years old.

LorinaLynn

I started on 1200, because like everyone else, I wanted the weight gone as soon as possible. What I learned is that low calories does not equal optimal weight loss.

After a few weeks, I realized that while I was set to two pounds a week, I the only way I could actually LOSE two pounds a week was when I had the stomach flu. By the number, the most I could lose at 1200 was 1.3 pounds a week. A little more research show that 1 pound a week was the ideal amount per week for the amount of weight I had to lose. So I switched to 1 pound a week, and got about 1350 calories. And I always ate most of my exercise calories, too. I felt so much better on just that little bit more. When I got within 10 pounds of my goal, I switched to a half pound a week, and while the pounds lost per week was slower, each pound made a bigger difference. It didn't matter that weight loss was slow... I was still seeing loads of progress.

Emotionally, too, it's a lot more satisfying to aim to lose one pound a week and lose one pound a week (sometimes a little more) than to think you're supposed to lose 2 pounds a week and only lose one. The mental aspect of weight loss is the hardest part. Staying motivated. When you're reaching your goals - because those goals are realistic - it's a lot easier to stay motivated.

I've been here almost two years now, and maintaining almost a year and a half. I'm 100% convinced that maintenance is so easy for me because I never trained my body to survive on minimal calories. When I lost weight eating low calories and stopped, the weight came right back on. Losing weight this time, eating 1350-1600 calories plus exercise calories for a total of 1700-2000+, I'm maintaining at 2300. I have no doubt in my mind that I can continue this indefinitely. I might need to adjust things as I get older, but that's true of everyone.

Matt_Wild

Do you want to live on 1200 forever? Me neither. Eat as much as you can and still slowly lose weight. IMO I'd never really drop anyone below 1500-1600 calories a day.

just because you lose weight on 1200 calories, why would that mean that you have to live on it forever? i think that any sort of calorie deficit could result in a metabolic slowdown. i don't believe that 1200 is some magic number. if you slowly up your calories to maintanance level after losing weight on 1200, i don't believe that will result in gaining it all back. just as your metabolism slowed down a little from eating less, i believe it speeds up when you start to eat more. it's not slowed down forever. i think gaining it all back happens when you just go completely back to old habits.

Then clearly you know more than me. Carry on!

Aviva92

Do you want to live on 1200 forever? Me neither. Eat as much as you can and still slowly lose weight. IMO I'd never really drop anyone below 1500-1600 calories a day.

just because you lose weight on 1200 calories, why would that mean that you have to live on it forever? i think that any sort of calorie deficit could result in a metabolic slowdown. i don't believe that 1200 is some magic number. if you slowly up your calories to maintanance level after losing weight on 1200, i don't believe that will result in gaining it all back. just as your metabolism slowed down a little from eating less, i believe it speeds up when you start to eat more. it's not slowed down forever. i think gaining it all back happens when you just go completely back to old habits.

Then clearly you know more than me. Carry on!

didn't claim i know more than you any more than you claimed to know more than me. actually, you claimed it way more than i did. the arrogance on this site is annoying.

i merely disagreed with you. is that not allowed? are you god?

idream2bgwen

When I first started I did 1200 or so a day and when I worked out I would eat back some of my calories burned. After a while my body was just hungry. So I upped it to about 1650 a day and some days I ate back some of my workout calories and some days I didn't. Now I am pretty much starting over but know my body is happier with 1600 calories so that is where I am now. I think part of this is learning to listen to your body and what it wants vs what it needs. The better (cleaner) you eat the less you will WANT junk food. But your body will probably tell you it's hungry and it NEEDS fuel. Good luck!

annams76

Everyone is different. Many of us need to eat more in the beginning to lose weight and as we get smaller the amount goes down. Now I am on a 1200 cal a day and I am def not starving and am losing weight. My calories do increase when I workout but I do not eat as much as it says I should ever. Do not stay at 1200 calories a day if you are still feeling super hungry and water intake isn't helping curb the hunger. Eat when you are hungry but just make sure it is healthy. Good luck.

YaGigi

Do you want to live on 1200 forever? Me neither. Eat as much as you can and still slowly lose weight. IMO I'd never really drop anyone below 1500-1600 calories a day.

just because you lose weight on 1200 calories, why would that mean that you have to live on it forever? i think that any sort of calorie deficit could result in a metabolic slowdown. i don't believe that 1200 is some magic number. if you slowly up your calories to maintanance level after losing weight on 1200, i don't believe that will result in gaining it all back. just as your metabolism slowed down a little from eating less, i believe it speeds up when you start to eat more. it's not slowed down forever. i think gaining it all back happens when you just go completely back to old habits.

Then clearly you know more than me. Carry on!

didn't claim i know more than you any more than you claimed to know more than me. actually, you claimed it way more than i did. the arrogance on this site is annoying.

i merely disagreed with you. is that not allowed? are you god?

He is not God but surely looks like one of the Greek gods to me :P

lrose50

MPF set up the same calories for me - I don't think MPF calculates very well for individuals - however - I have been making really healthy food choices and I have a hard time eating all my calories - I do excercise every day approx 200-400 calories. I really try to eat what I'm supposed to but feet quite full most days and dont eat my quota. I'm still losing weight.

Finchtastic1

I tried 1200 a day but always ended up cheating. Now that it's set higher hitting 1200 feels better for me. I ALWAYS aim for hitting 1200 as that is what your body needs to survive. Your BMR is an estimate so i try to hit that. sometimes I go over sometimes I hit under...i think it all averages out. I didn't start losing until I ate MORE and began working out. I am 5'4 and around 111 and I eat at 1500. I am not REALLY losing anymore as I've lost the weight but I could lose some fat.

Shahaddd

I always try to aim for 1200 but end up eating more... : P I think anything lower than 1200 is going to turn you into starvation mode.

bemott

you should be fine, if you have a decent amount of weight to lose. I did 1200 a day for like 6 months, always eating my exercise calories though. I found it was tough to eat only 1200 on non exercise days so often went over by a bit (maybe by 100 or so) and lost 60 lbs. Good luck!

NCchar130

I would just keep in mind, like other posters said, that the BMR and TDEE calculations are going to be estimates and your calorie goals may need tweaking once you get started.

This is what happened when I started on MFP: I also set mine to lose 2 pounds a week. MFP gave me a calorie allowance of 1300/day. In the very first day of logging, I could see this wasn't going to work for me, as I felt like I was starving. So I changed it to 1 pound a week which gave me 1800/day. I ate exercise calories back too. And I have lost, over the past 4 months, an average of 1.8 pounds/week. I started with about 70 pounds to lose.

I keep a spreadsheet along with logging in MFP and I have run some numbers based on net calories per day (for 120 days and counting) and my weight loss so far, and figured out that my TDEE is closer to 2550. So I would need to net around 1550 for a 2 lb/week loss. My average calorie intake over these 4 months is about 1660 (I update my settings to reflect my weight loss every few pounds).

Conclusion is that MFP underestimated my TDEE (or that I underestimate my activity level). The other possibility, since I obsessively log my food, is that I burn more during exercise than I think I do. I don't use an HRM, so this is possible. I used the "roadmap" thread and multiple calculators to try to get the best estimate I could at the beginning and all the information (particularly in that thread) is extremely helpful. But results may vary :flowerforyou:

I think if you can do 1200/day and feel awesome doing it, then go for it, but make SURE you really are eating enough, particularly if you are exercising hard. I naturally tend to calorie cycle, where I come in under a few hundred calories 4 or 5 days in a row, then over by about the same amount for a few days, to where my weekly goals are met. This lets me eat more according to my hunger rather than trying to hit a certain number day after days. However, when I drop to about 1400/day for a few days (current goal is 1640 cals/day) I start to feel rundown, grouchy, and exhausted.

HealthyJohn

1200 cal a day sounds right if you are trying to lose weight and are inactive. However, if you are exercising you will need more calories. I have had to play around with this a lot myself and there are even days I will eat more than what I exercised off because my body is telling me to eat more....and I'll still lose weight. A lot of things come into play, like what you are eating, what time of day you eat and what time of day you exercise, etc. I would recommend that on days you don't exercise stick to the 1200, but on days you do exercise you will need to eat extra to make up for the calories that you burned. If you exercise in the evening, you will have to project what you expect to burn during exercise and eat that during the day as you don't want to load up after you exercise....been down that road and it doesn't work out so well. You also need to be sure you are eating healthy balanced meals and snacks. A 40 calorie salad is very differnt than 40 calories of dark chocolate.

If you pay attentiong to how you feel, what you are eating and listen to what your body is telling you, you will be able to find a healthy balance that works for you.

Cazzy34

I usually eat around 1200 cals per day, but usually less! I am mainly sedentary but i eat back my exercise calories when i do anything! I am 5'2" and weigh 128lbs. I have a small frame and am borderline hypothyroid! I have a bad back so can't run, jump or any of that stuff!

I have tried the whole eat more to weigh less thing and it doesn't work for me!! I gain when I eat 1400 or more!

I found a site called Hussman fitness and this was the advice it gave me:

{Your Base Metabolic Rate (BMR) is in the area of 1272 (Harris-Benedict formula) and 1379 (Schofield formula) calories per day. Your lean weight is about 92 pounds. TARGET A BALLPARK OF 1020-1400 HONEST CALORIES PER DAY if your main goal is fat-loss!}

Well my LBM is only 88lbs according to other calculations i have done on my Body composition scales and using calipers to measure my body fat%.

1020 is lower than the dreaded 1200, and i gain at 1400! So what can i do? If i stick to 1200 i lose 0.3lbs a week or sometimes less. How de-motivating is that?

I believe that you listen to your own body! I can lose when i eat under the dreaded 1200, but realistically i am a small female with metabolic issues and it seems to work for me! Go figure!

Adrenaline_Junky

As long as you're eating "clean" you should be fine. By "clean" I'm talking about non-processed foods; fresh fruits & vegies and lean cuts of meat. You'll be amazed at how much food 1200 calories can be if you're eating the right way.

Another thing, start off your day with breakfast; even if it's a piece of fruit or a protein shake. You'll need that to kick start your metabolism.

My ideal day consists of 5 small meals; I set up my mfp daily diary as follows: Breakfast, AM snack, Lunch, PM snack, Dinner. This helps even out the caloric intake throughout the day and keeps my metabolism on key.

It might take some time for your body to realize it doesn't have to store the food but once it does it should start using it as fuel. Just remember, consistency is the key to living a healthier lifestyle.

Good luck on your journey!

P.S. Don't forget to drink lots of water too, a minimum of at least 8 glasses a day.

ironanimal

As long as you're eating "clean" you should be fine. By "clean" I'm talking about non-processed foods; fresh fruits & vegies and lean cuts of meat. You'll be amazed at how much food 1200 calories can be if you're eating the right way.

Another thing, start off your day with breakfast; even if it's a piece of fruit or a protein shake. You'll need that to kick start your metabolism.

My ideal day consists of 5 small meals; I set up my mfp daily diary as follows: Breakfast, AM snack, Lunch, PM snack, Dinner. This helps even out the caloric intake throughout the day and keeps my metabolism on key.

It might take some time for your body to realize it doesn't have to store the food but once it does it should start using it as fuel. Just remember, consistency is the key to living a healthier lifestyle.

Good luck on your journey!

Your metabolism doesn't slow to any noticable degree until about 72 hours after you last ate. It doesn't need kick starting. If it ever stopped, you would die.

Adrenaline_Junky

"Your metabolism doesn't slow to any noticable degree until about 72 hours after you last ate. It doesn't need kick starting. If it ever stopped, you would die."

The key is to keep the metabolism active. By eating regularly, you are more likely to keep your metabolism working at an even rate. Skipping meals can trigger your body into thinking it needs to store the food rather than use it for fuel, now.