Rest Days.. what do you eat?

gaveupheart

So, 5x a week I go to the gym and do cardio. Usually when I record this, I can add in calories into my food. But then I have 2 days of rest and sometimes find it hard to stick to 1,200 calories. I obviously dont want to go under because I don't want to put my body in starvation mode/eat too little calories.

So I just want to know what do you guys eat on rest days if you have 1,200 calories.

johloz

You're not going to go into starvation mode from eating 1200 calories a day. You won't even go into starvation mode from not eating at all for a whole day. People tend to throw that phrase around a lot to scare you into eating more. The real problem with not eating enough isn't the mythical "starvation mode," it's that at under 1200 calories its damn near impossible to consume enough nutrients to keep your body running healthy (meaning both macro and micro nutrients).

That being said, I don't worry about going over on my rest days if I have compensated for it with an extra burn during the week.

My theory? Don't make a lifestyle change that you can't make for life. People get on here and eat 1000 calories a day, lose a mess of weight, then fall off and get fat again because they can't maintain it. Can't stick to only 1200 calories on your rest days? Don't. Look at the big picture of your total diet and calorie deficit and make smart changes that will stick for life.

liltenji

I agree with the above, you wont go into starvation mode on 1200 calories. I've come to realise that its just something people naively believe and tell you because they're jealous that you're putting effort into losing weight.

I'm on 1200 and when i don't exercise i eat 1200 or under. I won't let myself go over. On the days that i do exercise [usually 'earning' about 900 calories] i go over by 100-200 but not much more.

it all depends on what works for you though. I've spent the past ten years going from days over 2000 calorie and days at 500 calorie. So 1200-1500 fills me up so much