THIS is how hard it is to reach 1200 calories

LoraF83

I think this is a wonderful thread and the food looks amazing! Yay you!

To those who "struggle" to get to 1200 calories (or whatever your reasonable and moderate goal is), I'm assuming struggle is an unenjoyable experience. I never say "struggle" when I'm liking what's happening. That's the prologue to this:

If you aren't enjoying your food, you are doing it wrong.

For real.

There was a guy who had a big list of food he wanted to eat instead after insulting the yummy looking food that was presented as an example. IIFYM, guy. Have steak, don't have a side of beef. Have pasta, don't have 8 cups of pasta. That may well be hard for your right now, but it may well be the thing you need to work on to get the most return on investment.

The all or nothing thinking around here is really alarming. Please don't be in diet mode versus how I got fat mode. That's asking for failure. Put a bit more dressing on the salad. An opaque dressing in moderation won't instantly blow up your thighs. Have a 4 ounce steak. Whatever. Make it work and make it yummy.

I really love salad and will happily have just salad for lunch. I have to put some walnuts and chicken on the salad, though, because if not, by the time I'm driving home, I'm not just hungry, but my body is screaming for protein and fat. And there are lots of drive throughs between me and home. So in the space of 6 hours, I go from diet mode (unintentionally) restricting myself to Oh my god eat all the food. This is what you set yourself up for if you eat just plain yuck protein and a side of steamed yuck veg.

Make the food amazing an pleasing. *That* is OP's point and there's no need for anyone to get butthurt and up in arms that she is suggesting you can eat nutritious food that you find enjoyable AND actually get your macros and your calorie goal.

:drinker:

And to the poster who questioned the butthurt.....you may not feel that it applies to this thread specifically, but I can tell you that I have seen far too many threads recently where people seem scared of food, think they need to cut out specific foods, food groups, etc, or are resentful because they feel they can no longer eat good food. All of these things are incorrect, and I believe this poster is simply trying to address that.

A little bit of moderation in our thoughts and actions towards food will go a long way towards helping us make sound, reasonable decisions.

Being too extreme.....like saying you can't ever eat steak......is a recipe for disaster. Because at some point, you will eat ALL the steak. Instead of a 4-6oz steak every week or so.

jetscreaminagain

Make the food amazing an pleasing. *That* is OP's point and there's no need for anyone to get butthurt and up in arms that she is suggesting you can eat nutritious food that you find enjoyable AND actually get your macros and your calorie goal.

I don't think anyone's butthurt.

I think a lot of people around here, including people in this thread (not all of them, some of them) get their nose out of joint pretty easily and get get really emotional about this stuff REALLY easily. And I saw some proto-butthurt that needed to be headed off at the pass.

FlaxMilk

OP, I am going to try that ice cream, but not with casein since I'm vegan. Pea protein is not exactly delectable. If it works out, I'll come kiss your *kitten*.

Brittygirl007

I am actually doing 1200 cals a day starting today, but it is only going to last 7 days as part of jump starting the Les Mills Pump from Beachbody. Today wasn't too bad. We will see how I do with a week on 1200 cals. with the workouts though.

_stephanie0

@ jetscreaminag THANK YOU!! very nice reply :flowerforyou:

@ the one who asked about losing more @ 1600- as the other said, check the in place of a roadmap. it depends on a LOT of factors. again, SOME people lose better on 1200 (i think these people would be injured and bed ridden) and some on 1400. everyones different. i lose at 1800, im 5'4, and work out 4x week. and have a sedentary job. its all about finding what works for you. im just saying, yeah your calories are lower when you eat healthy but its not hard to add MORE HEALTHY foods to eat a more realistic and healthy calorie amount.

@ bear kisses- because i workout at 630 i have a Pre WO at 530 and consider my Post WO at 8 my dinner everyones schedules will differ their meals.



:drinker:

Ely82010

So I'm gathering that people lose more weight on 1600 calories than 1200 is this true?

Not for me!!! It all depends how big you are (your BMR and TDEE); 1800 calories a day would make me huge. I lost weight and I am on maintenance, just eating round 1200 to 1300 net.

schondell

Why do you need to eat every 2-3 hours? It seems so unnecessary and will probably leave the person hungrier then if they just ate 3 solid meals.

OhThatBlonde

EAT!! I agree - bumping for when I have time to read the entire thread.

ereilly311

Why do you need to eat every 2-3 hours? It seems so unnecessary and will probably leave the person hungrier then if they just ate 3 solid meals.

Because it keeps your metabolism going and fired up which will burn more calories throughout the day for you.

ereilly311

I will be honest, I sometimes have a hard time reaching 1200 calories and I am supposed to eat around 2000 a day according to my nutritionist right now. A lot of it is my own fault though, I don't snack enough. Today is one of those days for me, I was right around 1200 but I should be eating much more right now. It's definitely a lifestyle!

DoingItMyOwnWay

Most of that looks really nice but it does look like a lot of food to me (even when I'm not counting calories). I would struggle to eat all that. Are you working out really hard and burning huge amounts of calories? Just wondering.

_happycats_

Mine tells me that with my size, age and sedentary student life I shouldn't go too much over 1200, but I exercise and happily eat those calories back! And even when I don't exercise, I'm usually over my goal set by MFP at like 1340 because I am hungry! I mostly commented because those look delicious and I want the ideas for meals

nowine4me

Yum.

jetscreaminagain

Why do you need to eat every 2-3 hours? It seems so unnecessary and will probably leave the person hungrier then if they just ate 3 solid meals.

Because it keeps your metabolism going and fired up which will burn more calories throughout the day for you.

This belongs in a whole other thread if it goes much further, but I just want to say here that lots of well informed people disagree with this. Several well-informed people will say that timing of meals means nothing. Several other well informed people will suggest that in fact various forms of Intermittent Fasting do better for your metabolism.

I've done the 6 meal/snacks a day and I eat like a normal person now. I didn't find any benefit to the several meals, but it did seem like I was always either cooking, eating or cleaning up from cooking and eating.

_stephanie0

Most of that looks really nice but it does look like a lot of food to me (even when I'm not counting calories). I would struggle to eat all that. Are you working out really hard and burning huge amounts of calories? Just wondering.

i sell mattresses, so in an 8 hour day im probably on my feet for half an hour. not kidding. im either laying on a bed or sitting in my chair (its dead right now) and i do crossfit 4x week probably burn 300-400 cals per session...

i wore a HRM on a sit on my *kitten* day once and i burned 1750 in that 24 hr period. so id imagine i burn a lot more on actual workout days.


and to the person about eating 2-3 hours. you can eat however you want. i enjoy eating more often. eating is the best thing in the world imo. haha


and to those that think this looks like a lot of food, fine, take out a meal and add a TBSP of peanut butter to each meal. there are tons of ways to do things, this is just MY way.


AND to the person that said it would be better if i posted 1200 calorie day example, i could do that too. this way just to demonstrate its not easy to reach and pass. you want a 1200 calorie example? cut out the bedtime snack, the pre workout snack and one meal. thats NOT the way i wanna live. hahah.

FlaxMilk

AND to the person that said it would be better if i posted 1200 calorie day example, i could do that too. this way just to demonstrate its not easy to reach and pass. you want a 1200 calorie example? cut out the bedtime snack, the pre workout snack and one meal. thats NOT the way i wanna live. hahah.

Checked out your meal plan with those specifications--that would be a much better meal plan for me. Assuming I veganized the menu.

CkepiJinx

I agree that an average healthy adult can eat 1200 calories. I eat that, and I have no problems reaching it unless I'm sick. (I eat that because MFP gives me that number on all settings except for the construction worker setting, at 5. lbs a week, and I'm no construction worker, and even then, it only gives me 1330. For some of us, it is the right number.) But the amount of food you posted would be overly filling for me on an average day. I've definitely had hungry days where I could kill all that and more. It just wouldn't work for me most of the time.

(Not a superiority post or a judgmental post. Just responding to a topic with my own experiences. I wish eating 2100 calories a day worked for me.)

FYI MFP gives EVERYONE the same settings nop matter what your height, weight, age, workout routine male and female. 1200 calories is not enough. ironically MFP also figures your intake below their suggested BMR. hmmmm, maybe its not set up for individuals.

Umm it does not give every one the same, most people change their goals manually to 1200.
It gave me 1760 to start and as I lost weight it lowered my calories I am now at 1530. And my current goal is to lose 2 lbs a week, just so I don't get the oh you must be trying only .5 lb a week. And I am not tall only 5'5.

cuatesmom

U belong in the clean eating group! (search for it: clean eating and cardio challenge new years 2013)
Ur pix are my new daily plan!!! Thx for sharing. I totally agree-- feed the furnace !

AnvilHead

FYI MFP gives EVERYONE the same settings nop matter what your height, weight, age, workout routine male and female. 1200 calories is not enough. ironically MFP also figures your intake below their suggested BMR. hmmmm, maybe its not set up for individuals.

Definitely not true. When I initially set up my MFP account, it gave me somewhere around 1700 calories. I later went in and set "custom" settings to tailor calories and macros toward my personal goals (current calorie goal is 2450/day), but MFP never suggested 1200 calories for me - and I would have laughed if they did, because I often have over 1200 calories just for lunch!

To the OP - thanks for posting the "food porn" - definitely going to have to try the casein ice cream!

Noflexing

i think that bowl of oatmeal looks delicious and looks like it would be very tasty/fruity

every morning i like to start my day off with 1.5 cups of oatmeal, 18 grams of natural peanut butter, 1 packet of zero calorie sugar sweetener with a table spoon of ground cinnamon. sometimes ill chop up an apple or banana. but yours looks very tasty.