Calorie Goal Claims - Am I a sourpuss skeptic?

AliceAsya

I've been tracking calorie intake for years to lose and maintain weight. I know that finding the right energy balance is the only way to truly lose weight and keep it off. Depending on various factors I've eaten between 1200 and 1500 calories per day in the past. I'm incredibly diligent about the way I track. I log every little thing and always weigh food out. I'll take exercise into account, but I don't log things like cleaning my house.

Sometimes I see people posting that they're having trouble eating enough. It seems to happen to people with very low goals like 1200 cal/day. My initial knee jerk reaction is either they're not tracking diligently (estimating or eye-balling) or they have some sort of eating disorder. 1200 isn't a lot of calories!

So here's my question: am I delusional? Am I just a grumpy sourpuss that wishes she could eat more? Anyone else feel this way?

VickiMitkins

You are not alone. I agree 1200 is not a lot of food, unless you are eating like Dr. Furman suggests in his book Eat for Health (vegan plant based diet). I have no intention of going vegan, but I do try to incorporate lots more fruits and vegetables just to get some bulk in my diet. I also eat about 1500 calories to maintain and 1200 to lose. If I go to 1700, I will gain close to a pound a month.

jacksonpt

I'm sure that's the case for some. Other's also eat "too clean" - it takes a lot of chicken breast and celery would it take to hit 1200 cals.

Meg_78

I'm a little girl, and 1200 doesn't even come close to the amount of calories I need to eat per day to feel sane, Or perhaps I just can't eat that clean..and I'm lucky I don't have to..

I don't know, my knee jerk reaction to anyone who says they struggle to eat 1200 is that they are A) not logging correctly lying C) Have some kind of ED....or D) Are living on lettuce

VickiMitkins

I like food too much to do that.

cobaltis

I'm sure that's the case for some. Other's also eat "too clean" - it takes a lot of chicken breast and celery would it take to hit 1200 cals.

I used to fall into this category, in this case if you only eat leafy greens and chicken, that is a large amount of plain chicken lol

bokodasu

I used to think the same thing, but I've gotten caught in the "too clean" (aka orthorexic) trap and yeah, after a bit your body goes NO MORE to the, like, three things you've gotten down to eating. So it is definitely possible for it feel like 1200 is a lot, and that should be a warning sign, not a "hooray, my diet is working!" thing.

But I think a lot of people are deceiving themselves, too - people who log 1200 calories burned for 1 mile mosied, ur doin it wrong.