A Success story from someone who eats 1200 calories

5ftnFun

Eating that little is hard for most folks. I want to lose fat, not muscle. And I want to keep it off for the rest of my life. Wonder what your weight will be in say, 5 yrs from now? But if it works for you, great.

mydoc3

I honestly don't see why anyone should bash anyone else for what they eat. What works for one may not work for someone else. I am on a 1200 cal plan also. Sometimes I exceed that and sometimes I don't eat that many. But I am doing what works for ME!! I workout 5-6 days a week and seeing results. So if someone doesn't like what I'm doing that is totally their problem!!! If you are having success with your plan then keep doing what you are doing, in spite of haters. :happy:

rm7161

eatng more is what got me to 250 pounds. and put me at a size 26W. thanks runmeNC very kind. I lost 5 more pounds today weighing 174 pounds. I weigh once a week also.

First off, Is that 5lbs a week average? If you are losing that much every week then you NEED to up your calories, anything over 1-2 lbs per week is muscle tissue your losing.

I am at the 1390 mark right now and work out HARD 3 times a week and only lose average 2 lbs a week and gaining muscle. And no I don't ever eat back my calories burned unless my body tells me I'm hungary which normally it doesn't because of careful meal planning and lots of good fuel.

I eat more than that... it really depends on your height/build, too. Smaller people need less calories. I'm 5 foot 6 with a medium build and moderately active, so 1200 is not enough. 1390 even is not enough, I lost 5 lbs over the last week and my average was closer to 1800 as I went out a few nights last week and was doing loads of running around.

But lower calories is sometimes right for others!

bamboozle_98

I think everyone gets to know their body and how many calories it takes for them to feel healthy. I too am on the 1200 cal limit and it seems to be working!!! It's a new way of looking at the things I eat and I try to choose foods more for the health benefit and what I can eat more of!!!! Sometimes I find it hard to even reach 1200 calories!! Thank you for sharing because It really motivates me to hear all of your stories! It is so easy to get discouraged and to stay focused with so many bad influences and all the HORRID fast food commercials. (They are the devil!!!) I am super proud of all of us because It's a whole lifestyle change!!!

Way to go!!!!

k8blujay2

Wow! There is so much unsolicited advice going on around here... why can't people just say "good job" to the OP and move on!


Again to the OP, great job! You have done something that I have yet to do... keep up the good work and I hope that you are successful in meeting your goals!

PetulantOne

Congrats on your loss!
Can you detail how much body fat vs lean muscle lost since you started?
Do you have progress photos?
Can we see your progress thru this journey?

I'm asking because most women "want" weight loss but really "need" fat loss.
So eating 1200 calories will help you lose "weight" but the end result can sometimes leave one lighter but not really with less fat.
Do you catch my drift?

If you do calculations on body fat and you are at goal weight but with 25% or higher BF, you probably should evaluate what your end goal should be and work to fix it now.

Congrats on your weight loss.

QFT

roiLEI1554

nice job @1200 kcals! (flower for you) :flowerforyou:

I hope I can do the same...I always thought starving and dieting were connected, but eating 1200 seems to work here! (at least, it's been working for me so far :bigsmile: )

rm7161

Wow! There is so much unsolicited advice going on around here... why can't people just say "good job" to the OP and move on!


Again to the OP, great job! You have done something that I have yet to do... keep up the good work and I hope that you are successful in meeting your goals!

The OP implied that you can gain on 1600-1800 calories to a size 26... that's part of why. I was there too and I guarantee I wasn't eating 1600-1800 a day, more like twice that and half the exercise I do now.

I am happy for her loss, but wanted to put my two cents in that not everyone gains on a moderately low cal diet.

perfectingpatti

Wow! There is so much unsolicited advice going on around here... why can't people just say "good job" to the OP and move on!

I'm hoping it's because people don't realize this is posted in the SUCCESS section and that this is about HER success. Now, if she had posted this in the Food and Nutrition section, I could see some of these comments being made there.

bpotts44

Congrats on your loss!
Can you detail how much body fat vs lean muscle lost since you started?
Do you have progress photos?
Can we see your progress thru this journey?

I'm asking because most women "want" weight loss but really "need" fat loss.
So eating 1200 calories will help you lose "weight" but the end result can sometimes leave one lighter but not really with less fat.
Do you catch my drift?

If you do calculations on body fat and you are at goal weight but with 25% or higher BF, you probably should evaluate what your end goal should be and work to fix it now.

Congrats on your weight loss.

I can't imagine she lost much LBM when she was probably 40% BF to start. She should certainly calculate her LBM and set her goals properly but to say she lost all this weight and has the same body fat is silly. 1200 is not unrealistic if she is sedentary and not very tall. Not everyone is physically capable of working out. Congrats on the loss.

bcattoes

First, congrats on your success.

Second, it isn't that people are saying you CAN'T lose weight eating 1200 cals a day, of course you can! What the criticism is that MOST people have a hard time only consuming 1200 cals, especially if they are very overweight or taller. This leads to binge eating or making it harder to stick to the plan, or having less energy to exercise/weight lift. Plus, the question the remains, is what will your body do once you start eating at maintenance? If your Maint cals are in the 1800-2000 range, and you spend a year eating 1200, there is a pretty good chance you'll have a hard time keeping it off long term. THAT is why people are so suspicious of this way of losing weight. It isn't about "Hatin'"......

It sometimes is about "hatin" or just putting others down to make oneself feel better. But your point is valid. Perhaps as the user gets closer to goal she will want to add more calories to be closer to maintenance. Perhaps not. But that has nothing to do with her success at 1200 now. Just because a diet needs tweaking along the way to goal, doesn't make the initial success wrong.

mbacheld72

I absolutely agree. I eat more now, but it's all healthy choices, and I eat more frequently. I'm never hungry, and I am constantly around the 1200 mark every day. That's seems tough for a guy, but I do not have a problem with it, and I've lost 9 lbs. so far. My PT wanted me to eat closer to 2700 per day, and I flat out told him no. There's no way I could make that goal unless I was downing gainer shakes, which I refuse to do. I do cardio and strength training, and I am already seeing the results. I believe in listening to your own body. It will tell you if you're starving. LIght-headedness, extreme fatigue from noraml daily activity, or that awful hunger pain means you're not eating enough, or maybe not in close enough intervals. If I'm not suffering from these, then I know I'm good to go.

TheFitHooker

Great job girl!!! I 2 have lost on 1200 calories. Started out at 250 lbs and am now 127 lbs. Lost it all by eating at 1200. It can be done if your body is meant to be there, no it's not the magic number for everyone but some people can't eat more then that to lose. I strongly believe that, I have tried to eat more and ended up gaining. I am having to shock my metabolism right now by going up and down a bit, hoping to jump kick it again to lose more, these last 7 lbs are stubborn.

Summer_Lunatic

I'm sorry that my post came off as snarky. It appears everyone thought so and that was not my intention. I wish you the best of luck and continued success.

kirstyfairhead

So the average human burns between 2k-2600cals per day.
Simply finding TDEE and cutting 20% will give appx 1lb lost per week.
Thats 1600-2k a day.
So why go thru RMR reduction from under eating, giving the body a reason to maintain fat as best it can for energy?

If your average of course!!

My BMR is 1224 - light activity gets me up to 1490 so if i have TDEE at 1490 and take 20% off it takes me to 1202
I then have a deficit of 290 cals per day so it will take me 12 days to loose 1lb eating only 1202 cals per day assuming my activity is light. If i eat 2000 cals per day I would gain 1lb per week or alternatively I could burn off 800 cals per day on top of my light activity in order to get back to my loss of 1lb every 12 days, which would involve running for 1hr 40mins every day.

You wonder why some folks eat less!!? Oh and by the way, I still eat 1200 or over!

TheCaren

congrats! I hope I can keep at it. My doctor years ago told me I needed to be at 1200 calories yikes! My hardest part is when you make stuff from scratch it is hard to figure out calorie counts, so I have to wing it a lot. Hoping the 1200 pays off soon this sucks lol

Create a recipe in MFP with your ingredients. I do it all the time when making something at home from scratch.

fightininggirl

I do have some pictures on my profile. they don't make it easy to add them here. make it to complicated.

When I started out at 250 pounds I ate the 1600-1800 calories that most mfp's reccomend but that was what put me at 250 pounds and a size 26W. When I started eating 1200 calories I dropped 30 pounds and went from 250 to 220 last January. its not bye week it took me 2 years eating 1200 calories to get me this far. which people don't seem to understand. I am a very short girl and the athletic type 1200 calories works for me. I am not starving myself. a lot stems of being uneducated. what bugs me is when people don't bother to look at my diary and what I eat and assume I must be starving myself with eating like this. when in reality I have been more of a piggie on my eating. today I ate a turkey burger with tomatoes and dill pickles. breakfast scrambled eggs w/salsa beef susage patty and fruit. also there is a big difference between eating empty calories vs healthy. if your body gets the right nutrients and is full and satisfied feels healthy and energetic then to me its dumb to add more calories on when I am not hungry. I did that before and it got me up to 220 pounds.

evdenapoli

congrats! I hope I can keep at it. My doctor years ago told me I needed to be at 1200 calories yikes! My hardest part is when you make stuff from scratch it is hard to figure out calorie counts, so I have to wing it a lot. Hoping the 1200 pays off soon this sucks lol

Did you know there is a recipe calculator on here? It's my best friend! I couook mostly from scratch, so I enter the ingredients and poof! it ives me the calories/CARBS/Fats and protein / serving :happy:

TheFitHooker

Wow! There is so much unsolicited advice going on around here... why can't people just say "good job" to the OP and move on!


Again to the OP, great job! You have done something that I have yet to do... keep up the good work and I hope that you are successful in meeting your goals!

The OP implied that you can gain on 1600-1800 calories to a size 26... that's part of why. I was there too and I guarantee I wasn't eating 1600-1800 a day, more like twice that and half the exercise I do now.

I am happy for her loss, but wanted to put my two cents in that not everyone gains on a moderately low cal diet.

I'm pretty sure the OP was saying she gains eating 1600-1800, correct me if I am wrong but that is how I had read it. Which is what happens to me. This past weekend I ate at least 2000 calories and ended up gaining 5 lbs over night, which I am sure was mostly the sodium in what I had and water weight, but it I eat over 1400 I gain, if I eat right at 1400 that is my maintenance mode, 1300 I still will not lose anything.

CloneSN

awesome! I'm trying to keep around the 12-1400 cal count too and working a lot off via the Arc Trainer at the gym! Seems to be working so far! Good luck!