Is 1200 too low?

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  • Minerva624
    Minerva624 Posts: 577 Member
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    Despite what others may tell you, it depends on what you eat. A 1,200 calorie standard American diet will help you lose weight, but you won't be able to sustain that eating pattern. You will ultimately succumb to your biology and will satisfy your biological need by either binging, or "falling off the wagon", or giving up. It's just not enough volume of food to satisfy your stomach receptors, leading to cravings and distress.

    What is interesting is if you tried a whole foods, plant-based diet, you can eat as much volume of food as you want. Literally, the sky is the limit. This diet features nutrient rich foods, and avoids calorie dense foods. Calorie dense foods do not satisfy your hunger, they will not provide satiety. Calorie dense foods are animal based foods and oil; meat, fish, cheese, chicken, olive oil, coconut oil, etc. A tablespoon of olive oil has the same calories as a handful of black beans. Choose the black beans.

    Watch Forks Over Knives on Netflix.

    This person is so right! Listen to them. :D
  • redheaddee
    redheaddee Posts: 2,005 Member
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    Watch Forks Over Knives on Netflix.

    No.

    When in doubt, ask your doctor.
  • nicleed
    nicleed Posts: 247 Member
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    OK, here is what I have learnt the hard way. Your metabolism will naturally slow down as you get older...do you really want to give it a boost by not fueling it while you are young? Do you want to eat 1200 forever? Do you want to lose lean body mass as you lose fat? Do you want to increase your chances of osteoporosis after menopause? Do you want to get to 70 years old and get puffed walking up a couple of stairs?

    If the answer to any of this is "No", then you need to fuel your body properly and mix some strength training into you cardio routine...

    Your heart is a muscle as well.......and, unless you are morbidly obese, which you aren't - if you eat below BMR you are not fueling ANY basic bodily functions.

    (Edited to add that 1200 is not too low for weightloss, but it may be too low for your long-term health AND, at your height, weight and age you can likely eat more and still lose weight, albeit more slowly)
  • Aviva92
    Aviva92 Posts: 2,333 Member
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    Despite what others may tell you, it depends on what you eat. A 1,200 calorie standard American diet will help you lose weight, but you won't be able to sustain that eating pattern. You will ultimately succumb to your biology and will satisfy your biological need by either binging, or "falling off the wagon", or giving up. It's just not enough volume of food to satisfy your stomach receptors, leading to cravings and distress.

    What is interesting is if you tried a whole foods, plant-based diet, you can eat as much volume of food as you want. Literally, the sky is the limit. This diet features nutrient rich foods, and avoids calorie dense foods. Calorie dense foods do not satisfy your hunger, they will not provide satiety. Calorie dense foods are animal based foods and oil; meat, fish, cheese, chicken, olive oil, coconut oil, etc. A tablespoon of olive oil has the same calories as a handful of black beans. Choose the black beans.

    Watch Forks Over Knives on Netflix.

    This person is so right! Listen to them. :D

    I don't think they are exactly right. I ate a combination of animal based foods and increased my vegetable consumption and lost a lot of weight. I think too many carbs set you up for failure, not animal based foods.
  • Aviva92
    Aviva92 Posts: 2,333 Member
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    man these threads bashing 1200 calorie diets are annoying.
  • YoungAchiever
    YoungAchiever Posts: 3 Member
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    I'm doing 25 minutes of cardio daily and consume 1200 calories a day including my exercise calories. Is this too little? Don't want to have the reverse effect and slow down my metabolism...but also want to see results.

    Yeah 1200 sounds way low but it all depends on your height and current weight.
    Google the harris-benedict formula.
    It should lead you to a couple websites that can help you figure out your total daily energy expenditure
    and then you can use that information to find out how much you would need to drop weight at a safe rate.
    It's based on your weight, height, age and sex.
  • jparks341
    jparks341 Posts: 216 Member
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    A interesting read for MFP peeps that are eating under 1200 calories: just read & think about it. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12
    Good luck.
  • dreamscene
    dreamscene Posts: 6
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    Because what happens when you want to maintain? Are you going to eat 1200 forever? Don't let it get used to running on so little. Net your bmr if you exercise or eat your bmr if you skip exercise.

    If I eat 1200 calories forever, I'm pretty sure I'll continue to lose. I have to up my calories now to stop the freefall. I don't think this is true at all.

    I wouldn't really go as far as to say "forever". At some point 1200 will become your maintenance. How long have you been eating 1200?

    If you do up your calories after some point, say to 1400, you might gain a bit at first. If you were a skinny kid it might work for longer than usual. But still, to maintain your 'end/goal' weight you're going to have to keep eating 1200. Any little bump will signal a bit of a gain.

    For people who have had weight issues for a while, they honestly shouldn't baseline at 1200 every single day. It's unnecessary. I tried that. It doesn't work and it doesn't for some people. If folks are coming to this board and asking "hey, am I doing this right?" most likely they're not having the success they've been hoping for.

    And that's the key thing here.

    Glad it's working for you though.
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
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    man these threads bashing 1200 calorie diets are annoying.
    Can you quote the "bashing" parts?
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
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    man these threads bashing 1200 calorie diets are annoying.

    You need to check your interpretation of 'bashing'. You seem to take it PERSONALLY when people respond to the question asked by the OP with answers that call in to question your choices. That does not mean anyone is bashing YOUR diet- do whatever you want. You are an adult (if I remember correctly) in your 30's, and you do not have to apply anything anyone says to yourself. You are choosing to interpret it that way.
  • Wade406
    Wade406 Posts: 272 Member
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    Watch Forks Over Knives on Netflix.

    No.

    When in doubt, ask your doctor.

    How can becoming more informed be "no"?
    Doctors can help you make informed choices. I asked my Doctor if it was alright if I continued following the whole foods plant-based diet that I started and he just about started kissing my feet. He started asking me if I could help him to do the same.
  • dreamscene
    dreamscene Posts: 6
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    Oh yeah, if 1200 is your BMR then it will be fine for a longer period of time.

    For those whose BMR is over 1200, not so much. A 1500 cal BMR will decrease as weight decreases, no need to fast track the process.

    The solution to dealing with a low 1200 calorie BMR is exercising (and eating the burned calories on top of that) to create more of a deficit.

    The 1200 calorie BMR is a problem because going any lower wouldn't really work in the desired sense. That's all.
  • ecw3780
    ecw3780 Posts: 608 Member
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    1200 calories plus exercise calories is any easy formula that will show you results and prevent any extreme dieting. Basically, you should "Net" 1200 calories every day. FYI, Net = calories eaten- calories burned. If you hit 1200 net, you will be fine and you will still lose.
  • symonspatrick
    symonspatrick Posts: 213 Member
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    Yes it is too little. No it will not stop your metabolism. You are at a healthy weight. Your bmr is 1500 and you should be eating at least that. But this all has to do with being healthy not with losing weight. So be healthy and eat more than 1500 and less than you are burning and you will lose weight.
  • tabfjo
    tabfjo Posts: 78 Member
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    I ate around 1200 calories for months and hit a plateau. I then read a thread about TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure), calculated mine, up-ed my calories by 300 (1560 now) and instantly had more energy and less bloating. I also had my body fat percentage tested. This told me a lot more about my body than anything else. Although the scale wasnt at the weight I wanted I was in the normal range for body fat percentage... only 1.5% away from the fitness level.

    This isn't the thread I read but it's a good place to start if you are interested.
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/512956-tdee-what-is-it-and-why-you-should-not-eat-below-your-bmr
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
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    man these threads bashing 1200 calorie diets are annoying.

    You need to check your interpretation of 'bashing'. You seem to take it PERSONALLY when people respond to the question asked by the OP with answers that call in to question your choices. That does not mean anyone is bashing YOUR diet- do whatever you want. You are an adult (if I remember correctly) in your 30's, and you do not have to apply anything anyone says to yourself. You are choosing to interpret it that way.
    In case you didn't know, everything on the internet is about her.
    whole foods plant-based diet
    Creationism -> intelligent design == veganism -> plant-based diet
  • BGM325
    BGM325 Posts: 78
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    It definitely depends on the person, in my opinion. I am currently consuming 1200 calories a day sometimes I go a little bit over but for the most part I stay in that ballpark. I do about an hour of cardio per day, I drink tons of water, I eat 3 meals a day, 2 snacks & dessert. I may dip into my exercise calories if I am hungry but I rarely do. I eat vegetables, fruit, protein, carbs, dairy & my favorite food group, chocolate if I am in the mood. (Portion control) I don't feel sluggish AT ALL whereas just weeks ago it took major control for me not to fall asleep at my desk every day after lunch. I am not feeling hungry nor am I eating when I'm bored or anxious, & believe me I JUST discovered that I do have willpower & self control. The scale has not gone lower this week but the inches are coming off so I will stick to this for the time being & if I start feeling like I need to change things up then I will. I've done alot of reading and research on these boards & I've come to the conclusion that you gotta do what's best for you as long as you're responsible & not causing yourself harm. Good luck to all of you.
  • Shadowknight137
    Shadowknight137 Posts: 1,243 Member
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    man these threads bashing 1200 calorie diets are annoying.

    I find the "is this obviously massive deficit too much?" threads much moreso.
  • Aviva92
    Aviva92 Posts: 2,333 Member
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    In case you didn't know, everything on the internet is about her.


    it's not, but i'm way more interesting than these repeat threads so maybe it should be.
  • Aviva92
    Aviva92 Posts: 2,333 Member
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    man these threads bashing 1200 calorie diets are annoying.

    You need to check your interpretation of 'bashing'. You seem to take it PERSONALLY when people respond to the question asked by the OP with answers that call in to question your choices. That does not mean anyone is bashing YOUR diet- do whatever you want. You are an adult (if I remember correctly) in your 30's, and you do not have to apply anything anyone says to yourself. You are choosing to interpret it that way.

    ummmm, when the o.p.'s choice was my choice, yes it is.

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