When is 1200 calories appropriate? (hint: almost never)

lawrencenichole

Thanks for posting the info, today is my first day on MFP and I'm already feeling the squeeze of 1200 calories a day since as of yet I haven't started an exercise routine other than walking on my 15 min afternoon break at work.. at a leisurely pace.. And didn't have any clue how I would ever actually acheive the 1200 goal

cindygretz

After reading several of these threads I made an appointment with my doctor to discuss my diet and weight loss. She took my information down, consulted a nutritionist and emailed me the diet plan she'd like me to use.

It's an exchange diet... 1200 calories. Go figure.

Edit: Also... I'm stuffing myself to eat 1200 calories. I just forced down two slices of toast with butter and fruit spread because I was 170 calories short for the day.

You had a quarter of a cup of trail mix for lunch and you say you are stuffing yourself?

Really?

How exactly did you end up with weight to lose?

I was drinking 1200-1500 calories a day in Pepsi a month ago and probably 1200 - 1500 calories in one meal (dinner) from a drive through. I feel like I'm eating twice the food I was before and at times force myself to eat just to hit 1200 calories... thats how.

TNR32

bump

turbojam_rocks

bump bump

BeFitwithT1

Bump

justjean

If I have been consistently losing at a lb a week at 1200 calories, should I start eating more? I'm 5'1, 22years old, 28.3% BMI, I would like to be around 126lbs by Mid-May. If the BMR calculation says, "Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk) 1975" Does this mean I should up my calories to be around 1500 target calories a day on mfp?

WinnerVictorious

If I have been consistently losing at a lb a week at 1200 calories, should I start eating more? I'm 5'1, 22years old, 28.3% BMI, I would like to be around 126lbs by Mid-May. If the BMR calculation says, "Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk) 1975" Does this mean I should up my calories to be around 1500 target calories a day on mfp?

i come up with 1725 (sedentary) and 1975 (lightly active) for you. these amounts assume that amount of activity as part of your normal daily routine. if you do specific extra exercise (jogging, running), then you have to add that to get your TDEE for that day.

you have 12 lbs to lose according to your ticker and are giving yourself 10 weeks to get there, so a 500 calorie deficit may be ok if you really are lightly active (due to normal daily activities), then i would say eating at 1450-1500 should be fine for you and allow you to just about meet your goal in that time frame. on days where you add extra exercise, eat back most or all of those calories.

if you have your activity level set too high and it turns out sedentary is correct for you, then your weight loss rate will slow when you bump up your calories. in that case, make sure you're doing enough exercise to have a daily TDEE of 1950-2000 so that you can eat 1450-1500 calories per day. this should keep you just above your BMR and help avoid any sort problems that you may run into by staying at 1200.

justjean

If I have been consistently losing at a lb a week at 1200 calories, should I start eating more? I'm 5'1, 22years old, 28.3% BMI, I would like to be around 126lbs by Mid-May. If the BMR calculation says, "Lightly Active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk) 1975" Does this mean I should up my calories to be around 1500 target calories a day on mfp?

i come up with 1725 (sedentary) and 1975 (lightly active) for you. these amounts assume that amount of activity as part of your normal daily routine. if you do specific extra exercise (jogging, running), then you have to add that to get your TDEE for that day.

you have 12 lbs to lose according to your ticker and are giving yourself 10 weeks to get there, so a 500 calorie deficit may be ok if you really are lightly active (due to normal daily activities), then i would say eating at 1450-1500 should be fine for you and allow you to just about meet your goal in that time frame. on days where you add extra exercise, eat back most or all of those calories.

if you have your activity level set too high and it turns out sedentary is correct for you, then your weight loss rate will slow when you bump up your calories. in that case, make sure you're doing enough exercise to have a daily TDEE of 1950-2000 so that you can eat 1450-1500 calories per day. this should keep you just above your BMR and help avoid any sort problems that you may run into by staying at 1200.

Thanks Winner! I will set my goal for 1450 calories instead of 1200.

akatklein

I make up my deficit with cosmos. A win-win.

SRH7

Nice try, but this is going to fall on deaf ears.

I came to mfp determined 1200 was right. I read a thread like this and upped them. Some people do listen

Me. I was one of those. I lost 4 lbs in the first week on 1200 calories. I wasn't hungry, BUT my legs were not recovering from Zumba. Each day was getting harder and harder. Then I weighed in and saw that I lost all that weight. It clicked. I wasn't burning fat; I was burning muscle, most likely, which would explain the unrecovering soreness. I upped my calories and I feel great. I am happy to plan meals and fun snacks. I sleep better, and it was because of a forum like this. They bother people, but they are good for those wavering on the edge. Not everyone will (or needs to) change. Enough do though, and this is posted for those people! Thank you for posting. IT is hard because it is so controversial. :flowerforyou:

:flowerforyou: Exactly what happened to me! I know that everyone has a different take on it but for me I simply didn't have enough fuel in the tank when netting 1200 a day. Eating more I am able to exercise more... get more fit... retain lean tissue... lose inches. Thanks for this post!

Nana920

Bump

justjean

It's been really hard for me to add more calories to go above 1200 because I'm not hungry. Also, it seems I'm slowing down and only losing .4lbs a week..hmm.

aussie_nic_getting_fit

bump... i must read this later

sammycat1

Bump.

Cassea7

I personally have been really happy with the members posting threads about why 1200 is often too low and to check out the TDEE-20% way. I don't feel they're judgmental, to me it's like they're saying "hey everyone, you can eat more and still lose weight! Isn't that great?!" And for me that led to a big fat YAY!

I started out attempting 1200 and working out vigorously. But I was always hungry, always thinking of food, always tired, and progressively felt weaker. I think I would've totally fallen off the bandwagon had I not discovered these forums. Once I figured out my TDEE and saw I could eat up to 2350 calories and still lose weight, I was frickin ecstatic. I've been consistently losing 1-2lbs per week, I can eat a lot of food, and I'm no longer cranky, tired, and weak.

If you're *truly* happy with 1200, clearly these threads aren't for you. But I was really unhappy and had no idea what I was doing and threads like this are what saved me from giving up entirely. So, thank you OP. For every one person doing 1200 that you piss off with posts like this, at least there's another that you helped.

I TOTALLY agree! I was very weak and exhausted some days..I feel much stronger eating more cals..my BMR is 1600..I am set at 1700( manually) Thankyou OP and all others explaining this to us because i think i would have given up..I definately wouldn t have had the strength to exercise 30 DS everyday

swat1948

Yup, I am one of those idiots who is at 1200 calories and does not eat more than 100 calories over that. I have a thyroid disorder and in order for me to lose I can't eat much above 1200. On top of that I'm pushing 65. Now I have lost 90 pounds in a little over a year, so I beg to differ. And don't tell me to try that because I did and guess what? I gained...so I am doing what works for me.

heybales

Yup, I am one of those idiots who is at 1200 calories and does not eat more than 100 calories over that. I have a thyroid disorder and in order for me to lose I can't eat much above 1200. On top of that I'm pushing 65. Now I have lost 90 pounds in a little over a year, so I beg to differ. And don't tell me to try that because I did and guess what? I gained...so I am doing what works for me.

Gained what?
Extra 250 calories daily if it led to fat gain would be 1 lb in 2 weeks.

Anything more than that or if fast gain, and you gained water weight, same water weight you dropped when first starting a diet. And what you will gain back the minute you go to maintenance.
Or you finally ate enough for your exercise level and body had a chance to store some more glucose for energy, which stores with water too.

And lost 90 lbs of what?
Hoping you at least did some good resistance training and ate enough protein, perhaps you managed to not lose as much muscle mass as normally happens on a deficit without doing those things.

Because indeed, the major reason why metabolism goes down as you get older is not because the body all of a sudden got more efficient doing the functions of life, but rather people on average stop using their muscles as much and lose them.
There are older people that have the metabolism's of 20 year olds. Not talking total daily burn because of high activity, but BMR because they have great Lean Body Mass they have retained or built up.
At some point of course, body stops doing some of those basic functions and BMR does go down little by little, but you can slow that drop down.

Great job with loss none-the-less.

beskimoosh

I'm on 1200 on doctors advice and monitoring, however I agree that it's not right for most people.

I will be gradually upping it once I hit healthier BMI's, and that will be with my doctors support as well. My advice is if you can eat more, then go for it, and don't eat low unless your doctor has advised it. If you're unsure as to why they've recommended it, ask them, and see if they can explain their clinical decision. My doctor could, as the risks of me being this weight outweigh the risks of eating low, but if you doctor can't explain and doesn't have a plan for when you've reached a certain weight, then see someone else.

cerenia

All these messages confuse me - i've had my calories at anything from 1200 to 1690 - When I went down to 1270, I finally started losing weight, it seems to be what works best for me, so will stick to it for a while at least.

dmaster555

"the side effects of a 1200 calorie diet"

lol this just made my day.

Some people have no business giving advice.