Still think your 1200 or less diet is a good idea?
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I can do 1200 for my breakfast.
To quote an earlier thread...That is not a normal breakfast!! Maybe if you're a linebacker!!! You must be one of those ectomorphs!! I know my body!!
^^ Yep. That was the thread. I guess I'm a linebacker too! :laugh:0 -
I've been following these kind of discussions pretty closely every since becoming more active with MFP about a week ago. These discussions have been absolutely eye opening for me. I didn't realize I was trying to fit myself into a mold that wasn't meant for me. I think if 1200 works for most, then it's what you should do. I'm realizing now that it doesn't work for everyone and that we should all take a look at the information and see what works for us as individuals.0
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Damn straight.Discrepancy between self-reported and actual caloric intake and exercise in obese subjects.
Lichtman SW, Pisarska K, Berman ER, Pestone M, Dowling H, Offenbacher E, Weisel H, Heshka S, Matthews DE, Heymsfield SB.
Source
Department of Medicine, St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND METHODS:
Some obese subjects repeatedly fail to lose weight even though they report restricting their caloric intake to less than 1200 kcal per day. We studied two explanations for this apparent resistance to diet--low total energy expenditure and underreporting of caloric intake--in 224 consecutive obese subjects presenting for treatment. Group 1 consisted of nine women and one man with a history of diet resistance in whom we evaluated total energy expenditure and its main thermogenic components and actual energy intake for 14 days by indirect calorimetry and analysis of body composition. Group 2, subgroups of which served as controls in the various evaluations, consisted of 67 women and 13 men with no history of diet resistance.
RESULTS:
Total energy expenditure and resting metabolic rate in the subjects with diet resistance (group 1) were within 5 percent of the predicted values for body composition, and there was no significant difference between groups 1 and 2 in the thermic effects of food and exercise. Low energy expenditure was thus excluded as a mechanism of self-reported diet resistance. In contrast, the subjects in group 1 underreported their actual food intake by an average (+/- SD) of 47 +/- 16 percent and overreported their physical activity by 51 +/- 75 percent. Although the subjects in group 1 had no distinct psychopathologic characteristics, they perceived a genetic cause for their obesity, used thyroid medication at a high frequency, and described their eating behavior as relatively normal (all P < 0.05 as compared with group 2).
CONCLUSIONS:
The failure of some obese subjects to lose weight while eating a diet they report as low in calories is due to an energy intake substantially higher than reported and an overestimation of physical activity, not to an abnormality in thermogenesis.
Pretty much bang on what I just posted.0 -
I eat 1200 calories a day... gradually stepped down from about 1550 as I lost weight. I plan my meals carefully on the Sunday before each week, making sure each one is satisfying and nutritious. I never feel starved or deprived and I have had a lot of success. And, the best part, I am perfectly happy.0
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I can do 1200 for my breakfast.
Haha! :drinker:0 -
I should add, to be completely fair, that I think a lot of younger people who are more active in their daily lives are making a big mistake by jumping straight onto 1200 as their total number for the day. But MFP never intended for them to do that. It is for sedentary people and that means it is not for people who work on their feet, students who cross campus with giant backpacks full of books, and those kids trampling across people's lawns. These hoodlums need to eat more than 1200 every day even if they don't make a conscious effort to work out. Now get off my lawn!
This exactly is the point. Just because 1200 calories a day is the right number of calories for a very petite, sedentary, older woman or someone with a medical issue that slows the metabolism, does not make it the right number of calories for a larger, younger more active person with no medical issues.
If someone genuinely only needs to eat 1200 calories a day, and they punch their data into a TDEE calculator and subtract ten or twenty percent (depending on how much they have left to lose), then the number they end up with will be 1200 calories (or close to it) and they can carry on safe in the knowledge that it's the right number of calories for them. The problem is, the vast majority of the time when people on 1200 calories a day diets do that, they get a really big number, sometimes well over 2000. Some of them think again and work their way up to eating the higher number of calories, and end up feeling a lot happier, healthier and having a lot more energy, and also experience more steady weight loss as a result. Others freak out at the big number, refuse to eat that much and carry on eating 1200 calories a day. Then there are those who refuse to even try to punch their numbers in the calculators. People who genuinely need to only eat 1200 calories a day will not lose anything by punching their numbers into the calculators to see if they really and truly do only need to eat 1200 calories a day.
*tiptoes carefully from your lawn*0 -
Great link.
Also, many people don't understand that it's not always about the calories. If you eat fried bacon cheese burgers everyday you will never end up ripped. It's what you eat that matters more than how many calories you eat. I worked my way down to 120lbs once before by eating all the right foods and doing all the right exercises at the right times. I Never counted calories until now and it works for me....which might not work for anyone else...cuz we're all different0 -
Bump0
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don't care about all the posts in this thread
taso, get ready for this:
you're so damn right. :drinker:
26 YO male! What else is new. :laugh:0 -
Pretty much bang on what I just posted.
Yeah. The idea that your body will stop losing weight if you only give it half the energy it needs is ludicrous to me. Losing weight does slow your metabolism. Severe calorie restriction does not give your body magical properties.0 -
MFP put me at 1280 and I have a hard time lately getting to that...I find that in the evening i have to snack to reach my goal...that can't be good either???0
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Shes one in a million. The average woman dosent look like that. It is like saying there should be no fat girls under 60.
Reading comprehension fail.
She actually supports your argument. She is only eating 1700 calories a day, which if you see how much she exercises, is a pretty low calorie diet.
Or was that not what you were getting at before? (as an aside, a personal trainer I knew in Europe was also over 60 and could rock the bikini better than a lot of women much younger, that includes myself ... I've got horrid stretch marks that aren't going away on the abs.)0 -
Yep!!0 -
I'm not sure why you're confused that 1200 calories NET is enough to satisfy people. OK it doesn't satisfy you...but that's you, and I'm sorry I don't care what you put into your body and what you have found works for you.1200 90% of the time is fine for me. im a vegetarian so i eat lots of fruit and veg which keeps me satiated.
im sorry you have to eat lots to lose weight but care to get over the fact that it works for some people if you do it right? :flowerforyou: ttfn
Why are you sorry that other people get to eat lots of calories? I don't get it. I also don't get what's desirable about only eating 1200 calories a day "if I do it right", when I can eat 1850 calories a day. If I do what right? If I eat just right I'll be able to survive on 1200 cals/day without any bad health effects? Why would I want to when i don't have to?
Sorry, I'm confused.
1200 works for me because I eat good food and chose wisely. I'm still functioning, I'm still healthy. Now give me my special snowflake cookie.
Well I'm sorry that you don't enjoy meat. :flowerforyou:0 -
Pretty much bang on what I just posted.
Yeah. The idea that your body will stop losing weight if you only give it half the energy it needs is ludicrous to me. Losing weight does slow your metabolism. Severe calorie restriction does not give your body magical properties.
I guess I shouldn't tell you how as soon as I started eating 1200 cal/day I was able to float around. The laws of physics don't apply to me anymore
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don't care about all the posts in this thread
taso, get ready for this:
you're so damn right. :drinker:
26 YO male! What else is new. :laugh:
who works with clients developing nutrition plans, and not ONCE has one of my clients eaten as little as 1200/day. they all lose weight. and significant amounts of it. 0 -
I have my moments where I wonder if MFP is a good thing or a bad thing when I see all those threads. Folks are blindly following the numbers it gives them, and in fact, not even eating what it gives them! Something's quite wrong.0
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MFP put me at 1280 and I have a hard time lately getting to that...I find that in the evening i have to snack to reach my goal...that can't be good either???
That's not surprising if you're eating completely clean. Alot of veggies have very low calories. Easy things you can do: peanut butter, glass of milk, etc. Just to bump your calories without eating complete junk. I still have trouble getting my calories in doing that, but I'm eating more calorie count.0 -
Pretty much bang on what I just posted.
Yeah. The idea that your body will stop losing weight if you only give it half the energy it needs is ludicrous to me. Losing weight does slow your metabolism. Severe calorie restriction does not give your body magical properties.
I guess I shouldn't tell you how as soon as I started eating 1200 cal/day I was able to float around. The laws of physics don't apply to me anymore
Of course there are SOME exceptions. I just meant...you know...generally.0 -
I'm 5'0 ft, 118 lbs, almost 40 - so, I'm on the lower end of the TDEE spectrum.
I'm sure it works for some people, but from personal experience, it's not necessary.
I was losing on 1200NET and I'm losing on 1680NET (and sometimes over).
Always eating my exercise calories of course.
I exercise 50-80 mins every day, and I eat 1800-2300 cals a day.
And I'm losing 1/3 - 1/2 lb x week - steadily.
When I'm not exercising, I live a relatively "light activity" lifestyle.
But I'm set to "active" and believe that this works because, I think,
MFP doesn't take into account the extended burn of exercise, and the thermal effect of food,
or the person's muscularity - which in my case, all together, probably gives me another 200 calories a day.
This said - I LOVE this site, and it totally rocks. But you have to feel it out with your own body,
and then adjust the settings fearlessly.
I think that "In Place of a Road Map" didn't work for me for these same reasons.
It gives me about 200 calories less than I eat, for the same weight loss I'm getting.
I'm just saying this in case you just walked in here, read the whole thread,
and are now even more confused than I was when I started.
Train your body to eat and burn.
If you love your body, and feed it well, it will stop holding on to fat for dear life.
And keep it moving!0 -
Shes one in a million. The average woman dosent look like that. It is like saying there should be no fat girls under 60.
Reading comprehension fail.
She actually supports your argument. She is only eating 1700 calories a day, which if you see how much she exercises, is a pretty low calorie diet.
Or was that not what you were getting at before? (as an aside, a personal trainer I knew in Europe was also over 60 and could rock the bikini better than a lot of women much younger, that includes myself ... I've got horrid stretch marks that aren't going away on the abs.)
Actually, for her age it really is not that low.0 -
don't care about all the posts in this thread
taso, get ready for this:
you're so damn right. :drinker:
26 YO male! What else is new. :laugh:
Hmm....I don't really care what a young man is eating, but this female, just a year and two days from turning 40, working at a desk all day and doing very little cardio is losing a pound a week on 2000 calories.
0 -
don't care about all the posts in this thread
taso, get ready for this:
you're so damn right. :drinker:
26 YO male! What else is new. :laugh:
Hmm....I don't really care what a young man is eating, but this female, just a year and two days from turning 40, working at a desk all day and doing very little cardio is losing a pound a week on 2000 calories.
Great! You may have to lower that amount as you get below 200 lbs, but congrats on your loss so far.0 -
Actually, for her age it really is not that low.
TDEE for a 130 lb sedentary 75 year old female at 66 inches tall is 1405. That's not much lower.
For someone who is moderately active, it is 1815. Which is higher than what she's eating, and she is a lot more than moderately active.0 -
Great link.
Also, many people don't understand that it's not always about the calories. If you eat fried bacon cheese burgers everyday you will never end up ripped. It's what you eat that matters more than how many calories you eat. I worked my way down to 120lbs once before by eating all the right foods and doing all the right exercises at the right times. I Never counted calories until now and it works for me....which might not work for anyone else...cuz we're all different
Where on earth did you get the idea that you can't lose body fat if bacon cheeseburgers are on the menu? Personally, I like bacon cheeseburger pizza.0 -
don't care about all the posts in this thread
taso, get ready for this:
you're so damn right. :drinker:
26 YO male! What else is new. :laugh:
Hmm....I don't really care what a young man is eating, but this female, just a year and two days from turning 40, working at a desk all day and doing very little cardio is losing a pound a week on 2000 calories.
Great! You may have to lower that amount as you get below 200 lbs, but congrats on your loss so far.
If I weren't doing strength training, that might be the case, but after seven months and 59 pounds lost, my TDEE is *still* 2500 calories.
Strength training FTW. :smokin:0 -
I should add, to be completely fair, that I think a lot of younger people who are more active in their daily lives are making a big mistake by jumping straight onto 1200 as their total number for the day. But MFP never intended for them to do that. It is for sedentary people and that means it is not for people who work on their feet, students who cross campus with giant backpacks full of books, and those kids trampling across people's lawns. These hoodlums need to eat more than 1200 every day even if they don't make a conscious effort to work out. Now get off my lawn!
This exactly is the point. Just because 1200 calories a day is the right number of calories for a very petite, sedentary, older woman or someone with a medical issue that slows the metabolism, does not make it the right number of calories for a larger, younger more active person with no medical issues.
If someone genuinely only needs to eat 1200 calories a day, and they punch their data into a TDEE calculator and subtract ten or twenty percent (depending on how much they have left to lose), then the number they end up with will be 1200 calories (or close to it) and they can carry on safe in the knowledge that it's the right number of calories for them. The problem is, the vast majority of the time when people on 1200 calories a day diets do that, they get a really big number, sometimes well over 2000. Some of them think again and work their way up to eating the higher number of calories, and end up feeling a lot happier, healthier and having a lot more energy, and also experience more steady weight loss as a result. Others freak out at the big number, refuse to eat that much and carry on eating 1200 calories a day. Then there are those who refuse to even try to punch their numbers in the calculators. People who genuinely need to only eat 1200 calories a day will not lose anything by punching their numbers into the calculators to see if they really and truly do only need to eat 1200 calories a day.
*tiptoes carefully from your lawn*
This exactly. I see a lot of people asking if they should "follow MFP numbers or TDEE-20%." If you have both set up correctly, they should be about the same. My TDEE-20% would be 1820. As a lightly active person, MFP gives me about 1300 to lose one pound a week, and averaging 400 calories per workout, that puts me at about 1700. Pretty close.0 -
Taso42 - I love you so much right now!0
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:drinker:
Awesome!0
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