any 1200 calorie success stories?

tmauck4472

One more thing.... 1200cal+6 days in the gym?!? Have fun when your weight loss plateaus, and it will... You can either cut more calories and become anorexic or you can up your activity level until you get injured and fail miserably.

Mine didn't. Never had a plateau, now at goal. Thanks for your internet doctoring, but well...it's worth about the same as most information on the internet...aka...not much.

My muscle mass only decreased slightly as well...as it does when anyone eats as a deficit.

Do what works for you...and not what doesn't. What people don't need to do is assume what works for them will work for others and lecture people, with abusive language as well. I was pretty sure that was a violation of this forum.

Me either 15 months and I've never plateaued yet. My metabolism must be doing just fine.

babyblooz

LMAO no I'm only defending my belief. I have the right. Why do you assume I'm hungry or angry. Well I'm angry but only because of people like you trying to shove down my throat unwanted advice on what I should be doing I'm pretty sure that's unwanted calories and I've logged for the day and don't need extra. I don't get angry because I'm hungry I just go get food, like the rest of the human beings in this world. But you are giving me a headache, thanks bunches for that.

strippedandvital

I love how people want to do the "science works exactly the same for everybody" argument. Right. That's why there is only one anti-depressant necessary for everyone, one form of chemo for everybody, one antibiotic for everybody, etc... Because we all respond exactly the same to these things. *eyeroll*

The fact is that if you have certain health problems, you may need to eat significantly less or more than other people. Go with what your doctors and/or nutritionists recommend, even if it gets shot down by the internet "professionals" on MFP. Only you & your medical professionals know what is best & works best for YOU. If 1200 works, more power to you! If it doesn't, look at changing things up. We are all individuals, even on a cellular level.

cryswest57

You can eat that much, but I seem to be losing more weight by eating more, including treats. I don't know if it's just my body. I'm doing the 30 day shred too which has helped a lot. Find out your TDEE and eat 20% less. It's working for me! Sometimes, I eat more than it, and I lose inches or weight. Weird, huh?

tmauck4472

You can eat that much, but I seem to be losing more weight by eating more, including treats. I don't know if it's just my body. I'm doing the 30 day shred too which has helped a lot. Find out your TDEE and eat 20% less. It's working for me! Sometimes, I eat more than it, and I lose inches or weight. Weird, huh?

Not weird at all, just what works for you. :happy: Awesome job

tmauck4472

LMAO no I'm only defending my belief. I have the right. Why do you assume I'm hungry or angry. Well I'm angry but only because of people like you trying to shove down my throat unwanted advice on what I should be doing I'm pretty sure that's unwanted calories and I've logged for the day and don't need extra. I don't get angry because I'm hungry I just go get food, like the rest of the human beings in this world. But you are giving me a headache, thanks bunches for that.

Why the eyeroll? Please go ahead and come at me I can take it but hope you can too

cryswest57

You can eat that much, but I seem to be losing more weight by eating more, including treats. I don't know if it's just my body. I'm doing the 30 day shred too which has helped a lot. Find out your TDEE and eat 20% less. It's working for me! Sometimes, I eat more than it, and I lose inches or weight. Weird, huh?

Not weird at all, just what works for you. :happy: Awesome job

Thank you

steph0924

bump

babyblooz

LMAO no I'm only defending my belief. I have the right. Why do you assume I'm hungry or angry. Well I'm angry but only because of people like you trying to shove down my throat unwanted advice on what I should be doing I'm pretty sure that's unwanted calories and I've logged for the day and don't need extra. I don't get angry because I'm hungry I just go get food, like the rest of the human beings in this world. But you are giving me a headache, thanks bunches for that.

Why the eyeroll? Please go ahead and come at me I can take it but hope you can too

Oh stop it. We're all grown ups here, for crying out loud. I just find your defensiveness pretty telling. And the eye roll? That was at the "you are giving me a headache, thanks bunches for that" portion of your ranty little comment up there. Maybe it's time to walk away... maybe go get some fresh air... if a bunch of people who disagree with you are giving you a headache.

garbanzalo

You should not set a calorie goal without considering the associated items - hunger and satiety. Hunger defines how many calories you need to eat before getting a full stomach, while satiety is that feeling of pleasure you get once you feel you had enough.

I used to overeat at every meal and snack in between while trying to control my calories. Giving up sugar and going on a low-carb, high protein diet with lots of water and multivitamins has worked wonders to my satiety. I feel full easily and my calorie intake dropped from about 3500 calories to 1000 calories. Try to cut back almost all sugar and go on a low sodium diet. Carbs are essential if you are during high intensity exercise.

Personal experience, 1200 calories is too low. I had upped my calories to 1500 and now that I am weightlifting, need to up them again to 2000 calories.

da_bears10089

I would like to see a thread about 1200 calorie success stories of over, say, 5 years. If you are morbidly obese the health problems associated with the weight probably outweigh the long term effects of under eating. I find that the extreme, arguably unhealthy methods of weight loss have the most dogmatic people in the group. These are the groups where the snowflakes seem to land. They are different and the science doesn't apply. I have determined that in the end, that for whatever reason, they must deny themselves food. Perhaps it's a badge of honor to them to say they only ate 1200 calories. I have serious doubts that anyone sustains it for years, much less for a lifetime. Too much risk for me long term. Slow and steady for me, but I'm not a snowflake.

Sure you are and you seem to be the special special snowflake. What you refuse to see is that EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT. No matter what is supposed to happen to everyone does NOT happen. If that were the case we'd all have cancer or no one would. We'd all be fat or no one would. We'd all lose weight eating a certain amount or we'd never need to worry about it. Everyone is different and we are all special snowflakes, EVEN YOU. And give us time for the 5 years to get here, we'll show you, maybe not all of us, but in all honesty even you people who eat more than 1200 will fail and go back to enjoying 4000 calories a day. Maybe not all of you but some sure will. Eating 1200 has nothing to do with failing and giving up, it has to do with getting tired of having to watch what you eat day in and day out. It has to do with the person and their ability to maintain so yes even folks from EMTWL group will certainly fail. Maybe even you.

No, I am not a snowflake and you probably aren't one either. Science doesn't discriminate. There is a reason you won't find many, if any people who eat 1200 over 5 years, because they are not out there. I may fail, but it won't be because I deluded myself into thinking starving myself was the proper approach or listening to people who lost over a short period of time and called it a success. Osteoporosis is a real scientific condition, and under nourished people are at higher risk for it. You go ahead, I think I will just eat and keep my bone mass.

No you will fail because you've deluded yourself into thinking that eating all those calories that made you overweight to begin with is still the way to go. You can still get in the right nutrients eating 1200 calories after all your only eating that amount until you reach your goal weight then you will up your calories to a sustainable amount. NO ONE will eat that low for the rest of their lives because once we hit goal weight we will have to increase the amounts so that we just maintain. DUH!!!! I got this but thank you very much. And science does not discriminate is bs because again if that were true for everyone we'd all have cancer or non of us would, we'd all be overweight or non of us would. What works for you may not work for me because my body reacts differently to certain things than your body does.

and YOU, yes.. YOU, your diary scares me. You eat at MOST 900 calories in a day, in the past 2 weeks, you were generally netting like 500 calories a DAY. there was a day i saw that you ate 700 some, and then you burned 600 some from exercise. i had to stop looking at that point. how on earth do you think that its healthy for a grown adult to eat that few of calories? Whatever metabolism you have left, hates you.

Don't look at my diary if I scare you so bad. You have no clue as to how I should be going about my eating.

What I do is not any of your business. And my metabolism works just fine, still losing 10 lbs a month so yeah my metabolism works just fine thank you very much. Imagine that over a year of eating the way I eat and I'm still going strong, goes against what you say should happen to me, shows you know nothing about what your talking about. I have tons of energy, and I workout 3 or so times a week. This is how I know what I'm talking about, it works for me and my doctor is thrilled with what I'm doing because I'm no longer morbildy obese. I was very unhealthy at 413lbs and at 228lbs I'm so much healthier and happier. And the doc's have no desire to change what I'm doing. WHY you ask, well because at 413 lbs I was at risk for a multitude of health issues and while I may still develope some issues they will nothing to do with my weight. I did not have WLS but eat the way they eat for me not for you and I don't give two figs what you think. I eat very clean and very healthy which is way better than what I was eating before this change. Not a one of these people care what you think or say because you are not our doctors(nor are you anyone's)you are only someone who thinks they know everything there is to know about weight loss. Why do the EMTWL people get so nasty when someone disagrees with the their thinking, and why did you feel the need to check out MY diary? Why do you think my diary is any of YOUR business? I don't ask you to eat the way I do and I don't ask anyone else to eat the way I eat. I do this for me, you do what you got to do for you but please please please understand it's not for everyone.

And if you want to contiue this conversation take it private, because I'm done on this page with you anyways. The OP wanted to hear success stories not EMTWL people with attitudes.

you know why WLS patients eat like that.... prepare yourself...

they had weight loss surgery! i know... mind blowing huh

nokanjaijo

Oh stop it. We're all grown ups here, for crying out loud. I just find your defensiveness pretty telling. And the eye roll? That was at the "you are giving me a headache, thanks bunches for that" portion of your ranty little comment up there. Maybe it's time to walk away... maybe go get some fresh air... if a bunch of people who disagree with you are giving you a headache.

Are you trying to gaslight this poor woman?

"you seem hangry" is a snarky comment clearly intended to provoke. It's not a simple difference of opinion.

"and YOU, yes.. YOU, your diary scares me.." is also provocative and personal.

"you are giving me a headache," did not take this conversation anywhere new.

We may all be grown ups here but few of us are acting that way.

jennytessman

To the original poster.... and everyone reading. I may have only been on MFP for a few weeks now but you all do realize the 1200 is with no excercise. So in you burn calories during they day you should be eating them back.

tmauck4472

LMAO no I'm only defending my belief. I have the right. Why do you assume I'm hungry or angry. Well I'm angry but only because of people like you trying to shove down my throat unwanted advice on what I should be doing I'm pretty sure that's unwanted calories and I've logged for the day and don't need extra. I don't get angry because I'm hungry I just go get food, like the rest of the human beings in this world. But you are giving me a headache, thanks bunches for that.

Why the eyeroll? Please go ahead and come at me I can take it but hope you can too

Oh stop it. We're all grown ups here, for crying out loud. I just find your defensiveness pretty telling. And the eye roll? That was at the "you are giving me a headache, thanks bunches for that" portion of your ranty little comment up there. Maybe it's time to walk away... maybe go get some fresh air... if a bunch of people who disagree with you are giving you a headache.

I'm not getting the headache because people are disagreeing with me I'm getting the headache from having to defend myself and other who eat differently than they do, that is all. I am pretty defensive because I have to be when the EMTWL group invades a perfectly innocent thread and gets ugly with those who believe differently than they do. And your are right, walking away is my best option.

LisaInUP

I take 1200 as a guideline/starting point. On those crappy days where I sit inside and read all day, I try to not go much under. On the more active days, I try to stay between 1200 & 1500 and watch that I am not "wasting" calories on junk food.

susanmc31

Hi OP,

I was one of those people who ate 1200 calories and kept it off for 5 years BUT I was always tired, run down and cranky. After the 5 years, I started eating more and I started to gain weight. I didn't understand how many calories I should eat to keep myself healthy. Now I am eating around 1800 - 2200 calories and lifting heavy. I still weight a lot more (80 pounds more) than I did but my pant sizes are going down and I am strong.

Also, when I tried to go back to 1200 calories I found that I was always burning out after 5 weeks of hitting the gym hard. Do some research and find out what the best option is. I did and I find eating more TDEE-20% is a much better option then eating 1200 calories, now I have a lot of energy and I am no longer cranky. And when I say 1200 calories I am not talking about net, it was 1200 total minus the exercise I did which was netting only 500 - 600 calories and that is not healthy.

Now I wish all of you success and hope that what happened to me does not happen to you. :flowerforyou:

dshbsn

I've been on a 1200 cal diet since Jan 7, 2013 and have lost 21 lbs. I am eating small meals and weighing most of my food. I worked with a dietitian to get started. It has not been hard except for certain times of the month but learning to change your eating habits is the most important thing to think about.. I eat from the light menu when I eat out. What ever you try has to work for you! I still indulge occasionally but with smaller portions.Good Luck!

tryinghard71

Hi OP,

I was one of those people who ate 1200 calories and kept it off for 5 years BUT I was always tired, run down and cranky. After the 5 years, I started eating more and I started to gain weight. I didn't understand how many calories I should eat to keep myself healthy. Now I am eating around 1800 - 2200 calories and lifting heavy. I still weight a lot more (80 pounds more) than I did but my pant sizes are going down and I am strong.

Also, when I tried to go back to 1200 calories I found that I was always burning out after 5 weeks of hitting the gym hard. Do some research and find out what the best option is. I did and I find eating more TDEE-20% is a much better option then eating 1200 calories, now I have a lot of energy and I am no longer cranky. And when I say 1200 calories I am not talking about net, it was 1200 total minus the exercise I did which was netting only 500 - 600 calories and that is not healthy.

Now I wish all of you success and hope that what happened to me does not happen to you. :flowerforyou:

Thank you for bringing the word "net" into the conversation. I read posts all the time about 1200 calories but rarely do I see people using net or gross in their conversation and they are two different things. :flowerforyou:

shadowsaround

Zing!

The question I have is: if you CAN eat more than 1200 calories/day and still lose weight, why wouldn't you?

Would you lose the same amount of weight in the same amount of time by eating more cals? I think the obvious answer is no. So that could be one reason.

atlien78

Can't you eat 1800 calories and burn off 600 through exercise and still be at 1200 for the day? Is this the same as eating 1200 calories with no exercise?

olyabe

I lost about 70 lb in my early 20s on 1000-1200 diet over the course of a year and a half. I did work out a lot, so it was probably 700 net. I would not recommend it because it did temporarily negatively affect my health (some skin problems, loss of period, gall bladder stones). Note I did not even become real skinny - I was size 6, and BMI of 21-22 at the end of it. Yes, ultra low cal diets definitely work - I kept it most of it off for some 6 years. But now I know there is some wisdom to 1200 net minimum, plus multivitamin.

It is "calories in, calories out", and the weight loss comes from a deficit. The bigger the deficit, the faster you lose, but the correlation is not direct. At very high calorie deficit you lose slower (for the same amount of deficit) because your metabolism slows down, but you still lose. (If starvation theory was correct, truly starving people would never turn into skin and bones state that you see in the news from impoverished countries).

At calorie surplus you don't lose... simple as that. 1200 net (1200 + eating exercise calories) works for most females, except very tall ones, pregnant ones, or breast feeding ones... But it is not the amount of food that *most* females, even short ones, consider 'plenty' of food. It is quite manageable if you don't eat out and cook at home most of the time. It is also just eating to live, not eating for pleasure and enjoyment of food. If you do want an occasional ice-cream or 16 oz ribeye, it has to come out of exercise.

My doctor told me 1200 net this time (I am 5'2' and 36). I said I was too hungry on that, she said - ok, eat 1300 . Working ok so far - almost 9 lb in 2 months, one size down. Eating out big once a week, exercising it off the next day. Calories in, calories out.... not much more to it

DebbieLyn63

What it boils down to is having a calorie deficit that works for you. If your TDEE is 3000 cals a day and you eat at 2000 to lose 2 pounds a week and are good with that, go for it. If you are happy with losing one pound a week, then eat 2500 cals per day.

But if your TDEE is only 1700, then 1200 is a 500 cal deficit= 1 pound per week loss. If you are getting in the proper amount of proteins and fat, and are healthy and energetic, not starving or losing your hair, then why do so many people freak out about it?

I saw a rather rude man posting earlier, that eats 2500-3000 cals per day, and I get more protein in my 1200 cal diet than he does. Yet he declares that we are all stupid and unhealthy? Would stuffing another 1000 calories of french fries and beer down my throat, suddenly make my diet healthier?

For someone who is morbidly obese, they have plenty of fat stores to fuel their body and can have a much higher calorie deficit than someone who is closer to goal weight.

For females, who are short, or older, or are obese, and do not have a high activity level, if they are losing weight and are doing fine with lower calories, then leave them alone and let them do what they need to do.

I don't understand why men, (or women for that matter) feel the need to come into a thread asking for SUCCESS stories of people on 1200 calories, and decide that they must insult everyone on this thread.

If you don't fit the title of the thread, then move on to another thread that you do fit into.

No, not everyone needs to eat at 1200 calories. If you can lose at a rate you are happy with, at a higher calorie level, then great.

If you are trying to eat 1200, but are miserable, then by all means eat some more, or try changing the foods that you are eating. Or exercise and earn some more calories. No one says that you HAVE to eat at that level.

And BTW, people who have had GBP surgery do not eat 500-800 calories because they HAVE to, they eat at that level because they CAN, now that their stomach is smaller and their appetite is less. This large deficit gives the drastic weight loss that most of them need because of the severe medical risks of morbid obesity. They are getting the same nutrition from their food as someone who is eating at that level without having had the surgery. Both patients need to be taking supplements and be under the care of a physician if they are eating at those levels. That level is not any more or less safe for someone who has had surgery than someone who hasn't.

Trilby16

Oh stop it. We're all grown ups here, for crying out loud. I just find your defensiveness pretty telling. And the eye roll? That was at the "you are giving me a headache, thanks bunches for that" portion of your ranty little comment up there. Maybe it's time to walk away... maybe go get some fresh air... if a bunch of people who disagree with you are giving you a headache.

Are you trying to gaslight this poor woman?

"you seem hangry" is a snarky comment clearly intended to provoke. It's not a simple difference of opinion.

"and YOU, yes.. YOU, your diary scares me.." is also provocative and personal.

"you are giving me a headache," did not take this conversation anywhere new.

We may all be grown ups here but few of us are acting that way.

Well said. You are a voice of reason.

Trilby16

You know, this is not one of those threads where some newbie says I eat 1200 cals per day and I've stopped losing weight. What am I doing wrong?

NOPE. Nobody asked for advice here. The OP asked for 1200 calories success stories, and there are plenty. But here come the eat-more people, budding in where no one asked for their advice, yet again. Mind your own @#$%^ business. At least wait till you're asked for your invaluable advice!

temple_n

I started with netting 1200 calories. That is I tried to stay right around 1200 calories but sometimes if I exercise more I allowed a little more for the day. The big trick for me is to look at the whole week. Allow for some flexibility on certain days just keep the week under or at your net calorie goal. I've lost 18 lbs that way. Now that I'm so close to my goal weight I've reset my allowance for 1320 this week and will come up some again in two weeks. That way I don't just start eating 1700 calories and freak my body out. Also, I'm 5'3'' and small-ish. I weigh 128 lbs now. So just be sure that your not too far from your Total Daily Energy Expenditure or you could hit some hard plateaus. Good luck! I hope this helps!

vfaulk45

I just started & Im Doing the 1200 calories & some days I don't consume 1200 others I may be over a tad but it works for me if you eat the right foods 1200 is fine. Only thing is if you plan on doing a major workout you may need to up your calorie intake. I walk my pooch daily & I've dropped 5 lbs in 2weeks. Good luck!!!!

FlaxMilk

Hi OP,

I did very well on 1200 calories, as it was the right amount for me. I'm short, not overweight, and didn't get a huge amount of exercise or have a very active job. In the time I ate 1200, I was lifting weights and progressing. I lost weight without stalling, and I usually felt fine. I treated exercise calories as a bank--I ate them if I felt I needed them or wanted them and didn't worry about it otherwise because of days when life happens and I ate more than planned or went out with friends. (MFP calculated that I would lose no more than .7 lbs a week on this, so it wasn't a result of my settings. Even setting myself to the construction worker level of activity only gave me 1330 calories.)

Now, my focus has shifted. I am not really counting calories much at all, but I'm working out more consistently and am more interested in fitness. I weigh a bit more from not counting, and I would like to trim back down, but I'm going to continue focusing on the fitness and exercise for awhile and see where I end up. If I need to, I'll probably implement some kind of calorie cycling based on my workout schedule to do this.

1200 is enough for some and not enough for others. My advice to people who ask is to follow MFP as it is designed, including eating exercise calories for the most part. (If you aren't losing, try eating less than the full amount back to account for miscalculation.) The roadmap has been great for some but to me doesn't seem that different than MFP's program. (The roadmap has me eating less calories than I would if I consistently ate the 1200 MFP gives me + exercise calories.) This isn't to bash anyone, but using this site as it is designed is perfectly appropriate. Follow the guidelines and adjust as needed for your individual needs (hunger, energy, satisfaction, enjoyment of life.)

Angela_BB40

I'm at 1200 and do 30 day shred every day. I also own a cleaning business and clean from 4 to 6 hours 3 to 4 days a week. I can eat 1200 a day and feel great. Usually though, I am over but that is due to my activity level. I have to eat to keep this machine fed. I've lost lots of inches, but have not weighed myself since 3/10 in order to see what pounds I have lost. Probably won't weigh in for awhile as I'll take the inches over the pounds any day. Good luck with your journey. You can always talk to a nutritionist to find out wht is right for you.

lithezebra

1200 calories worked for me, and honestly, when I got a handle on what foods make me feel full, it wasn't all that terrible. I only wanted to lose 5 pounds, and I'm petite.

stella1314

i am happy with my 1200 too,and wount go for more. may be for some people it works, for me it doesnt....