success stories from 1200 calorie dieters wanted

Admiral_Derp

Before, 174 lbs:



After two years on 1200 + EXERCISE CALS, 125 lbs:



Now, another year eating 1400 + exercise cals and lifting weights, 136 lbs, same size as at 125 lbs:



Three months into eating TDEE -20% (1700 cals for me) and continued lifting. Now weight 136:





my point is that 1200 + exercise calories is in my opinion a fine thing to do if you are OBESE. But once you get to maintenance, you need to do something different. I got down to 123 lbs on 1200+ calories and I fett horrible. I was wasting away and not looking any better. I am enjoying my fitness now at 1700 calories and eating at 1700 calories is a lot more sustainable for me.

***reported for too much success, factual information, and rationality.

CorvusCorax77

I very much agree with everything you said, and you look great by the way! I am now at that maintenance stage and I need to figure out how to maintain. For the last month I haven't really logged or exercised to much just to see how I would do without MFP and I haven't gained. Now I want to tone up more but I don't want to get too muscular so I am not sure how to do that yet.

You need to change your profile pic to this with that success!:




It's a different world at maintenance. I wish you the best of luck in figuring out what goals to achieve next !

dixiewhiskey

This thread is pretty sad except for the AWESOME series of photos posted on this page itself. Very proud of you and even happier that you picked up lifting weights! Great work!

rozojc

Unfortunately I did not get any feedback from my previous message and I would really appreciate some help here (I'm asking for my wife as she does not speak enough English to ask this herself). If you have any feedback please do share!

My wife is in a "1200 calorie - related" situation right now which is not working too much. According to MFP she should eat 1200 calories a day.

She is about 5¨1 (1.55 meters) and has a thin complexion. Her current weight is about 112 lbs.

She wants to loose about 5 pounds, but the thing is those 5 pounds showing in her arms and belly (she really wants to loose her belly fat as although she is of a thin complexion her belly does not make her comfortable at all). She is kind of pear shaped I guess.

Thing is that we started MFP about 3 weeks ago, and while I've been dropping weight consistently (I am VERY overweight), she has not lost a single pound. She is (of course) getting frustrated as she has been exercising about 30 minutes per day and has not gone above the 1200 calorie limit per day. Also, she does not usually eat back her exercise calories (she basically does cardio and lately has added about 50 situps after her cardio). We have done a lot of "healthy cooking" at home and have pretty much not eaten any fried stuff (for example) and have kept it low fat and a lot of vegetables and high protein...

Any tips/ideas for her? I checked her TEEE (or however it's spelled, we're new in this) and that one minus 20% would be about 1400 calories instead of 1200...

According to MFP she should loose about 1 pound every 2 weeks, but then again it's been 3 weeks and she has not lost anything (I believe her face is a bit thinner as are her legs/thighs, but she does not see it that way)... It's also hard for her since I have been losing weight steadily.

I/she appreciates any feedback!

bcattoes

nice try Corvus but these special snowflakes have different goals than you.

Or perhaps they just prefer the look she had before she started eating more and lifting. I mean, it's not as if she was sporting a lot of loose skin. I thought she looked great. She wanted something different and achieved it, and kudos to her for doing so.

But that doesn't mean a lot of other women wouldn't have been tickled pink with her 1200 calorie body.

well, it's not like you know me!

Actually, I was sporting loose skin. And I still am. But it's getting better. The problem I had with my body at 123 was that I didn't look how I wanted to- and even at the time my goal wasn't to look like a body builder, but I wanted to look "skinny" like I had low body fat. I still had love handles. I still had a pooch. I figured I could keep at this 1200 calorie bit and end up 115 or 110 lbs, but I felt weak. I felt like I hardly had any energy. It knew it wasn't working for me anymore.

So how do you lower your body fat from 20% to 16% while having energy to enjoy life?

The answer is to increase your Lean Body Mass and to eat more and work out more. You raise your metabolism.

Added benefits: I'm helluva lot better at things I like to do now, like rock climbing and surfing. And i have the energy to do it.

No, of course I don't know you. I was going solely by the information (i.e. pics) you provided, which showed no loose skin.

I understand you weren't happy and wanted something different. And you have done a fantastic job getting there (again, based solely on your posted pics).

But, my post was not about your goals.

bcattoes

Unfortunately I did not get any feedback from my previous message and I would really appreciate some help here (I'm asking for my wife as she does not speak enough English to ask this herself). If you have any feedback please do share!

My wife is in a "1200 calorie - related" situation right now which is not working too much. According to MFP she should eat 1200 calories a day.

She is about 5¨1 (1.55 meters) and has a thin complexion. Her current weight is about 112 lbs.

She wants to loose about 5 pounds, but the thing is those 5 pounds showing in her arms and belly (she really wants to loose her belly fat as although she is of a thin complexion her belly does not make her comfortable at all). She is kind of pear shaped I guess.

Thing is that we started MFP about 3 weeks ago, and while I've been dropping weight consistently (I am VERY overweight), she has not lost a single pound. She is (of course) getting frustrated as she has been exercising about 30 minutes per day and has not gone above the 1200 calorie limit per day. Also, she does not usually eat back her exercise calories (she basically does cardio and lately has added about 50 situps after her cardio). We have done a lot of "healthy cooking" at home and have pretty much not eaten any fried stuff (for example) and have kept it low fat and a lot of vegetables and high protein...

Any tips/ideas for her? I checked her TEEE (or however it's spelled, we're new in this) and that one minus 20% would be about 1400 calories instead of 1200...

According to MFP she should loose about 1 pound every 2 weeks, but then again it's been 3 weeks and she has not lost anything (I believe her face is a bit thinner as are her legs/thighs, but she does not see it that way)... It's also hard for her since I have been losing weight steadily.

I/she appreciates any feedback!

I was going to respond before but don't really have much experience to relate to someone this size. But if it were me, trying to lose only 5 calories, I'd focus on working it off rather than dieting it off.

stephanj

Unfortunately I did not get any feedback from my previous message and I would really appreciate some help here (I'm asking for my wife as she does not speak enough English to ask this herself). If you have any feedback please do share!

My wife is in a "1200 calorie - related" situation right now which is not working too much. According to MFP she should eat 1200 calories a day.

She is about 5¨1 (1.55 meters) and has a thin complexion. Her current weight is about 112 lbs.

She wants to loose about 5 pounds, but the thing is those 5 pounds showing in her arms and belly (she really wants to loose her belly fat as although she is of a thin complexion her belly does not make her comfortable at all). She is kind of pear shaped I guess.

Thing is that we started MFP about 3 weeks ago, and while I've been dropping weight consistently (I am VERY overweight), she has not lost a single pound. She is (of course) getting frustrated as she has been exercising about 30 minutes per day and has not gone above the 1200 calorie limit per day. Also, she does not usually eat back her exercise calories (she basically does cardio and lately has added about 50 situps after her cardio). We have done a lot of "healthy cooking" at home and have pretty much not eaten any fried stuff (for example) and have kept it low fat and a lot of vegetables and high protein...

Any tips/ideas for her? I checked her TEEE (or however it's spelled, we're new in this) and that one minus 20% would be about 1400 calories instead of 1200...

According to MFP she should loose about 1 pound every 2 weeks, but then again it's been 3 weeks and she has not lost anything (I believe her face is a bit thinner as are her legs/thighs, but she does not see it that way)... It's also hard for her since I have been losing weight steadily.

I/she appreciates any feedback!

Hi, on first glance, I think your wife is not going to change her shape using cardio alone. She is so close to her goal weight, it will be difficult to lose a pound a week. I would recommend she try and use some weights to increase her lean muscle mass and shape the parts of her physique that trouble her, which will cause her to burn more calories.

love4fitnesslove4food_wechange

Unfortunately I did not get any feedback from my previous message and I would really appreciate some help here (I'm asking for my wife as she does not speak enough English to ask this herself). If you have any feedback please do share!

My wife is in a "1200 calorie - related" situation right now which is not working too much. According to MFP she should eat 1200 calories a day.

She is about 5¨1 (1.55 meters) and has a thin complexion. Her current weight is about 112 lbs.

She wants to loose about 5 pounds, but the thing is those 5 pounds showing in her arms and belly (she really wants to loose her belly fat as although she is of a thin complexion her belly does not make her comfortable at all). She is kind of pear shaped I guess.

Thing is that we started MFP about 3 weeks ago, and while I've been dropping weight consistently (I am VERY overweight), she has not lost a single pound. She is (of course) getting frustrated as she has been exercising about 30 minutes per day and has not gone above the 1200 calorie limit per day. Also, she does not usually eat back her exercise calories (she basically does cardio and lately has added about 50 situps after her cardio). We have done a lot of "healthy cooking" at home and have pretty much not eaten any fried stuff (for example) and have kept it low fat and a lot of vegetables and high protein...

Any tips/ideas for her? I checked her TEEE (or however it's spelled, we're new in this) and that one minus 20% would be about 1400 calories instead of 1200...

According to MFP she should loose about 1 pound every 2 weeks, but then again it's been 3 weeks and she has not lost anything (I believe her face is a bit thinner as are her legs/thighs, but she does not see it that way)... It's also hard for her since I have been losing weight steadily.

I/she appreciates any feedback!

Curious to know why someone that height/weight would be trying so hard to fight their body for a few pounds.

BflSaberfan

Unfortunately I did not get any feedback from my previous message and I would really appreciate some help here (I'm asking for my wife as she does not speak enough English to ask this herself). If you have any feedback please do share!

My wife is in a "1200 calorie - related" situation right now which is not working too much. According to MFP she should eat 1200 calories a day.

She is about 5¨1 (1.55 meters) and has a thin complexion. Her current weight is about 112 lbs.

She wants to loose about 5 pounds, but the thing is those 5 pounds showing in her arms and belly (she really wants to loose her belly fat as although she is of a thin complexion her belly does not make her comfortable at all). She is kind of pear shaped I guess.

Thing is that we started MFP about 3 weeks ago, and while I've been dropping weight consistently (I am VERY overweight), she has not lost a single pound. She is (of course) getting frustrated as she has been exercising about 30 minutes per day and has not gone above the 1200 calorie limit per day. Also, she does not usually eat back her exercise calories (she basically does cardio and lately has added about 50 situps after her cardio). We have done a lot of "healthy cooking" at home and have pretty much not eaten any fried stuff (for example) and have kept it low fat and a lot of vegetables and high protein...

Any tips/ideas for her? I checked her TEEE (or however it's spelled, we're new in this) and that one minus 20% would be about 1400 calories instead of 1200...

According to MFP she should loose about 1 pound every 2 weeks, but then again it's been 3 weeks and she has not lost anything (I believe her face is a bit thinner as are her legs/thighs, but she does not see it that way)... It's also hard for her since I have been losing weight steadily.

I/she appreciates any feedback!

Can I ask what her goal weight is? She is currently 112lbs? I would say her deficit might work better at -15% TDEE. Or even 10. She maybe just want to work out and eat her maintenance calories to tone up.

ETA - I just realized you said she wants to lose 5lbs. I dont think the problem is that she has 5lbs of fat, I think the problem is she needs to tone. So I would recommend eating her maintenance calories and continue to lift weights. 1-2lbs a week is not realistic for someone at her smaller weight. I'd say at the very most .5 lbs per week or every other weeek, but again the issue is not weight loss, but her body fat percentage.

Duck_Puddle

Good job and you look great, but I would prefer more muscle definition. Not sure you can get that at 1200 calories.
Thoughts?

This is quite possibly the rudest comment I have ever read (not the first sentence-the second). Perhaps YOU would prefer to see more muscle definition, perhaps others would too. More muscle definition aligns with YOUR goals. This person posted pics of their success as defined by them and their goals. Just because they don't necessarily align with your goals doesn't make their success invalid. I know she said she's started working with weights to tone. It just makes me angry that someone has put pics of what they consider success and have someone respond with - eh, that's not what I consider success.

Not even addressing the whole notion that people "doing" 1200 must post pics or there's no value or credibility in their success.

We all have different goals, we all are in different places towards reaching those goals. I started out morbidly obese looking fairly similar to the Michelen Man. I now look like my profile pic. I am not "done", but I'm no longer morbidly obese and run 25-30 miles a week. That's success to me and I don't care if that's how you define success. I net 1200 (actually a little under that).

This thread makes me sad.

Um, wow! This seems a bit of an over-reaction to me. The responder said the poster in the pics looked great. And they mentioned that they had a different body preference for themselves. How is that rude?

I've gotten this same reaction when I say I don't want as much definition as some women, even if I give them compliments on meeting their own personal goals.

In either instance, why is rude to have a different goal?

It's not rude to have different goals. I consider it rude to compare someone else's success to goals that are not theirs. Perhaps some non-weight loss examples will help:

To someone that has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and months/years renovating a house:
"Nice house. I don't like historical homes, and the paint colors are too bright, and I wouldn't have this furniture either. You need another decorator."

To someone who has scrimped and saved to purchase a car in cash:
"Nice car. I would have taken a loan to buy new-or at least a nicer used car. What's a little but of a loan for a better product? What you spent on this car could have put a down payment on something nicer."

People posting success pics are posting the results of hard work for which they are proud (and should be proud). Congratulating someone on achieving their goals (whatever they may be) is great. Letting them know that their definition of success doesn't match theirs is belittling their goals and the work they have done to achieve them (because it essentially says "I don't value what you did"). You can work towards whatever you want to work towards, as can everyone. But comparing someone else's success towards their goals in comparison to your goals is rude.

But you extrapolated into insults that the other poster did not. The responding post never said the first poster needed something different or wasn't good enough. The response said "you look great" and "I want something different".

More along the lines of "Hey, nice sports nice car, but personally I'd want something with more passenger room."

Ok-so I see why you are so confused at the reactions you have gotten when you've responded to other threads saying you prefer less definition. Your preferences and desires have zero place in commenting on the achievements of others. The fact that you prefer other things is fine. That's what makes the world go around. Tacking an "I prefer something different" implies "I don't like what you have/did." So "nice sports car, I'd want something with more passenger room" says your car is of no value to me because it doesn't have what I like.

love4fitnesslove4food_wechange

nice try Corvus but these special snowflakes have different goals than you.

Or perhaps they just prefer the look she had before she started eating more and lifting. I mean, it's not as if she was sporting a lot of loose skin. I thought she looked great. She wanted something different and achieved it, and kudos to her for doing so.

But that doesn't mean a lot of other women wouldn't have been tickled pink with her 1200 calorie body.

Did you read the report about how she FELT whist eating 1200 calories? I mean, at what cost are you willing to have that 1200 calorie body?

skinnyjuu

Ate 1200 for two months last year, lost 10 pounds.. it's been a year and even though I've been eating around 1500-2000 some days I've still been able to keep the weight off so yes 1200 works but you still have to be in control, dont start eating a lot like before once you lose or everything will come back

jedikrissy

I very much agree with everything you said, and you look great by the way! I am now at that maintenance stage and I need to figure out how to maintain. For the last month I haven't really logged or exercised to much just to see how I would do without MFP and I haven't gained. Now I want to tone up more but I don't want to get too muscular so I am not sure how to do that yet.

You need to change your profile pic to this with that success!:




It's a different world at maintenance. I wish you the best of luck in figuring out what goals to achieve next !

Thanks very much, I changed my profile pic back. I kinda forgot I was sporting the sad face. My fiance left me awhile ago, and my pic always reflects how I feel. Anyways that is not fitness talk, but thanks for reminding me I have a reason to be happy, and new goals to achieve!

Cheers

bcattoes

Good job and you look great, but I would prefer more muscle definition. Not sure you can get that at 1200 calories.
Thoughts?

This is quite possibly the rudest comment I have ever read (not the first sentence-the second). Perhaps YOU would prefer to see more muscle definition, perhaps others would too. More muscle definition aligns with YOUR goals. This person posted pics of their success as defined by them and their goals. Just because they don't necessarily align with your goals doesn't make their success invalid. I know she said she's started working with weights to tone. It just makes me angry that someone has put pics of what they consider success and have someone respond with - eh, that's not what I consider success.

Not even addressing the whole notion that people "doing" 1200 must post pics or there's no value or credibility in their success.

We all have different goals, we all are in different places towards reaching those goals. I started out morbidly obese looking fairly similar to the Michelen Man. I now look like my profile pic. I am not "done", but I'm no longer morbidly obese and run 25-30 miles a week. That's success to me and I don't care if that's how you define success. I net 1200 (actually a little under that).

This thread makes me sad.

Um, wow! This seems a bit of an over-reaction to me. The responder said the poster in the pics looked great. And they mentioned that they had a different body preference for themselves. How is that rude?

I've gotten this same reaction when I say I don't want as much definition as some women, even if I give them compliments on meeting their own personal goals.

In either instance, why is rude to have a different goal?

It's not rude to have different goals. I consider it rude to compare someone else's success to goals that are not theirs. Perhaps some non-weight loss examples will help:

To someone that has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and months/years renovating a house:
"Nice house. I don't like historical homes, and the paint colors are too bright, and I wouldn't have this furniture either. You need another decorator."

To someone who has scrimped and saved to purchase a car in cash:
"Nice car. I would have taken a loan to buy new-or at least a nicer used car. What's a little but of a loan for a better product? What you spent on this car could have put a down payment on something nicer."

People posting success pics are posting the results of hard work for which they are proud (and should be proud). Congratulating someone on achieving their goals (whatever they may be) is great. Letting them know that their definition of success doesn't match theirs is belittling their goals and the work they have done to achieve them (because it essentially says "I don't value what you did"). You can work towards whatever you want to work towards, as can everyone. But comparing someone else's success towards their goals in comparison to your goals is rude.

But you extrapolated into insults that the other poster did not. The responding post never said the first poster needed something different or wasn't good enough. The response said "you look great" and "I want something different".

More along the lines of "Hey, nice sports nice car, but personally I'd want something with more passenger room."

Ok-so I see why you are so confused at the reactions you have gotten when you've responded to other threads saying you prefer less definition. Your preferences and desires have zero place in commenting on the achievements of others. The fact that you prefer other things is fine. That's what makes the world go around. Tacking an "I prefer something different" implies "I don't like what you have/did." So "nice sports car, I'd want something with more passenger room" says your car is of no value to me because it doesn't have what I like.

No, not true. You choosing to infer insult, does not = insult implied. Although why would it matter if I thought you car was of value to me? The important thing is whether it is of value to you, right?

Sla6adm

1100 calories. 3 stone in total lost. 5ft 1. Maintaining successfully.

vlwimb84

This is my second go on the 1200 calories deal and so far today im at 500 calories and im starting to feel full all the time and for me to consume 700 more will be a struggle...i hate the idea of feeling like i gotta eat more just to not seem like i gotta eating disorder..different bodies handle caloric intake differently....i have one cheat day a week to eat whatever i want and even then im still only eating 1800 calories...so long as you eat low calories filling foods and eat only when hungry you should be good...i know the body goes into starvation mode when its intentionally being denied food, and instead of burning fat it stores it because it thinks its starving

NaturallyandProperly

I can see where you are coming from. Do you think you are able to be the weight you are because your metabolism is fast because of all of the activity you do? I'm going to try 1200 calories a day until I get down in weight. (Currently working with a personal trainer and at the gym almost every day for at least 60 minutes. strength training, cardio and circuit training) My thinking is once I start loosing fat (my muscle is building) my metabolism will speed up and then I can start eating more calories a day. Just wondered what you thought.

tryinghard71

When everyone says I am set at 1200 calories does that mean Net or Gross? I think the topic can be confusing unless you are saying net or gross behind your 1200 number. I am set at 1200 and eat 1200 NET. So I am really eating more than 1200 calories.

aftergypsies

I've been eating 1200 at least since I started and I've tried to keep it at that. Whenever I stall, I have tried to up the calories but I end up gaining the weight back. 1200-1500 has been fine for me. I've lost 87 lbs.

Duck_Puddle

there is absolutely no reason to keelhaul a person that asks if they can achieve similar results and a little muscle definition and wants an opinion from a successful person.

That was very uncalled for, for you to attack them for asking for help. But it isnt my business. Please carry on with your bad self.

You are correct. This is the beauty of the Internet. The initial post closed not with "can you help me", it closed with "thoughts?". You interpreted that to mean, "can you help me?", I interpreted that to mean "let's discuss" (in the charming way mfp "discusses" cleanses & raspberry ketones and 1200 calories in general). Had the comment ended with "can you help me?" That's very different and non-interpretable. I would not have keel hauled someone asking for help. "Thoughts?" Can be interpreted many, many ways.

rozojc

Unfortunately I did not get any feedback from my previous message and I would really appreciate some help here (I'm asking for my wife as she does not speak enough English to ask this herself). If you have any feedback please do share!

My wife is in a "1200 calorie - related" situation right now which is not working too much. According to MFP she should eat 1200 calories a day.

She is about 5¨1 (1.55 meters) and has a thin complexion. Her current weight is about 112 lbs.

She wants to loose about 5 pounds, but the thing is those 5 pounds showing in her arms and belly (she really wants to loose her belly fat as although she is of a thin complexion her belly does not make her comfortable at all). She is kind of pear shaped I guess.

Thing is that we started MFP about 3 weeks ago, and while I've been dropping weight consistently (I am VERY overweight), she has not lost a single pound. She is (of course) getting frustrated as she has been exercising about 30 minutes per day and has not gone above the 1200 calorie limit per day. Also, she does not usually eat back her exercise calories (she basically does cardio and lately has added about 50 situps after her cardio). We have done a lot of "healthy cooking" at home and have pretty much not eaten any fried stuff (for example) and have kept it low fat and a lot of vegetables and high protein...

Any tips/ideas for her? I checked her TEEE (or however it's spelled, we're new in this) and that one minus 20% would be about 1400 calories instead of 1200...

According to MFP she should loose about 1 pound every 2 weeks, but then again it's been 3 weeks and she has not lost anything (I believe her face is a bit thinner as are her legs/thighs, but she does not see it that way)... It's also hard for her since I have been losing weight steadily.

I/she appreciates any feedback!

Can I ask what her goal weight is? She is currently 112lbs? I would say her deficit might work better at -15% TDEE. Or even 10. She maybe just want to work out and eat her maintenance calories to tone up.

ETA - I just realized you said she wants to lose 5lbs. I dont think the problem is that she has 5lbs of fat, I think the problem is she needs to tone. So I would recommend eating her maintenance calories and continue to lift weights. 1-2lbs a week is not realistic for someone at her smaller weight. I'd say at the very most .5 lbs per week or every other weeek, but again the issue is not weight loss, but her body fat percentage.

Well, here's the thing. She put on about 8 to 10 pounds since we moved to the US (exchange program, just in case). I think her ideal weight is supposed to be 48 Kg (105 lbs) and she is currently 51Kgs (112 lbs). Before, she was a bit "loose", "not toned" in her belly, but those 8 to 10 pounds she gained went straight to her belly and a bit to her back! She is really petite, so it's really noticeable and although I'm fine with it, she's not...

She's also afraid of lifting weights and becoming more "thick" if you will, as she likes the thin complexion she's always had... It's just frustrating for her to be eating 1200 a day, doing exercise and not having lost anything in 3 weeks...

I'm also new to this so I have really no idea what to tell her :-S