What will happen if only 1200 calories are consumed?

andreabrabham

I know so many people that are losing weight while exercising and only eating 1200 calories. What would eventually happen? For some reason it is so hard for me to wrap around the thought of eating 2000 calories just to lose weight (I am eating abou 1600-1900calories). It just seems like a lot. It would really help me if someone who has lost weight but ate that much explained their experience or even if you know someone who has. And is it true that if you do an intense workout such as insanity, you wont lose much if you do not eat enough.

jgcurry3

Consuming 1200 calories and exercising will initially produce a quick and sometimes drastic loss in weight. After that the body will stall out. Once you go back to eating normal and not 1200 calories the weight comes back with a vengeance, you get depressed, and nothing good comes out of it. Also maintaining a 1200 or lower calorie intake can have negative effects on performance, energy throughout the day, and possibly hyponatremia. Now there are some people whose bodies only need 1200 a day to function, i.e. children, very small framed adults. I eat close to 3500-4500 calories/day depending on my training so I would be hating life if I dropped to 1200 calories.

BflSaberfan

2 years ago I ate 1200 calories (and did insanity) I did this for 8 months. I lost 50 lbs - I was tired, crabby, miserable, and skinny fat. I lost a considerable amount of lean body mass (I was having my measurements taken every 6 weeks by a professional and he was telling me this was happening). Eventually I crashed, gave up working out, gave up counting calories. I gained 20 lbs back within a year.....and was without eating a considerable amount of food but my body got so use to only getting 1200 I was gaining on 1600-1700. So here I am again. Now I am eating 1500-1700 a day, and doing insanity 3 days a week, running 3 days a week. I have only lost 10 lbs since February and it is painfully slow but I feel so much better and actually dont feel like I'm "dieting" or going through a major life style change at all. I feel great.

andreabrabham

Thank you so much for the advice. I guess I kind of like that I can feel good working out as well as eating!!