Results with 1200 Calories

rosemaryhon

UUURRRGG here we go...'you're starving at 1200'. What a load of cr**. I have tons of energy, I'm losing weight, my periods haven't stopped, I've not suddenly gained weight and you know what, I enjoy not eating f*** loads of food.

I'll see you at the finish line (I'll be there before you)!

I actually didn't say you were going to lose your period, and you obviously have a bad relationship with food if you thinking eating what your body NEEDS to simply maintain it's functioning level is "loads of food." Also it is starving yourself, the average body needs at least 1700 calories to function every day, anything less than that is starving it.

Do you expect your car to run without gas? Do you use your cell phone without charging it? Stop thinking of your body as a number on a scale, and start thinking of it as a machine that needs energy to function. The bottom line is losing weight at 1200 calories is not healthy because a) you aren't feeding it properly b) it's not ideal to live on 1200 calories for the rest of your life. The damage it does to your metabolism, and yes the potential harm it can do if your body goes into starvation mode and starts to consume it's own muscle. (Also your period doesn't need to stop for your body to be doing this, I was anorexic and my period never stopped not even when I was 115lbs so that's a mute point.) Also talking about muscle and starvation, guess what's a muscle in your body? YOUR HEART

According to the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), the average person needs 1800 to maintain their weight so no, eating 1200 to lose weight isn't starving yourself.

"1800 to maintain" but 1200 isn't starving? You yourself just said the average is 1800 and I am not a math major but 1200 isn't 1800. Like I said spend your life eat in 1200 or eat normal and work out. Muscle is beautiful skinny with saggy skin not so much. Ravenous and b&tchy also not attractive... but it is your body.

Honestly I'd be "ravenous and b&tchy" if I had the frozen diet meals you have for lunches ~ they simply never fill me up. Nor would I find your McDonald's dinner satisfying. Even though I stay about 1200 calories a day, I much prefer my hearty, healthy meals.

To each their own.

ThoseRabbits

Some people are mentioning maintaining goal weight after being on 1200 cals. I look at it this way - if the person goes back to eating the way they were before losing the weight, of course they'll gain. Likely the way they were eating before was over their maintenance calories, after all that's how they got overweight in the first place. Even going to your maintenance cals suddenly might cause some gain initially. When I get to goal weight I plan to go up to my new maintenance cals gradually, increasing by 100 cal increments over a period of time. Shouldn't balloon up that way.

exactly! people alwayz gain there weight back because they go back to stuffing there facez. if u go up gradually it shouldnt be problem an ur body will get used to it. im so sick of people saying i have an eating disorder jus cuz i eat little. my lifestyle isnt tha same as their's. >_____>

...are you ThoseLittleCats but with a new username? If so, I would like to point out that wanting to be 68 pounds at 19 years old is VERY indicative of having an eating disorder, unless you are about 3 feet tall.

u can think wat u want, not true though

And you can think what you want, it will literally kill you though.

no it wont xD i eat enuff a day

SerenaFisher

:laugh: well considering that would be close to ALL you could eat at 1200 calories.... I wouldn't recommend it.

But I eat very poorly, I am very poor. My budget for food a week 25.00. I am growing my own veggies though so soon I will have better options in the veggie department, already have a god amount of home grown meet the smart ones were gift from my mother. She thought since I am diet conscience they would be a good gift because she doesn't want her health conscience daughter to starve. I love my mother, and they were free so they work as a 2am "lunch" at work. My diary is not a normal breakfast lunch dinner since I work overnights. That's just what I ate probably be better meal 1 meal 2 meal 3 sbakc a snack b snack c 10 cups water day 1 diet soda when I work it keeps me awake 1 20 ounce coffee with sugar and milk

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

Stop the thread I want to get off.

rosemaryhon

A veggie garden is good! I'm gonna plant mine this weekend

And you make a good point ~ if I was eating frozen meals & fast food I'd probably go thru my 1200 calories too quick. But don't you see that obviously one could fill themselves with healthy foods and certainly NOT be 'starving' or ravenous. If you take a peak at my food diary I don't believe you could say with a straight face that I'm hungry or starving.

Good luck with your gardening!

ThoseRabbits

u went over ur sodium by 600...tut tut

SerenaFisher

I go over all the time haha.

I am sure you are eating 1200 and it is working for you. I didn't say no one could do it, or that there weren't people that could live on it. I am not. Plus I enjoy eating foods that aren't great for me know and again. She wanted stories, mine is my story.

I will definitely check out your diary for food ideas. The garden is just going in next weekend. Started the plants in the porch it has been entirely to cold to plant anything lately. Frost the other night.

FlaxMilk

Those Rabbits are you trying to be 68 lbs or kg?

toutmonpossible

UUURRRGG here we go...'you're starving at 1200'. What a load of cr**. I have tons of energy, I'm losing weight, my periods haven't stopped, I've not suddenly gained weight and you know what, I enjoy not eating f*** loads of food.

I'll see you at the finish line (I'll be there before you)!

I actually didn't say you were going to lose your period, and you obviously have a bad relationship with food if you thinking eating what your body NEEDS to simply maintain it's functioning level is "loads of food." Also it is starving yourself, the average body needs at least 1700 calories to function every day, anything less than that is starving it.

Do you expect your car to run without gas? Do you use your cell phone without charging it? Stop thinking of your body as a number on a scale, and start thinking of it as a machine that needs energy to function. The bottom line is losing weight at 1200 calories is not healthy because a) you aren't feeding it properly b) it's not ideal to live on 1200 calories for the rest of your life. The damage it does to your metabolism, and yes the potential harm it can do if your body goes into starvation mode and starts to consume it's own muscle. (Also your period doesn't need to stop for your body to be doing this, I was anorexic and my period never stopped not even when I was 115lbs so that's a mute point.) Also talking about muscle and starvation, guess what's a muscle in your body? YOUR HEART

you had me until you said starvation mode...sorry but you can't be eating 1200 cals a day and be in starvation mode. Your body will not start to consume muscle for energy unless you eat nothing for three days and even then, the effects of starvation mode are minimal...

Yes well they may be minimal if you do it now and again. However the effects of starvation mode for prolonged periods of time are proven to eventually kill you , And yes cause heart failure.

Also 1200 is starving, it may not make your body consume your heart but it (as was said by another poster and myself) messes with your metabolism and is not a goal to aim for (for most!).

Perhaps another word would be better but "starving" pretty much sums up my experience with 1200 calories. That or "ravenous" and "b%tchy"

This is way too much of a generalization.

Surely you're not going to claim that a sedentary 5'4 120lb female who does maybe 2-3 workouts/week (at best) of some light aerobics is going to be "starving" if they eat 1200 cal/day are you?

This arbitrary 1200 red line is pretty useless when it's not tied into someones TDEE

People who don't understand the difference between a guideline and a rule, who are unwilling to observe their progress and make independent judgments likely are going to have trouble losing weight. The people on this board who have realized that they need to be at 1200 or less (and who of course are not anorexics engaging in a sad competition with themselves) have mastered independent thought.

ThoseRabbits

neither

FlaxMilk

neither

That's a relief. I saw someone else say that you were, glad it's not true.

Mock_Turtle

Let me tell you my story...

I started dieting after my son was born in 2003, I figured diet was simply "stop eating so much" and 1000 calories sounded like a good reasonable number to go by. I lost all of my baby weight, became weight fixated, and lost more weight. I went from the 1000 calories to anorexia (this doesn't happen to everyone, but let's face it eating 1200 calories is border line anorexia. After all 1000 calories is only 200 less!) I was super skinny, I had never been so skinny, 5'8" 115lbs. Eventually I ate normal again, because you know life is a good feeling, being alive and all that jazz.

2006 I decided at 5'8" 150lbs I needed to get my eating habits under control. I set my goal at 1200, and lost to 129lbs in a few months. I was constantly crabby, I had no energy, I was so ravenous that if I didn't get to eat my scheduled meal I would start biting heads off. I was a real peach to be around. However, I was super skinny!!! YAY! Guess what? Eventually I got sick of starving and ate normal again, and balooned to 150lbs in about a month.

2008 I started working out, still not eating enough but better 1400 calories with a good work out. I lost the weight pretty fast still, but always felt hungry! (I wonder why? I was burning all of my calories with daily calorie useage, and then I was working out and burning even more.) I eventually made my goal weight, and body fat, and I was very fit! However again, STARVING, again I ATE NORMAL again I GOT BACK TO 150lbs without blinking an eye.

This time? I am eating normal, feeding my metabolism, making smarter choices, working out like a champion. I would reach my "goal weight" in a few months with 1200 calories, have the worst attitude ever, and be starving 24/7. This time? I am eating 1700 to 2200 calories, the weight is coming off slow, my muscles are beautiful. I am not a complete *kitten* to be around, and am enjoying my work outs. I can eat whatever I want and not have my butt go up three sizes.

MY SUGGESTION? FEED YOUR BODY. WORK HARD. Or you can ruin your metabolism, and eat 1200 calories the rest of your life, or do it the other way. Oh yes, and lift heavy things up and down, you will not get bulky and your body will thank you for it.

1200 iz NOT ''border line anorexia''. what r u even talking about?

My body. And it is for me. At 1200 calories my body could not maintain its functions, and the fixation on food led me to anorexia. Did you not read the post? By the way my BMR to just have my body "function" at a sedentary level is 1990 ...certainly isn't 1200. Starving is starving. Why eat 1200 when I can give my body what it actually needs 1990 or more!

Your BMR is not 1990 .... that's a BMR for someone who is 200+ lbs.

SerenaFisher

My BMR is 1400. I am doing this on my cell at work. So excuse me for not catching my error.
I thought my TDEE as 1990 and that's what I was posting. My TDEE is 2400 1990 is actually closer to the number I should eat to lose weight based off TDEE - 20%

And as to your other quote where you said it was to general I did say there were exceptions. If you would read what I am sayjbf, also I would like to add you can say whatever you want my story is based off of facts and from what I have seen for most the 1200 calorie diet doesnt work. No "diet" works just life style change.

What I am now And what I can do is nothing like the 1200 calorie girl that weighed every thing and fretted over every meal especially since eating even 1400 calories after restricting to 1200 for me was catastrophic and made me gain weight.

(Excuse the typos pain to fix on my cell!)

greenmeena

Hey- for all of us who jump on these threads to educate those folks that go for the 1200 cal plan... I started a thread focused on petitioning MFP to re-evaluate the blanket suggestion to all people to drop to 1200 as a means to drop weight. I think MFP needs to use *real* calculators, based on Kartch-McArdle etc, and give people the info they need- what their real BMR is, etc etc.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/992576-let-s-petition-mfp-to-use-a-real-bmr-tdee-calculator?page=1#posts-15185413

So far I have some limp replies, but I'd love to hear from those of you who show up here so strongly against what is going on. Thanks.

taliar93

I was eating around 1200 cals a day for the first two months, I lost about 13kg (started at 115kg to 102.5kg) I personally felt great the whole time, but found it really easy to eat less than 1200 calories (because hey 200-300 cals difference doesn't matter right?!) I got really obsessive with it, so imagine the absolute heart shattering moment I had when I completely stopped losing weight. I won't sit here and give the "1200 cals a day is impossible" blah blah blah, I found it scarily easy to go from eating 3000+ a day to 1200, thought I felt great, but looking back and talking to my Husband I was extremely irritable those whole two months. So yes, face value I did have a great success with it for 2 months, but after that it did nothing for me.

greenmonstergirl

So the last two days I went over 1200 cals but I also upped my workouts but gained weight...back to 1200 (or under) for me now! Grrrr

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

So the last two days I went over 1200 cals but I also upped my workouts but gained weight...back to 1200 (or under) for me now! Grrrr

You probably are retaining water for muscle repair because you increased your workout.

greenmonstergirl

So the last two days I went over 1200 cals but I also upped my workouts but gained weight...back to 1200 (or under) for me now! Grrrr

You probably are retaining water for muscle repair because you increased your workout.

I sure hope that's what it is because I"m drinking tons of water and not peeing as much so just hope it water! Weigh day is wednesday for the contest and I really don't want to pay because i gained. LOL!

rebeccagustafson

I have lost 40 pounds on a 1200 Calorie diet. I have recently started watching my carbs too, that really seems to help. If I eat over 1200 calories I always work of the extra with exercise. When I exercise I had the tendency to gain weight. I realized that I wasn't drinking enough water and that my body was becoming dehydrated which caused me to gain the extra weight.

When eating 1200 calories, focus on healthy choices. Vegetables are a great way to convince yourself that you're eating a lot without overdoing it with calories. I try to fill my plate with at least 1/2 green vegetables. Then I add lean protein and a whole grain carb.

DebbieLyn63

Ugh! It rolled while I was typing and I lost it all.
Try this again.
49 yo female, 5'6"
Starting wt on 8/27/12- 228
CW- 185

Mostly staying around 1200 gross. SAHM, fairly sedentary with moderate exercise about 3 times a week.

I maintain on around 1500-1700 at this point, so if I stick strictly to 1200 every day, I will lose a pound a week pretty steady. But the past couple of months I haven't been as religious about measuring and logging as I was, so I am down to about 2 pounds a month.
Will 30 more pounds to lose, this will take a while, but I am in it for the long haul.

1200 works for ME, because I am old, broken, and insulin resistant, which lowers my BMR. :ohwell: