Results with 1200 Calories

itgeekwoman

when i'm not working out heavily I eat 1200 and lose weight. When I work out, i eat at about 1700 cals.. depending on my burn. My TDEE is around 1800. That means eating at 1200 is putting me at a 600 cal deficit .. so it's fine IF I"M NOT WORKING OUT.

When I work out.. I measure my burn and I eat to keep the appropriate deficit. Feeding my body with good healthy foods. No packaged stuff, but natural food with great flavor.

I did lose a great deal of weight at 1200 calories.. but i plateaued and got stuck. When i started eating more I felt better and could work out more. I love eating more food, so I'm happy to work out more. The more muscle I have the more calories I can burn.. the more I an eat.. ah.. I love this world!

iAMsmiling

All I can say is that whilst I FULLY AGREE that 1,200 should be far too low, there are many, many days when I struggle to go over that.
Especially after exercising.
I'm simply not hungry enough to eat back my exercise calories and don't feel I should force myself to eat when my body is telling me it's fully 'fuelled'. To me that seems a little counter-productive, so I usually just have something small but calorific, although this also seems a little dumb on a 'diet'

Meaning no snark or disrespect, but...How did you come to be overweight if you struggle to get over 1200 calories a day?

auteurfille22

Jesus Christ people. This is in the "Success Stories" forum. If you want to go talk about how great your method of losing weight is, fine. But there are about 10000000 other places on the internet to do it. The OP asked for success stories from people who ate at 1200 calories. Your answers are not relevant to this question. If you don't have answers that are relevant, you really shouldn't be answering.

@OP - I eat 1200 calories and I am happy with my progress. As far as I am concerned, if I am happy with how I'm doing, that is all that matters. If I regret it in a year - fine, I'll come back and bow down to the MFP gods who clearly know SO much more about health and well-being than anyone else on this Earth. But until then, I'm proud of how far I've come and when I reach my goal, I'll post a success story. I'm sorry I didn't start sooner so I could post one for you now.

iAMsmiling

All I can say is that whilst I FULLY AGREE that 1,200 should be far too low, there are many, many days when I struggle to go over that.
Especially after exercising.
I'm simply not hungry enough to eat back my exercise calories and don't feel I should force myself to eat when my body is telling me it's fully 'fuelled'. To me that seems a little counter-productive, so I usually just have something small but calorific, although this also seems a little dumb on a 'diet'

Meaning no snark or disrespect, but...How did you come to be overweight if you struggle to get over 1200 calories a day?

She probably ate over 1200 calls a day to gain weight
then when she started making better food choices she felt fuller and more satisfied
that is normal
i am the same way some days
the other day i ate 1280 but couild not fit anymore in
that being said i actually ate a HUGE amount of fruits and veggies and was stuffed to the gills!
MFP yelled at me and warned me to eat more but alas, I could not

Do you make protein goals like that?

FlaxMilk

Hi, OP. 1200 worked for me. It's not for everyone, and it's not what I'm doing anymore. I've increased my calories as life circumstances have changed which permit me to be more active, which has allowed me to focus my goals differently.

Here are the reasons that 1200 worked for me, in my opinion: I'm petite, female, in my 30's, and not overweight, which gives me a lower BMR. Due to a number of personal factors, I wasn't very active. I wasn't sedentary, and I did exercise, and I ate back exercise calories if I was hungry, wanted them, or felt I needed them for energy. But my exercise wasn't intense. I was happy with the results 1200 gave me. I didn't have the gorgeous body that some of the other women have on this site, but I felt pretty good. I didn't expect that gorgeous body with the amount of work I was able to put in. MFP set me at 1200 calories for all lb loss settings (.5, 1, 1.5, 2) and for all activity settings (except for .5 lbs a week at the construction level setting, it gave me 1330. I'm no construction worker.)

My circumstances and goals have changed. For many reasons, I can do more strenuous exercise, and so I am more dedicated to fitness/strength than I was previously. I've upped to 1600, which is probably 1200 or so + exercise anyway.

More calories is better for my current goals, but it wasn't right for my circumstances before. 1200 was well-suited for me then. It really depends on your individual circumstances. I actually found 1200 easier to stick to than the 1600 in terms of not going over calories. It was probably the psychological factors where I was more aware of needing to be more careful and aware of my planning. Today, 1200 wouldn't be right for me, but I believe it was before. If my circumstances would once again allow me to be less active, I would do 1200 again.

ErinG6191

I tried losing weight with eating only 1200 cals many times before and would have short-lived success. I'd lose initially but then would get frustrated when after the first few weeks I would stop losing (even when I was eating "perfect") and would give up. This time, I have played around with my numbers and am finding that I am most successful eating a net of 1500-1700 cals a day. I eat back most if not all of my exercise calories as well. It is so much easier to stick with this time and I'm actually seeing better results. Do whatever works best for you but I personally will never go to bed hungry again...when I really restrict my calories my body holds on to the weight. Goes against everything we are told...eat more to lose weight, but it really has worked for me.

2horsestoride

I've been eating 1200 calories a day since September and have lost 53 lbs. I've got another 29 lbs until my ultimate goal and will stick with the 1200 calories as it's obviously working for me.

I've been working out since February, everyday, but definitely not what I'd call hardcore. 40 min per day on my elliptical, walk every day and make sure I hit my 10,000 steps with my fitbit.

I feel great, feel stronger than I have in years and have energy to spare. I am loving how my body is looking and receive unsolicited compliments often.

If you choose well, 1200 calories can provide a healthy and balanced diet.

ETA: I rarely eat back any of my exercise calories.

Paganrosemama

For those who are asking about TDEE and are confused there are several threads on this forum that help in determining your calories goals. If you search for In place of a road map (IPOARM) you should be able to find several threads.



The following link is similar to the IPOARM but is a bit simpler and doesn't focus so much on body fat and macros...

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/952996-level-obstacles-lose-weight-target-fat-easy



If you have a hard time figuring out what activity level you are for TDEE calculators I like to use the following one

http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/

it has several different formulas and even has an option for activity level where you can input how many mins a day you do an activity. With simple examples.

I personally use a mix of MPF- where you are supposed to eat your exercise cals back and IPOARM.
My daily calorie goal is set to 1600. This is my TDEE minus 15% for days when I am unable to do any activity due to health issues. When I am more active I record the activity and eat back most of my exercise cals. Usually I end up eating 1800-1900 cals a day, and so far lost 10lbs in the past 2 months.

viser_haut

The mind boggles.
Why would anyone CHOOSE to eat 1200 or less, when you can eat almost twice that and have better results (less saggy skin, not being skinny-fat at the finish line etc).
Surely 'more food' sounds good to anyone?!?!

greenmonstergirl

I started here about 2 months ago, put in my height and weight and that I wanted to lose 2 pounds per week and it came up with 1200 calories. I work out everyday and that can vary from 300 to 1200 calories burned each day that I DO NOT EAT BACK. I stick with the 1200 calories that they told me to eat. I've lost 20 pounds in 2 months. I have 40 to go and I plan on sticking with this as I have done to get the job done. When it's time to maintain, I will eat a little more. Prior to this loss of 20, I lost 26 pounds but it took me alot longer because I didn't work out as hard AND I ate more calories. YOU need to find out what works for you. Everyone is different and what works for one person won't work for all. Good luck to you!

Mlkmaid

It's worked for me - 23 pounds since January. I run a 5K four days a week and do yoga a couple of times of week but I'm not a slave to exercise, I just don't want to be a gym rat. I'm only 5'3" and my BMR is something like 1140 so I'm comfortable with the 1200 and have never felt like I was starving. I've never been a yo-yo dieter and have really only gone on one or two diets before in my entire life. The more you work out the more you should eat or, yes, you will be hungry. It's just common sense.

awikum

Now I'm still fairly new to this - so I'm no expert by any means, but my given calorie goal is 1250 (I'm only 5'1") - I have had no trouble sticking to that, I have no trouble exercising for 45 minutes a day, I have way more energy because of the foods I'm choosing to put in my body.

I feel everyone should worry less about their calories and more about the TYPES of foods that they are eating. If you are filling up on a lot of vegetables and lean proteins your calories are going to be lower... if you need to eat your ice cream, pasta, and bagel with cream cheese every day your calories will be used up a lot quicker (I know because those are the things I was eating - I was tired all the time, and reaching over 2,500 calories)

If you are eating healthy foods - you will have the energy. That's whats working for me - and so far so good. I haven't been hungry at all!

irishblonde2011

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

Thanks so much for publicly revealing to the MFP world what kind of person you really are. Saved me some time, and most likely a few strikes as well. Thumbs up.

Agree.

Amy911Gray

I lost 113 pounds setting calorie goal at 1200. I had to learn that just because it was 12 noon, I didn't have to eat if I wasn't hungry. Now I workout 800-1000 per day and firming up. I was never a size 4 even in high school.

Make sure you are getting your water, and keep an eye on the protein. Once you get into the swing of things, it's just that simple.

Best of luck to you!

OneDimSim

Now I'm still fairly new to this - so I'm no expert by any means, but my given calorie goal is 1250 (I'm only 5'1") - I have had no trouble sticking to that, I have no trouble exercising for 45 minutes a day, I have way more energy because of the foods I'm choosing to put in my body.

I feel everyone should worry less about their calories and more about the TYPES of foods that they are eating. If you are filling up on a lot of vegetables and lean proteins your calories are going to be lower... if you need to eat your ice cream, pasta, and bagel with cream cheese every day your calories will be used up a lot quicker (I know because those are the things I was eating - I was tired all the time, and reaching over 2,500 calories)

If you are eating healthy foods - you will have the energy. That's whats working for me - and so far so good. I haven't been hungry at all!

^^ This!! I see plenty of diaries of ppl eating 1700-2200 calories and not a vegetable or fruit in sight....

mellyish

1200 calories is plenty. Stop trying to talk people out of it....

You are my new favorite person!

Mlkmaid

I saw Bob Harper (is that his name?) from The Biggest Loser on morning TV the other day and he's got a new program that is only 800 calories for women. I was floored. Now 1200 does work for me but I'm petite and I eat more on the days I exercise but when I heard that I couldn't believe an "expert" would recommend that to people. That's just a recipe for metabolism destruction.

JenniTheVeggie

I eat 1200-1400 a day...sometimes a little more sometimes a lot less. I listen to my body and eat when I'm hungry (truly hungry) and don't when I'm not. My diary is open to friends so you can see just how much I actually do eat everyday. A lot just happens to be low calorie foods. I even have room for vodka and beer! :drinker: