Success With 1200 Calories?

axialmeow

I stalled out on it. And eventually couldn't sustain it. At first I was never hungry then suddenly I was ravenous. Like I could not get full no matter what. I had to find a happy medium. I did lose weight on it. I also lost a ton of hair.
I suppose everyone is different. I am 5'10" and work a physically demanding job. Now if I were 5' tall and worked a desk job things might be different.

marfhutch

I eat at 1200 GROSS and am not having much luck. The reason I don't do net is that I think its nearly impossible to accurately judge how many calories I'm burning through exercise and don't want to net more than 1200.

For those having success, how are you judging your exercise calories to ensure they're correct? Is there a chance your eating back more than you burn (and therefore its not really 1200?).

lisaabenjamin

It's working for me! I'm eating 1200 cals a day and eating back exercise calories. It's obviously harder on the days I don't exercise but actually, you can eat a LOT of veggies on 1200 cals! It also gives me an incentive to exercise so I can eat more! :-) I'm just getting started (again) so I guess my intake will increase when I have less to lose.

lisaabenjamin

For those having success, how are you judging your exercise calories to ensure they're correct? Is there a chance your eating back more than you burn (and therefore its not really 1200?).

It's hard to accurately judge exercise calories so to be on the safe side I usually try to overestimate my exercise cals and don't eat back my entire quota. I seem to be getting it right as I am still losing but I guess some people may need to play around with this to find out what works for them.

lcalvert87

I have mine set at 1200, and I find it hard to even eat that much. Heathly food doesn't have many calories. What counts is that you're not starving yourself and eating healthy. Plus when I work out that day it gives me mm ore calories to eat. So it's never been a problem for me. I once did the hcg diet for 2 months and that's only 500 calories a day, and once again with the right foods it turned out to be enough for a short time. I lost 18 lbs doing the hcg injections in 2 months.

MoRiv1986

I'm hating this 1200 calorie set. I go over it quite often, and I'm realizing, my body needs more calories than that to feel satisfied. I may have to up my calories.

xAndreaWx

This is my first time reading the forum and 1200 calories per day was what my fitness pal suggested to me when I told it I wanted to go from 152lb to 131lb... have found it very achievable and have been losing (on average) a steady 2lb per week. Fingers crossed it stays this way though!

irishblonde2011

You can lose weight on 1,200 but why not eat more and see if you lose on that first.
I wish I had done it this way from the start.
Good luck whatever you pick.

omma_to_3

For those having success, how are you judging your exercise calories to ensure they're correct? Is there a chance your eating back more than you burn (and therefore its not really 1200?).

Most of that time, I used an HRM with a chest strap and subtracting out my BMR calories. However, over the last few months, my weightloss had really slowed down (.5 to 1.5 lbs per month) so I decided to try something else. Now, I take the gross value my HRM shows (which includes my BMR) and only record 65% of that. I've been doing that for 2.5 weeks now and the scale is moving again. I've lost 4 lbs over the last 3 weeks.

dewsmom78

Some people on here don't realize that 1200 calories may be someones TDEE - 20% - and that pretty close for me. I have a desk job, so other than my 30 min run or workout each day, I'm pretty inactive during the day. Too bad I listened to people saying "eat more to lose" . Well I either gained or maintained with that advice.

Amyp7777

I do 1200 calories and eat all my exercise calories about 3-4 times a week. I think this helps to account for MFP's over-estimating calorie burn for exercise. I have been losing weight slowly but have lost about 5 pounds in 3 months. I mainly eat "real" whole foods, so it's typically plenty of food for me. Does not cover happy hour or dinners out, though, which is why I just work out a little more on those days.

I think there's a big misunderstanding sometimes when people say "I am on 1200 calories". They typically mean that they NET 1200 calories most days, which is totally reasonable.

AmykinsCatfood

My "goal" for MFP is 1550, but I honestly have a hard time eating that much in a day. Before I started this I'm pretty damn sure it's not eating enough that got me to the point were I was. Well, not eating enough and not eating anything of substance (McDonald's once or twice a week along with packaged foods loaded with fat and salt.) I'm a "picker." I pick at things throughout the day and often forget to eat meals. I'm just naturally not that hungry. Right now I try my absolute hardest to eat a minimum of 1200 calories after exercise and I've lost 50 lbs. It works for some people. Maybe some feel deprived, but I have a hard time forcing myself to eat.

__Di__

ya for about 5 min. You do lose initially but it really is not sustainable or all that good for you. You can accomplish the same thing eating your TDEE -20%

The only problem with TDEE is, it changes daily depending on what you do during the day.........

To the OP, 1200 is just fine for me.