1200 too low?

A 1,200 calorie diet is not always the best way to lose weight, as you should be eating at least your BMR: Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the number of calories that your body burns on a daily basis to maintain your lean body mass. Knowing your BMR is the first piece of the puzzle that you need to understand if you're going to lose weight and keep it off forever..

Here's some information I've grabbed from a few places on the web that summarizes it.

"Unless you are morbidly obese or seriously up there on the BMI for obese, eating under BMR is highly discouraged for health reasons. It can be really hard on your heart to eat less. Especially suddenly eating way less than you have been and not supplying your body enough food to survive.

If you want to lose weight, and look good while doing so, you want to lose as much fat as possible without losing a lot of muscle as well. Eating at least your BMR in calories will help you maintain the muscle you do have (exercise also greatly increases the amount of muscle you get to keep). It ensures your body has enough fuel for everything that keeps you alive AND maintaining lean body mass, bone density and higher brain functions.

Eating less than your BMR leads to metabolic disruption. For instance, your hair, skin and nails are all 'alive' and need energy to be sustained. If you eat less than you BMR, less important bodily functions like this become down regulated… hence the dry skin and hair and brittle nails of many low kcal, low fat dieters. You also lower production or important hormones which are key to a healthy metabolism including testosterone (in both males and females) and Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) which as you can imagine is involved directly with your metabolism. If you eat under your BMR long enough, you can even start losing bone density, making your bones more brittle and easier to break.

I was wondering why I would always seem to lose quite a bit of hair when I got out of the shower. I'm thinking this may have been the case!

Here's the calculator if you want to find out how many calories you should be eating:

Fat 2 Fit Radio: www.fat2fitradio.com

To adjust to my BMR range on the site here, I had to change my settings to lose 1lb a week, which is the recommended on MFP.

Thanks for posting this! However, I went to this website and to lose 7 lbs (From 125 lbs to 117 lbs, my goal), it's telling me to eat 2,800 calories a day to lose weight! How can this be right? Has anyone had success with these models? I've lost 10 lbs since March (135-125) and that's from staying at around 1,500. I can't imagine losing weight by eating almost twice as much (plus that just seems really hard to eat that much unless you ate pizza and ice cream all day). Thoughts?

What's worked for me - and I initially started at 175 lbs, is a net calorie goal of about 8,000-8,500 calories a week after exercise. I don't feel deprived (I love wine) and if I go a little over, it doesn't really affect me either way. Good luck!

If you are having a hard time sticking to 1200 then I would manually adjust your settings. Use a BMR and TDEE calculator and use those figures to determine how many calories you consume daily. I am set at 1200 and sometimes it is hard, I just make sure to log anything that burns calories as exercise so I can eat those cals too. I usually net around 1000-1200 daily, but my actually consumtion on most days is between 1500-1700 calories. Don't starve yourself hun it isn't worth it. If you would like to add me so you can view my diary please do. I am always willing to offer help and support. :-) Just don't look too hard at Wednesday I cheated that day this week...lol.

Many antidepressants have the side effect of weight gain. No matter what you eat or do you will gain weight. Ask your doctor to prescribe a medication that does not have that side effect. I take Welbutrin XL and it does not have the side effect of weight gain. It actually is supposed to actually decrease your appetite.

As to the calories counts........look at what your eating not just the calories. Some foods are more satisfying than others. If you eat alot of processed carbs then you will be hungry alot. Try adding more protein into your diet. That will help.

Good Luck on your journey!!

Whoever tells you 1200 calories works, is wrong. If they say that, they are not getting all of there nutrition. It is not possible to get all of your nutrition in with 1200 calories, and hence 1200 calories is the minimum any doctor or specialist will tellyou.

I started this journey in April at your exact meaurements (5'4,160). I have been sticking to a 1200 per day and it works for me.
I also work out 5 days a week and do eat back my exercise calories on occasion (couple times a week) but never more than 200-300
calories.
Many peopel on here will tell you that is too low. I have now lost 22 lbs and feel incredible. My goal weight is much higher than yours (130)
but I am sticking to what works. I am not gonna lie to you, it hurt the first couple months and I went to bed hungry many a nights.
If I had to do it over again I would still stick with the 1200 calories for the first three months.Once you hit your goal weight you can
up it too 200 -300 more per day as your metabolism will be ready for the change.
Good Luck !

so nice to hear ^^ im the same as the above, its working for me. x

Exactly the same boat for me too!

A 1,200 calorie diet is not always the best way to lose weight, as you should be eating at least your BMR: Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the number of calories that your body burns on a daily basis to maintain your lean body mass. Knowing your BMR is the first piece of the puzzle that you need to understand if you're going to lose weight and keep it off forever..

Here's some information I've grabbed from a few places on the web that summarizes it.

"Unless you are morbidly obese or seriously up there on the BMI for obese, eating under BMR is highly discouraged for health reasons. It can be really hard on your heart to eat less. Especially suddenly eating way less than you have been and not supplying your body enough food to survive.

If you want to lose weight, and look good while doing so, you want to lose as much fat as possible without losing a lot of muscle as well. Eating at least your BMR in calories will help you maintain the muscle you do have (exercise also greatly increases the amount of muscle you get to keep). It ensures your body has enough fuel for everything that keeps you alive AND maintaining lean body mass, bone density and higher brain functions.

Eating less than your BMR leads to metabolic disruption. For instance, your hair, skin and nails are all 'alive' and need energy to be sustained. If you eat less than you BMR, less important bodily functions like this become down regulated… hence the dry skin and hair and brittle nails of many low kcal, low fat dieters. You also lower production or important hormones which are key to a healthy metabolism including testosterone (in both males and females) and Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) which as you can imagine is involved directly with your metabolism. If you eat under your BMR long enough, you can even start losing bone density, making your bones more brittle and easier to break.

I was wondering why I would always seem to lose quite a bit of hair when I got out of the shower. I'm thinking this may have been the case!

Here's the calculator if you want to find out how many calories you should be eating:

Fat 2 Fit Radio: www.fat2fitradio.com

To adjust to my BMR range on the site here, I had to change my settings to lose 1lb a week, which is the recommended on MFP.

Thanks for posting this! However, I went to this website and to lose 7 lbs (From 125 lbs to 117 lbs, my goal), it's telling me to eat 2,800 calories a day to lose weight! How can this be right? Has anyone had success with these models? I've lost 10 lbs since March (135-125) and that's from staying at around 1,500. I can't imagine losing weight by eating almost twice as much (plus that just seems really hard to eat that much unless you ate pizza and ice cream all day). Thoughts?

What's worked for me - and I initially started at 175 lbs, is a net calorie goal of about 8,000-8,500 calories a week after exercise. I don't feel deprived (I love wine) and if I go a little over, it doesn't really affect me either way. Good luck!

If you are adding in your exercise when doing the calculation, this includes the calories you've gained back from your workout.

I did mine as "office job" or sedentary (which set me at around 1500) so I can factor in my calories burned as I do my workouts since I never seem to burn the same amount every workout

Hope this helps!

My daily calories are set at 1250 and it is hard for me to make those calories. I had an awesome dinner last night of mashed potatoes, green beans, and Smoked Beef Sausages (2) and was still under. Are you recording your exercise properly? Remember you lose calories even if you walk slowly- I did it for about 20 minutes yesterday and Myfitnesspal added 49 calories to my daily intake. Ensure that you take all your activities into effect. If you have questions about how to assess what falls under exercise, I would visit LiveStrong.com. They have a calorie counter that tells you how many calories you burn reading a book, surfing the web, watching tv, etc. Don't forget to add your calories lost due to physical activity to your daily calorie intake.

I'm not going to answer the main question because I'm not an expert and I don't know. But...

I was looking at your food journal and noticed some trends. Whatever calorie level you decide to eat at, you can eat the same NUMBER of calories as you are now and feel much more full if you change WHAT you're eating. For example, less bread and convenience foods, a different choice for dinner, and skip the wine or find smaller wine glass and sip a 2 or 3 oz serving slowly.

I suspect that because you're eating at Olive Garden very frequently, you've got a schedule that makes cooking difficult. But (and this was hard for me to adjust to, but I did) if you truly want to lose weight, you actually have to change how you're eating. Not just by eating less, but by eating differently.

First thing that made the biggest difference in changing my eating habits was to find vegetables and learn ways to make them yummy. I had always figured that a salad was a great way to eat my veggies, but I've figured out that for me, it's hard to get full on a salad, PLUS, I tend to waaaay underestimate how much dressing I used. My salads were often more calories than my steak or whatever because of dressing, cheese, etc. Sauteeing veggies isn't hard and you can make a ton and keep the leftovers in the fridge and rewarm them all week. I like bell peppers and onions, or zucchini and squash (if you cook them long enough the sugars carmelize and they get sweet and buttery), or roast asparagus in the oven. Use some salt and pepper and a little olive oil (it's ok to use the oil, and it makes it easier to cook and better tasting). Wrap a sweet potato in foil and bake it and it practically makes a meal, it's so filling.

Next, and someone else said this, but cut back on breads, pastas, etc. I don't wipe these entirely out cause I like them, and I know I won't stick to this if I am denying myself favorite foods. But I'll take a half serving of pasta or rice (half of a REAL serving size, not half of what the restaurant gives you - usually what they give you, even for lunch, is well over a serving... sometimes two or three!).

Find ways to make portable or easy to prepare meals for yourself. I've started making wraps for lunch at work and I LOVE them. I take some flatbread (sometimes called lavash) and fill it with meat and vegges. Today's is grilled chicken breast, 1/3 of an avocado and bacon. YUM! I'll have some grapes and cherries to go with it. If I really want something crunchy or snacky, and I don't have carrots, I like popcorners chips - you get a lot for a serving - or nuts (salted, yum). This weekend I'm going to sautee some peppers and onions (and maybe throw in sliced mushrooms too) so I can make fajita wraps - chicken or beef, the veggies and one slice of cheddar cheese. super yum!

The wine is a hard thing to change, I know cause I used to drink it with my husband. First I switched to mixed drinks and now and then I'll have a "skinny girl" cocktail (premixed cocktails that are low cal). But lately I've been happy to just have a sip of my husbands and the taste is enough for me.

I know it sucks but I'm going to tell you, you really have to change how you eat, or this will be a frustrating, depressing battle for you. If you're serious about it, and make the changes, you'll make your way down to the weight you want to be. It will take time, and you probably won't lose it all by your anniversary. But something important to remember is that if you lose it too fast, it's very likely to come back. So be patient and know that if you do it right, you'll be rewarded in the long run.

Good luck, hon.

The 5 weeks and lose two pounds is because it doesn't factor in your exercise, exercise more and don't eat back those calories and you could lose anywhere from 2-3lbs a week, hope this helps!

Jesse Short
ISSA Certified Personal Trainer

I wrote a reply on a thread similar to this the other day and a couple of people have come back and said that they found it helpful so hopefully it will help you too.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/692123-feedback-on-my-diary-please-please-please

If you or anyone else would like to add me as a friend, please feel free to do so.

Good luck!

I took this survey and it says I should eat 1079 calories per day. I would get slaughtered on this website if I told people I was eating 1079 per day.