Seeing a lot of rude comments about 1200/cal....

MFP put me on 1200 cal to start too. I am 5'3", I have a desk job, and I try to run every other day for 45 min. I eat back the calories I burn, because I worked out and I earned it! (those workout days give me the half glass of wine I sometimes feel I deserve....lol)

anything under 1200 cals a day is considered starvation mode. food for thought.

People who are never hungry rarely lose weight. Also food for thought.

OMG..lol...thanks for my laugh of the day. I loathe being hungry...won't do it. But I guess the 45lbs I've lost is imaginary weight.

Whatever makes those hunger pangs more bearable I guess.

My question to all of those who offer medical or nutrition advice is, where did you earn your degree? If you have not earned one in one of these fields... SHUT YOUR MOUTHS! Everyone is different, different stroked for different folks... no need to criticize because what works for someone else is different than what you know to work for you... get over yourselves... I don't know who would join a group like this if all they want to do is criticize... I joined for support and to support others... if you have other intentions you should probably take your bullying and all knowing selves somewhere else!

People give advice here because people on this board ASK for it. Don't ask for opinions or advice on something that would be better handled by your doctor anyway if you're not willing to take criticism or opposing views.

Thank you for this...I'm baffled how people ASK for advice then get their panties in a knot when it's not what they want to hear.

It's always the eat more advice that gets the most resistance. There is always some reason why they are a special snowflake and eating at TDEE minus a reasonable deficit just WONT work for them.

For me, I felt like 1200 calories (or perhaps 100 or so over) was right for me, and still is even though I'm maintaning at the moment. Before I lost weight I didn't really used to eat a lot of food, just whatever I did eat was pretty high in calories. So when I changed my diet to a slightly better one I discovered that I was struggling to eat over 1200 calories a day, I just didn't feel hungry. It took me a while to get it over that amount and now I struggle quite a bit with eating that much because to me it just seems like a lot of food? I know my mother's the same, she struggles to eat over that much as well! We're not starving ourselves, we're just not doing what we feel is stuffing ourselves!

I dunno, if it's not harming you in any way and it seems to work then I don't get the problem

For me, I felt like 1200 calories (or perhaps 100 or so over) was right for me, and still is even though I'm maintaning at the moment. Before I lost weight I didn't really used to eat a lot of food, just whatever I did eat was pretty high in calories. So when I changed my diet to a slightly better one I discovered that I was struggling to eat over 1200 calories a day, I just didn't feel hungry. It took me a while to get it over that amount and now I struggle quite a bit with eating that much because to me it just seems like a lot of food? I know my mother's the same, she struggles to eat over that much as well! We're not starving ourselves, we're just not doing what we feel is stuffing ourselves!

I dunno, if it's not harming you in any way and it seems to work then I don't get the problem

because usually it is harming you in SOME way. In a malnutrition kind of way--especially if you're working out.

So what would I be missing out on then? I'm just not a fan of forcing myself to eat.

anything under 1200 cals a day is considered starvation mode. food for thought.

People who are never hungry rarely lose weight. Also food for thought.

That's the dumbest thing I've heard all day. I'm never hungry, and I've lost 18 pounds in three months.

Many people here continue to preach the myth of starvation mode. There are very few enlightened souls who understand that starvation mode kicks in when a person's body reaches around 5 - 10% body fat -- different for men vs. women.

http://healthscience.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=512:are-you-in-the-starvation-mode-or-starving-for-truth&catid=102:jeff-novicks-blog&Itemid=267

Don't let others beat you up about your choices. Stick to your plan. If you end up with friends who cannot support your plan ... CLICK, they are gone.

Good Luck on your journey.

Oh yeah! I got the same crap! I asked a simple question about a light snack, and people jumped all over me when they figured out what my caloric intake was. And it is based on your activity level, height, weight and age. And other websites tell you you should have the same amt of calories. We should start a club!

Honestly when I started to really lose weight was when I did 1200 calories... I've honestly even asked professionals and some do recommend it. It's a preference and the starving mode only really happens I believe if you're eating wayyy below 1200... but I eat something around 1150-1300 almost every day now and I've lost 5+ pounds since starting it up again and I feel wayyy better...

Lifecycle of an MFPer

1. Start out at 1200 calories
2. Complain about how you're "stuffed" at 1200 calories and don't understand why everyone wants you to eat more
3. Make a post calling out the mean people
4. Gradually up your calorie goals when you grow tired of being "stuffed" on asparagus spears
5. Realize that you're still losing weight and feeling much better
6. Try to help 1200 calorie people
7. Get called an arrogant ahole one too many times
8. Retreat to chit-chat forum more or less permanently, only occasionally emerging to lay down a burn

Agreed...

but if I eat fresh veggies and fruit all day and IM FULL...

I don't mean to pick on you, and your diary is private so I obviously have no clue what your'e eating, but this is something I see a lot... 1200 (or less) calories of fruit and vegetables isn't exactly a healthy diet. Sure you can eat a LOT of them, but you're not getting healthy fats and protein from a pile of vegetables.

(Some veg can provide really good fats, but they tend to be really high in calories, so the under 1200 club tend to avoid them.)

I love when people take a snippet of what someone says and turns it around to be something for their gain....... I eat meat. I eat beans I eat a wide verity of things. I eat junk every now and then... BUT MY POINT WAS!!!!!! That if you are eating things that are good for you and NOT bad things.... Who cares what the calories are!!!!! No all of us want to BULK up like a body builder and some people are vegetarians... Are you saying they are unhealthy???

I think the general wisdom is that you are unlikely to be able to get the necessary nutrition at much less than 1200 a day. But even if you use that as a start line, do you want to stay that low? It depends on who you are...how old, how heavy. Check your BMR. At 140 pounds and 68 years of age, my basal metabolism rate is 1,139. On a 1,200 calorie diet I am likely to lose a pound every two weeks...I am sedentry but do try to burn about 400 calories a day in exercise.
If I were the same size but thirty years younger my BMR would be between 1,300 and 1,400.
If I were 35 and weighed 200 pounds, it would be over 1,500.

I stayed around 1200 to 1400 everyday for a year lost 60 lbs...didnt go into "starvation mode"....only did cardio for that year and my muscles didnt dissinegrate ...according to 80% of people on here i shuda died and been left with no muscle after that year...after lifting again for past 4 mo im bigger and stronger now than i was in college when i did power lifting meets...just do wat works and use common sense

Me too, except that I did eat most of my exercise calories. Being able to eat the extra food help me stick with it, since I was working out nearly every day. Now I am on maintenance and my basal calories is around 2200 plus exercise calories.

The mistake a lot of people make is assuming that a person that is eating 1200 to lose weight is going to try to continue to eat 1200 once they reach their goal weight. At goal weight you don't need the deficit and can eat your TDEE. So no, 1200 is not maintainable for most people long term, but it doesn't have to be. Eventually people reach their goal weight and can up the calories to whatever their TDEE is at that point.

I stayed around 1200 to 1400 everyday for a year lost 60 lbs...didnt go into "starvation mode"....only did cardio for that year and my muscles didnt dissinegrate ...according to 80% of people on here i shuda died and been left with no muscle after that year...after lifting again for past 4 mo im bigger and stronger now than i was in college when i did power lifting meets...just do wat works and use common sense

Me too, except that I did eat most of my exercise calories. Being able to eat the extra food help me stick with it, since I was working out nearly every day. Now I am on maintenance and my basal calories is around 2200 plus exercise calories.

The mistake a lot of people make is assuming that a person that is eating 1200 to lose weight is going to try to continue to eat 1200 once they reach their goal weight. At goal weight you don't need the deficit and can eat your TDEE. So no, 1200 is not maintainable for most people long term, but it doesn't have to be. Eventually people reach their goal weight and can up the calories to whatever their TDEE is at that point.

That's the problem, most of the time they can't. Eating at 1200 cals for that long will, more than likely, cause them to put weight back on once they try to return to what their TDEE "should" be.

The thing is that 1200 calories too low for most people, but MFP kind of uses it as the "default" for women who want to lose weight. MFP won't let you set your goals to any lower than 1200, but in reality, the limit should probably be even higher than that. I suggest you go to this website to find out your BMR (basal metabolic rate): http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/

Your BMR is the amount of calories it takes your body every day just to stay alive. You'll notice it's probably more than 1200. Therefore, you should probably be eating more than 1200; your body needs it!

Congrats on your progress so far! I lost some weight eating at 1200 at first too, before I found out about BMR and stuff. Read around the forums; there's a LOT of information available. After I got educated I started eating more like 1400-1500 calories a day, I lost weight just as fast and was much happier. Good luck!

After reading your comment, I decided to go check out your link. Unfortunately, I believe that site is highly unreliable. For goal weight, it didn't ask my height or anything, just age gender and current weight, it said my goal weight should be 176lbs.... I am 5'1.... 176lbs is definitely NOT an accurate goal weight for me.

Further, it says I should be eating 1900 calories to survive at my current weight.... I have NEVER eaten that many calories in a day. I haven't changed my eating at all yet, and the highest I've ever gotten is 1380 or so. If their info was correct, I technically NEVER should have ended up at this size. 1675 is what they say I should be eating to get to 130lbs. They also go on to say that if i were to eat 1675/day for the rest of my life, I would reach my goal weight of 130 and stay there, never needing to do anything more, because eating as a thinner me........blah

Again, I've never gone beyond 1380 eating normally, not dieting..... that site is flat wrong. No, I am not in starvation mode, either. Just wanted to point those things out so anyone else trying your link could be fair warned.