Is 1,200 calories a day too much?

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  • cmeade20
    cmeade20 Posts: 1,238 Member
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    Hello. I'm new to MFP, and I really need motivation.
    I was wondering if 1,200 calories a day was too much? Because my mom told me that you start to lose a lot at 1,000...
    So I'm not sure what to think. Should i change my calories to 1,000? or leave them the same?

    You're young and have NINE pounds to lose. You should be eating a helluva lot more than 1200 calories, let alone 1000 calories.

    Set your goal to a half pound a week, eat most of your exercise calories, and track your progress through how clothes fit, measurements and photos, not the scale.
    This^^^^^


    As a reference point I am 5'2 119 lbs (last I checked anyway I hardly ever weigh myself) and I eat 1390 + my exercise calories. And on days I work I eat more because I am a parttime waitress. That means anywhere from 1600-2000 calories a day. And I am in the best shape I have ever been in.
  • GeliPearl401
    GeliPearl401 Posts: 11
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    In my situation, at first, 1200 was almost not enough. Being that I'm Asian (as if you can't tell by my picture lol), we LOVE rice. I had a difficult time decreasing my rice in take because we eat rice with EVERYTHING. A half cup of rice was literally just about 200 calories. Each time my remaining calories decreased, the more I panicked. Now, I'm still struggling ever so often because let's face it, I'll never cut rice out of my meals. I still have it at least once a day but I've learned to add more greens and fruits. I love apples so I have a minimum 3 a day, in between meals. At this point, 1200 is working ok for me. I will eventually start to challenge my calorie in take here and there but being aware of the types of food I put in my body helps a lot. So, I'm no expert, however maybe you should snack on fruits or veggies to make sure you eat the minimum of 1200. If this becomes too much for your stomach to handle, then MAYBE you should eat fewer calories but try not to eat too few.
  • Sarah_Wins
    Sarah_Wins Posts: 936 Member
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    No offense, but your Mom is clearly no expert, to say the LEAST. There are quite a few people around MFP who've done the research, gone through the experiences, lost the weight and built the muscle. These are the people you should be listening to.

    And, for God's sake, EAT!
  • G__Force
    G__Force Posts: 280 Member
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    It is going to depends on your body, everyone burns calories different. You may have a great metabolism that will burn everything you eat and then some or you may have to work your but off to burn everything you eat. It also depends on how active you are, if you’re a couch spud all day and then go work out for an hour and expect to burn off 1500 calories you may end up being disappointed but if your active and moving all day then got work out for an hour that 1500 calories may not feel like enough. I am a fairly active person mfp tell me I burn 2300 calories a day so if I only consume 1600 I will loose weight. On the weekends when I am a lot less active I only need about 1300 calories to maintain.
    Hope this helps
    Good luck,
  • gemstone29
    gemstone29 Posts: 16
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    I know I'm going to get flamed for this but here goes.

    Yes, it can be. I had been told for years that 1200 was the absolute minimum the body needs before going into the so called "starvation mode" Which, quite honestly is pure BS. If that were the case the more you ate the more you would lose. That's clearly not true because then there would be no need to diet. If eating less caused you to stop losing weight then then no one would starve to death. I stuck to a 1200 calorie diet for years and and dropped from 208 to 162 with exercise but no matter what my diet consisted of or how much i exercised I simply could not drop below 162 which still left me with a BMI above 30 which is considered obese.

    I literally felt over full if I tried to stay at 1200 even if I broke it into 5 or 6 meals so about a month and a half ago I just decided to eat 200 calories or less per meal because I found that to be the magic number for me, I feel satisfied but not stuffed and bloated. I eat 3 times a day and occasionally I'll have a 50 calorie snack between meals and I seldom go over 600 per day and if I go over 800 I literally feel uncomfortably stuffed.

    I stay as far away from any kind of fat as I can and I don't do sugar at all. Not even fruit. Since then I've lost 9lbs and I feel fantastic.

    The research I've done indicates that the body needs a bare minimum of 500 calories a day to sustain bodily functions but that does not take in to account the fat stores already in the body already. If you're 300 lbs then doing a few weeks of 500 calories a day is not going to kill you. When your BMI drops too low, (below 8% I think it is but don't quote me on that) that's when the body starts eating muscle.

    Try eating a 200 to 300 calorie meal then give your stomach 20 minutes to get the message to your brain. You'll be surprised how full you feel on so little.

    At the risk of starting one of those never ending arguments on weight loss and nutrition. I have to ask if you have ever had you metabolisim checked?
    Everyone hits a platue at some point because your body gets used to functioning with a smaller energy intake however it does this by slowing down your metabolisim. If you start really low then you have nowhere left to go because you metabolisim can become non existant.
    BMI is also not really a full proof tool for measurment because it doesnt account for difference in leam muscel mass or bone structure. You could have a body fat percentage of 5% and still be in the obesity BMI range.
    I am not going to go into the nutritional issues with cutting out all fat and sugar (including fruit) as this post is asking about caloires but I personally think this approach is drastic.
    That said, there are all sorts of drastic dieting methods that work for people so there you go.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    It is going to depends on your body, everyone burns calories different. You may have a great metabolism that will burn everything you eat and then some or you may have to work your but off to burn everything you eat. It also depends on how active you are, if you’re a couch spud all day and then go work out for an hour and expect to burn off 1500 calories you may end up being disappointed but if your active and moving all day then got work out for an hour that 1500 calories may not feel like enough. I am a fairly active person mfp tell me I burn 2300 calories a day so if I only consume 1600 I will loose weight. On the weekends when I am a lot less active I only need about 1300 calories to maintain.
    Hope this helps
    Good luck,
    You're a 46 year old man who only needs 1300 calories to maintain? Wow.
    I'm a 47 year old woman who needs more than that.
  • miss_ally08
    miss_ally08 Posts: 167 Member
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    I'm new and got this advice and I believe it's the best!

    "I would suggest, and I know this sounds insane, increasing your calories. There are many many people on here that believe "eat more to weight less" or "EMTWL", and I used to laugh at them, till I stopped losing at 1200 and tried it. I would suggest you figure out your BMR and TDEE, use this link or do an internet search, http://thefitgirls.com/tdee-calculator.aspx For the exercise, I usually exercise 6-7 days, but I use 5-6 on the calculator. When you have both numbers multiply the higher (TDEE) by .80, 80%. Compare that to your BMR, and eat around there. Custom set your goal on MFP to be that number, and DO NOT eat any exercise calories back. Give it 2 weeks and see what happens. If it does not work for you then try something else, but most people seem to do great this way."

    I am going to try this after I weigh-in this week and see what happens. Thank you for sharing it!! :)
  • nanainkent
    nanainkent Posts: 350 Member
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    When you eat too few calories the problem is that your body does go into starvation mode. This does not mean that you don't lose weight, you do in fact. But what happens is when you go off your diet your body thinks that if it doesn't store the fat then it will starve again so it is the" starvation mode" of hoarding fat. So if you have 9 pounds to lose now you will probably take them off. But as you begin to eat again (and you will) you will end up with that 9 pounds back and it brought some friends with it and they are stubborn. Another reason to eat at the level of your body is your nutrition. You would not only be losing fat but you would be losing nutrients as well. Causing such things as hair loss, dry skin, brittle nails, fatigue, lower imunity. There are many more. If you do decide to do this (I am for different reasons though) please be sure you take some hefty doses of vitamins and minerals. Try to pick high protien foods.
  • csheltra26
    csheltra26 Posts: 272 Member
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    Is your mom a dietician? If not, don't listen to her. Depending on your height/weight, you need AT LEAST 1200 calories to fuel your body!

    This!!
  • tryclyn
    tryclyn Posts: 2,414 Member
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    I would start here.


    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/717565-in-place-of-a-road-map

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3817-eat-more-to-weigh-less
  • camicat1975
    camicat1975 Posts: 20 Member
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    MFP admin removed my post because it could actually harm someone without talking to a doctor first so I'll just say this. I'm down 11 Lbs in 14 days. I am under the care of a dietitian and two doctors for a rare disorder so that might have some baring on my success with my diet plan.
  • jogglesngoggles
    jogglesngoggles Posts: 362 Member
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    I would STRONGLY recommend not starving yourself which is what going down to 1000 calories a day will do!! I'm no expert and I'm guessing your mom is neither, so please don't follow blindly, do research!!....you will lose weight that low, you will lose it fast even...but the second you start eating over that you will gain it all and then some back...It's dangerous...your body needs fuel, live is meant to be lived, and with no fuel/energy what's the point if you've lost the weight??
  • Nikki31104
    Nikki31104 Posts: 816 Member
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    When I started this 75 days ago I was at 209. I have a desk job so I rarely move. I am also not great at exercising. I am 5'5". MFP set my calorie goals at 1560. I have been eating right around there and I have already lost 12 pounds. I think at 1200 I would be starving all the time and I would fail.
  • tigerlinly
    tigerlinly Posts: 219 Member
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    every nutritionitst i ever talked to and believe me some of my best friends do that for a living so i know plenty) and they all say never go less then 1200 a day for any reason
  • shinkalork
    shinkalork Posts: 815 Member
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    Yea! eat more than that... Without food anyway...you will burn your muscles not your fat.
    So go with lots of protein and be careful.
    Calories aren't the big problem in the weight issue...Is from what they are from.
    Just make sure you have good proteins(muscles,fuel), okay carbs (energy),little sugar,enough fiber (to clean lol), not too much fat and you'll be fine.

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