1200 calories a day.

Eating more allows your body to work naturally to lose "fat" first.
Eating too few calories gives your body reason to store "fat".
Why give the most important machine in the world the bare minimum.
Doesnt make any sense.

Sorry, but your first two sentences? Wrong.
I do agree with the third.

Specifically (and with sources) how are the first two statements "wrong"?

The bodies of people with anorexia (folks eating "too few calories") do ***not*** "store fat." EVER.
The bodies of people actually in starvation mode in East Africa (folks eating "too few calories") do ***not*** "store fat." EVER.

Just sayin'

No one thinks it's odd that almost every single woman on MFP gets the 1200 diet?

It makes me LOL. Come on. Dan is right, and so are some of the others. You ladies can eat in excess of that so easily and still drop the pounds or stones or whatever. I know it seems counter-intuitive. But, when you stall, and you will, come back here and read up on what Dan is saying.

I think they give you 1200 calories to use per day to motivate you to workout so you can eat more. I did not work out today and now am starving because I already consumed the 1200 calories.

This site is also good for a stepping stone toward anorexia. ;-)

1200 is the absolute minimum they will give you here
It worked for me for maybe a month or two, then I plateaued for a long time. Increasing calories worked for me.

No one thinks it's odd that almost every single woman on MFP gets the 1200 diet?

It makes me LOL. Come on. Dan is right, and so are some of the others. You ladies can eat in excess of that so easily and still drop the pounds or stones or whatever. I know it seems counter-intuitive. But, when you stall, and you will, come back here and read up on what Dan is saying.

^^^^ this^^^^

Below is a visual on how 1200 calories works.......

YES!!!


That was totally me. So glad I went to the dark side. MOAR CALORIES.

Well not everyone who eats high calorie or low calorie has a true understanding of their deficit in the beginning. I lost an average of over 2 pounds per week as it only took me 5 1/2 months to lose my weight. I don't really know if I had to do it again if I would have taken 11 months to do 1 pound a week but that is what I was shooting for. I guess I would recommend starting your goals at 1 pound per week if you don't have 100+ pounds to lose and go from there because it may come off faster than expected. I have to net 2600+ calories to maintain my weight at 135 pounds currently. I still feel I am experimenting, I am trying my best. I'm responding to the above comment blasting my friend Dan for losing so fast, I ate around 2000 calories all the time while losing weight that fast because I was exercising. I didn't know my deficit was really that high at the time. If you have a choice, why not try to lose on a higher calorie diet?

I this message board interesting. The fact that all of you are on 1200 cal/day .... is that any different than putting the same people in a size 7 shoe and they will fit everyone.

If someone is 36years old 5.11 weighs 200lbs and working out 6 days per week - does he/she have the same BMR as someone who is 36years old 5.11 weighs 200lbs and doesn't work out?

Sorry the arguments you 1200 cal "fanatics" doesn't make sense or add up.

Dan, You typed this-

Me?

"When I lost my weight I went from 175 down to 135 in about 3-4 months eating between 1600-2200 cals a day and working out 3x a week."

You didn't read it right. (HOW did I not read it right? Perhaps you wrote it wrong?)

Lol don't get mad.
I lost the majority of my weight between may 2011 and September 2011 eating 2200 cals 3x a week and 1600 cals on rest days.
Metabolically it's perfect for my height and size.
The up days helped balance leptin levels and maintain LBM.
The low days allowed me to lose fat.

You can do that too if you want.

Edit: I'd like to add that as long as you fulfill your macronutrient needs, about .70-1g protein per pound of LBM and .40-.75g fat per pound of LBM, you can deepen the deficit thru mild activity.
I walk appx 10k-20k steps a day.

My LBM is around 100-110 lbs. I eat 80-120 g of protein and 50-60 g of Fat per day. Well within your guidelines there.
My BMR is around 1300 My TDEE is around 1700.
1200 calories gives me a 500 calorie deficit, for a 1 pound per week loss.
I average an extra 150-200 calories burned thru exercise, which gives me another 1/4 to 1/2 pound loss.
I am the same height as you. But I am a 49 yo peri-menopausal female, who has disabling injuries and a weight restriction.
You are a 40 yo man who spends a lot of time in the gym.
My body fat % is still almost 50%. I still have 50 more pounds to lose just to get below the overweight BMI.

My question to you is WHY would you insist that I could lose weight eating the same calories as you do?
And WHY do you firmly state that no one should eat more than 20% below their TDEE and NEVER net below your BMR, when you obviously did that to lose your weight?

You insist that I, and others who eat at the same deficit, will not look good naked, will be ugly skinny-fat, and be weak with no muscle left so that we will gain all of our weight back.

Did these things happen to you? That is rude and hateful to say that to people.

I am sick and tired of a handful of people on here attacking everyone who they deem to not be losing weight the way they believe is the ONLY healthy way to do it.
I have never seen anyone attack someone who eats 2000 or more calories a day and is happy with their plan, and tell them they are doing it wrong.
If someone is only 10-20 pounds overweight and they are happy with 1 pound a month loss, good for them. Go for it!
But if someone has 75, 100, or 200 pounds to lose, they are not going to be happy with 1 pound a month loss. Do you realize how long that would take them? They could die of a heart attack, stroke, or diabetes before they got their weight into a healthy range.

You say that you, as a 5'6" 40 yr old fit and muscular man, has a BMR in the 1500s, yet you declare that it is next to impossible for anyone to have a BMR of 1200 unless they are 80 yrs old and under 4 ft tall. That is just crazy. Do you not read what you type before hitting enter? For every 10% of Body Fat you have, your BMR drops around 150 calories. I assume that you are less than 20%BF, so someone with a 50%BF would have a considerably lower BMR than you.

Why didn't you eat more than you did when you were losing? I know men who maintain on 10,000 calories per day. Why didn't you work out like they do so you could eat that much? Why are you eating so much less than they do? Perhaps because they are 6 ft tall professional athletes and bodybuilders?

Am I getting my point across even a LITTLE bit here? You cannot compare apple to oranges. You cannot compare you to me. You cannot compare me to a 20 yr old girl who lifts heavy and runs marathons.

You must compare me to other 49 yr old grandmas with arthritis and bad knees. And trust me, there are a LOT of us on here. And we are losing weight in a healthy way, eating 1200, or 1000, or 1400 per day. Whatever rate we prefer, based on our activity level.
We are not idiots. We are not 18 yr old girls trying to get the 'thigh gap' by living off cigarettes and tic tacs.

We are doing what we, along with our doctors, have determined to be the best plan for us.

Please stop disrespecting and insulting us. You are not a doctor, nor are you a nutritionist, nor a professionally trained fitness expert. You do not have all the answers for everyone. You know what worked for you, and you have figured out what works for some other people. But for you to insist that you know best what works for me and for many others that you have insulted recently, is just wrong.

The OP started this thread with a simple request to connect with other people eating around the same level as she is. You and a few others have jumped in with yet another opportunity to bash anyone who dares to have a different opinion about THEIR OWN LIFE.

Please stop. It really has gotten old. BTW I have received 8 FRs today from this thread, so I am not the only one who feels this way.

Eating below your BMR is very unhealthy and setting yourself up for failure.

Very untrue. I have been successfully maintaining a 1200 cal diet for over 7 months now. I have lost 20 lbs and counting, and am hardly ever hungry. It's all about making smarter choices on foods that will keep you full longer.

Agree - just changing the order in how I eat certain things, drinking more water (though probably still not enough), exercising has helped me lose half a stone.
I eat back some exercise cals on the days I am able to go to the gym but am on a rehab session after injuring my knee again so having to build all the way back up again.
The key to realise is it is 1200 NET.

By all means add me but be warned I go to maintenance on weekends which gives me some wriggle room to enjoy myself with friends.

For the combination of a balanced diet, smaller portions and exercise has always worked - I just didn't have the discipline when I quit competing.

I have lost 108 lbs. the first 60 or so was on a 1200 cal diet. Then I saw dans road map post and increased to 1500 cals. Since then I have lost the other 48 lbs a little more slowly fluctuating between 1500 and 1700. The problem I have now is loose skin. I know it's mainly genetics but I am convinced if I had not started on such a low number I would have not as much. I obviously lost a lot of muscle along the way but have been lifting heavy for about 8 months now to try and gain some muscle back. I am now 123.5 pounds and 19.5% fat so hopefully I am undoing some of the damage I caused on a vlcd at the start.

I have 1330 calories a day plus I exercise so I end up usually consuming around 1500 Add me if you'd like though! I have an open Diary

I'm doing 1200 and you can peak at my journal...it's public. Feel free to add me as a friend, as well. Also, I haven't been exercising much lately (I need to get better about that, but my baby hasn't been letting me leave her at the gym's kids club so I've been struggling with being able to work out) so I'm not eating back burned calories most days...so my journal is really 1200 cals.

Hi! I'm on 1200 a day and have lost about 17lbs in the past 9 weeks or so...not struggling with that calorie limit too much so far! I've also had an accident that made full mobility tricky by as I've lost weight these past few weeks I"m able to do more and am now working with a personal trainer who's helping me rehab the knee, get fit and lost some kgs!! I'm older than you are (61 it seems!) and live in New Zealand but if you'd like a buddy let me know! Good luck in any case, cheers, Karen

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