1200 calories = more likely to have problems?

I'd also like to note that you are at prime weight for women at 5'4".
If you have extra body fat, cutting calories isn't the way to get rid of it.

Cyclical dieting is.

For you, take up heavy lifting 3x a week and on those days eat about 2500 calories of high quality protein and starchy carbs.
On rest days eat about 1600 cals.

This will keep you at the same weight while building up lean mass and shrinking fat.

This is probably going to sound a little too technical, but if you're aiming to stay as close to 1200 as physically possible then you're likely eating below your minimum. Have you noticed that the calories per serving is always a multiple of five? The FDA has a set of rounding rules in place, which means each serving is probably going to be a few calories over or under the number stated. So let's say you have ten things on your list for the day and end with 1205 calories. If each of those ten things was rounded up by three calories, then you're really sitting at 1175. Yes, you will certainly be hungry at that point and your body will go into starvation mode.

On a less technical note, the mentality and habits of a person are key. If someone is used to eating a huge amount of food, then their body will get rather confused at the sharp drop in proportions. This leads to their brain reflexively sending a message of hunger. Pair that up with physically seeing a difference in proportions on the plate and things get stressy very quickly. The emotional discord understandably leads them to seek comfort. If they had built up a habit of stress eating prior, it stands to reason that their brain would immediately request food again. Now they're hungry twice over and are much more likely to stuff themselves later.

From what I've personally seen about most people on a 1200 calorie diet though... Many just don't do it right. They treat the daily goal as a top end limit and believe that "less is more". That sort of thinking tends to cause a lot of people to eat 800 calories a day instead, hoping to drop the pounds faster. Not only that, but those people often have trouble grasping the concept of replacing the calories lost via exercise. I've seen people who log five to ten hours of exercise a day while still only eating between 800 and 1000 calories. As many have already stated here though, this is a generalization and not a rule.

down 140 lbs on 1200..not having issue with it..occationally if i splurge i eat a bit more.. past few days i let it go do to being sick and not wanting to lose any weight for a few days

With all due respect, you have a lot to lose - you have 238lb in total according to your ticker so you have about 100 more to go. That is definitely a factor in whether a VLCD is preferential or not.

bump

My calorie goal originally was 1200 and I just couldn't handle it I was ALWAYS hungry so I did some adjusting to the numbers I put into MFP and now have a calorie goal of 1330 and I never feel hungry, it was amazing what just 130 calories did for me. I've also read about people on here who were eating 1200 and not loosing and then started to eat 1400-1500 and started to loose weight like crazy.

I haven't noticed that, but I'll keep a lookout.

I'm on 1200 & I'm not finding it too bad. The trick for me is finding lower calorie / high volume things to eat to keep me feeling full, especially on days like today where my work brought in food for lunch which I ate, so now I have to figure out how to eat dinner without blowing it for the day!

Exactly right. A lot of people change only the number of calories and not what types of foods they're consuming. So 1200 calories can be 1x KFC variety meal or 4lbs of turkey, veg and complex carbs.

It's tough. I did it for months to loose. I'm down 25 lbs. I am wearing a size 6 - like i did in JR HIGH! Some days were an awesome success... even getting in the negative with a little excersize. Some days were an epic fail. (Olive Garden anyone?) That being said,1: it can be done - healthfully 2: eating filling foods and not blowing calories on junk is of paramount importance 3: don't get mad at yourself or give up on yourself if you have a bad day or two. 4: drink a full glass of water everytime you are hungry. give it 5 minutes. now go have a piece of fruit / handful of nuts. Need to break a sugar addiction? Try a juice fast / cleanse for 2 weeks. (see the movie fat, sick and nearly dead) Need to get over late night snacking? Have a time set and a plan for what you will eat for your last snack. Eat it. Still a little empty... go to sleep.

Also, I can have a footlong subway for lunch nearly everyday and be on 1200.

People who choose 1200 are probably new to the whole thing and think losgin weight it easy so they click 2 pounds a week, the don't have restraint yet.

AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

....ok I'm done (: For you people who go by MFP Recommended goals, you are completely being mislead!

To figure out your daily caloric intake, I recommend this to my clients:

First you need to calculate your BMR (basal metabolic rate) from your height, weight, age, and gender. It's basically what you need JUST to breath everday!

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

Once you have this number, plug it into the Harris Benedict equation. This takes into play your activity level--BE honest because it does make a difference!

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/

THIS number is what you should be consuming EVERDAY. Now if you're interested in LOOSING weight, subtract 500 calories from this number. If you want to gain weight, add 500 calories.

....YES, it is that simple! Now in terms of ratios, you should aim for 40/40/20, meaning 40% carbs, 40% protein, and 20% fat.

BUT you're probably asking how to do this on MFP? Simple. Go to the Goals section and change it from Recommended to Custom. You can plug in the caloric intake that you figured out and change the percentages for carbs, protein and fat....and BAM! ( : you are on your way to results and success.

-Cassie

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