1200 Calories and Working out?!

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Linds_Joy
Linds_Joy Posts: 23
in Food and Nutrition
MFP has my daily intake as 1200 calories. How am I supposed to meet that AND workout in a day. I'm afraid I won't have enough energy to do my routine and will have massive fatigue. Any suggestions?

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  • FelicityEliza36
    FelicityEliza36 Posts: 252 Member
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    Do what works for you. Try it, if you are starving by the end of the day, eat.

    Currently my settings are at 1300 - but I fluctuate between 1100-1600 per day depending on how I feel. If I am hungry I eat. If I work out more, i eat back some calories. It all depends :)

    Good luck.
  • 3bambi3
    3bambi3 Posts: 1,650 Member
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    MFP has my daily intake as 1200 calories. How am I supposed to meet that AND workout in a day. I'm afraid I won't have enough energy to do my routine and will have massive fatigue. Any suggestions?

    MFP is designed for you to eat back your exercise calories, which is why it adds them to your daily total. You should be eating 1200 NET calories. This means that if you work out and burn 300 calories, you should be eating 1500 calories.
  • axialmeow
    axialmeow Posts: 382 Member
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    Eat more. Eat back your exercise calories.
  • chivalryder
    chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member
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    MFP has my daily intake as 1200 calories. How am I supposed to meet that AND workout in a day. I'm afraid I won't have enough energy to do my routine and will have massive fatigue. Any suggestions?

    MFP is designed for you to eat back your exercise calories, which is why it adds them to your daily total. You should be eating 1200 NET calories. This means that if you work out and burn 300 calories, you should be eating 1500 calories.

    ^THIS.

    Read the instructions before you use the product.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    MFP has my daily intake as 1200 calories. How am I supposed to meet that AND workout in a day. I'm afraid I won't have enough energy to do my routine and will have massive fatigue. Any suggestions?

    MFP is designed for you to eat back your exercise calories, which is why it adds them to your daily total. You should be eating 1200 NET calories. This means that if you work out and burn 300 calories, you should be eating 1500 calories.

    ^This!

    Exercise "rewards" you with more calories. Just be careful not to eat "too many" calories back. MFP and many machines "guesstimate" calorie burns (and some are too high).... a heart rate monitor (HRM) should be more accurate. If you don't have a HRM, try looking up calories using a couple sources ...... and use the lowest estimate ..... or just eat a % of your calories back.

    Re: fatigue ...... think of the extra calories as FUEL for your workouts. Too few calories can result in muscle loss and the whole point (or a main point) of exercise it to keep muscle & lose "just" fat. Hunger is not the best indicator ..... but fatigue .... definitely eat more.
  • wigglypeaches
    wigglypeaches Posts: 146 Member
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    This also depends on how much you're trying to lose, and what your current height and weight are. If you're trying to lose ten pounds, you probably shouldn't be looking at a 1200 calorie diet.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    MFP didn't give you anything. You gave MFP a bunch of numbers and it did some math. It gave you a number based on what you told it now it's your turn to apply some logic and decide if what you ask it to do makes sense. Since 1200 is as low as MFP will go then I'm thinking you probably ask to lose 2 lbs a week when you shouldn't be trying to do that.

    Safe weight loss is no more than 1% of your body weight per week. Figure that amount out then go back and try entering your numbers again to get a more realistic figure.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    MFP has my daily intake as 1200 calories. How am I supposed to meet that AND workout in a day. I'm afraid I won't have enough energy to do my routine and will have massive fatigue. Any suggestions?

    Make sure you log the exercise and eat back the extra it adds. Be sure to get enough protein. Remember this is a public website so all recommendations are going to be averages. You may need more than the average. Also, I think MFP underestimates the calories burned during weight lifting, so if you lift a lot I'd suggest eating a little over the recommendation.

    And always, if you are truly hungry or feel weak, EAT.
  • blanhe2
    blanhe2 Posts: 88
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    You will earn calories with your work out, eat them!
  • lewcompton
    lewcompton Posts: 881 Member
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    You are always welcome to eat back some or all of your exercise calories... I typically consume between 1200 and 1500 calories and burn off quite a few and fatigue hasn't been an issue for me... Case in point today my calories consumed is going to be just over 1200 and the calories that I am going to burn almost 1500... I usually burn over 400 on light days and over 1000 on hard workout days... I have at least a day per week that I try to burn more calories than I consume.
  • coe28
    coe28 Posts: 715 Member
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    Eat healthy. If you're eating right, 1200 calories can give you more than enough energy. And you don't have to only eat 1200. If you eat more than 1200 just make sure you burn the difference.
  • Slimmd
    Slimmd Posts: 10
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    As the folks above said, you can eat back your "burned" calories. I haven't looked at your diary, but it might also be what you are eating. I find that I'm starving if I eat processed foods or high sugar foods, but if I eat "real" food (veggies, chicken, fish, fruit, nuts) I consume less calories and am full.
  • ARHx0
    ARHx0 Posts: 32
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    Yeah, eat back your exercise calories if you feel the need to. After a few days of eating fewer calories, you really get used to it.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    As others have stated, eat back those exercise calories. Also, how much are you trying to lose? If you're trying to lose a lot of weight (I think of this as 50 Lbs or more) then maybe a 1,200 calorie diet is the way to go. If you don't need to lose that much, and particularly if you're only wanting to drop 10-15 pounds, you may want to take it a little slower.

    Listen to your body as much as anything...hunger pangs are usually a sign that your body is not being properly fueled. I've had to manually adjust my caloric intake up from MFP's suggested and I'm still achieving my goals without the hunger pangs and I have energy to spare.
  • veronica341972
    veronica341972 Posts: 22
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    I am on a 1200 calorie diet and working out on a treadmill for 45 minutes daily. At first, I must admit, I felt hunger throughout the day but mine was more of not doing well in balancing out my meals so I would have very few calories left for dinner. Foolish I admit however have learned to balance out my calories and don't snack throughotu the day. I have lost 15 pounds since Nov. 4th. My goal weight is 125 and am currently 159. Not only was I doing this diet to look good but mostly for lowering my blood pressure which I developed at 20 weeks pregnancy and once I delivered it remained fairly high. I set small goals in my weight loss journey. Have met the first one just yesterday to reach 159 by Christmas. My next goal is 149 in the next few months.

    I had a lot of weight to lose (weighed 174 and only 5'4) however if you don't have to lose that much adjust the calories so you lose the weight more slowly. My situation meant I had to lose weight because my bp was so high even with medication. I feel fantastic now and no longer need that afternoon nap that I needed for so many years. Keep up the good work y'all.

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