Have you lost eating 1200 calories?

I eat right around 1200 calories a day and have been since the beginning of April. I've lost almost 67 pounds in that time. I work out at least 5 days a week, and usually log 10000 steps on my fitbit daily. I never eat back my exercise calories.

I eat well--primarily lean protein, fruit, veggies and dairy (cheese, greek yogurt, milk in my coffee), and allow myself to partake of the treats in our staff room once a week. I feel far healthier than I have for years. This is working for me.

I can't answer about losing on 1200 as I didn't do it for long enough to be able to judge it, only that I was too hungry on it lol. I had my weight loss set to 2lbs a week at first because I was excited to start my jourmey which gave me a figure of 1260 cals, that then dropped to 1230 once I'd lost 4lbs. I'm on my feet all day at work running around, cleaning, serving customers etc and I found that I was still really hungry after eating that amount. Even when I'd eaten my exercise cals back ( I walk for almost 2hrs most nights at a good pace and mostly uphill) I was still feeling ravenous. I'm planning on starting lifting weights too which my husband is going to help me with so I couldn't begin to imagine how I would still last on 1200 cals and I knew that if I carried on feeling this hungry all the time I'd end up giving up with it and would eat all wrong. I adjusted my goal to 1.5lbs per week which gave me an extra 250 cals to play with and feel much better for it and feel that it's now sustainable as long as I eat a good proportion of my walking cals back.

I guess that's a key thing really. I'm no expert by any stretch of the imagination but you need to think about how you feel on 1200 cals. I don't know enough to tell you if it's right or wrong or how you'll lose etc but in addition to losses you need to think about whether you feel your appetite is satisfied enough for it to be sustainable. Some people may find it is, other greedies like me will find it isn't lol and that was the key for me. If I was constanly feeling hungry I knew it wasn't right and wouldn't work in the long term for me personally.

Beat me to it However dead on!

When I first started, MFP said I should eat only 1200 and I lost weight. Then it plateaued. For 6 weeks. As I did more research, both here on the boards and other exercise sites, I found a calculator that was more accurate and helpful in losing weight based upon my TDEE and goals set and realized I needed to eat more to lose. Since then I'm losing again...slower than before, but that's because I'm only 7lbs from my goal weight. Long term, I don't recommend a 1200 calorie diet.

Do you have a link? I wanna know!

Here ya go: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12
Awesome information there - I've been following this plan for over six months, I'm losing fat and inches and dropped another pants size while eating 1800+ calories a day.

I started with the 1200 MFP set me on - lost a little, but ended up tired, hungry, stressed over how many calories I had left for the day, and weight loss stalled. After reading that thread, I found that 1200 is 200 calories less than my BMR, 200 calories LESS than what a hospital would nourish me with if I was in a coma.

Food is fuel & knowledge is power! Know your BMR and net above it! Know your TDEE and eat 15-20% below it! Land in between those numbers, do some resistance/strength training and some cardio, and watch the fat come off & the muscles show through. :bigsmile:

Hello I've been on a 1200 calorie diet since November. I've lost 24 lbs so far, and I will probably stay on a 1200 calorie diet till I'm closer to my goal weight. MFP has changed my daily calorie limit to 1400, but I prefer to stay as close to 1200 as I can and if I go over...well...the weight is falling off right now. When I hit a snag where I'm not losing for a while I will probably kick my calories up for a week and then drop them back down to kick start losing again. I'm also cutting carbs however...which might make a difference in diet results. Good luck!

Yes, I've been on 1200 calories for a little over a week and am losing fast.

I lost a little bit, but the big problem was that i couldnt sustain that for a long time. i would end up going over by an unknown amount almost every day! I bumped my calories to 1300 and im still losing exactly the same, but I feel like i have a lot more leeway for that emergency cup of coffee

I'm on 1200 a day, generally under, but I'm not really losing anything (lost 1lb in 10 days) I'm exercising too. Do I need to up my calories? (finding it difficult to go over 1200 unless I eat lots of the bad stuff), tend to only eat if I'm hungry. How do I increase my loss?

For myself personally I don't lose on 1200 calories. I stall and don't go anywhere. My BMR is 1395 and I eat 1400 + some exercise cals back and I'm losing a little over a lb a week normally.

If I eat less than 1400 I don't lose - I try and stay between 1400-1550 and I have lost 46 lbs in 43 weeks :-)

if your eating less than 1200 and not losing your probably putting yourself in starvation mode! You won't lose weight in starvation mode! It's my biggest problem trying to MEET my calories to lose! Up the calorie keep active!

I lost 28lbs on 1200 calories per day, and then put it all right back on again after a few months of over indulgence. Short term, I think its great, and results are astonishing. Long term, its a little harder. However once you're at your goal weight calories go up slightly, right?

I'm starting over with a new account, so anyone who wants some mutual support and motivation, feel free to add me as a friend or msg me! Would appreciate it :-)

I started on 1200 calories when I started sept 2011. Stuck to it most days.

No. I actually tried eating 1200 calories a day and just stayed the same for 4 weeks. Before I started trying to lose weight I'd been eating usually far less than 1200/day and hadn't lost anything either. I used to skip breakfast and lunch and only eat a late after work snack and dinner, or just the snack and no dinner...or even nothing at all. I wasn't doing it on purpose, just too busy at work during the day and too tired at night to bother.

I think I just gained weight because my body was confused, and whenever I went out to eat or ate in excess on weekends, I just packed on fat. I'm trying to eat about 1500-1600/day for a while until I stop gaining, then decrease it to 1400/day, then maybe to 1300/day. 1200/day is below my BMR and my TDEE is around 2000.

With my activity level 1200/day is too low.

For the past four months I've been at 1200 calories and lost 32 pounds. Going back up to 1400 though because eating that low definitely has an effect on my mood and attitude, as well as making me more headache prone for some reason.

Yep! 1200 isn't tough for me to stick too really. Lost 12lbs I eat my workout cals though too, so some days it's closer to 1500.

I'm new to all of this (started yesterday) can someone explain what TDEE is?

I eat ~1200 calories a day and have lost almost 42lbs since Thanksgiving.

are you serious?

Absolutely. I started at 299lbs. I lost 31lbs in the first 30days. It been a pleasant surprise.

Any tips you can share? I really want to lose the 70 some lbs before June but not starving myself