Seeing a lot of rude comments about 1200/cal....

I'm 60 years of age and 5' 3"..I too am on the 1200 calories per day. I only started about 3 weeks ago. One thing I can say, this has helped me be more accountable to myself. Like others, some days I'm under, other days I'm over with my calories as well as protein. I do know I feel better and I "look" better in some of my clothes. I lose very slow but as least the scale is going in the right direction. Like others have stated, I think 1200 is a good starting point and you can always make adjustments as you go further with your weight loss journey. Best of luck to you!

i'm also a 1200 calorie person, it it takes a lot of work to eat all those calories. i find myself full and i am not even reaching my 1200 goal. it just goes to show how much bad stuff and excessive calories i was taking in by not watching what i ate. let the haters hate- if it works for you, stick with it! your body will let you know when things are working out right.

Do you mind me asking - what are you eating? I am never full on 1200 calories, so I really am curious what is making you full.

Lifecycle of an MFPer

1. Start out at 1200 calories
2. Complain about how you're "stuffed" at 1200 calories and don't understand why everyone wants you to eat more
3. Make a post calling out the mean people
4. Gradually up your calorie goals when you grow tired of being "stuffed" on asparagus spears
5. Realize that you're still losing weight and feeling much better
6. Try to help 1200 calorie people
7. Get called an arrogant ahole one too many times
8. Retreat to chit-chat forum more or less permanently, only occasionally emerging to lay down a burn

9. ??
10. Profit

Something they don't understand is when we're short (I'm 5'3") we naturally need less calories.

That's right! I'm 5"2 and I have a job where I am often sedentary. MFP set me at 1240 cals/day to loose 1.5 lbs / week ( at least till I get to within 30lbs of my goal weight) .. most days i'm ok with it.. if I want to eat more I make sure I get enough exsersize.. in to cover the extra calories.

everyone on here is going to have an opinion. and you will see everyone has a different fitness level and goals. me personally i have mine set at 1500 calories. i do exercise an hour or more a day. i started at 265. so i have a lot of weight to lose. but this is what is working for me. i have lost on average a pound a day. you have to customize your plan to your needs. listen and learn from others. but dont take it to heart. everyone has a different day to day life. i am not working and at home with no kids and distractions. so its easy for me to workout on my elliptical. for others they have jobs and kids to make it more difficult. what works for me is not ideal for others.

My doctor recommended 1200 calories as a goal. That worked for a while.

Then my weight loss stalled for two months because I found myself hit with intense cravings after a large meal, even when I was within calories for the day. I logged it all and I was eating up to 3,000 calories once or twice a week, which required hard deficits later to maintain my weight. I was still losing a bit of muscle mass each week, according to my scale.

I eat more now, and my weight loss is no longer stalled.

Staying off the hormonal see-saw has been a god send for my progress.

I have no major cravings and I slam through high intensity exercise and weights without a problem.

My intake is staggered between 1240 and 1580 per day, depending on activities.

For the first time, my muscle mass went UP on the body fat scale, and my body fat went DOWN along with my weight.

So no, if you are nearer to your goal weight and very active, I think 1200 calories per day is counter productive. Your body can probably handle it at first, because you are probably not very active at the start of a program.

Maybe they are struggling and it makes them feel better to make others feel worse. Sorry for their comments. We should be encouraging one another. I also have a 1200 calorie diet. Today is my 1st day but not my first time losing weight. This isn't my first rodeo. I hope you keep up the good work, you should be proud of yourself.

I'm losing at 1800 a day...so don't think that those of us that try to educate the newbies that 1200 isn't the end-all, be-all when it comes to daily calorie goals are just miserable b!tches. I can't think of ONE person on my FR that is on 1200 a day, and every, last one of them is reaching their weight-loss and fitness goals.

You know what they say about assuming...

I also am on a 1200 Cal a day, but thats what this program put me on to reach my goal, but if you extercise you can earn more Cal back, like yesterday after extercise it added 920 to my 1200 goal for the day which is great bc but i didnt even finish them all.and never felt hungry.

Having previously lost 45 lbs two years ago in a little under 4 months....I made a comment about 1200 cal diets speaking only from personal experience.
In my experience I lost 17 lbs in the first month of that loss at 1200 calories then I quickly stalled.
I raised my calories to 1600 and eventually started calorie cycling- one day at 1800, one day at 1600, one day at 1400 one day at 1200 all over again and the rest of the weight just peeled off.

I would never make a derogatory comment about someone else's path though. My body responds to interval training in thirty to forty five minute bursts. If someone else is capable of losing a significant amount of weight doing 90 minutes of steady state cardio...thats okay too.

If you are comfortable with 1200 calories and you're seeing losses don't fret about the opinion of others : ), you're good!

No one with a lot to lose should be at 1200. You have your weight loss goal set too high, that's why it's 1200. If I enter a goal of losing 2 pounds per week, I get the magic 1200 too. Because it's the absolute MINIMUM, not because that's necessarily what's healthy for you.

It is your choice to eat only 1200 calories, and it might even be ok for some really small, not much to lose, sedentary people. I've noticed that many people, just like you, go along fine for awhile on 1200 cals and then when they finally have difficulties get pissed off when people say "eat more". Eat 1200 if you want, just spare us from later posts of "I can't lose weight", "I'm struggling with hunger", "zero calorie food ideas", "no fat food ideas", "I'm ready to give up", "I have no energy", "I feel like crap", "I'm losing my hair/skin/period", on and on and on.

I swear MFP starts every woman at 1200 calories. It did me to. I can actually fix three meals a day and stay within that, but I usually don't because I burn at least 400-500 calories walking every morning and they add those onto the 1200. I probably average 1300-1400 calories a day and never feel hungry..and so far I've lost 12 lbs in a little over 2 months.
What works for one person may or may not work for someone else..and everybody and their brother has an opinion. Just do what works for YOU and don't worry about anybody else.

Okay,


Here we go.

I feel like I need a disclaimer to say I’m not an expert…..I can only tell you my personal experience and what has worked for me.
I’ve been doing this for a long time so I’ve read a lot of stuff and talked to my own trainer and physician.

So, this is my take on it.

First of all – calories are considered fuel for your body – your body needs it to function – period. Even at rest you are burning calories just to exist. 1200 is usually given as the standard number you need in order to function properly, without feeling tired or sick, having memory trouble or coordination problems. This is why most people say you should never eat less.

Often you will hear talk about “starvation mode”

All I know about this is in extreme circumstances when your body doesn’t have enough food it will first store everything you eat as fat instead of burning it off (preparing for famine) ….people often wonder then why or how people starve to death, once there is no more nutrition the body will burn its fat and then eventually start burning muscle as well…

I think what they are REALLY meaning to explain is that when you don’t eat enough or eat often, your body has a way of taking notes…..

For instance, say you are like I use to be and you rarely eat breakfast, you eat crap or next to nothing for lunch, at dinner you are starved and eat like crazy….your body remembers that from dinner (say 7p.m) until noon or 7p.m the next night that it will not be receiving any nutrition(fuel, calories, food) so it gets smart and stops using what you are feeding it for energy, its saving it….

This equals poor/slow metabolism

When you begin to eat many times through the day your body realizes it isn’t in any danger of starving and begins to burn the food you are eating – you should feel more energetic and will burn more calories (and probably feel more hungry)

People often don’t feel hungry at 1200 calories because the body isn’t burning anything you are taking in , the metabolism has stalled.


The idea behind losing lbs is simple - in order to lose you must burn more calories than you take in.
Keep in mind that MFP figures your calorie deficit into the number it gives you – this is why you hear people say they “eat back calories” or why your calories will increase if you add exercise.

I used 6 or 7 different calorie calculators to figure my calorie intake and all of them gave me a different number – I went with an average.
Each time my weight stalls – I up my exercise and therefore my calorie intake and I begin to lose again.

Different things work for different people.

I am big believer in eating more to lose only because it has worked for me – and because I’ve seen so many people close to me nearly starve themselves on fad diets and detox’s only to become frustrated and quit because they are hungry and not losing weight.

Listen to your body….if you are hungry (truly hungry, not bored, not stressed, not out of habit) then eat!

I am an emotional eater so I use a scale when I think I’m hungry to determine if I am actually hungry or if I’m just wanting to eat for other reasons.

I wish you luck with your journey!
Be smart, and listen to your body, and your gut, *wink *wink 

Definitely believe you can achieve results with 1200 a day, like most have said, it all depends on the individual. Personally, I work out too much to achieve results with a calorie intake that low, because my body DOES go in to starvation mode. When this happens your not getting enough nutritions to fuel your body and while you might be losing weight its not healthy, steady progress. I experienced a plato in results at 1200 after a few weeks because my body needed more to fuel my workouts. Its all individual. Do what you gotta do. Just keep others advising in mind if you are new to all of this, but do what feels good for your body and don't obsess too much over then number.