Should I only eat 1200 calories?
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tcompton70
Posts: 9 Member
I'm struggling here. I'm seriously overweight and I'm trying to loose it, but I'm not sure I'm doing it the right way. My doctor said to go to 1200 calories a day, plus exercise regularly. Last summer, I did this for 4 months as best as I could. I rode my bike 5-6 days a week. My heart rate monitor said I burned roughly around 400 calories per ride. During the summer I lost only 5 lbs. and I worked hard. At the beginning I told doctor it was hard to only eat 1200 colories so he put me on an appetite suppressant.
With winter here I haven't riden since the middle of November. I'm now set up to ride on my trainer indoors, I have a tradmill and some small pound free weights. I am getting back into things; however, I am not sure if I should stay at the 1200 calories and take the pills?
Thoughts?
With winter here I haven't riden since the middle of November. I'm now set up to ride on my trainer indoors, I have a tradmill and some small pound free weights. I am getting back into things; however, I am not sure if I should stay at the 1200 calories and take the pills?
Thoughts?
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Replies
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This would be better if we knew your height/weight and general activity level. Most likely answer is no, but more details would help0
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everybody's body is different - i would find a good BMR calculator and figure out your base calories yourself. 1200 is most likely too low...0
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This would be better if we knew your height/weight and general activity level. Most likely answer is no, but more details would help
I agree...
OP-I find it odd your doctor would say 1200 calories-did they say if you should or shouldn't eat the workout calories back? Check out helloitsdan's post and see what your BMR and TDEE are http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-120 -
If she found it difficult to lose weight at 1200 I'd say it's probably not too low. Less calories in = more weight lost, the equation isn't any more complicated than that. Even metabolic slowdown doesn't counter the effect completely.everybody's body is different - i would find a good BMR calculator and figure out your base calories yourself. 1200 is most likely too low...0 -
If she found it difficult to lose weight at 1200 I'd say it's probably not too low. Less calories in = more weight lost, the equation isn't any more complicated than that. Even metabolic slowdown doesn't counter the effect completely.
It could be she was burning the extra 400 a day and NOT eating those back, thus eating a net 800 and that WOULD be too low to see losses.0 -
If she found it difficult to lose weight at 1200 I'd say it's probably not too low. Less calories in = more weight lost, the equation isn't any more complicated than that. Even metabolic slowdown doesn't counter the effect completely.everybody's body is different - i would find a good BMR calculator and figure out your base calories yourself. 1200 is most likely too low...
When I ate 1,200 calories I plateaued after a few weeks and didn't lose at all for 3 months. When I started eating 1,600 I started losing again. I'm eating 2,000 now and still losing.
Proper fueling is necessary for healthy fat loss.0 -
Ditch the pills and snack on low-calorie, high-fiber things, like baby carrots and hummus for example. Keep using your heart heart rate monitor to track the calories you are burning when you exercise. You should be eating those calories to net 1200/day....So if you are supposed to eat 1200 calories a day, and you burn 400 cycling, you should try to add those 400 back in so your net is 1200 and not 800 -- that's way too low! Otherwise there's a good chance you are depriving your body too much and it will counteract everything you're trying to do. MFP calculates that for you so it should be easy. Good luck!0
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If she found it difficult to lose weight at 1200 I'd say it's probably not too low. Less calories in = more weight lost, the equation isn't any more complicated than that. Even metabolic slowdown doesn't counter the effect completely.everybody's body is different - i would find a good BMR calculator and figure out your base calories yourself. 1200 is most likely too low...
When I ate 1,200 calories I plateaued after a few weeks and didn't lose at all for 3 months. When I started eating 1,600 I started losing again. I'm eating 2,000 now and still losing.
Proper fueling is necessary for healthy fat loss.
encouraging to those of us who struggle with too low number of calories....0 -
OP, you said you are "seriously overweight" but on your profile it says you want to lose 25 pounds, and from your picture, that looks about right. With only 25 pounds to lose, your loss will be slow. You also may actually be losing fat and gaining muscle with increasing your activities. How are your clothes fitting? You should aim for losing 1/2 to 1 pound a week. Set that for your goal and MFP will tell you how much to aim for. Rarely should anyone go under 1200 unless they are a sloth.0
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If your seriously overweight, then you may be eating too little. If you don't eat enough for your age/weight/activity, then your body goes into starvation mode and tries to hang onto the weight. Try using the calorie calculator. Good luck!0
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LOL! Love the sloth comment......0
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Find out what your TDEE is, its much more accurate than a BMR and use that as your diary goal. Then create a deficit from there. It is much easier seeing how "in the green" you are at the end of the week to try to figure out what you should have lost.
A calorie is never just a calorie but the general rule is you need -3500 calories to lose a pound of fat. So if you eat your TDEE and exercise off 500 calories 7 days a week you should lose 1lb "in theory".0 -
I FEEL like a sloth most of the time, does that count??
Anyway, if you are too hungry on 1200, it probably isn't enough. Listen to your body. There is a certain amount of hunger that is expected in the beginning when you cut your calories, but anything that continues more than a few days is your body telling you that what you are giving it simply isn't enough. My doctor has told me to stick to 1200 calories as well, but I generally do 1400-1600, plus eating most of my exercise calories back, and my weight loss has actually sped up a little after slowing down for several months trying to keep to a lower calorie intake.
So, I would say, calculate your BMR and TDEE, and eat between those two numbers, and give it at LEAST 4-6 weeks, then do another evaluation. Good luck! :flowerforyou:0 -
I'm struggling here. I'm seriously overweight and I'm trying to loose it, but I'm not sure I'm doing it the right way. My doctor said to go to 1200 calories a day, plus exercise regularly. Last summer, I did this for 4 months as best as I could. I rode my bike 5-6 days a week. My heart rate monitor said I burned roughly around 400 calories per ride. During the summer I lost only 5 lbs. and I worked hard. At the beginning I told doctor it was hard to only eat 1200 colories so he put me on an appetite suppressant.
With winter here I haven't riden since the middle of November. I'm now set up to ride on my trainer indoors, I have a tradmill and some small pound free weights. I am getting back into things; however, I am not sure if I should stay at the 1200 calories and take the pills?
Thoughts?
First, you say you are Seriously overweight, yet your ticker only shows 15 pounds to go. That is not really considered 'seriously overweight'. So unless you actually have 40 or more pounds to lose, then you aren't seriously overweight. Especially not enough to be prescribed diet pills. If you only have 15 lbs to lose, then you will be doing good to lose 1/2 pound a week. The closer to goal weight you are, the slower the weight loss.
Second, you said you ate at 1200 calories "the best you could". What does that mean? Did you weigh and measure everything and accurately log every thing you ate, for every day, for 3 months straight? Chances are, you did what many of us do- you estimated how many calories you were eating, forgetting about little things that you snacked on her and there, and you had days that you went way over your calorie goal. It doesn't take a whole lot of 'cheat' meals and grazing to put you close to maintenance level. If you did indeed eat at 1200 for 3 months straight and didn't lose one pound, then there is something wrong with your thyroid. Especially if you say you were exercising during that time.
And finally, you said you were exercising 5-6 days a week, riding your bike, and burning 400 calories per session. Did you use a HRM with a chest strap, like a Polar brand? How long were you riding? How fast were you going? How hard were you working?
I weigh almost 200 pounds and it takes a hard hour of riding with my HR elevated and me being out of breath to burn 400 calories in an hour. If you are considerably lighter than I am, your burns would be lower. Were you eating back those 400 calories during that time, so you were actually eating 1600 a day?
Most likely, a combination of eating more calories than you realized and burning less calories than you thought, are the reasons that you didn't lose weight.
ETA- I reread your post and saw that you lost 5 pounds over those 4 months. That is good, since you don't have that much left to lose.0 -
Find a new doctor. Out of curiosity what pills did he give you? Was it something thyroid related?0
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If you enjoy hunger and losing muscle, sure, why not?0
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Should I NET 1200? I have not lost in weeks despite logging and exercising 3-5 days per week.0
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Not sure what your 1200 calories amounted to when you were eating them. I started on 1200 calories per day in June 2012 (doctor recommended). I have lost almost 40 lbs. I will say that I do measure and log everything I eat, the good the bad and the ugly. I keep my food choices to chicken breast, eggs, tuna, salmon, talapia, lean ground turkey or beef, lots of green leafy vegetables (I love salad), avocados, some cheese, almonds, walnuts, greek yogurt, high protein cereal, and some fruit. Lots of water, some black coffee, unsweet tea, an occasional diet coke. I also make room for pizza, chips salsa and an adult beverage now and then. I can honestly say I've rarely been truly hungry. I started walking again and I have an elliptical at home. I began working with a trainer in August, cross training. I try to get 3 work-outs in a week. I rarely eat my exercise calories, in fact some days I forget to log my exercise.
To make it work you have to log and you have to have some kind of physical activity. It does work, however having said that, if you are doing all these things and not losing perhaps it's time for some bloodworm. I would never take diet pills, but that's me. In order for this to work you have to find what will work for you personally.
Hang in there! Wishing you success!0 -
sorry but threads like this make me smile, dwwarrrlin you can eat what you like ...... but how did you get fat in the first place. eat less exercise more and eat sensibly simples eeep. sorry meercat impression.0
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judging by the fact your profile says you have "10 lbs to go" I really doubt that you're "seriously overweight.0
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