How do you people stay at 1200 a day??

If you are having trouble sleeping at night try taking a Tylonol PM or Advil PM. That helps me fall asleep and stay asleep until morning!!! Good luck to you!

Bad idea. Try Melatonin instead. All natural. No side effects.

If your target calories set by the site is 1700, eat 1700. If you are not losing weight try lowering it to 1500 or exercise more. You need to feel good whilst on this journey to maintain it - starving yourself on a 1200 cal diet is not going to be sustainable. Slow and steady wins the race.

I think the trick is to eat high fiber foods (fruits/veggies) that fill you up and stay away from Restaurant foods.

1200 calories a day is dangerous.. especially for those classified as obese. Plug your numbers into the BMR calculator- THAT is what you should be eating, AT MINIMUM, to survive. As in, if you were doing nothing else but laying in bed all day, you would need that number just to live (exercise is what would create the deficit for losing weight). I tried doing 1200 cals because, like everyone else, I wanted to lose as much as possible, as fast as possible.. the only thing I was losing was MY HAIR, and my MIND from being hungry all the time. I found a forum post here on the "Olivia Method" and adjusted my calories to that. My BMR is 1450, I now eat 1500- 1550 and busted through my plateau, and the increase in calories equated to a whole 'nother meal, which meant I wasn't HUNGRY anymore. I get to eat more AND lose weight? Yes, please & thank you.

I mostly eat fruit, veg and salad and you can eat a lot of that and not go over! Or rice and pasta that doesnt have too many calories

I eat a lot and stay right at or right under 1200 a day. If you garbage processed food you will be starving.

Eat real food and you won't be hungry at all. Plus, I have to drink like 6 bottles of water a day not counting the coffee and hot tea. A lot of the times I'm thirsty but not hungry. The first two weeks I was hungry because I truly didn't know what to eat and was afraid of making a mistake.

You can add me if you want and look at my diary.

You exercise and eat your exercise calories. I'm at 1300 base but I burn at least 300 calories per day so that's extra food right there.

1200 is not enough for me. I am currently still over 300 lbs. If I want to lose 2 lbs a week I need to eat about 1660 calories a day. I have been right around 1600-1700 calories a day. You can eat what you want as long as it fits in your calories. I had 2 slices of pizza today....not 4-6 slices. I have cut out soda and other calorie/sugar drinks. Mio water flavor is my best friend right now. I have been making it to the gym regularly but not killing myself. 20-35 minute workouts to start.

I always used to start the diet process too hard. I would go the gym too much. By the time a few weeks went by I was burnt out. So this time is different. I am walking and I even did a little zumba the other day and just moving more. Even if it means cleaning a little extra at my house for the sake of moving my body. I eat fruits and veggies and lowfat dairy. I also eat normal food and my portions are still a little too big but I am working on it. I havent binged in over a week. This is feeling great.

So my point is....do not just eat 1200 cals at your weight....you actually need more to start. As you get smaller and smaller the less calories you will need and you body will be adjusting slowly with you. You wont be able to eat as much.

Think about it as each morning you are depositing 1700 calories in the bank. You dont have to spend it all but you should spend most of it.

It's been really hard for me to stay within my calories...but I realized the secret. Every time you feel hungry, drink 2 bottles of water and wait about 20 minutes...not only does the hunger go away, you feel full and hydrated! I have already lost 2 lbs in less than a week, stayed under my calories and my skin is becoming healthier from all the extra water!

I suggest trying small snacks, I love celery, bananas and 90 calorie granola bars.

I eat 3 meals and usually a couple of snacks (at least during the week--weekends tend to get crazy). Depends on what you eat--usually, I'm not hungry. However I tend to eat very filling foods and fill the corners with fresh fruit and veggies, hot soup, granola bars, etc. which have relatively few calories. I also drink a lot of water and hot tea. I average around 1200 cal a day--some days more, some less. I don't eat when I'm not hungry and I try to make certain my portions are reasonable (not serving equal portions to my 5'5" self and my 6 ft. husband--making that change made a HUGE difference!).

MFP told me to be at 1200. When I sat down and did the actual correct calculations my actual intake was 1550, and after trying to stay at 1200.. I can do 1550 no problem!!!

For me, I think a lot of my frustration came from not knowing the difference in myself between feeling unsatisfied with my meals versus hungry. I could fill myself up all i want on grilled chicken salads, but they weren't enjoyable after a while or incredibly satisfying... i translated that into hunger. And by sheer stubborness i could keep at it for a while, but sooner or later i would give in little by little. I have put a lot of effort into cooking for myself this time around and it's making a big difference in how i feel after i eat. I am not disappointed or let down... so there are quite a few days i do struggle with getting my calories up. Anyway, don't know if that could be a contributing factor, but thought i'd offer my two cents

I eat 1200 a day, I don't always have time for the gym with my job. I find 3 meals a day and 3 snacks keeps me full. My meals are usually 300 calories each and then I have an additional 300 for snacks. Sure I get hungry, but I can get hungry on 2000 cal too. I just find eatting smaller amounts more frequently is what helps me. Right now I'm starving, but supper is in the oven so I'm just holding out.
Also know where empty calories are.. pop? yeah 150 calories for nothing.. not happening. An example of what I eat in a day

breakfast - 1 egg & eggwhite omlette with veggies and 1 slice of multigrain toast.
snack - greek yogurt
lunch - salad, nuts and cottage cheese or leftover meat and usually some salad.
snack - veggies and light dip or cottage cheese (sometimes both...)
supper - typically meat and either potato, sprouted rice blend or pasta. or sometimes we eat vegetarian. I use recipes on skinnytaste.com very frequently
snack - I love homemade popcorn in the evening ( not everyday, but often enough)

and yeah thats usually about 1200 calories give or take... I find I way exceed protein and am way under in carbs, but thats okay.
If you want more calories you need to exercise so if you are going to splurge on a meal go for a walk. All diet and weight loss is calories in - calories out. Good luck.. you need to find what works for you!

The only way I can stick to 1200 cals/day and not be hungry is to add lots of fruit and veggies (low in cals)... If one doesn't like fruit and veggies, it could be hard!

Are you saying you need to eat all of your calories in order to lose the weight? Because usually I have a few hundered calories left at the end of the day because I am not hungry enough to eat more.