How do you people stay at 1200 a day??

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For some reason, i found bumping it to 1300-1400 a lot easier. Especially if i workout, i eat some of those calories back, since i am always starving after a workout.

In terms of what I actually eat, I find that as long as I'm not eating what I would call processed foods (biscuits, chips, bread, pasta, chocolate bars, cake, lollies, even muesli bars, crackers or noodles) then I have next to no trouble keeping under the limit. I'll have 2 weet-bix with a banana and skim milk for breakfast; a piece of fruit or some yoghurt for morning tea; lunch will either be a wholemeal ham and salad sandwich (no butter, and watch the size of the bread you use), or maybe a garden salad, no dressing, with a small flavoured tin of tuna on it, or, if I'm really trying to watch myself, I'll have as much carrot, celery and cucumber I want with some tzatziki dip (or hommus, but that has more calories so I don't have it every day) and sometimes some seaweed rice crackers; and dinner will usually be some variation on lean meat and vegetables (go heavy on the vegetables and light on the meat - you'd be surprised how small a true portion of meat is). And if I want dessert (because eating that many veggies is filling), then strawberries and blueberries are quite low in energy so I'll have them with some unsweetened low-fat greek or natural yoghurt (I add cinnamon to make it taste more interesting and less... well, yoghurty!) or low fat cottage cheese.

If I **do** eat rice then it will be in a risotto, and I will measure it carefully and the dish will be predominantly vegetables anyway. I try to avoid pasta because it's so delicious and hard for me to stop eating, but again, measure it and go heavy on the topping (provided that the topping is a vegetable-based one not a meat one, and preferably using tinned tomatoes with no sugar added and a little tomato paste to thicken it instead of bottled pasta sauce which is full of sugar (as is tomato paste, but you use a lot less of it)). And you don't need toppings like grated cheese because, delicious as it is in both flavour and texture, a small sprinkle of parmesan goes a long way. Low fat ricotta is also surprisingly low in calories and good for making a dish creamier.

I also find that I feel better and my body functions better if I eat lots of vegetables and fruit, lean protein, and nothing high in refined carbohydrates (I say refined because vegies are full of them, but they're not refined ones) or sugary food, or heavy, greasy food. I will still eat those things occasionally, but I will literally wake up the next day feeling bloated (not to be confused with feeling fat) and sluggish so I'm listening to what my body wants now and doing it less often. I even find now that if I eat just for kicks instead of when I'm genuinely hungry, I actually feel pretty gross.

As far as I understand it though, you should be avoiding going **under** 1200cal anyway. I don't know how much science there is behind that being the magic number where your metabolism suddenly crashes, but regardless of that, if I try to eat under 1200cal I get light headed and cranky and have no energy to even go for a walk, let alone work out! I'm currently set at 1500ish cal to lose 1lb per week, but for a while there I was down at 1200cal to lose 2lb per week and just found it too hard to stick to, and I found myself bingeing and becoming disheartened for failing to stick to my calories (and so the cycle begins again). You also hear stories of people hitting a plateau, and instead of further dropping their calories they'll boost them by a few hundred and suddenly their body gets better at burning fat again. Weird, I know.

So anyway, in the new year, I adjusted my mind set, and my goals. I changed it to 1lb which gave me a limit of a little over 1500cal, and that way, if I choose to then I can eat between 1200 and 1500 then I can, and lose more weight, but psychologically I'm also okay with eating just under my new limit. And at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter how fast I lose weight as long as I'm healthy, so, impatient though I may be to lose it, I know that the slower I lose it the more of a lifestyle healthy eating and exercise will become, and the more likely it is to stay off. And so far it's worked - I lost 1.5kg in the first week and 1kg in the second week, even though I ate out twice. It will be interesting to see how I go this week because I wasn't eating far under my calories in those first two weeks, so I can only assume that I am naturally more active day-to-day than I thought I was.

Good luck!

I usually don't. But I eat really clean whole foods. Every morning I do honey, lemon, and detox tea, and a green smoothie. Something lite for lunch like hummus and flax seed crackers and either another smoothie at night or what ever I decide. i also try not to eat gluten or dairy but gluten is hard. I cheat at least twice a week on gluten and once on dairy but getting better. I try not to let myself get hungry, by eating either almonds or nuts for a snack. Its hardest if you don't have anything healthy with you right when your hungry.

Anyone who wants to friend me is welcome...
Well, I find it terribly difficult to stay at 1200 cal. It doesn't matter if I go to gym or not that day, I need about 1800 cals to feel I am not starving. And yes, for most of the part, I eat healthy. Some days, super healthy! Only too much of it....
you see, I cannot understand how people eat only 3 oz of chicken breast.... or 6 leaves of romaine lettuce... when I eat the whole lettuce head and the entire chicken breast which weighted a little under 1 lbs when raw....
Or how do people eat 1/4 cup of oatmeal or quinoa, when I need at least 1 cup, uncooked, to feel that I've eaten!
and yes, if I eat fruits, who can have only 2 clementines? I have at least 5 in one sitting...
Anyways, my solution to this is try and "gain" 600 cals at least from exercise, so I can eat them.....
So far, so good....not complaining, almost 5.5 lbs in 22 days isn't bad.
But yes, 1200 is nearly impossible.

my calorie intake iss 1500 and I can usally stay under

Maybe 1200 calories isn't right for you. Also, I know you said your exercise wasn't where it needs to be, but exercise is the only way to gain calories for the day. It's whats supposed to be the motivator.

exercise - portion control - low calorie snacks in between

by the way, I'm only 5'1" and am currently about 5 pounds from my goal. us short people can't carry our weight very twell.

You can eat a lot on 1200, it just depends what you eat.

People have different metabolisms and different bodies. I know somebody who eats just one meal a day and that is in the evening! She has been living off 500 calories a day for a long time and has lost a lot of weight. Of course, people tell her this isn't healthy and perhaps rightly so, but I would find that impossible! Personally, I struggle with 1500, but I tended to eat 3000-3500 before starting to try and eat better and lose weight. I find just an hours walking a day ( or more efficient exercise helps) just to give you that little bit extra. Also, I go over a couple of days a week and still 3lbs a week, due to understating food/underestimating metabolism and exercise etc...

I was 364 lbs when I started and had a huge appetite. The first week of my diet was horrible. I was starving all the time, but I have iron-strong will-power. I forced myself (its very, very VERY hard!) to stay on track with my diet. I ate A LOT of veggies, because they have basic calorie intake and they would fill me up. The second week was a little easier, and the third was even easier than that. After the third week, my stomach shrunk down to accommodate my eating habits. Once that happened, I very rarely got hungry anymore, unless I was skipping my regular meals, etc. You have to plan more than anything. Make yourself breakfast lunch and dinner. Don't eat anything without knowing whats in it (read the nutritional guide!) and actually commit to recording everything you eat. Don't cheat, because you'll just cheat yourself. I think a lot of people eat more than they record on their diaries. You can do it, one day at a time. Don't give up and just get yourself moving more. It's always hard to exercise when you're really obese, but I'm living proof that you can do it