I'm struggling with this 1200 Calories a day thing...

245

Replies

  • ylor89
    ylor89 Posts: 105 Member
    Hmmmm...I guess I have the opposite problem. My calories are at 1300 at the moment. I used to be at 1200 but I really struggled with that...I eat A LOT! I'm a muncher so I don't go more than two hours without eating...unless I'm sleeping of course. :tongue:

    I did have one day where I was at maybe 980 calories for the day and I wasn't hungry at all. I keep lots of healthy snacks around though...fruits, veggies, lots of yogurt, crackers, etc. So if I'm ever low, I just munch on a few things.

    I think something that helps me is that I make sure I eat several small meals a day. I give myself 350 calories for breakfast, 350 for lunch, 200 for dinner, and whatever is left is for snacks eaten between the bigger meals. Maybe that will help?

    Good luck! :)
  • quirkytizzy
    quirkytizzy Posts: 4,052 Member
    Cook your lean proteins and veggies with healthy fats, like olive oil. Or add nuts. Have solid food for breakfast. Greek yogurt has as many calories as most shakes and most people like to add fruit or granola to it, thus adding more calories.

    For the doubters, if someone got fat eating junk food, they are not used to eating the shear quantity that you get from healthy foods. McDs is not known for its fiber content.

    This is true. But 1200 calories of straight, raw, broccoli is still not so massive an amount of food as to cause sincere issues towards reaching a sustainable calorie goal.

    This issue comes up too often for it to be quite believable. I don't know if it's some form of vanity (wanting congratulations on being an overweight person suddenly "unable" to eat) or what, but it is beyond explanation of simple "healthy foods vs unhealthy foods."
  • CyberEd312
    CyberEd312 Posts: 3,536 Member
    I just have a hard time understanding how this is even possible... I had a snack after dinner tonight ( 1/2 cup of shelled pistachios and a glass (2 cups) of 1% Chocolate Milk) total calories 620!!! There are plenty of good fats out there that are higher in calories that I would suggest to you as an option... Peanut butter tops my list as a go too when I need to make up calories.. I would suggest adding a couple tbsp. to your protein shake there is an instant 200 calories right there... Best of Luck....
  • Jaulen
    Jaulen Posts: 468 Member
    It always amazes me when overweight people tell me they can't eat even a basic amount like 1200 calories. No one, ever, ever, ever got fat on 1200 calories or less a day. An 8 year old should be eating that much! EAT NORMAL FOOD! Forget sticking to broccoli and chicken breasts! It doesn't have to be that hard.

    This. It defies logic,

    Agreed.

    Also, probably signed up for a 2 pound a week weight loss.
    And is using the protein shakes as a meal replacement instead of a supplement to boost protein intake.
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    ...When I wanted easy to understand it was my way of saying I didn't want to have some odd mathematical formula as everyone seems to say something different. I am not eating tons under, I have just seen people talk about eating an absolute minimum of 1200 cals a day...
    Although my post was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, there was a serious undertone. 2 tablespoons of peanut butter is around 200 calories, not very filling, and full of essential (healthy) fats. Quick way to add a few calories to your day.

    There are a couple great threads here which tell you how to figure out what your calorie intake should be - but since you didn't want math or formulas, I won't link you to them. With that said, 1200 calories is too little for most people and can negatively impact your weight loss. Most people's BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is higher than that - as the nurse above said, BMR is how many calories they feed people in a coma in the hospital just to keep their organs functioning.
  • Answers2ip
    Answers2ip Posts: 1
    Yes, the key is to eat foods you love and stay within the calorie range it gives you. I was finding it hard to eat all of my meals until I figured out that I could eats things I loved. I put together each morning the list of foods I want to eat that day and if I am short on one meal I make up for it on the next.

    Examples:
    Breakfast : 2 Bacon and Egg Tacos and coffee with cream and sugar
    Lunch : Roast beef sandwhich and a banana
    Dinner: Steak, Sweet potatoes and corn on the cob
    Snack: Choclate Fudge Ice Cream (Skinny Cow)
    16 ozes of Crystal Light ( All flavors)

    I am then still within 1200 calories and may be shy of perhaps 40 calories and if I am I add 1 sppon of Nutella (Wonderful stuff if you love choclate). I lost 4 pounds within 7 days and I do 15 mins workouts a day ( treadmill 1 day, dance 1 day, yoga 1 day, 1 day Tai Chi and so on. ( I am so not a workout person), but thus far it works.

    I think all of the protein shakes keeps you from wanting to eat ( Drinking itself is filling, so the foods you need naturally, you are to full to eat them.
    I hope this helps some with you rmission :)
  • tndejong
    tndejong Posts: 463
    this could be easily solved by adding calories? its not going to ruin your health if you got some yummy low cal treats here and there. they have awesome fiber one brownies as an example. make up some yummy dips for fruits and veggies? a glass of chocolate milk? not that complicated.
  • originalcookiemonster
    originalcookiemonster Posts: 278
    I'll be very honest with you. Eating right is simple. Lean meats, good fats, veggies, fruits, grains, etc. HOWEVER, there is math involved and you are not going to be able to get away from that. Fat loss is simple, but its not always easy.

    I will give you a link that I highly suggest you read. Losing FAT while maintaining lean muscle mass is very important and should ultimately be your goal. The scale is less of your friend than the tape measure will be.

    The math is simple, and will eliminate your need to "eat back exercise calories". You can have one simple number to reach every day and not worry about adding numbers you burned off later. I happen to enjoy this method a lot. Also, its nice to remember that you should not eliminate every single food you enjoy. Balance was hard for me to achieve at first, but the more I stuck at it, the better it got.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    This is step by step with pictures included. :flowerforyou: Please don't despair. Learning to eat more calories will come, just don't give up trying, ok? :wink:
  • justjo83
    justjo83 Posts: 16 Member
    I usually am the same way pre workout. I just don't eat big portions. I'm not overweight and never really have been. I don't agree that you can't live on 1200 calories. I struggle some days to make the amount when I eat healthy foods. And I weigh and measure things so I know my tracking is fairly precise +/= 50. IF I'm full I stop eating, if I'm not I eat. It's really as simple as that. I'm never in starvation mode. Some days I make enough or more than 1200 if I workout some days its only 900-1100. I think people saying well how did you get overweight in the first place...just do that! Yeah great advise on a fitness health site guys :P. Good luck.
  • purplegoboom
    purplegoboom Posts: 400 Member
    Cook your lean proteins and veggies with healthy fats, like olive oil. Or add nuts. Have solid food for breakfast. Greek yogurt has as many calories as most shakes and most people like to add fruit or granola to it, thus adding more calories.

    For the doubters, if someone got fat eating junk food, they are not used to eating the shear quantity that you get from healthy foods. McDs is not known for its fiber content.

    This is true. But 1200 calories of straight, raw, broccoli is still not so massive an amount of food as to cause sincere issues towards reaching a sustainable calorie goal.

    This issue comes up too often for it to be quite believable. I don't know if it's some form of vanity (wanting congratulations on being an overweight person suddenly "unable" to eat) or what, but it is beyond explanation of simple "healthy foods vs unhealthy foods."

    It's also a psychological and taste issue. People don't think when binging on junky food on how much they are eating because a) it tastes good so why not finish what's on your plate, and b) people who do this don't normally care about how much they're eating. When you're not really thinking about your food, it's easy to overeat. When people switch to a healthier lifestyle and track their calories, they're made more aware of what and how much they are eating, and let's face it, it doesn't always taste as good as the junky food. So it might be a struggle for them to get through that plate of broccoli, and it might be hard when they find out they're under their calories for the day because they are over thinking "what am I allowed to eat?"

    Edit: I do agree some of these questions might be vanity, like you said. I just don't think all of them are because I had this issue before.
  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
    Cook your lean proteins and veggies with healthy fats, like olive oil. Or add nuts. Have solid food for breakfast. Greek yogurt has as many calories as most shakes and most people like to add fruit or granola to it, thus adding more calories.

    For the doubters, if someone got fat eating junk food, they are not used to eating the shear quantity that you get from healthy foods. McDs is not known for its fiber content.

    This is true. But 1200 calories of straight, raw, broccoli is still not so massive an amount of food as to cause sincere issues towards reaching a sustainable calorie goal.

    This issue comes up too often for it to be quite believable. I don't know if it's some form of vanity (wanting congratulations on being an overweight person suddenly "unable" to eat) or what, but it is beyond explanation of simple "healthy foods vs unhealthy foods."

    Fine, go eat seven pounds of broccoli. Sound delish.
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
    Eat based on energy demands, not when you are hungry while assuming a calorie deficit. If you do, you will feel full eating far less than what your body actually needs due to messed up hunger cues.
  • quirkytizzy
    quirkytizzy Posts: 4,052 Member
    Cook your lean proteins and veggies with healthy fats, like olive oil. Or add nuts. Have solid food for breakfast. Greek yogurt has as many calories as most shakes and most people like to add fruit or granola to it, thus adding more calories.

    For the doubters, if someone got fat eating junk food, they are not used to eating the shear quantity that you get from healthy foods. McDs is not known for its fiber content.

    This is true. But 1200 calories of straight, raw, broccoli is still not so massive an amount of food as to cause sincere issues towards reaching a sustainable calorie goal.

    This issue comes up too often for it to be quite believable. I don't know if it's some form of vanity (wanting congratulations on being an overweight person suddenly "unable" to eat) or what, but it is beyond explanation of simple "healthy foods vs unhealthy foods."

    Fine, go eat seven pounds of broccoli. Sound delish.

    :laugh: Broccoli isn't my thing.

    Again, I'm not denying that healthier foods generally require more volume to become full on. They do. I'll rephrase what I'm saying: Eating a bare minimum calorie goal, no matter what you consume, should not be problematic. If it, you are doing something wrong - and likely that "something wrong" has something to do with thinking that less food=more virtuous. That can be dangerous and set up mental justifications for starvation tactics.

    Also, I VERY much doubt every single time this topic comes up it is due to the poster having gone from Big Mac's to straight salads and broccoli. Very few people make that kind of switch - and for good reason.
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    Eat based on energy demands, not when you are hungry while assuming a calorie deficit. If you do, you will feel full eating far less than what your body actually needs due to messed up hunger cues.

    This. Listen to your brain, not your stomach.
  • Phany04
    Phany04 Posts: 52 Member
    Have you ever consider that some of us have metabolic problems that make us gain weight? Even on a very strict diet.
    Anyways, the reason why we are here is to learn how to eat healthy and substitute what we were eating for healthier versions.

    Back to what is important: try adding food that have a little more calories but that are not empty calories. Don't forget that if your diet is too strict, you might be putting yourself at risk of giving up.
    How did you get overweight in the first place?

    ^^^^

    Always makes me giggle when people say they can't eat 1200 calories a day.

    They had to have been eating at least double this to need to lose weight in the first place.
  • Phany04
    Phany04 Posts: 52 Member
    Cook your lean proteins and veggies with healthy fats, like olive oil. Or add nuts. Have solid food for breakfast. Greek yogurt has as many calories as most shakes and most people like to add fruit or granola to it, thus adding more calories.

    For the doubters, if someone got fat eating junk food, they are not used to eating the shear quantity that you get from healthy foods. McDs is not known for its fiber content.

    ^ true
  • quirkytizzy
    quirkytizzy Posts: 4,052 Member
    Have you ever consider that some of us have metabolic problems that make us gain weight? Even on a very strict diet.
    Anyways, the reason why we are here is to learn how to eat healthy and substitute what we were eating for healthier versions.

    Back to what is important: try adding food that have a little more calories but that are not empty calories. Don't forget that if your diet is too strict, you might be putting yourself at risk of giving up.

    This is also possible. For some people. Not for the two or three people a day who post this question, like clockwork, the entire time I've been here. Some people have very valid medical issues reaching calorie goal - metabolic problems, IBS, physical injuries. When that is disclosed, most of us go "Hey, we're sorry" and retract our snark.
  • ums3961
    ums3961 Posts: 20
    When did you start your diet Nov of 2012? I can't see how you haven't lost any weight. I started on a 1200 calorie/day diet myself on the 7th of Jan. this yr. I have lost 5lbs. and feel better than I did before I started it. I thought 1200 cals. were enough per day from the information I have read, but more cals per day for men maybe 1600. Maybe you are getting to much protein compared to everything else. I would have to research that myself, I am new to all of this but it seems to be working for me so far. I ate over 1300 cals. maybe twice. I think when you do eat you can pick things with higher calories without much problem. I have to watch what I eat not to eat to many, because a lot of things have a lot of calories.
  • Jaulen
    Jaulen Posts: 468 Member
    Have you ever consider that some of us have metabolic problems that make us gain weight? Even on a very strict diet.
    Anyways, the reason why we are here is to learn how to eat healthy and substitute what we were eating for healthier versions.

    Back to what is important: try adding food that have a little more calories but that are not empty calories. Don't forget that if your diet is too strict, you might be putting yourself at risk of giving up.

    This is also possible. For some people. Not for the two or three people a day who post this question, like clockwork, the entire time I've been here. Some people have very valid medical issues reaching calorie goal - metabolic problems, IBS, physical injuries. When that is disclosed, most of us go "Hey, we're sorry" and retract our snark.


    Ah Quirky, you beat me to it!
  • Avandel
    Avandel Posts: 283 Member
    First of all no one should be hungry when losing weight & there is no excuss for not being able to reach 1200 cals, or any weight goal. This is just a small example of how you can up your cals. Personally, I couldn't just eat 7 nuts or a tbsp of any of the following, so the calories will mount up big time.

    Dry Roasted Almonds, No Salt, 7 nuts
    49 calories
    pumpkin seeds-hulled & unsalted 1 tbsp............46 calories
    Walnut Pieces - Unsalted, 1 Tbsp. .................... 53 calories
    1/2 tbsp golden raisins, 1 Tablespoon
    32 calories
    Almond Butter - 100% Almonds, 1 Tbsp (15g) .......99 calories
  • lippygidg
    lippygidg Posts: 68 Member
    Im also on the 1200 cal. I cant say I struggle getting them in but by the end of the day with breakfast and lunch pre planned. getting a balance of vegetables and fruits . I usually have left overs at the end too depending on dinner. when I do and IF I'm hungry I'll have a "late night snack" so to speak , and eat an apple with peanut butter or something like Special K red berries cereal.
    And for those of you who keeps saying 1200 calories isnt enough to live on ... yes it is if you dont have alot of activity in your day ( do to work, your type of work ect .. and I dont mean purposeful workouts , just your type of jobs. ) besides if you eliminate the crap we eat and balance out your meals ... 1200 is more then enough. I have only been at it for about 25 consist ant days ( with the calorie counting) but I have not felt hungry or anything like that at all ... I actually feel great eating better. Maybe its a mind set ... but I wish everyone luck in their weight loss journey :)
  • Phany04
    Phany04 Posts: 52 Member
    Have you ever consider that some of us have metabolic problems that make us gain weight? Even on a very strict diet.
    Anyways, the reason why we are here is to learn how to eat healthy and substitute what we were eating for healthier versions.

    Back to what is important: try adding food that have a little more calories but that are not empty calories. Don't forget that if your diet is too strict, you might be putting yourself at risk of giving up.

    This is also possible. For some people. Not for the two or three people a day who post this question, like clockwork, the entire time I've been here. Some people have very valid medical issues reaching calorie goal - metabolic problems, IBS, physical injuries. When that is disclosed, most of us go "Hey, we're sorry" and retract our snark.


    Ah Quirky, you beat me to it!

    Lol. Well, I'm glad you guys are not attacking overweight people. :)
  • quirkytizzy
    quirkytizzy Posts: 4,052 Member

    Lol. Well, I'm glad you guys are not attacking overweight people. :)

    No, not attacking. I'm overweight, too.
  • Jaulen
    Jaulen Posts: 468 Member
    No....no attacking overweight people. Just stupid people.

    My almost 5 year old, who weighs 36 pounds eats about 1200 calories a day. He's 40 some inches tall.

    I don't believe an adult woman who's more than likely over 5 ft tall, and not having a health issue, is 'having problems' eating more calories than a 5 yr old.

    All it takes is upping portion sizes.


    And note: My 5 year old does not drink soda, does not drink fruit juices (except maybe once a month), does not eat chips or fried foods (again, except maybe once a month) and eats an amazing variety of veggies, fruits, nuts and meats (we don't feed him many processed foods). He asks for chocolate or ice cream maybe once a week.

    Wow! Just realized after looking at height weight charts, the boy is 50% percentile for height, 10% for weight.....man. Kid's gotta eat more! Or run around less.
  • Pixi_Rex
    Pixi_Rex Posts: 1,676 Member
    I have a hard time believing that you cannot reach 1200 calories... you were obviously eating more than 1200 calories a day before if you gained weight.

    Well, you can eat 1000 calories of junk in one meal and still be hungry afterwards. Think about it, the average sandwich at Mcdonalds is 500 calories, add in fries for an average of 400. 900 calories total in one meal, and you'll still be hungry 3 - 4 hours later.

    If you've lived on that type of diet for awhile, you get full quick on nutritionally rich and fiberous foods. That's the exact problem I had when I cut the junk and fast food and started eating veggies and fresh meats. I can easily eat 2500 in junk a day, but 1600 in fresh foods I really feel like I'm stuffing myself.

    Still don't get it. I ate like absolute crap before i started losing weight and I still can't stay around 1200 calories of nutritious food. If I do not eat at least 1500 calories a day I want to start eating my friends arms and legs. I am 4'9.5" tall and still need 1500 calories a day to not be a raging b!tch... not joking.Most days I am eating 1900ish after I work out.

    I know blah blah blah everyone is different but seriously the only issue should be having problems staying at 1200 calories.
  • Pixi_Rex
    Pixi_Rex Posts: 1,676 Member

    Lol. Well, I'm glad you guys are not attacking overweight people. :)

    No, not attacking. I'm overweight, too.

    <
    Fat kid right here... still have over 90 pounds to lose
  • katb25
    katb25 Posts: 59 Member
    L
  • katb25
    katb25 Posts: 59 Member
    ...Can people please give any advice/suggestions in plain-easy to understand english?
    Peanut Butter.

    Spoon.

    Eat.

    Solved.

    LOL!!!!! Freakin hilarious!
  • ums3961
    ums3961 Posts: 20
    This site has a lot of information for how many calories, protien, etc a person needs daily. Go to the Best Diet Plan. Maybe that will help more than anything.Some people can eat 1200 calories a day and some need more. Because People are Different. People metabolism can be different due to age, etc. I hope this helps the girl thst is struggling! GOOD LUCK TO YOU!!!
  • Jaulen
    Jaulen Posts: 468 Member
    ...Can people please give any advice/suggestions in plain-easy to understand english?
    Peanut Butter.

    Spoon.

    Eat.

    Solved.

    LOL!!!!! Freakin hilarious!

    Well darn OP closed her diary. Not surprising. But if you got a chance to view it before she closed it, she's eating normally around 900 calories a day.

    Lunch was something like 2 oz of steak, 0.2 cups of corn (that's like 2 tablespoons....) and 1/4 cup of something else. No breakfast, an orange for a snack, and as little for dinner as for lunch.

    That's why the 'up portion' size comment from me....and probably why Quirky is saying she probably wants to come off as 'virtuous' (which I agree with) for not being able to eat 1200 calories.

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