Ending 1200 Calorie Bashing: Respecting Your Peers

already, multiple people have not quite grasped your post or its intent, and have already gone to the "okay for me!" issue.

Do I dare ask what's wrong with people saying that, and why you feel the need to tell them that their belief that it's "okay for me" is wrong?

There is nothing wrong with a 1200 calorie cut, as long as they eat more once they reach their goal weight. Cutting and maintaining are two different things.

If you consider always questioning and staying open to further mental growth a negative, I suppose that would seem like a bad mentality.

Not for nothing, most of us ARE keeping open minds, trying to separate fact from fiction, and we just, on a most basic level, find fault with the logic that "eating less than a certain level will cause stagnation or weight gain"

It's much more likely that those who eat at too drastic of a calorie cut make up for that difference by NOT working out as often. Correlation does not equal causation.

Eating too little does NOT cause weight loss cessation, the associated drop in your metabolic rate would cause that. How do we keep our metabolism up while maintaining a decent calorie cut? Exercise.

You don't have to Eat More 2 Weigh Less, you have to eat less AND move more. Funny how half of that argument is always ignored. Eating a bit above the bottom of the hardest cut you can take will allow you to make better exercise choices today, tomorrow, and the next day, but it is by no means a iron clad rule that should be spouted off as "truth".

ETA: I love you all though, and I'm sorry if my logic got in the way of your dogma

Very well said! Everyone does have different caloric needs, and if your doctor put you on a 1100 - 1200 calorie allowance, ignore the rest of us. :-)

I was on 1200 calories, and I found that when I worked out too, I was a total grouch, so upping it a little worked for me (and made people around me not want to strangle me). But for one of my best friends, 1200 was exactly where she needed it.

Actually, I had to fight tooth and nail to see the specialists who brought me here. My first two nutritionists used caloric configurations like Dan (which again, work for most). They had tried 2600, 2400, 2000, etc with constant weight gain. I actually gained 25lbs in one month at 2600 calories. I also have severe intolerance to Metformin and cannot take birth control (due to the cancer risks in my immediate family). After nearly a year of dealing with horrible insurance issues, I got to a three-person team of a Reproductive Endocrinologist, an Internist specializing in PCOS, and a Nutritionist specializing in PCOS. They put me through probably 20 different tests for thyroid, diabetes, body composition, heart function, and indirect calorimeter testing. At the end, 1150 with 30 minutes of exercise five times a week is pretty much exactly where I begin to see consistent 1-2lb weight loss.

Even at that point, it has taken a great deal of experimentation to figure out the perfect distribution of macros and meal scheduling to keep me satiated and seeing progress at this calorie level.

This last part is why I find it so discouraging when someone having trouble at 1200 calories is met with such a knee-jerk negative reaction: because I know there are people like me who need to be at that level to see progress and I also know that it is possible to make a 1200 calorie diet delicious, fulfilling, and energizing--******IF****** that is an appropriate caloric intake for your metabolism.

I'll be honest and say that while your post is really important in that it's a great reminder that MFP is supposed to be a supportive community and not a bunch of attack dogs, I think there is a valuable reason behind why people discourage others from eating 1200 cal diets and refer people who do to IPOARM.

Not everyone has all of the issues you described - a lot of the people doing 1200 are not obese and do not have medical issues. You get to be the special snowflake. Not everyone can also afford to see dietitians or use a bod pod. Blanket advice is very useful and I would say that for 99% of people 1200 calories is too low. Metabolisms do vary, but that's why BMR uses an average and people are encouraged to play around with their numbers after giving eating more a try.

I'm also going to point out that saying "1200 calories is ok for me! It's ok for you too!" seems a bit irresponsable given that you are medically recommended to do so. I'm expecting swarms of "I do 1200 calories and I love it so everyone telling me to eat more should shut up" comments.

But yes. You are correct. Supportive community, blah blah. Play nice, blah blah.

Sigh. Strawman is made of straw; you made several arguments to me to things I never said or implied.

I appreciate the time and energy OP took to make this post, and said what I came to say, which was simply agreeing with Emma and pointing out further evidence for what she claimed. I won't bite.

The danger here is that ALREADY so many people have thought that your story makes it "okay for them" to eat at a rate that is, ultimately, not sustainable for proper body function. Weight loss? Sure. Mental function, immune system strength, functioning metabolism? Not so much.

There will be the "you are lying" crowd, the "you can't count" crowd, and the very soapboxy "snowflake" crowd.