Is 1200 too low?

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

Because what happens when you want to maintain? Are you going to eat 1200 forever? Don't let it get used to running on so little. Net your bmr if you exercise or eat your bmr if you skip exercise.

If I eat 1200 calories forever, I'm pretty sure I'll continue to lose. I have to up my calories now to stop the freefall. I don't think this is true at all.

I wouldn't really go as far as to say "forever". At some point 1200 will become your maintenance. How long have you been eating 1200?

If you do up your calories after some point, say to 1400, you might gain a bit at first. If you were a skinny kid it might work for longer than usual. But still, to maintain your 'end/goal' weight you're going to have to keep eating 1200. Any little bump will signal a bit of a gain.

For people who have had weight issues for a while, they honestly shouldn't baseline at 1200 every single day. It's unnecessary. I tried that. It doesn't work and it doesn't for some people. If folks are coming to this board and asking "hey, am I doing this right?" most likely they're not having the success they've been hoping for.

And that's the key thing here.

Glad it's working for you though.

I was doing 1200 calories for around 9.5 months. not sure about the first 2 months or so because it was before i started tracking. yes, i was an underweight kid. I have been continuing to lose. I'm at 113 this morning. Now I'm upping my calories because I don't want to lose more. I don't see how upping my calories from a number where I was still losing, would result in gaining. There is a number called maintanance and 1200 isn't it.

Maintenance for an active healthy female at goal weight should be around 2000 calories a day, I very much doubt you will be able to jump from 1200 to 2000 without seeing a gain, this is the "starvation mode" that MFP alludes to :flowerforyou:

man these threads bashing 1200 calorie diets are annoying.

You need to check your interpretation of 'bashing'. You seem to take it PERSONALLY when people respond to the question asked by the OP with answers that call in to question your choices. That does not mean anyone is bashing YOUR diet- do whatever you want. You are an adult (if I remember correctly) in your 30's, and you do not have to apply anything anyone says to yourself. You are choosing to interpret it that way.

ummmm, when the o.p.'s choice was my choice, yes it is.

I guess I missed the part where you are 5'6", 155 lbs, 29y/o f, exercising 25 minutes a day and asking for opinions on your diet.

Would you say, by that definition, that you are a vegetarian diet basher, based on the last post on the previous page? I just need to know how to get appropriately butthurt about that comment, being as how I have been a vegetarian for 20 years. I am rethinking the whole thing now since now I know someone on the internet doesn't agree with that choice!

and your opinions would be so much different if we were talking about a 5'4", 140 pound woman who exercises 25 pounds a day? that was my starting weight. I doubt the answers would be any different because I've seen people even shorter than me given the same speech about 1200 being too low.

i didn't bash vegetarian diets at all if you actually read my post.

Newsflash: this thread isn't about you. I would be happy to give my opinion on your choices if you would like to start your own thread about it.

Newsflash: I never claimed this thread is about me. You might have though. I just find bashing 1200 calorie diets and not admitting that they actually do work for some people to be ridiculous.

You took recommendations made for a different person than you, applied them to yourself, assumed everyone would say the same thing to you, and opted to consider that personal bashing. Right.

I eat 1200 calories and generally do cardio 3-5 times a week about 45 minutes, and some days I throw in strength training on top of that. I feel energized everyday. I don't ever feel like I'm starving. I eat whatever i want, and i lost 14 pounds last month.

I lost 27 pounds by eating 1200 calories and am now down to 113 pounds. I never went into "starvation mode". Depends on the person.

Ditto--although it was 18 pounds here. However, I don't think that anyone can really answer the "is 1200 calories too low" question without knowing more about the individual. The answer will be different if you are a 4'11" small-boned female or a large-boned 5'10" female.

A small 4'11 girl should still be able to maintain on numbers much much larger then 1200, even if they're sedentary.

Coder: how much do you weigh, what is your activity level and how much are you maintaining on?

man these threads bashing 1200 calorie diets are annoying.

Huh? The thread wasn't started to bash the 1200 diet, the thread was started by someone asking for advice about eating 1200.

She can listen to the answers for and against 1200 and then make her own mind up.

You are sick of people bashing it, and others are sick of people promoting it.
Both sides are entitled to their opinion. That's what discussion forums are about.

Hopefully the OP has gained enough responses through the arguing to make her own mind up.

No, its not.

A 1200 and below diet is working really well for me and I highly recommend it.

I am older, started off quite heavy and have asthma and bad knees so strenuous workouts weren't a good fit for me. That's why serious calorie restriction seems like the best way for me to get started. I also really need some immediate results to get me motivated.

I am hoping that when the snow finally melts and I can do a lot of walking, I will have lost enough so I won't need to worry so much about my knees. I might consider upping my calories as I become more active but I am very happy with what I am eating now.

There are so many excellent reasons to choose a 1200 calorie diet. I hope it works out for you.

With all due respect, you are 57 years old and have over 100lb to lose. Why would that be transferable and recommended to someone a lot younger and with less to lose?

Pretty much EVERY female on the planet could!

No, that's unfortunately not true for many women. I'd have to exercise a lot more to come anywhere close to that. I've been eating less than 2000 calories for about seven months now and still gained 8 lbs. It's clearly more than my maintenance. Factors like weight and activity level make calorie goals very individual. In addition, the less you weigh, the fewer calories you burn doing everyday activities and exercise. There are some short and light women on this site who are amazingly fit and can eat more that the average short & light women. They earn those calories, though. A typical amount of exercise for the average person is not going to get the average person the same results these women get from their hard work.

I am going to teach you some science.

Energy Expenditure: "Energy expenditure is mainly a sum of internal heat produced and external work. The internal heat produced is, in turn, mainly a sum of basal metabolic rate (BMR) and the thermic effect of food. External work may be estimated by measuring physical activity level (PAL)."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_balance_(biology)#Energy_expenditure

BMR - "the amount of energy expended daily by humans and other animals at rest"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_metabolic_rate

How do you get Energy Expenditure? "The Harris-Benedict equation (also called the Harris-Benedict principle) is a method used to estimate an individual's basal metabolic rate (BMR) and daily calorie requirements."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harris-Benedict_equation

Female BMR = 447.593 + (9.247 x weight in kg) + (3.098 x height in cm) - (4.330 x age in years)

Little to no exercise Daily kilocalories needed = BMR x 1.2

Now let's look at a unhealthy sedentary mopey 30 year old 4'11 girl with the energy expenditure of 1200 calories:
4'11 = 149.86 cm

Solve for weight using http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/ for lazyness and congrats, that girl would be a little under 48 pounds.

I've seen women who think they're stuck like you, I've also convinced them to eat. I also got them to lose weight. End of story.

Back to it's true for may women.

I find that if I eat my 1200 calories, plus what i burn with exercise, I dont lose any weight. I have to eat 1200 or less to lose. But, I only have 25 lbs or so to lose, I have a small frame, and I am over 50 - so my metabolism has already slowed down. I am losing 1-2 lbs a week not eating the extra calories earned by exercise.

I agree that many women can maintain on 2000 calories. I don't agree that virtually every woman on the planet can. I am not someone who believes that 1200 is always too low, but I'm also not someone who believes that 1200 calories is enough for everyone either. (For those trying to eat at a deficit. 1200 is going to be maintenance for only a small percentage of people.)

My reason for arguing with her statement is because it was an impossible generalization. For those who understand the science of weight loss, that's not a big deal. For people who don't, a statement like that may stall them out or even make them gain. Calorie goals are individual. In my opinion, it's important for people to use the calculations to custom tailor their own nutrition and intake.

I would also have disagreed with a statement saying that "Virtually every woman on the planet can eat 1200 calories and be sufficiently nourished."

A 1200 and below diet is working really well for me and I highly recommend it.

I am older, started off quite heavy and have asthma and bad knees so strenuous workouts weren't a good fit for me. That's why serious calorie restriction seems like the best way for me to get started. I also really need some immediate results to get me motivated.

I am hoping that when the snow finally melts and I can do a lot of walking, I will have lost enough so I won't need to worry so much about my knees. I might consider upping my calories as I become more active but I am very happy with what I am eating now.

There are so many excellent reasons to choose a 1200 calorie diet. I hope it works out for you.

With all due respect, you are 57 years old and have over 100lb to lose. Why would that be transferable and recommended to someone a lot younger and with less to lose?

Actually I think that your remark is disrespectful to me and to everyone else. This is a public forum where we all contribute and learn from each other's experience. The people posting and reading here come from all ages and all weights and different situations. The variety of different experiences is one of the greatest strengths of this forum. I think it is obvious that our posts are intended to be read by the entire community. I included my personal details so that readers could make their own decisions about whether or not my post might apply to them. I'm pretty sure that the other forum members can make that call without your help.

My experience is as valid and as valuable as anyone else's and I cannot imagine why you would choose to denigrate my post.

You didn't just say that it's working for you, you highly recommended it. What makes you think your opinion is above being put into context or questioned?

A 1200 and below diet is working really well for me and I highly recommend it.

I am older, started off quite heavy and have asthma and bad knees so strenuous workouts weren't a good fit for me. That's why serious calorie restriction seems like the best way for me to get started. I also really need some immediate results to get me motivated.

I am hoping that when the snow finally melts and I can do a lot of walking, I will have lost enough so I won't need to worry so much about my knees. I might consider upping my calories as I become more active but I am very happy with what I am eating now.

There are so many excellent reasons to choose a 1200 calorie diet. I hope it works out for you.

I am 54 - 55 next month. I had very bad knees. I was 120 pounds overweight. I eat between 1700 - 1800 cals a day. I started with body weight training and then in October I started lifting heavy. My knees are remarkably stronger. I spent the first two - three months on here at 1200 calories (or less) a day and doing cardio 7 days a week. I was exhausted and my hair started falling out. I slowly upped cals after reading In Place of a Roadmap and I have never looked back. I encourage every woman on here to do your research. Don't settle for the same crap that has been handed to us about how to lose weight by starving our bodies. It's time to wake up and learn how to really treat our bodies well so that we can be healthy and strong as we get older. Good luck to you all.

ETA: Other than losing weight quickly, what are all the other excellent reasons for a 1200 calorie diet?

I agree that many women can maintain on 2000 calories. I don't agree that virtually every woman on the planet can. I am not someone who believes that 1200 is always too low, but I'm also not someone who believes that 1200 calories is enough for everyone either. (For those trying to eat at a deficit. 1200 is going to be maintenance for only a small percentage of people.)

My reason for arguing with her statement is because it was an impossible generalization. For those who understand the science of weight loss, that's not a big deal. For people who don't, a statement like that may stall them out or even make them gain. Calorie goals are individual. In my opinion, it's important for people to use the calculations to custom tailor their own nutrition and intake.

I would also have disagreed with a statement saying that "Virtually every woman on the planet can eat 1200 calories and be sufficiently nourished."

Meh she said 'pretty much' vs your many women...thats a close tie if you ask me.

Oops. forgot the info- I'm 5'6, 155 lbs...29 yrs old.

Thanks for the feedback so far...I'm not starving myself and rarely feel hungry also.

Not feeling hungry may be a sign that you are regularly eating too little. A healthy person feels hunger.

I'm not saying that you should feel a continuous lack of satisfaction or hunger most of the time. And I understand why some people here who already have issues with food try to spread out what they eat and avoid hunger as much as possible -- because it can be a trigger for them. But it's perfectly normal to feel occasional hunger. Rarely feeling hungry can indicate that you're eating too much (in the case of people who eat constantly) or that your body has become used to being deprived.