Still think your 1200 or less diet is a good idea?

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Replies

  • madrose0715
    madrose0715 Posts: 463 Member
    Seems like some of us would do well to remember that the reading of any of these threads or the taking of any advice on the forums is not mandatory.

    Exactly. :drinker:
  • nokanjaijo
    nokanjaijo Posts: 466 Member
    I can not believe this statement.

    Without an objective third party observing my own behavior, I can not make a positive claim about whether or not I am in denial about my behavior.

    Denial wouldn't work if you knew you were in denial.

    I am no more in denial than any other person. As I am preparing my food, it is weighed/measured and logged before it goes in my body. Even down to the condiment. When I start something I don't do it halfway. And by your argument, if I HAD been in denial, it wouldn't been enough so to stunt weight loss so much that an extra 190 calorie add made possible.

    You may be telling the truth. I'm not saying you aren't. I am saying that self-reporting and eye witness testimony are not useful to me. I can't tell if it is accurate at all. It is too close to you, you are too invested in your personal data.

    The data where they take people who couldn't lose weight at 1200 cal/day and monitor their caloric intake and don't allow them more then 1200 cal/day is convincing because there is an objective third party.
  • love4fitnesslove4food_wechange
    love4fitnesslove4food_wechange Posts: 6,897 Member
    And what is the proportion of people eating 1200 calories that fall within those parameters? Very small. Guaranteed.

    Actually, not that small. Maybe on this website, but generally, the population is getting older and people of my parents generation are the baby boomers, falling square in this age demographic.

    FWIW, I don't personally eat 1200 a day, (I eat more -- more like 1600-1900 depending) but I'm disputing that physics has been defied by people who don't lose weight at 1200... that's been disproven ad infinitum but do go on.

    And aren't we talking about people "on this website" --isn't this whole thread directed at people on this website? Maybe I'm missing something--if you admit that on this website the proportion of people falling within those parameters is small then you are conceding that for the MAJORITY of people ON THIS WEBSITE 1200 calories is less than ideal.
  • neon_skittles
    neon_skittles Posts: 1
    okay, then explain why anorexics are skinny?
  • FritzlerSE
    FritzlerSE Posts: 5 Member
    bump
  • ElaineRN100
    ElaineRN100 Posts: 201 Member
    Okay. You have shown the negative. To make your point you need to show all the links where 1200 cal has worked wonders. It also depends on what you are spending those 1200 calories for. Two twinkies and a coke - never happen. Just sayin.........
  • keem88
    keem88 Posts: 1,689 Member
    someone on the first page has the very hungry caterpillar as their ticker photo. whoever you are, you're awesome
  • rm7161
    rm7161 Posts: 505
    And what is the proportion of people eating 1200 calories that fall within those parameters? Very small. Guaranteed.

    Actually, not that small. Maybe on this website, but generally, the population is getting older and people of my parents generation are the baby boomers, falling square in this age demographic.

    FWIW, I don't personally eat 1200 a day, (I eat more -- more like 1600-1900 depending) but I'm disputing that physics has been defied by people who don't lose weight at 1200... that's been disproven ad infinitum but do go on.

    And aren't we talking about people "on this website" --isn't this whole thread directed at people on this website? Maybe I'm missing something--if you admit that on this website the proportion of people falling within those parameters is small then you are conceding that for the MAJORITY of people ON THIS WEBSITE 1200 calories is less than ideal.

    a) the majority of forum users != majority of site users ... most of my friends are my age or older. (mid 40s to mid 50s, where metabolic slowdown is already starting to occur)

    b) I've always maintained that people who are self-reporting a 1200 calorie diet, and are obese, and NOT losing weight, have some other problem... that problem being that they are underreporting their calorie intake. So you going all high and mighty on them to up their intake is less than useful. What would be useful is teaching them how to accurately measure and log their intake so they are able to get a handle on their food logging.
  • mfpcopine
    mfpcopine Posts: 3,093 Member
    Okay. You have shown the negative. To make your point you need to show all the links where 1200 cal has worked wonders. It also depends on what you are spending those 1200 calories for. Two twinkies and a coke - never happen. Just sayin.........


    Absolutely. People who do well on 1200 usually do not argue that everyone should eat that amount, nothing is for everyone. I've also never seen them suggesting that it's a good idea to eat unhealthy food day in day out. A diet of 1200 calories consisting of real food is not unhealthy, and is not classified as a Very Low Calorie Diet.
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
    Six months and 'chronic undereating' I have lost 34lbs and am now 20% body fat.

    stop. being. a. judgemental. *kitten*.

    Amen.

    Feels nice to be on the other side of the report button for once. Judgmental *kitten*?

    I still go out of my way to help when I can, despite feedback like this. So maybe the better insult for me should have been futile idiot.
  • Trilby16
    Trilby16 Posts: 707 Member
    Is it just me or do the angry 1200 cal dieters seem a little...cranky and hungry??

    ;)

    Poke us with a stick and that's what happens. We weren't bothering anybody.
  • okremix
    okremix Posts: 38 Member
    Anorexics are skinny because they create an extreme calorie deficit but when they have little fat or muscle to pull energy from, it comes from necrosis of other tissues until death. That's why chronic anorexics can end up with no teeth, no hair, poo bags from shut down digestive systems, feeding tubes, heart arrhythmia, and full out cardiac arrests. Proof that extreme calorie deficits can be bad with a capital B.A.D.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    edited, when I realized who i was responding to.
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
    Great Community Service Taso! BUMP!

    Another 25 YO man heard from. Why do you young guys care so much what other types of humans (older, smaller, female) are eating? Mind your own g-d business.

    Because quite often, they reach out for help, we help them as best we can, then we get sweet messages weeks later saying how their pants feel looser, they feel better than ever before, they have so much energy, etc, etc, etc, and that is positively rewarding. So rewarding that we feel compelled to keep trying our best to get as many people as possible to succeed as efficiently as possible, and avoid common pitfalls that many before them have fallen into.
  • Hannahmave
    Hannahmave Posts: 54
    Wow, its outstanding how negative everyone is on a support website. Someone's journey is to be supported not heckled, if those of our myfitnesspal family decide something for themselves then we should support them, and give advice when it is asked for x
  • okremix
    okremix Posts: 38 Member
    Suicide isn't for everyone either and educated people wouldn't encourage its use to the masses. Educating people on health, who don't know any better, is the right thing to do even if the ignorant defenders of wrong disagree.
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
    My response to all those links:

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1454084

    Damn straight.
    Discrepancy between self-reported and actual caloric intake and exercise in obese subjects.
    Lichtman SW, Pisarska K, Berman ER, Pestone M, Dowling H, Offenbacher E, Weisel H, Heshka S, Matthews DE, Heymsfield SB.
    Source
    Department of Medicine, St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY.
    Abstract
    BACKGROUND AND METHODS:
    Some obese subjects repeatedly fail to lose weight even though they report restricting their caloric intake to less than 1200 kcal per day. We studied two explanations for this apparent resistance to diet--low total energy expenditure and underreporting of caloric intake--in 224 consecutive obese subjects presenting for treatment. Group 1 consisted of nine women and one man with a history of diet resistance in whom we evaluated total energy expenditure and its main thermogenic components and actual energy intake for 14 days by indirect calorimetry and analysis of body composition. Group 2, subgroups of which served as controls in the various evaluations, consisted of 67 women and 13 men with no history of diet resistance.
    RESULTS:
    Total energy expenditure and resting metabolic rate in the subjects with diet resistance (group 1) were within 5 percent of the predicted values for body composition, and there was no significant difference between groups 1 and 2 in the thermic effects of food and exercise. Low energy expenditure was thus excluded as a mechanism of self-reported diet resistance. In contrast, the subjects in group 1 underreported their actual food intake by an average (+/- SD) of 47 +/- 16 percent and overreported their physical activity by 51 +/- 75 percent. Although the subjects in group 1 had no distinct psychopathologic characteristics, they perceived a genetic cause for their obesity, used thyroid medication at a high frequency, and described their eating behavior as relatively normal (all P < 0.05 as compared with group 2).
    CONCLUSIONS:
    The failure of some obese subjects to lose weight while eating a diet they report as low in calories is due to an energy intake substantially higher than reported and an overestimation of physical activity, not to an abnormality in thermogenesis.

    Pretty much bang on what I just posted.
    This still supports the idea that setting a daily goal of 1200 is prone to failure. Whether "actually eating precisely 1200" works doesn't matter as much as the relationship between various goals and their actual results.
  • atb0821
    atb0821 Posts: 458 Member
    Personally, I wish I had understood the damage I was doing on my 1200 calorie (or lower) diet back in the day. So, I'm all about other people hearing how detrimental it can be.
  • droneofvelvet
    droneofvelvet Posts: 290 Member
    You guys act like eating is a revolutionary idea.
  • Spindigo1
    Spindigo1 Posts: 123 Member
    Is it just me or do the angry 1200 cal dieters seem a little...cranky and hungry??

    ;)

    Poke us with a stick and that's what happens. We weren't bothering anybody.

    I was just teasing! So... really, you're kind of proving my point :D
  • okremix
    okremix Posts: 38 Member
    In hindsight..."I wish I would have known" Right? Ignorance is not bliss.
  • anewlife4me8610
    anewlife4me8610 Posts: 91 Member
    I have 200 lbs to lose....my doctor told me I could eat between 800 and 1200 calories to lose quickly....I have lost 15 lbs in one week, a couple of times! It is a joke. The feeling of hunger goes away after a while, but that is only because the body shuts down its ability to burn calories so as to conserve. I have learned the hard way that starvation doesnt work. you have to eat, move, and breathe to lose weight. Its ironic but the less you eat, the more slowly your body burns calories....If I had seen your post three weeks ago, I would have said, BS! but Now after weeks of eating 1200 or less, I actually started to gain weight in the last couple weeks.
    I saw a new DR who told me rapid weight loss is VERY dangerous and has to be monitored very closely. She told me at my size 1200 is literally a starvation diet and not going to yield any good for me in the long run. specially if I work out! I had to learn the hard way...I hope people see this post and take our word for it.
  • Sunny____
    Sunny____ Posts: 214
    Many times I have a hard time eating as many as 1200 calories a day. I eat mostly veggies and fruits and stuff my face all day long, but they are so low in calories that I can't get up to 1200. I have to try to eat more nuts, meat, avocado and oil to get in enough calories. My diet is all screwed up bc I eat too many fruits and veggies and can't get to 1200 bc I am so full. It shows that what you eat matters too. I rarely ever go over 1200 calories, bc I just can't.

    This is just recently though (in the last 2 mos). I didn't have this problem until I went mostly vegetarian. The weight started coming off ONLY then.

    I workout 3 times a week (boo!) I walk the dogs 5x a week (doesn't count as a workout).

    I am a massage therapist so I have an active job

    I am 41 yrs.

    I am overweight. Naturally have a very small frame and am 5'3 3/4.
  • rm7161
    rm7161 Posts: 505
    of the people actively posting about 1200 cal diets that worked for them...

    the youngest was 39 that I found.

    The highest age (without a private profile, most have private profiles) is 61. There is one other woman in this thread who is clearly in her 70s according to her posts, but has a private profile as well.

    We're not talking about young active people by and large who are saying that lower calories worked for them and to lay off them. For a petite older woman who is not particularly active, it may be right for them. I'm not advocating that everyone does that, but that for some people its fine, and that 1200 is not a very low calorie diet if it is monitored and has all the macronutrients covered.

    For the people who are doing it and claiming it didn't work for them... there is clearly another dynamic at play, and denial is a river in Egypt :P I simply do not think it is helpful to yell at an obese person who has a lot of weight to lose and probably is not logging their diet completely to up their calories. I think it is more helpful to try and see where their logging is going wrong, its quite possible that they are eating more like 2500 to 3500 calories and upping it is not a good idea, shrug.
  • Hannahmave
    Hannahmave Posts: 54
    Suicide isn't for everyone either and educated people wouldn't encourage its use to the masses. Educating people on health, who don't know any better, is the right thing to do even if the ignorant defenders of wrong disagree.

    Nor is aggression, or assuming that all 1200 calorie uses are "ignorant" and name calling. Surely the larger of us get called names enough in real life. Also if you consider this to be "ill education" then wait until someone asks for help. People only want to change for themselves not for others, also this type of post and "mob mentality" is certainly not going to feel like you're "helping us". It feels like bullying

    All the best
    Han x
  • SteveJWatson
    SteveJWatson Posts: 1,225 Member
    I think the fact that Taso and Coach Reddy are actually agreeing with each other on this thread shows how much win is contained in the OP.
  • trhops
    trhops Posts: 295 Member
    I think this discussion tends to generate more heat than light.

    I'm 5'8". At MFP's suggestion, I was eating 1480+exercise calories and stuck at a plateau for 6 weeks. When I dropped my calories to 1260+exercise calories, I started losing weight again. I can easily believe that a petite woman might need a base of 1200 calories or less to see results. I have an MFP friend who had her RMR tested and discovered that it's about 950 calories a day. She wasn't losing weight going by the numbers, and so she had to cut her calories substantially to get results.

    I lost 84 pounds (I'm up 14 from my low water mark) by eating a strict TDEE-20% diet, with no allowance for exercise calories. That ended up being 1400-1700 calories a day over a period of about 3 years. It worked just fine.

    People tend to undercount dietary calories and overestimate burn calories. Some of the people who look like they're consuming 1200 calories might actually be consuming substantially more.

    Weight loss is really not rocket science. It's just effort over time. There are lots of ways to do it, and you need to choose the ones that work best for you.

    Do what works. If what others suggest doesn't work, try something different.

    Am I that friend ?:smile: Yes, my RMR was 907, TDEE is 1179 with a desk job. I am glad I paid to get this info as I was struggling and gaining while trying to eat more. So now that I had the test done, I am at 1100 calories a day + eat any exercise calories per my HRM. This is the plan I have been put on to slowly build my RMR back up. It just goes to show that formulas and calculations are not for everyone. Sometimes your body is doing different.
  • Sunny____
    Sunny____ Posts: 214
    I think the fact that Taso and Coach Reddy are actually agreeing with each other on this thread shows how much win is contained in the OP.
    I wasn't aware it was a contest.
  • tweak222
    tweak222 Posts: 40
    Not advocating 1200 calorie diets, however, I did do it once a couple years ago and I dropped 40lbs in a few months. Not saying it was the healthy way to go and I wouldn't do it again. I was 220lb 20yrs old 5'9 the weight loss did slow as my body got used to the routine but ultimately I got down to 165lbs. Every body is different.

    I'd say check with your physician about an extreme diet like that, don't trust a bunch of internet commandos spewing wikipedia garbage at everyone.

    I gained a lot of it back now and i found MFP to help me get it off but I'm sticking to the 1800-2000 calorie range, not as hungry, works great, feels better.
  • drusilla126
    drusilla126 Posts: 478 Member
    To all the people eating 1200 calories or less I say today I ate at Denny's...look at my stats/pictures. Please start eating. Your body needs food.

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