Calories

I think what you are doing is fine. You are losing around a pound a week. Most people really shouldn't be eating only 1200 calories a day. If you don't eat enough your body will hang on to the extra weight because it will think it needs it because you are t eating enough. If this works well for you, stick with it!

I was at 1200 (MFP put me at this amount), I stopped losing weight. I bumped up to 1400 calories and started losing slowly. I bumped up to 1600, and just this week, I've lost 2.8 lbs so far. If I exercise, I TRY to eat back at least half the calories.

If you were in a coma (motionless), the nurses would tube feed you 1200 calories just to keep your internal organs functioning. So any movement beyond a coma is burning calories. Cooking, cleaning, working, exercising...etc.

After spending a lot of time on a plateau, I gained the courage to go up on calories, and life has been so much better since I did. I'm not hungry, I'm not binge eating, and I feel like I'm just living life "normal". I have a long way to go in my weight loss journey. I can't afford to burn out.

If I was 120 lbs., at 5'3"....my maintenance calories to stay that weight would be 1700...MORE if I exercise. So, I'm actually eating 100 calories less than a 120 lbs. woman with my stats. So, OP I applaud you in going up to 1400. See how that does and if you are losing slowly, consider bumping up before bumping down. What's the worse that happens? A small gain can be quickly lost once you find the range of calories that burns the most fat.

When I first started on myfitnesspal about either a few weeks ago or a month, I was using the recommended calories it told me to eat, which was 1600 for a slightly active lifestyle (I work in retail and walk a LOT at the job). Then, I lost my car to a wreck and relying on my boyfriend for transporatation so I can only work 4 hours a day and don't walk as much as I did prior to the wreck at work now so I had to change it to sedimentary on the days I don't work out and it sent the calories down to 1200-1400 and I was STARVING at the end of the day, even if I ate the right amount and I didn't exercise.

My friend on here introduced me to TDEE. You measure your body and you find your BMI, Waist-To-Height Ratio, Percent Body Fat, Lean Body Mass. From those measurements, it figures out your Goal Body Fat and your Goal Weight... then it determines your Basal Metabolic Rate.

My Sedentary was 2604, Lightly active 2604, Moderately active 2936, Very Active 3267, Extremely Active 3599.
That's how many calories that -I- needed to eat to maintain my weight. Now, to LOSE weight, I had to decide what I was that day and you times it by .30 but for the morbidly obese (as I am according to the chart), I'm allowed to do .70.

So, after doing .70
Sedemtary = 1591
Lightly Active = 1822
Moderately Active = 2055
Very Active = 2286
Extremely Active = 2519 (extremely active, think, marathons, etc)

I've lost two pounds since I started this. I'll post a link to the post that my friend introduced the thing to. The theory is that if you don't eat the right amount of calories for your body and activity level, you'll be starving yourself. 1200 calories is way too low unless you're small or something or have little to no body fat, etc. Copied/pasted from the link I'll post in a little bit, he made an example:

I just figured out my wife, who claims to be sedentary, burns 2500-2900 calories a day.
I've been feeding her 1400-1600 calories a day because shes 5'3" at 40%BF.
She hasnt been losing any weight!
Upped her cals to 2k and guess what???
The weight is coming off.

I mean, it might be something you aren't interested in but I think it's brilliant and I feel good at the end of teh day.. not starving or craving bad things

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

LOL nope I would literally starve on 1200. I did stay on it for about 4 weeks when I first joined MFP though I think. I just had a melt down though, I couldn't go on eating so little, I was so hungry, had no energy and I was miserable. I read In Place of a Roadmap and that changed everything. Gave me enough energy to start weight lifting again and I now eat about 2000 cals a day. I don't think my method would suit the average women who just wants weight loss though as my scale doesn't go down very often, lately it's gone up, but my clothes size gets smaller so the scale can go do a running jump!! lol 1200 is pretty low, but ya know, each to their own. I wouldn't survive on it and would lose a lot of muscle if I ate so low, god knows its hard enough gaining it in the first place, I intend to hang onto it!!

Looks like you're on the right track with 1400 calories if you've lost 7lbs in 6 weeks. Great job!!

Is everyone on the 1200 calories per day?

I'm going to go out on a limb and answer with a resounding "no"

Me too - another resounding NO. But I will also leave the following link for people to browse:


http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/919346-still-think-your-1200-or-less-diet-is-a-good-idea?page=1#posts-13949561

My goal is 1200 a day but then again I eat back maybe a bit more than half of my exercise calories.

I don't feel hungry, I don't have any lack of energy, in fact since starting this diet I have had more tones more energy than before.

I am losing weight to a reasonable level (unless I eat most of the calories on an evening which can happen as I could easily not eat at work).

I know that there are some people that will say I am under-eating but half of the time I feel that I am eating for the sake of it or because I am bored rather than hungry, if that is under-eating then I am a bit concerned!!