1200 calories sucks !!!
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I love this thread.
Me too....
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Glad you posted this - I know there are a lot of people around 5' tall here who eat 1500+ calories and are doing great!As other people have mentioned, 1200 calories is not sufficient for most people, unless they're right around 5' tall, and already thin-ish.
Look at the roadmap -- You should never eat below BMR. Calculate your TDEE, and eat at 10-20% below. You'll lose weight and fat, especially if you add that to a lifting routine.
Good luck, and eat up!
Everyone keeps saying this. I'm 5'0, around 24-25% body fat, 120 pounds and my TDEE-20% is still 1600 calories. Just because you are small does not mean you require less calories. My BMR alone is 1285.0 -
i've been wondering about the 1200 calorie deal here as well. No matter what I put in as far as active, not active it gives me 1200 calories on here as my goal. I do a pretty intense boot camp class 45 minutes long 3-4 times a week. I sit at a desk all day at work which stinks but when I'm not working I generally am busy doing things, I seldom get to sit on the couch to watch tv. I do stay pretty close to the 1200 calories (sometimes not even that) and my trainer says I am probably not eating enough due to my scale just pretty much parked itself at a number and hasn't changed in 3 months. I just checked my BMR and it gave me 1346 as a number. It's amazing that figuring my calorie needs, even sedentary with no activity says to take the BMR x1.2 and that gives me 1615 calories, Now I don't know if I can eat that much but why are the settings here so far off from what a person really needs?0
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I love this thread.
Me too....
HAHAHAHA!
Okay and yes, I agree with everyone else who said you should eat more. Trust me, I was on 1200 calories way too long and when I met with a Dietician I was told I was doing it ALL WRONG. Heh whoops. I found out that when you're eating less than your body needs even just to keep your organs functioning, your body starts eating away at different parts of you like your reproductive system and other "less vital" organs. If it gets bad enough people can even have heart troubles. So you really have to make sure you eat enough to supply your body with what it needs. Not eating enough is really dangerous, and I never realized until then, and I still think many are uneducated about it. My dietician boosted me up to 1800 calories a day because of my activity level and metabolic rate at my age, and I still was losing weight. It's a funny thing that you can still lose weight eating way more calories than you are. (I mean, if you're eating 2000 cals and boost it to 2500 then that's going to result in weight gain, but if you're at 1200 and boost it to 1600 you can still lose weight.)0 -
Glad you posted this - I know there are a lot of people around 5' tall here who eat 1500+ calories and are doing great!As other people have mentioned, 1200 calories is not sufficient for most people, unless they're right around 5' tall, and already thin-ish.
Look at the roadmap -- You should never eat below BMR. Calculate your TDEE, and eat at 10-20% below. You'll lose weight and fat, especially if you add that to a lifting routine.
Good luck, and eat up!
Everyone keeps saying this. I'm 5'0, around 24-25% body fat, 120 pounds and my TDEE-20% is still 1600 calories. Just because you are small does not mean you require less calories. My BMR alone is 1285.
I eat closer to 2000 pretty much every day and I'm 5'0 and 105 pounds!0 -
Most of the time, it's because people put in too aggressive a weight loss goal. Like, 2 pounds a week when they don't really have that much to lose and should be setting it to .5 pound, or 1 pound at most. 1200 is the number MFP refuses to go below, no matter what people put in.... It's amazing that figuring my calorie needs, even sedentary with no activity says to take the BMR x1.2 and that gives me 1615 calories, Now I don't know if I can eat that much but why are the settings here so far off from what a person really needs?0 -
How did you get to the figure of 1200, OP? - I am only a bit taller than you, fair bit older if your profile pic is anything to go by and I set my figures to lightly active and 1/2 lb per week (as recomended for people with relatively small amount of weight to lose) - the program gives me 1540 plus exercise calories.
1540 is managable without hunger plus I eat back any excercise calories - at this point, 2 months in, have lost above my target of 1/2 lb week - have lost 3 kg in 2 months when 1/2 lb week would equate to roughly a kg a month. ( we are metric in Australia so my ticker shows in kg)0 -
I'm ten pounds more than you, same height. My BMR is 1313 and my TDEE-15% is 2000.As other people have mentioned, 1200 calories is not sufficient for most people, unless they're right around 5' tall, and already thin-ish.
Look at the roadmap -- You should never eat below BMR. Calculate your TDEE, and eat at 10-20% below. You'll lose weight and fat, especially if you add that to a lifting routine.
Good luck, and eat up!
Everyone keeps saying this. I'm 5'0, around 24-25% body fat, 120 pounds and my TDEE-20% is still 1600 calories. Just because you are small does not mean you require less calories. My BMR alone is 1285.0 -
Add in 200, I mean the benefit of 200 less or more a day isn't much in the grand scheme of things so if you feel better with 200 more I think it would be worth it.0
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Do TDEE-20% you will not regret it
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Such great replys thanks everyone , though I really have no idea what those abbreviations mean haha :S0
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Definitely try things that are higher in protein. Legumes, hummus and whole grain crackers, etc.0
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Bump0
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BMR = Basal Metabolic Rate - the amount of calories you burn doing absolutely nothing all day, a doctor would feed you this much if you were comatose, basically the minimum your body needs to keep your organs functioning.Such great replys thanks everyone , though I really have no idea what those abbreviations mean haha :S
TDEE = Total Daily Energy Expenditure - your BMR plus your daily activity - work, shopping, housework, exercise.
A lot of people find their numbers and take 20% off the TDEE for their daily goal, and you don't eat back exercise cals as they are included in your activity level. This method has worked great for me for losing the fat!
Much guidance in the link provided in my last post and by several other people - In Place Of A Road Map. Good stuff.0 -
Unless someone has medical issues that they need to be eating so few calories at 1200 you are starving yourself. I've been at 1500 since before Christmas and average 1/2 - 1lb a week loss and that was with eating back my exercise calories. I've now incorporated my activity and have bumped up my intake to about 1750. You don't have to starve yourself to lose weight. Check out this site for info on the concept of eating more and there is also a group here on mfp regarding EM2LW.
http://eatmore2weighless.com/faqs/0 -
MFP has my calories set at 1350, but I take the stance of "if your body is hungry, feed it". Don't be afraid to feed your body! Make wise decisions, and don't let yourself go hungry in hopes of seeing rapid results. Do what makes you feel your healthiest and "highest functioning".0
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As other people have mentioned, 1200 calories is not sufficient for most people, unless they're right around 5' tall, and already thin-ish.
Look at the roadmap -- You should never eat below BMR. Calculate your TDEE, and eat at 10-20% below. You'll lose weight and fat, especially if you add that to a lifting routine.
Good luck, and eat up!
Everyone keeps saying this. I'm 5'0, around 24-25% body fat, 120 pounds and my TDEE-20% is still 1600 calories. Just because you are small does not mean you require less calories. My BMR alone is 1285.
Touche... Clearly that was a VAST generalization to make a point... that was further illustrated by your input
1200 really is TOO low for most people
It's just a caveat to cover bases. It irks me a bit when people say "unless you have a medical condition you aren't sedentary" because I have several medical conditions that affect mobility and I'm still not sedentary. But I understand the need for qualifiers. Some short people and some people with medical conditions may find that 1200 is appropriate. Most will not.0 -
I take a few tbsp of coconut oil as a supliment. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medium_chain_triglycerides Amazing stuff.0
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Something else you have to remember with MFP, the calories they set for you are BASE calories. If you use their set up, your deficit is already built into the calories they set for you. If you do any exercise, you are supposed to eat those calories back to maintain your set deficit, otherwise you're just building a bigger hole. Depending on how much or how little you have left to lose you could stall our your weight loss by creating too big a deficit. Do you notice that when you log exercise, your calorie goal changes? MFP expects you to eat those calories back.
Though the problem some people run into is how accurate are the calculations for the calories you burned?0 -
I am new here. If I understand it correctly it is set at 1200 net calories, not gross calories. In a nutshell it means we are supposed to eat back calories burned. I did a bootcamp and estimated about 400 calories burned. so my net would be 1200 plus 400= 1600. Feel free to correct me like I said its how I understand it. Anyway, I will find out on Sunday if it works!0
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