why is 1200 cal/day too low?

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  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
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    You hard core eaters are going to hate this but the people of Okinawa (and there are a handful of other cultures who share the same basic principals), are the people with the highest longevity and lack of diseases in the world. Cancer and cardiovascular diseases are almost unheard of.
    They attribute this to calorie restriction, low fat, no processed goods, no meat or very little meat which is boiled and the fat scraped off before consumption, They do eat fish....which is usually raw. They rarely drink alcohol. They value age and the elderly and don't do ANYTHING to try and look younger. No botox for them!
    Sucks, huh? Too bad it's factual. Americans are some of the most obese people in the world and while we should be living the longest or close to it we rank 41 I believe. How pathetic.

    Read and Weep

    http://www.okinawa-diet.com/news/20050316_seven.html

    they also have an average height of 4ft 9'

    and many of them actually drink a little alcohol every day

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1071721/
  • motown13
    motown13 Posts: 688 Member
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    I did 1200 a day for quite a while with great results. I personally don't see why everybody gets all up in arms about it.

    And here's the thing..... I was steady at 3300 - 3500 calories a day at 285 pounds.... I went to 1800 calories and dropped 13 pounds, BUT I stayed on 1800 calories for 8 weeks and didn't lose another pound... so people said I need to eat more... so I went to 2200.... no loss... so now I am trying 1200 calories to 1400 calories to see what will happen.

    Eight weeks, IMO, is a pretty long time not to drop a single pound when you weigh 272 pounds.

    I have no idea if this will work, but adding more calories didn't help me.....

    EDIT.... and yes, I weigh / measure my food.... all of it.
  • bridgettegarzonie
    bridgettegarzonie Posts: 54 Member
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    I have occasional days when I eat 1200 (mostly when I am busy or stressed), but I upped my calories to 1400. I still eat some of my exercise calories back (not all of them and not every day). I'm 5' 4". I started around 130 in January. This morning I weighed around 123, so I am losing good. I'm firming up. I'd be happy with a half a pound a week. I only have about 5 or 6 pounds more to go. I had stalled when I was staying at 1200 a day, and I had actually gained a few pounds back which I lost almost immediately when I upped my calories to 1400.

    This. I had been stuck at a plateau for over 6 months at 1200 cals/day. I upped it to closer to 1400 and broke through my plateau. I would prolly be at my goal weight by now if I'd stop sabotaging myself on the weekends.
  • donyellemoniquex3
    donyellemoniquex3 Posts: 2,384 Member
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    What's your BMR ?
  • marieautumn
    marieautumn Posts: 932 Member
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    i eat 1200 net calories, seems to be enough for me. you just have to work out so you can eat 1600, but net 1200.
  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
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    i eat 1200 net calories, seems to be enough for me. you just have to work out so you can eat 1600, but net 1200.

    This is the big issue - Netting 1200 after exercise is totally different to just eating a flat 1200.

    When MFP sets peopel with 1200 calories a day, it is giving them 1200 PLUS exercise calories.

    When people choose 1200 flat calories, they are doing the TDEE minus deficit method - the only difference is the size of the defict.
  • groversa
    groversa Posts: 450 Member
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    It just is. You will be starving all the time, and it's really too little food for a human to live on over the long term, or for the rest of their lives. Most women can easily eat 1600 cals a day and still lose weight. Many can eat more than that and still lose. It's just a lame thing MFP does to women. Plus, most women put that they want to lose 2 lbs per week instead of a more reasonable 1 lb per week.

    If you really want to know, go here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

    You can thank me later, and Dan, of course.


    ^^ This, and for sure check out the link! It has helped a lot of people.
  • marieautumn
    marieautumn Posts: 932 Member
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    i eat 1200 net calories, seems to be enough for me. you just have to work out so you can eat 1600, but net 1200.

    This is the big issue - Netting 1200 after exercise is totally different to just eating a flat 1200.

    When MFP sets peopel with 1200 calories a day, it is giving them 1200 PLUS exercise calories.

    When people choose 1200 flat calories, they are doing the TDEE minus deficit method - the only difference is the size of the defict.

    i believe the 1200 MFP sets you at is assuming you are NOT going to work out which for most people would give them a deficit of about 500 calories. So when I work out and net 1200 AFTER a work out i'm right back at that 500 deficit.
    Thats why when you work out before eating MFP says you are in the negative for net cals.
  • da_bears10089
    da_bears10089 Posts: 1,791 Member
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    OP- keep looking around the boards. Eat more to lose more? Ask yourself, Has that worked for you in the past?

    ok, now this is just a plain old ignorant post. I went ahead and figured in what i generally ate in the past on a day to day basis. there are others in there, because i know i would snack at home and in the afternoon at work. Right now to lose weight, i'm eating between 1800-1900 calories (with the VERY occasional miss day, like yesterday) and typical day before was well OVER 3500 calories. THAT is what i did in the past.

    I have also done a very low calorie diet, and yeah i lost 30 lbs in 2.5 months, and then i started eating the amount that a normal person SHOULD eat, and then i gained allll of that back almost as fast as i lost it.

    the problem is that most of us weren't aware of how much we were eating before we joined MFP, so we need to educate ourselves and not assume that slicing our calories in half is really the best way to do things
  • da_bears10089
    da_bears10089 Posts: 1,791 Member
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    You hard core eaters are going to hate this but the people of Okinawa (and there are a handful of other cultures who share the same basic principals), are the people with the highest longevity and lack of diseases in the world. Cancer and cardiovascular diseases are almost unheard of.
    They attribute this to calorie restriction, low fat, no processed goods, no meat or very little meat which is boiled and the fat scraped off before consumption, They do eat fish....which is usually raw. They rarely drink alcohol. They value age and the elderly and don't do ANYTHING to try and look younger. No botox for them!
    Sucks, huh? Too bad it's factual. Americans are some of the most obese people in the world and while we should be living the longest or close to it we rank 41 I believe. How pathetic.

    Read and Weep

    http://www.okinawa-diet.com/news/20050316_seven.html

    you might as well post peer reviewed, scientifically based evidence otherwise this will be disregarded. i can go to Dr. Oz's site i'm sure and give you information on how coffee pills and raspberry ketones are the way to go too!
  • imchicbad
    imchicbad Posts: 1,650 Member
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    I'm also doing 1200 a day and have no problems staying at that. I generally eat back some of my exercise calories. MFP has shown me exactly where I have been going wrong in what I had been consuming every day and why I am overweight. I am not a big eater, never have been. Never one to eat donuts, cookies etc....What my problem was is what I had been drinking, not thinking of the tons of calories I was consuming. I am a coffee addict and had been POURING in the Coffeemate French Vanilla. Or I would drink a lot of Simply Lemonade or sweetened teas. Never really paid attention to nutrition labels on food either. And then there's that portion control thing. I had to relearn what a portion was. I have since found that 1200 a day is more than doable. I am not hungry throughout the day. I rarely snack between meals. I no longer have any coffeemate unless it's a rare treat and I do NOT pour it in anymore. If it's not sweet enough for me I add a dash of Splenda. And I have started exercising even though I hate doing it.

    EATING BACK CALORIES: so your not really eating 1200 calories then are you, and you said it yourself, in reality your probably eating 16-1800 calories I bet.
  • hpsnickers1
    hpsnickers1 Posts: 2,783 Member
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    Depends on how much nutrition is coming along with those 1200. On my Paleo/Primal diet I can blow the RDA numbers out of the water on 1000 calories, easy.

    My body tells me if I need more. If I have an active day my body responds by increasing my appetite. If I have a lazy day my body responds by decreasing my appetite. If I have a day when I eat like crazy (overeat) I'm not hungry the next day until well into the afternoon.

    http://www.gnolls.org/3374/there-is-no-such-thing-as-a-calorie-to-your-body/

    http://thatpaleoguy.com/2012/12/19/calorie-rants-and-ketosis-part-1/
    http://thatpaleoguy.com/2012/12/24/calorie-rants-and-ketosis-part-2/

    I just like these articles:
    http://www.archevore.com/panu-weblog/2011/1/29/there-is-no-such-thing-as-a-macronutrient-part-i-fats.html
    http://www.archevore.com/panu-weblog/2011/2/5/no-such-thing-as-a-macronutrient-part-ii-carbohydrates-revis.html
  • MissKris14
    MissKris14 Posts: 65 Member
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    It's NOT too low for a lot of people. It depends on your TDEE.

    For example, my TDEE is around 1650 (unless I'm doing strenuous exercise). This is what I eat to maintain my weight. If I want to lose weight, I eat around 1200 a day, and that will not even give me a pound a week. I agree that women who have a TDEE of 2500 and are choosing the 2 pound a week option should eat more and go for slower weight loss. However, for some of us, if we eat much more than 1200, that puts us at maintenance.
  • KickyLegs
    KickyLegs Posts: 53
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    It depends. If you exercise and burn 600-800 calories - 1200 is not low (in my opinion) because you can eat that much extra. But if you don't work out, a 1200 calories diet doesn't seem sustainable. You would be hungry. I mean, I would be hungry anyway.
  • jayne8628
    jayne8628 Posts: 8
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    I was doing 1200 cals a day for about 2 months and felt horrible. I did lose all the weight that I wanted, however, I ended up derailing and suffering from burnout. I gained all the weight back plus more because I felt so deprived and ended up binge eating for about 2 weeks. It technically isn't too low for most people (thought there is going to be so much debate about it) but its just better to set yourself up for success rather than failure and I learned this the hard way.
  • laderoot
    laderoot Posts: 1
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    1200 is too low, you can't get all the vitamins and nutrients you need at that calorie level. I hover around 2000 per day and I'm still losing at a fantastic rate after a full month. You don't have to be drastic, you just have to try to be consistent.
  • mcalicci
    mcalicci Posts: 5 Member
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    The truth is...you are not going to be eating only 1200 calories, unless you don't exercise at all and still want to lose weight, then 1200 calories to make any difference in your body weight is the mark. When you start logging your food, you will see it'll be over 1200 in no time, so...how do you compensate this? by exercising, by moving, by choosing better foods that fill you up and has little or almost no existent calories...Just start registering your food intake and your exercise activity, you will understand...I eat everything I want, I don't diet, I just pick the best food and exercise daily! Good luck to you!:wink:
  • marieautumn
    marieautumn Posts: 932 Member
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    1200 is too low, you can't get all the vitamins and nutrients you need at that calorie level. I hover around 2000 per day and I'm still losing at a fantastic rate after a full month. You don't have to be drastic, you just have to try to be consistent.
    You can definately get all the nutrients you need in 1200 cals. foods that are better for you usually are lower calorie. I can't imagine eating 2000 calories daily unless you are burning around 1000 calories every day.
  • chymerra
    chymerra Posts: 212
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    it all depends on your body and how fit you are. my BMR isn't even that low so eating 1200cals for me would be putting myself into starvation.

    those who are very petite can survive on a 1200cal diet but those who are larger or have a lot of muscle probably can't.
  • kayaksara
    kayaksara Posts: 157 Member
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    I wouldn't recommend 1200 for many people. But it works for me. But I am 5'1'' and a small frame. I would suggest small people try it. I have maintained 120 pounds for a good portion of my adult life on 1200 - 1400. And because it's important for me to be healthy with good cholesterol counts and good blood pressure and a healthy heart, etc. I will continue to eat this way. I understand some people are starving on 1200 but some of us are far from starving. Enough people do this and can tell you. I eat when I am hungry. I don't get light headed or feel sick. Eating fruits, veggies and some whole grains with enough protein sources while lifting weights has been key for me. Also I want to point out that being hungry and wanting to eat are 2 different things. Eat when you are truly hungry. And if that is 1600, 1800, or 2000, great. Do what works for you. But to reiterate...we are all different.

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