You Really CAN Eat More!!
bonitacash08
Posts: 378 Member
I know I've seen a few posts and dozens of comments about this topic but I feel like we can't say it enough: You really can eat more than 1200 calories and lose weight.
I started off doing the same thing as most women here; eating 1200 calories and working out like a crazy person. Because I'm short and young it didn't really hit me hard until about 2 and a half months in, but once my body caught up with it, I became irritable (even more so than usual), tired, and lost my desire for.. you know.. Which my boyfriend was NOT pleased about lol. I recently read New Rules of Lifting for Women and used the calculator in the book provided and figured my TDEE to be around 1900 calories. I could eat almost 1600 and still lose! (And I plan to :happy: ).
My point is this: even if you're not hungry (I wasn't), even if yo don't have hair falling out or bags under your eyes (I didn't), there are other pretty bad side effects of not eating enough. Do I think you'll end up in the hospital in a few months on 1200 calories? No. But it could get you there eventually. At best you'll just be miserable.
Have a great day folks and happy eating!
I started off doing the same thing as most women here; eating 1200 calories and working out like a crazy person. Because I'm short and young it didn't really hit me hard until about 2 and a half months in, but once my body caught up with it, I became irritable (even more so than usual), tired, and lost my desire for.. you know.. Which my boyfriend was NOT pleased about lol. I recently read New Rules of Lifting for Women and used the calculator in the book provided and figured my TDEE to be around 1900 calories. I could eat almost 1600 and still lose! (And I plan to :happy: ).
My point is this: even if you're not hungry (I wasn't), even if yo don't have hair falling out or bags under your eyes (I didn't), there are other pretty bad side effects of not eating enough. Do I think you'll end up in the hospital in a few months on 1200 calories? No. But it could get you there eventually. At best you'll just be miserable.
Have a great day folks and happy eating!
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Replies
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Amen !
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Girl I feel you, hubby just didn't understand why I just didn't want to you know what! I didn't have the energy to, because it would use what little bit of energy I did consume during the day. Needless to say I upped mine to 1600 as well.0
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1200 just makes me crash and then want to eat like crazy!0
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I top 2k calories daily and am proud of it. That won't always be the case of course, as I continue to shrink, but even at my goal weight if I am active enough I think I can swing 16-1800 cals and be fine 0
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So true!!!!:happy:0
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Girl I feel you, hubby just didn't understand why I just didn't want to you know what! I didn't have the energy to, because it would use what little bit of energy I did consume during the day. Needless to say I upped mine to 1600 as well.
Check out this thread. Guaranteed to improve... you know what!
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/963088-level-obstacles-lose-weight-target-fat-easy0 -
It would also be helpful if people would understand that if they do decide to go the 1200 calorie route, it's not 1200 gross calories; you're supposed to eat back exercise calories as per the MFP method (NEAT method). That in itself would solve a lot of problems. In reality though, a 2 Lb per week weight loss goal should be reserved for the obese. Way too many people here wanting to lose a handful of cosmetic Lbs being way too aggressive.0
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I agree! I recently came to the exact same conclusion. I was tired, wasnt losing fat OR gaining muscle. I was grumpy and never had energy!
No I eat 1600 and I'm a different person and I am losing fat and gaining muscle! YAY!! I wish I would not have wasted 2 years of "dieting!" Those 400 cal make a HUGE difference.0 -
It would also be helpful if people would understand that if they do decide to go the 1200 calorie route, it's not 1200 gross calories; you're supposed to eat back exercise calories as per the MFP method (NEAT method). That in itself would solve a lot of problems. In reality though, a 2 Lb per week weight loss goal should be reserved for the obese. Way too many people here wanting to lose a handful of cosmetic Lbs being way too aggressive.
That's totally true. With the amount of exercising I do I should have eaten more like 1400-1600 calories a day in reality. But I didn't. I only ate 1200 gross because (and this is just my opinion) people who choose the 1200 route when they have less than a certain amount of weight to lose aren't interested in doing it the healthy way. They are interested in doing it the fast way. (***JUST my opinion)0 -
Also eating at 1200 is not good for women. You can lose your period and screw up your hormones. Not good.0
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Agreed! I eat between 2100 and 2300 calories/day, and I've lost 24 lbs. in about 10 weeks! I don't eat my exercise calories back as I am using the TDEE -20% method. If I were to eat 1200 calories/day, I would be incredibly cranky
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Great post. Wonderful that you pointed out that you don't have to have "extreme" symptoms to still need more nuttrients and calories.0
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Also why 1200. MFP had my husband and I were supposed to both eat around 1200 calories. Craziness.0
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Well ive been on 1200 for few weeks ... my last weigh in id put on 2 lb ! So i think wasnt eating enough ! so im now upping to 1500 a day see if this is better for me ! wish me luck !!0
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I will never understand why people join MFP but then don't follow the plan. MFP does not recommend anyone eat 1200 calories and exercise like crazy.0
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Well ive been on 1200 for few weeks ... my last weigh in id put on 2 lb ! So i think wasnt eating enough ! so im now upping to 1500 a day see if this is better for me ! wish me luck !!
Good Luck
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I will never understand why people join MFP but then don't follow the plan. MFP does not recommend anyone eat 1200 calories and exercise like crazy.
What they need is an instruction page that people can refer to that tells them that they are to NET the 1200 cals by eating back exercise cals. I don't remember anything ever telling me that at the beginning and then when I asked for help on the forum everyone jumped down my throat telling me I wasn't eating enough and I didn't know that I was supposed to eat them back. I thought it was optional.0 -
Yeah, 1200 is no good for me. I workout at least 3 times a week and even though I have a sedentary job and am not hardcore with the workouts, I still need at least 1500 calories per day. At least!0
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I was doing this exact same thing...you read about eating more to loss more and it just doesn't make sense...but then you read the posts from people like you saying it's right and to start eating more...i tried to explain this to my boyfriend but he can't get it. thinks its all wrong, which is frustrating for me because I am trying to understand the programme and be better at it to lose but he thinks i'm doing it wrong!!
However, i'm doing it and he doesn't need to understand it. Slowly increasing my intake!0 -
I will never understand why people join MFP but then don't follow the plan. MFP does not recommend anyone eat 1200 calories and exercise like crazy.
What they need is an instruction page that people can refer to that tells them that they are to NET the 1200 cals by eating back exercise cals. I don't remember anything ever telling me that at the beginning and then when I asked for help on the forum everyone jumped down my throat telling me I wasn't eating enough and I didn't know that I was supposed to eat them back. I thought it was optional.
It's definitely a topic that gets discussed a lot and I think sometimes people who've been on here longer or maybe have some kind of background in nutrition get tired of answering the same questions over and over.
However, with that being said, I think these forums are here to help everyone with their goals. I see a LOT of posts with people struggling with eating 1200 and not losing weight. I figure if there are still people posting those questions/concerns, there's always room for a post like this. If I can help just one more person, I'll feel good about maybe irritating a few. :laugh:0 -
I've never ate 1200 calories!! When I started it set me up around 1700 (I think) and then as I kept losing weight it would keep lowering my calorie count for the day. Finally I got to 1450 or so and I was always binging because it just wasn't enough food! I found IPOARM (TDEE explained and such) and calculated my calories out to 1708 to eat more and still lose weight. I've been all over the place the last few weeks so I haven't really been able to see if it's working properly, but I feel much better eating more 0
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Thank u ! 0
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I get super grumpy unless I eat enough - I don't understand people who force themselves to eat as little as possible.
My plan is to practice eating near to maintenance for the weight I want to be, because I want to be able to stay that weight when I get there. For me, this works out to about 1800 calories a day (before exercise).0 -
I just upped my calories to 1460 this week. I set my goals to lose 1/2 lb a week instead of a pound. I am experimenting to see what happens. 1200 isn't doing much for me at all.0
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Oh Lordy, Thank you!!!!!
Someone with a brain!!!!!!!0 -
Yes!!!!! I started at 1200 too and then increased. I'm currently eating between 1500 and 1600 a day (depending on my meals it's hard to hit the 1500 some days)!! It really pays to sit down and do a ton of research. You'll quickly learn that most of those "1200 calories" sources are either out-of-date or extremely lacking in credible information. 0
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I just started trying TDEE and I feel a lot better eating more. Before I was exercising like a crazy person and eating under my bmr. I felt terrible, my concentration was off, ugh. I am eating more and I feel so much better. I hope this works0
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MFP really needs to change the message it shows when you complete an entry because it is totally misleading. One time I accidentally hit the "Complete This Entry" button with only my breakfast calories logged and it told me that if every day was like today, I would lose 20 pounds in 5 weeks...and some people would see that and believe it and say oh hey if I only eat breakfast for 5 weeks I can lose weight!0
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I am still sort of figuring out where exactly I need to be calorie-wise. I was at 1200 and am now at 1400 but definitely go over some days and try to eat back most of my exercise calories. I may up it even more though as I am not losing like I was. We will see. It's definitely important not to feel ridiculously deprived or else what we are doing will not stick so on top of more calories often being the ticket to real weight loss, it also means that this is truly a sustainable lifestyle. No one will stick to something that makes them hungry and cranky all the time.0
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Well it worked for me. Down .8 surprisingly.0
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