Results with 1200 Calories

Not arguing, just have a legit question.. If 1200 is so bad for you, why does MFP tell me to eat 1200? Is it because I'm so short, and over weight, or is it so I can lose weight and then they will alter it after I record my weight loss? I'm confused, I want to get HEALTHY, not lose weight then gain it back.

It's not so bad if you're very small, short, older, and sedentary. It's just that most of the people who get 1200 don't get it because it's the best goal for them. It's because they choose "sedentary" even if they're not (I was guilty of this, I just assumed I was sedentary because I was a disabled housewife with no kids) and they choose "lose 2 lbs per week" which is only a good goal if you have a lot to lose (50 lbs or more). If you don't have enough fat reserves to lose that quickly, or you're at least lightly active, 1200 isn't going to be the right goal for you.

I have the 1200 calorie a day plan also. There's one thing it seems no one is taking into consideration - age. I'm 66 years old and I am losing an average of 1 lb a week. When I was 26 I went on a diet and lost 12 lbs in 3 weeks and didn't gain it back for 20 years. Well the metabolism and lifestyle have both changed since then. I really am pretty sedimentary but I am working out hard with Leslie Sansone 6 days a week from 30 - 60 minutes with stretchy bands as well as jumping on a mini trampoline. Still it is slow going. Oh I am not starving, in fact I eat way too many treats. I have lost 16 lbs so far and want to lose 22 more. Anyway, when you consider calories take into consideration the age you are. The older and less active you are the less the calories you can eat. If you did the questionaire when you joined they came up with the amount of calories for a reason and one was your age and another your activity level. To all of you who can eat 1700 or 1800 calories - You lucky dogs. I couldn't have cheesecake today but you could have.

Well, I just wanted to tell you how pretty you are!

I have success with eating 1200 calories and keeping it off! I work out 5 days a week, I lift 3 times a week and I feel great! I eat clean (for the most part) and I never drink. I think every body is different and for some 1200 calories is not enough while for others it's plenty. Right now I'm trying to lose my baby weight but usually I weigh 130 and I'm 5'3 which most people would agree is a healthy weight. For me it's not even about how much I weigh but about what I can do and how I feel.

Let me tell you my story...

I started dieting after my son was born in 2003, I figured diet was simply "stop eating so much" and 1000 calories sounded like a good reasonable number to go by. I lost all of my baby weight, became weight fixated, and lost more weight. I went from the 1000 calories to anorexia (this doesn't happen to everyone, but let's face it eating 1200 calories is border line anorexia. After all 1000 calories is only 200 less!) I was super skinny, I had never been so skinny, 5'8" 115lbs. Eventually I ate normal again, because you know life is a good feeling, being alive and all that jazz.

2006 I decided at 5'8" 150lbs I needed to get my eating habits under control. I set my goal at 1200, and lost to 129lbs in a few months. I was constantly crabby, I had no energy, I was so ravenous that if I didn't get to eat my scheduled meal I would start biting heads off. I was a real peach to be around. However, I was super skinny!!! YAY! Guess what? Eventually I got sick of starving and ate normal again, and balooned to 150lbs in about a month.

2008 I started working out, still not eating enough but better 1400 calories with a good work out. I lost the weight pretty fast still, but always felt hungry! (I wonder why? I was burning all of my calories with daily calorie useage, and then I was working out and burning even more.) I eventually made my goal weight, and body fat, and I was very fit! However again, STARVING, again I ATE NORMAL again I GOT BACK TO 150lbs without blinking an eye.

This time? I am eating normal, feeding my metabolism, making smarter choices, working out like a champion. I would reach my "goal weight" in a few months with 1200 calories, have the worst attitude ever, and be starving 24/7. This time? I am eating 1700 to 2200 calories, the weight is coming off slow, my muscles are beautiful. I am not a complete *kitten* to be around, and am enjoying my work outs. I can eat whatever I want and not have my butt go up three sizes.

MY SUGGESTION? FEED YOUR BODY. WORK HARD. Or you can ruin your metabolism, and eat 1200 calories the rest of your life, or do it the other way. Oh yes, and lift heavy things up and down, you will not get bulky and your body will thank you for it.

I am not saying that someone cannot lose and be healthy and happy at 1200, but this ^^^ is a wonderful story, and I hope it clicks with more people. 1200 isn't for everyone, and quite frankly, it isn't for very many.

I was the same. I lost so much in the first two weeks that I thought "this must be right", but I found that my legs felt weak, I wasn't hungry (also something I thought was good), and day-to-day, my Zumba routine was getting more and more impossible to finish. I know you are looking for success stories, and I don't intend on putting you down, but I want to say that I kicked my calories up to 1639 now, I eat back 80% (to allow for error) of my exercise calories, and even though MFP says I will lose 0.7/week, I find that I am usually around 1lb-ish. I am above my BMR, and my body is so grateful: sleeping better, having a wonderful appetite, I am satisfied, and I am not pissy.

As far as your question goes, I lost a lot in the beginning. It was nice to see the numbers come down. 4lbs week 1, 2 lbs week 2. It just was too much for me to keep up with. Kudos if your body doesn't mind it. It very well may be enough for you.

I wish you success, but if you are struggling, you might find that kicking that goal up will still show you wonderful results. Even if they are slower, you want this to be a permanent change, right? Not short-lived. The higher calories let you live a more realistic life. Your friends can call you up for lunch, and you don't have to decline due to calorie shortage.

I hope you get some awesome success stories, but make sure not to ignore the advice of the veterans on here (something I am not pretending to be in my 3 months). Stories, like the one I quoted, are coming from people who have been here for a long time, and they know what 1200 calories does to most people. They know that most of the people quoting success will not be able to say that in a few months; they will have plateaued, or worse, given up. We don't want to see you quit from an unrealistic intake.

When we are posting about not eating at 1200 in a success forum, it is only because we want to make sure that the OP has heard the other side. If they are anything like I was in the beginning, I had no idea there was another option, until I posted something and got responses like this. We don't mean to troll or attack; we just want to make sure everyone knows there are many options.

Good luck :flowerforyou:

my trainer at the gym said 1200 is too low 1400 the min so i bumped it up to 1400 ill see how it goes!

when i'm not working out heavily I eat 1200 and lose weight. When I work out, i eat at about 1700 cals.. depending on my burn. My TDEE is around 1800. That means eating at 1200 is putting me at a 600 cal deficit .. so it's fine IF I"M NOT WORKING OUT.

When I work out.. I measure my burn and I eat to keep the appropriate deficit. Feeding my body with good healthy foods. No packaged stuff, but natural food with great flavor.

I did lose a great deal of weight at 1200 calories.. but i plateaued and got stuck. When i started eating more I felt better and could work out more. I love eating more food, so I'm happy to work out more. The more muscle I have the more calories I can burn.. the more I an eat.. ah.. I love this world!

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Jesus Christ people. This is in the "Success Stories" forum. If you want to go talk about how great your method of losing weight is, fine. But there are about 10000000 other places on the internet to do it. The OP asked for success stories from people who ate at 1200 calories. Your answers are not relevant to this question. If you don't have answers that are relevant, you really shouldn't be answering.

@OP - I eat 1200 calories and I am happy with my progress. As far as I am concerned, if I am happy with how I'm doing, that is all that matters. If I regret it in a year - fine, I'll come back and bow down to the MFP gods who clearly know SO much more about health and well-being than anyone else on this Earth. But until then, I'm proud of how far I've come and when I reach my goal, I'll post a success story. I'm sorry I didn't start sooner so I could post one for you now.

Hi, OP. 1200 worked for me. It's not for everyone, and it's not what I'm doing anymore. I've increased my calories as life circumstances have changed which permit me to be more active, which has allowed me to focus my goals differently.

Here are the reasons that 1200 worked for me, in my opinion: I'm petite, female, in my 30's, and not overweight, which gives me a lower BMR. Due to a number of personal factors, I wasn't very active. I wasn't sedentary, and I did exercise, and I ate back exercise calories if I was hungry, wanted them, or felt I needed them for energy. But my exercise wasn't intense. I was happy with the results 1200 gave me. I didn't have the gorgeous body that some of the other women have on this site, but I felt pretty good. I didn't expect that gorgeous body with the amount of work I was able to put in. MFP set me at 1200 calories for all lb loss settings (.5, 1, 1.5, 2) and for all activity settings (except for .5 lbs a week at the construction level setting, it gave me 1330. I'm no construction worker.)

My circumstances and goals have changed. For many reasons, I can do more strenuous exercise, and so I am more dedicated to fitness/strength than I was previously. I've upped to 1600, which is probably 1200 or so + exercise anyway.

More calories is better for my current goals, but it wasn't right for my circumstances before. 1200 was well-suited for me then. It really depends on your individual circumstances. I actually found 1200 easier to stick to than the 1600 in terms of not going over calories. It was probably the psychological factors where I was more aware of needing to be more careful and aware of my planning. Today, 1200 wouldn't be right for me, but I believe it was before. If my circumstances would once again allow me to be less active, I would do 1200 again.

I've been eating 1200 calories a day since September and have lost 53 lbs. I've got another 29 lbs until my ultimate goal and will stick with the 1200 calories as it's obviously working for me.

I've been working out since February, everyday, but definitely not what I'd call hardcore. 40 min per day on my elliptical, walk every day and make sure I hit my 10,000 steps with my fitbit.

I feel great, feel stronger than I have in years and have energy to spare. I am loving how my body is looking and receive unsolicited compliments often.

If you choose well, 1200 calories can provide a healthy and balanced diet.

ETA: I rarely eat back any of my exercise calories.

The mind boggles.
Why would anyone CHOOSE to eat 1200 or less, when you can eat almost twice that and have better results (less saggy skin, not being skinny-fat at the finish line etc).
Surely 'more food' sounds good to anyone?!?!

It's worked for me - 23 pounds since January. I run a 5K four days a week and do yoga a couple of times of week but I'm not a slave to exercise, I just don't want to be a gym rat. I'm only 5'3" and my BMR is something like 1140 so I'm comfortable with the 1200 and have never felt like I was starving. I've never been a yo-yo dieter and have really only gone on one or two diets before in my entire life. The more you work out the more you should eat or, yes, you will be hungry. It's just common sense.

I'll see you at the finish line (I'll be there before you)!

Thanks so much for publicly revealing to the MFP world what kind of person you really are. Saved me some time, and most likely a few strikes as well. Thumbs up.

Agree.

Now I'm still fairly new to this - so I'm no expert by any means, but my given calorie goal is 1250 (I'm only 5'1") - I have had no trouble sticking to that, I have no trouble exercising for 45 minutes a day, I have way more energy because of the foods I'm choosing to put in my body.

I feel everyone should worry less about their calories and more about the TYPES of foods that they are eating. If you are filling up on a lot of vegetables and lean proteins your calories are going to be lower... if you need to eat your ice cream, pasta, and bagel with cream cheese every day your calories will be used up a lot quicker (I know because those are the things I was eating - I was tired all the time, and reaching over 2,500 calories)

If you are eating healthy foods - you will have the energy. That's whats working for me - and so far so good. I haven't been hungry at all!

^^ This!! I see plenty of diaries of ppl eating 1700-2200 calories and not a vegetable or fruit in sight....

I saw Bob Harper (is that his name?) from The Biggest Loser on morning TV the other day and he's got a new program that is only 800 calories for women. I was floored. Now 1200 does work for me but I'm petite and I eat more on the days I exercise but when I heard that I couldn't believe an "expert" would recommend that to people. That's just a recipe for metabolism destruction.