not enough calories... good or bad?

omgawd what a head ache.. just to clarify for adini.. im have to eat 1200 calories on the diet ive been on for the past 4 days, im eating more quantity in food than before i started the diet to get to 1200 calories because the food i was eating before the diet (that made me put the weight on) was alot less in quantity but alot higher in calories because it wasnt healthy food.

i give up if you dont understand it because im confusing myself now lol

ANYWAY THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR HELP! ITS MUCH APPRECIATED, I am taking all this in and happy to add friends

just for info i am here to lose weight and get advice but even if i wasnt its no ones business but mine

You made perfect sense to me

I understood what you were saying from the very beginning. I too find that I am eating more healthier foods then before when I would skip a meal or eat a high calorie food - It is all about researching the foods you eat, making changes and getting healthy. It is also about reading your body - since I have been adding more fuel to my body, I am not constantly hungry and I do not have the urge to grab a high calorie snack. Good luck with your journey.

thank god for that! haha

I understood also. 1200 for your height is a good starting point to see if your weight drops. Calories are king. While 1200 calories of "healthy" eating is going to feel better than 1200 calories of junk food, calories are still calories. You said yourself, the calories you were eating before were higher and that is why you gained weight. Monitor like I said, if the weight is coming off at 1200 then you won't need to change anything.

I'm pretty sure that if you are 5'9 eating just 1200 calories is not enough. Try calculating your TDEE: http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/
Then subtract 20% from that TDEE and that is the amount of calories you should be taking in approximately.

There are two things you can do when you fill this thing in: Fill in your activity to match your activity each day as best as you can INcluding exercise, and do not eat back your exercise calories (then don't log exercise calories in mfp).
OR
or you can fill in your activity level EXcluding exercise (for me that would be pretty much sedentary) and eat back your exercise calories (you then do log your exercise in mfp and you just eat back your calories until that "remaining"counter hits zero. )

Hope that helps.

Reading the road map that was linked here before is also a good idea.

omgawd what a head ache.. just to clarify for adini.. im have to eat 1200 calories on the diet ive been on for the past 4 days, im eating more quantity in food than before i started the diet to get to 1200 calories because the food i was eating before the diet (that made me put the weight on) was alot less in quantity but alot higher in calories because it wasnt healthy food.

i give up if you dont understand it because im confusing myself now lol

ANYWAY THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR HELP! ITS MUCH APPRECIATED, I am taking all this in and happy to add friends

just for info i am here to lose weight and get advice but even if i wasnt its no ones business but mine

You made perfect sense to me

me too lol feel free to add me we can do this together xxxx

Thanks missy i cant exercise right now for medical reasons but i need to loss the weight

You may not be able to do calistenics, but can you walk? Or do arm lifts with a heavy can of tomatoes? Or simple leg lifts with only your own body weight for resistance? Any movement you make is exercise and every little bit counts!

Yes i can walk a little , im hoping to increase the distance to more than 30 paces without seizing up like i need spraying with wd40 everytime i try to excercise im stuck on my back for a week or so in pain again.. maybe im doing too much to start off with ???? another reason im here ill look into calistenics, never heard of it before thanks

It doesn't matter how small you start - start with whatever you are comfortable with and work from there. Anything is better than nothing. I started off walking at a pace of 2mph and not being able to talk properly as I was out of breath/aching/tired and could only do a mile. Now I can do 5+ miles at 3mph (or more) - it's taken a while, and it's not easy but the most important thing is you take it easy to start off with - I know a lot of people will say "Push yourself" but when you are disabled, ill or new to exercise, you need to ease in gently otherwise you'll either hurt yourself (meaning you'll stop to recover) or hate it (and stop because you hate it).

Calistenics - I'd really avoid this for now; it's quite high impact (well, at least the ones I do - there may be easier ones) and tough and if you are just starting out, I'd steer clear until you feel stronger.