Who did reach their goal with 1500 calories?

I suppose many have lost weight eating 1500 cals, but that doesn't mean that particular number would be the same for yourself. We are all different ages, heights and have different activity levels to consider. I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say that 1200 might be too low but figure out your tdee and bmr on scooby's workshop or fat2fit radio.com. I myself actually eat 1500 but my metabolism has been messed up from eating too low so I started off eating at bmr which was 1400 and now i'm at 1500. I have a holiday in aug and was rather depressed that I hadn't met my goal, my loss has been slow. Depending on your stats you may be able to eat more than 1500

mich1902 pretty much hit the nail on the head. For most anyone who engages in any kind of regular exercise, even the most petite of the petite, 1200 is far too little. The 1200 calorie "bare minimum" is really only applicable to sedentary people attempting to lose weight through diet alone, not diet + exercise. For anyone else, it should be raised to 1500. If you've read the Insanity nutrition guide, you will see they recommend a minimum calorie intake of 1500 for anyone attempting the program and even that is only for very petite women. For everyone else that number is much higher. However, as mich1902 said, a long period of eating too little will slow your metabolism to the point where you may gain weight eating a number of calories that, by all rights, should still put you at a deficit. If this applies to you, then it is recommended you first focus on repairing your metabolism by slowly increasing your calories, rather than focusing on weight loss.

I can't really give you any advice because I'm new to this, but I just increased my calories from 1200 to 1500 today for the exact reasons everyone else stated. I've been doing this for about 5 weeks at 1200 and I feel like I'm starving and I have a hard time eating my calories back after exercise because I do it in the evening, so the whole "eat your exercise calories" back was playing games with my head. I realized I was netting like 700 calories on too many days. I read too many things about metabolism damage and I do NOT want to go there.

So, I calculated my TDEE (I used iifym) using all four methods (and taking a 20% reduction), then took an average. Then, I reduced that to give me a small deficit that I can work with on my off days, when my family and I go out to eat, etc. This number is actually very close to my 1200 that MFP gave me, plus my 4 days of exercise calories added in and averaged out for the week. Now, I have a nice number to work with daily, and I don't have to beat myself up if I go over a little. And I'm not living with the fear that I might damage my metabolism. Also-- I am recording my exercise, but I have it set at 1 calorie so that it doesn't give me that deficit (since it's already built in to TDEE) but still keeps me honest about reaching my exercise goals.

My first 30lbs I lost at 1200 cals. Then I bumped it up to 1500 and the weight loss actually picked up a bit. I'm f/25/5'7". I've been losing steadily at 1500 and I'm inching towards goal so I'm trying to up them to the 1650 range now.

im at 1580, plus exercise and ive lost 20 lbs in three months.

Thanks for posting this today. I did go to a TDEE site and did all my calculations and WOW! According to the site I should be eating around 1850 calories a day! YIKES .. not sure I can go there (its so hard to change your mind-set isn't it?)

I was on 1300 calories a day and have hit yet another plateau. *sigh* No weight loss since the first week of June (this also happened in Jan and April, so it cycles with me).

Today, July 1, 2013 I did the following:
1) Started the 30-Day Shred program
2) Took pictures
3) Weighed in (up two pounds from my most recent weigh in :grumble: ; but not giving up)
4) Took my measurements
5) Determined I was not going to give up!

I am F/58y/5'-5-3/4" and even after losing 35 pounds looking at pictures of me taken over the weekend I still don't look like I have accomplished anything. And yes I have been working out 4 days a week for the past 4-5 months. I am down in the size clothes I wear so that is a good feeling; but I need to see change more.

Thanks again for posting! :flowerforyou:

As you can see below I am like you-YIKES but I am going to give it a try!! I am going from 1300-1700 as of yest!

Thanks for posting this today. I did go to a TDEE site and did all my calculations and WOW! According to the site I should be eating around 1850 calories a day! YIKES .. not sure I can go there (its so hard to change your mind-set isn't it?)

I was on 1300 calories a day and have hit yet another plateau. *sigh* No weight loss since the first week of June (this also happened in Jan and April, so it cycles with me).

Today, July 1, 2013 I did the following:
1) Started the 30-Day Shred program
2) Took pictures
3) Weighed in (up two pounds from my most recent weigh in :grumble: ; but not giving up)
4) Took my measurements
5) Determined I was not going to give up!

I am F/58y/5'-5-3/4" and even after losing 35 pounds looking at pictures of me taken over the weekend I still don't look like I have accomplished anything. And yes I have been working out 4 days a week for the past 4-5 months. I am down in the size clothes I wear so that is a good feeling; but I need to see change more.

Thanks again for posting! :flowerforyou: