1200??

1200, is not under eating! choose what you eat carefully. MFP set my calorie goal at 1200.

I'm still trying to figure out how some ppl are working out to their maximum and living on 1200 calories a day lol. I can see how this could work minus the exercise, but as previously stated it would seem to do more harm than good. Even though a person may see results it would seem their metabolic rate would have slowed down to a snails pace. If and when a person hits a plateau I really don't see a way out. What do you do? Go down to 1000 cals?

Personally I feel it is much better to eat 1800 calories a day and work your but off to get your metabolic rate up through exercise. Set reasonable goals with weight loss. A pound a week max.

I'm still trying to figure out how some ppl are working out to their maximum and living on 1200 calories a day lol. I can see how this could work minus the exercise, but as previously stated it would seem to do more harm than good. Even though a person may see results it would seem their metabolic rate would have slowed down to a snails pace. If and when a person hits a plateau I really don't see a way out. What do you do? Go down to 1000 cals?

Personally I feel it is much better to eat 1800 calories a day and work your but off to get your metabolic rate up through exercise. Set reasonable goals with weight loss. A pound a week max.

You are male, so you would need more. At 1800 calories a day I would likely maintain. A pound a week makes sense if you only have 30 or so to lose, but if a person is morbidly obese then really they need to lose it a little faster than that. When you have lots of extra weight it's safer to lose it fast than it would be for just a regular overweight person. Also we are less likely to lose lean mass and more likely to lose fat, than someone who has just a few extra pounds.

Depends on how long you've dieted, how much LBM you have, activity etc.
1800 to maintain puts you at about 5' light activity, 5'3" extremely sedentary with low LBM etc... Etc...

I have a secret.
If every one of you ate at calculated TDEE for an extended period of time, walked 10k steps a day and lifted weights or did resistance training 3-4xa week, you would all lose fat.
Macronutrients play a HUGE role.
A calorie is not a calorie.
It's not always calories in vs calories out.

1200 a day and not lifting weights will put you in the HOV lane to live in an adult community in possibly your 7th decade but definitely 8th and beyond.

Halp!!! I've fallen and I can't get up because I didn't take care of my muscle and eat right!

I agree with you in principle but disagree on the manner of the message. Everyone has to start somewhere and focusing on diet/lifestyle as a top priority is correct. Everyone realizes doing both diet and exercise has far superior short and long term results. No need to be so abrasive about it.

*Proper* diet+diet+even minor exercise = health. If only because each component creates an entry-way/step into a healthier lifestyle.

Regardless, MFP's 1,200 calorie goal setup should be fixed as a bug. It's entirely misleading for 95% of the users. I've had some days where I've only netted 1,100 or 1,200 (not common). Glycogen exhaustion, "the bonk", was pretty obvious afterwards. Yet, MFP sits there recommending 1,200 on my home screen. MFP should show 1,600-1,900.

Hell, on workout/de-stress days I'm stuck having to figure out how to deal with the 3,600 daily calorie deficit I generated. That's why I know precisely what Glycogen exhaustion feels like. Strange feeling when it's mid-afternoon, you're not hungry, but you have to actually think about eating like a machine to balance your nutrients.

**For those struggling with hunger and low calorie goals** I highly recommend some type of accessible cardio. A treadmill or indoor cycle, perhaps. Consider that 1 hour of spinning will net an additional 600 calories you can eat. Yes, you have to eat back most (even all) of the calories you burn. **Convert your hunger into motivation.** Kind of like a carrot on a stick but it's actually steak, grilled chicken, and/or pasta.