A Success story from someone who eats 1200 calories

-85 pounds while eating 1200 calories! Keep up the good work.

-85 pounds while eating 1200 calories! Keep up the good work.

Awesome loss! Congratulations!

everyone should absolutely do what works for them. and what works for me is rolling this thread right off of My Topics. So let's everybody post!!!

I am in to make this happen...

...and it makes sense since OP apparently deactivated months ago...

...so c'mon people, whether you're "1200 is the answer to all of my dietary problems" or "need to fuel the machine to get work done", jump in here with a quick post to roll this thing.

ETA: I just realized that some mild controversy might be helpful to make this happen, so I'll reiterate my thoughts on this:

1200 is a less-than-ideal calorie amount for 98.44% of adults. It provides insufficient calories to accomplish much of anything at all and insufficient nutrition for optimal health. People would more likely reach their long-term goals by eating at a more sensible deficit than at 1200 calories which is almost always too large a deficit for most people.

And for those people who are the rare exceptions to this, your experience does not invalidate the fact that it is less than ideal for most people.

(There. That should do it. :drinker: )

I'll help. Ahem

I'm a short sedentary female. My current goal is 1900+ calories. I lose between a pound and half a pound a week. There is no reason to eat at 1200, except fear of food/being fat and only being able to deal in extremes. In this case Overeating Vs Eating enough for a toddler and not considering the in between.


How was that?

everyone should absolutely do what works for them. and what works for me is rolling this thread right off of My Topics. So let's everybody post!!!

Done. Let's roll this sucker.

everyone should absolutely do what works for them. and what works for me is rolling this thread right off of My Topics. So let's everybody post!!!

Done. Let's roll this sucker.

I just got here and agree lol

Some days I eat 1200 calories and some days I eat 1800. Most days I burn over 3000, according to my bodymedia armband. I never eat less than 1200, but I try to always eat less than I burn. (Yesterday, I did not succeed at that, and had a calorie surplus... making up for it for the rest of the week.)

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but that seems like WAY too much of a deficit to be healthy

Congrats, OP.

And someone feel free to rip me apart for this, but when I'm eating less I take a multi-vitamin to help ensure I'm getting my nutrients. Or supplements. You can also make sure what you are eating in that low-calorie diet (or lifestyle) is rich in nutrients. People on this site kill me with their negativity. If half of them were such "experts" I don't think they'd be on MFP. Do what works for you, or what your doctor has encouraged you to do, and let everyone else do their thing. Again, congrats!

So as long as I take a multi, I don't have to worry about nutrition?

Sweet!

Yeah turns out some can pop multis and can magically absorb it without the fat that everyone else needs to absorb fat soluble vitamins. I feel a bout of snow coming on.

That's why i take my multi with BACON! At least 4 strips.

Wait. What?

Are we there yet?

Almost. I'm having 500 calories worth of cookies and ice cream tonight. Still hitting fat and protein, with 84 calories to spare. Just wanted to share.

I have tried every calorie goal between 700 and 2200 per day and 1200 and below is the only thing that consistently works for me. Do I have a thyroid issue? Probably, and I have an appointment with a thyroid specialist coming soon.

(And just to be clear, the 700 calories/day was on a doctor supervised low carb, very low calorie diet, which I did not like and quit after 3 weeks, but I did keep the weight off and continued on with 1200/day)

I weigh just under 275 pounds today so the deficit my body can handle is a lot more than someone who's trying to lose "the last 10 pounds". Every 4-6 days, I start to get a lot of headaches and on those days, I'll eat 1500-1800 calories and I feel better for the next few days. I don't get guilty when I go over by 100-200 calories, but I usually only do that when I am just way too hungry.

After a couple weeks, my stomach shrinks and I just don't need as much food to be satisfied anymore. I think the risks associated with having all this extra weight are much worse than the risk of (reversible) metabolic damage and a few headaches.

And before you say I'm not going to stick to it. I've been on my weight loss journey CONSISTENTLY since December 2011 (a year and a half, and my MFP ticker is at 535 days straight) and even stuck to it through a year-long plateau where I tried everything BUT going low-carb or down to 1200 calories. I kept losing and re-gaining the same 5 pounds. Since busting the plateau 2 months ago (by switching to 1200/day), I have gone from 290 to under 275 today. I'm nearing the 70 pounds lost mark and very happy about it.

Rollin Rollin Rollin.......

You've gone to far!

Mine wasn't a success story. I lost some of my hair and all of my nails eating a lot of 'healthy' salads and chicken breasts. I use to argue with people that it was ok 'cause I wasn't hungry and I ate a lot of salad....boyyy can I put back a whole lot more salad now. I guess I thought I felt ok because I didn't know how much better I could feel and I was 'fine' until I wasn't fine at all, comparing myself to how I felt doing the opposite (being lazy and eating to much)...My sister started losing her hair and her teeth started becoming lose over the same thing almost over night and she felt fine previously. We were both cold all the time. Apparently thats common when malnourished, despite vitamins and veg.

hahaaha This actually made me really laugh. "Part 2"

I don't think salads are that bad if you make them right. I make my salads with spinach, tomatoes, carrots, broccoli, cheese and almonds, then I add a lean meat like chicken or turkey sometimes crab. For dressing I use the bolthouse yogurt dressing that is 45 calories. IT IS AMAZING, it's creamy, doesn't taste bad I LOVE IT. I actually have a hard time reaching 1200 cals now because I'm so full from all the protein.