1200 Calories...

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alimak21
alimak21 Posts: 20
in Health and Weight Loss
A little background: I have been at this about a month now. I've read so many conflicting things how many calories I should be consuming to lose weight. I ended up giving into MFP and just going with the recommended calories (1220). I do eat back my calories from exercise and have been doing my best to measure and log everything. I do a cheat day once a week where I go reasonably off track for two meals (or if there are special occasions, I do 2 cheat meals a week). So far I have lost about 6 pounds).

On days like today where I haven't earned back calories for exercise, I am finding it challenging to feel full on 1200 calories! I feel like if I just had one more 100-200 calorie snack I would be good to go -but I don't want to eat over my goal! I am wondering if anyone has any good suggestions on how to avoid this problem. Thanks!!

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  • herblackwings39
    herblackwings39 Posts: 3,930 Member
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    Are you actually hungry? If so, eat something. The worst thing that will happen is for one day you've made your deficit a little bit smaller.
  • dangerousdumpling
    dangerousdumpling Posts: 1,109 Member
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    The good news is that you only need to give in to your own choices. You can easily change your weight loss goal to 1.5 or 1 pound per week so you can eat more. Many, many, many people find it hard to stick to 1200 calories for long periods of time. Hunger sucks and you don't have to be hungry to lose weight. That's the great thing about TDEE-20%. You get to eat a good amount of food whether or not it's a workout day.
  • alimak21
    alimak21 Posts: 20
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    According to MFP, the 1220 calories is based on me losing 1 lb/week...I guess I could change it to 1/2 lb.
  • grentea
    grentea Posts: 96 Member
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    You should eat more if you are still hungry. I think it helps more in the long run. You don't want to restrict your calories too much and then binge one day because your body wants more food.
  • red_road
    red_road Posts: 761 Member
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    I am neither for nor against 1200 calories but just for the record MFP recommends a one pound loss per week. Which would put you above 1200 calories.
  • hannah_d1989
    hannah_d1989 Posts: 57 Member
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    I was the same, ate around 1200 calories and was hungry and hated it! I changed up what foods I ate, and upped calories to 1500. I actually lost weight quicker this way.
    Good luck!

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