1200 cal/day - is it possible?!

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  • sianquin
    sianquin Posts: 86 Member
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    I eat 1300cal a day, I'm never hungry. I eat 6 times a day, my first 4 meals all have protein and carbs, then dinner has protein and veg/salad. before bed i have a cup of soup or some light babybel. I avoid bread 90% of the time but i have baked potatoes and brown rice atleast once a day, I have a protein shake as my morning snack if I've been to the gym . This was a diet plan set out for my by my personal trainer and it's working really well. I limit my fruit to one piece a day to cut down on sugar but i have alot of veg.Also i drink alot of water and make sure this is the first thing i do in the morning before I eat any food. So far it's working really well for me.

    My dairy public if you want to have a look.
  • t1954
    t1954 Posts: 81 Member
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    Yes, it can be done. I have been doing it for 13 months. It requires focus and commitment.
  • igotabulletproofheart
    igotabulletproofheart Posts: 104 Member
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    Just a note, foods like bread and cheese can be a part of your clean diet. I have the cleanest diet of anyone I know and I have bread and cheese on a daily basis, whether they're together or with different foods.

    If you're finding it difficult to control yourself, use your mfp diary to plan meals and change the meal names to times. I changed my meal names to 3pm, 5pm, 7pm and 9pm so I have to eat my meals at those times. Also, counting macros really helps. I know that if I was only counting calories and not macros then my calories would consist of carbs and junk but because I'm counting macros, I HAVE to hit that protein amount. It's became a habit I can't get rid of, but thankfully a huge part of me doesn't want to get rid of it because it keeps my diet clean and my body functional. :bigsmile:
  • ErinBigney
    ErinBigney Posts: 13 Member
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    I am on 1200 cal/day and have been for about 4 months
    And I never feel hungry sometimes I even find it hard to
    Meet the 1200 I do it by eating as clean as possible so meat veggies
    Fruit and nuts I do still eat cheese and have great meals.
    I eat 6 times a day so I never feel deprived. Feel free
    To add me and check out my dairy if you want. I admit I am
    Pretty repetitive in what I eat throughout the day but have something
    Different for supper everyday this is just because I like what I'm
    Eating in the day and its easy lol.
  • PinkkCamel
    PinkkCamel Posts: 47 Member
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    The only bread available to me is highly processed stuff which is mainly why I try to steer clear of it. It's kind of like wonder white hi fibre low gi white bread. I don't have a problem with avoiding bread though =p Although I do miss having it more frequently sometimes. Yeah macros; I find keeping macros in check is super hard with sugar. what kind of macro ratio should one aim for when not terribly active? I know low carb and higher protein is better but atm, my protein recommendations are over 100g which I find quite a lot?! Excess protein damages kidneys but I'm not sure how much is 'too much'?!
  • naphina
    naphina Posts: 1
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    I see a lot of people saying not to snack...but that's actually what keeps me going. I am a pastry chef on a 1200 cal diet, don't eat any dairy or land meat (I eat fish for the lean protein) and try to stay away from wheat because that helps me to stay away from processed foods. Gives me a better excuse to not eat them ;p

    But I am constantly keeping fruits and veggies around me. I also will boil up some eggs to keep around with me as well. I eat a smallish breakfast, but not with "typical" american foods. I'll eat fish, rice, left over dinner, eggs, salads, smoothies and on occasion I splurge and make some gluten/dairy free pancakes. I don't really eat an actual meal for lunch anymore. Sometimes I'll sit down with a salad topped with vinaigrette, but otherwise, I'm constantly snacking. And try not to eat past 7. It's best to let your body have 12 hours to digest between your dinner and your breakfast.

    I suppose this is easy for me because I've always cooked and made things from scratch, and not everyone's body handles things the same. But you can snack. You just have to snack on the right things.
  • NRSPAM
    NRSPAM Posts: 961 Member
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    You probably put your activity level at sedentary, or lightly active, and since you're 19, I highly doubt you're either of those. Sedentary is if you spend most of your day (90%) lying or sitting. I think MF gives a bad description of your activity level. I got a bodymedia, and found that if I sit/lie around all day, (once when I was sick) I still burned 1,900 cal's. I typically burn 1 cal/min, at rest,. even in my sleep. So if I was in a coma, I would still burn 14,400 cal's/day. I hate 1,200 cal diets, and I feel sorry for people who try to torture themselves with them. It's not healthy, you will plateau eventually, and it's unnecessary. Try finding the post, "in place of a roadmap." It's very helpful. Also, if you go to a gym, they likely have a body fat analysis machine, that can tell you your BMR, Basal metabolic rate, which tells you how many cal's you burn at rest, then you need to eat at a deficit. When you add exercise calories, you can eat them back. Some people eat back half their exercise cal's. I have a bodymedia device, that tells me what I burn all day long. On the days I workout, I burn 2,600-3,200 cal's, depending on how much I do, so I typically will eat 2,000 cal's/day, and have been losing 1lb/week, as planned. Good luck OP!
  • FlaxMilk
    FlaxMilk Posts: 3,452 Member
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    If 1200 doesn't feel doable for you, it probably isn't. Try eating 1500 calories a day and see how you feel and what your weight loss is like.
  • grandmonie01
    grandmonie01 Posts: 4 Member
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    zGoo
  • Bama56
    Bama56 Posts: 101 Member
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    if you must, 1200 calories per day is actually very easy to do eating 4x300 cal meals per day. cutting out empty calories is a big factor in getting you there.
  • shapefitter
    shapefitter Posts: 900 Member
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    Always the same questions, on here. A girl up to the age of 7, uses 1200 a day. Do your research.
  • Inner_Goddess
    Inner_Goddess Posts: 1,146 Member
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    For me, I find that 1200 is completely doable. Since I began 60+ days ago, I have only gone over 1,000 Net Calories 12 times I think. So my calorie intake is lower than the 1200 recommended.

    I generally eat 5 small meals a day and I'm never hungry. Yes, I have gone over 4 times, but never by more than 100 calories. I find myself full and full of energy. I gave up soda, alcohol (except for a special occasion) and caffeine. I always post everything that goes into my mouth so my numbers aren't skewed and that I'm getting an accurate reading for my self.

    I struggled the first few days and logging calories isn't always easy, but if I can't readily determine the calories, then I make a different choice (for now).

    It works for me. I'm happy to say that I'm down 28 lbs in 9 weeks and haven't felt this good in years.
  • jodes18
    jodes18 Posts: 16 Member
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    If 1,200 cals is that bad for you then why does MFP give me that as my NET Calories?
    I'd like to eat more as i am always hungry and it's probably why i give up after a month but, i dont see how i can eat more when thats my net, i'm only 5'0
  • aurorareigns
    aurorareigns Posts: 167
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    I eat a lot of veggies with each of my meals. :)
  • jsar321
    jsar321 Posts: 1 Member
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    Disclaimer: though I'm a fellow shorty (5'2"), I'm no expert at dieting. I just started last Saturday and am also limiting to 1200.

    I took a peek at your diary. Some observations:

    You seem to have a regular pattern for breakfast. If you find the calorie counting tedious,(if you haven't started this already) you could take advantage of the MyMeals feature to enter an entire meal in one click.

    You seem to either skip dinner a lot or stop entering calories toward the end of the day. I never skip dinner, only because I'm The Cook for three other people and I love dinner; it's my biggest meal. I tend to hoard calories for the end of the day to spend on dinner since I the most tired ( and my resolve may weaken) and there is the most social pressure to eat during this meal. Maybe spread the calories out more evenly throughout the day?

    I eat a small breakfast of coffee/soy milk and a hard boiled egg. It sounds nuts maybe, but to me, the one egg lasts me longer than a bowl of high fiber cereal and milk/milk substitute. The damn cereal makes me more hungry than skipping altogether! This small breakfast allows me much more wiggle room for the rest of the day. I actually didn't have to alter this part of my day when starting this diet. This has been my breakfast for over a year now.

    Some entries are missing or incomplete. From one of your posts it sounds like you have a tendency to give up on a day if it gets too far off track calorie-wise and stop tracking. I know how that is! I tell myself I'll get it right tomorrow and (worst case) if I screwed it up enough I would just throw caution to the wind and eat whatever and "start fresh tomorrow". Try to record the bad with the good and you'll see bad habits that you can try to circumvent next time.

    When I was 19, I was always hungry and had an enormous appetite! I can really sympathize. Things seem to be much easier at my age, as far as control, while the ability to "get away with" eating more has diminished (oh and the extra weight doesn't carry as well either, lol). Hang in there!

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