**Controversial** Eating 1,200 Calories or Less

Who knows. It's a puzzle wrapped in an enigma, hidden in a maze of riddles.... or something.

Why Is It On Myfitnesspal is it so controversial to even MENTION that you may do it sometimes?

Every forum has its bible. MFP has several even more sacrosanct commandments than that one (just try and suggest that resistance training isn't important - go on, just try, I dare you! ).

The reality is that most people can hit their minimum required macros on less than 1200 calories. However, the less you eat, the more attention you have to pay to the macro and micro constituents in what you eat.

No one should be getting angry at what another person chooses to eat or not - that's just silly.

This ^

I don't care if it's flame baiting. I'm an asbestos balloon.

... and we'll see you at the "what am I doing wrong/what's wrong with me, why can't I lose weight" thread. :flowerforyou:

I don't know. I find it so weird. I am a big woman at 5'8" and 213 lb and there are days that I eat right around 1,200 calories - my goal is 1,410 right now - and I can't imagine that it would be SOOOO horrible for someone much smaller than me to eat that amount every single day (or less). Just saying.

I also find it a little odd when people say they can't manage to stay at 1,200. I don't have too much trouble staying under 1,410 at all and I am pretty liberal with treats and extras!

(oh and I do mean with no exercise when I talk about 1,200)

Every once in a while I don't hit 1200 for the day, no big deal. I think people are just trying to make sure if you are going under 1200 EVERY day that it's not because you
A. have an eating disorder
B. crash dieting just to eventually stop, and gain everything back
Most people need more than 1200 calories a day, whether they want to admit it or not. The people that actually don't need that many are probably just not so outspoken about it because they've seen what it causes in these forums lol

well I'm just under 5 foot and MFP told me 1200 a day .If it's such a problem why are they doing it !!!!!!

Liability. Nobody wants to get sued.

- Because people don't know how to use MFP and don't understand that its 1200 NET calories...a far cry different than 1200 gross calories.

- Because people take the most aggressive approach whether they have 5 Lbs to lose or 200 lbs to lose and don't know the difference.

- Because there are an *kitten* load of young girls on this site who don't even need to lose weight who are netting well below 1000 calories...this is called an eating disorder.

- Because some of us actually care as much or more about actual NUTRITION than just losing a few Lbs...it is next to impossible to actually meet your body's requisite fat, protein, and vitamin and mineral needs when you're eating 1200 calories and exercising 800 of those off.

- Because some of us understand that when you do this for a prolonged period of time you destroy LBM which is very difficult to get back

- Because some of us have been around the block a few times and have been here awhile...and we get to see posts of 1200 calorie "success stories" turning into, "why is my hair falling out" and "why don't I have a period anymore" posts.

I could give you more but you don't really care anyway so why bother...enjoy your awesome and amazing "journey"

There is your answer OP.

- Because people don't know how to use MFP and don't understand that its 1200 NET calories...a far cry different than 1200 gross calories.

- Because people take the most aggressive approach whether they have 5 Lbs to lose or 200 lbs to lose and don't know the difference.

- Because there are an *kitten* load of young girls on this site who don't even need to lose weight who are netting well below 1000 calories...this is called an eating disorder.

- Because some of us actually care as much or more about actual NUTRITION than just losing a few Lbs...it is next to impossible to actually meet your body's requisite fat, protein, and vitamin and mineral needs when you're eating 1200 calories and exercising 800 of those off.

- Because some of us understand that when you do this for a prolonged period of time you destroy LBM which is very difficult to get back

- Because some of us have been around the block a few times and have been here awhile...and we get to see posts of 1200 calorie "success stories" turning into, "why is my hair falling out" and "why don't I have a period anymore" posts.

I could give you more but you don't really care anyway so why bother...enjoy your awesome and amazing "journey"

All of this^^^^^^ :drinker:

All of this x10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Yes, when I started I told the site I exercised 5 days a week...this has not changed.
and YES I DO CARE. I am very dedicated to loosing weight- and find this site to be a great help for me... I like being able to get advice for people...including yours...

MFP doesn't believe that you're going to do your exercise which is why it gives you more calories when you log it. If you don't believe me then go change your goals and say zero exercise...your calorie goal won't change provided you keep everything else constant.

1200 NET calories isn't a huge issue for most women...grossing 1200 and netting 500 calories per day is and should be done under the supervision of a health care professional. You have to understand that you have a basal calorie burn...the calories your body needs just to pump your blood and work your lungs, etc...when you do VLCD for extended periods of time your body starts shutting down "non-essential" functions like growing hair and nails and what not because it's needs that energy elsewhere.

There is no one size fits all magic number and if you're netting 1200 you're probably fine...if you're super short or super old or whatever you can probably get away with netting a bit less depending on how much fat you have stored and being that you would be a statistical outlier. Just keep in mind that the leaner you get the more damaging this becomes.

I've just seen way too many of these and nobody seems to listen until something bad actually happens to them...even then, they usually try to find some other excuse than their 500 calories per day as to why they don't have a menstrual cycle anymore and their hair is falling out by the handful in the shower.

Being under the supervision of a doctor on a prescribed diet is a lot different than some 19 year old girl with about 2 lbs of fat on her eating 500 calories per day. Get real...

But we are not talking about 500 calories. We are talking about 1200.....why always jump to extremes ?