When is 1200 calories appropriate? (hint: almost never)
Replies
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bump for later!0
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Yawns. *eye roll*
I'm always amazed at the amount of people so focused on what other people are doing and eating....
Less to do with focusing on what other people are doing and eating and more to do with having fallen into that trap ourselves, learning the science, climbing back out and back on track... and wanting to pass on that knowledge.
Don't like it? Then don't read it!
Agreed, and also because the forums are flooded with people posting threads that are something along the lines of Help I'm Only Eating 1200 calories a day Why Can't I lose Weight?
I agree, if someone wants to only eat that little, or do a starving diet, it's their bodies they can if they want, but if it doesn't work don't ignore all of the good advice on the forums about better alternatives for fat loss.0 -
wow im new here, and im totally shocked, I think to good weight loss is a positive attitude and no mater what the topic is I see a lot of negative here, I have struggled with my weight for the past 4 years and I tried just bout everything and nothing worked, but now I have mfp that helps a lot, and a wicked support group here at home and that seems to have made all the difference, nocked out all the junk foods and turned to more fruit and vegies which I use to hate but now love as well as working out on my elliptical every day, as for how many calories I think that really depends on the person, what there body type is how active they are and whether they have a high or low metabolism, so to be healthy I think its about what your eating and doing rather then just the calories, good work to every one and keep it going and stay happy!!
If you're not eating enough you're not healthy.
No one is immune to the laws of thermodynamics.0 -
wow im new here, and im totally shocked, I think to good weight loss is a positive attitude and no mater what the topic is I see a lot of negative here, I have struggled with my weight for the past 4 years and I tried just bout everything and nothing worked, but now I have mfp that helps a lot, and a wicked support group here at home and that seems to have made all the difference, nocked out all the junk foods and turned to more fruit and vegies which I use to hate but now love as well as working out on my elliptical every day, as for how many calories I think that really depends on the person, what there body type is how active they are and whether they have a high or low metabolism, so to be healthy I think its about what your eating and doing rather then just the calories, good work to every one and keep it going and stay happy!!
If you're not eating enough you're not healthy.
No one is immune to the laws of thermodynamics.
also, a 1200 calorie diet is very difficult to maintain over the long term while still getting sufficient dietary fats and protein.
i wonder how many of the people trying to stick to this calorie level are even monitoring their macros and whether or not their macros are set correctly.
1g carbs = 4 calories
1g protein = 4 calories
1g fat = 9 calories
there is a small percentage of people for whom 1200 calories can be correct. for most people it's not. and for the ones who are sticking to this calorie level, i suspect many are not getting enough fats or protein in their daily diets and are completely unaware of that problem. i'd be curious to see an honest assessment of how some of these people have their macros set and whether or not they were meeting their requirements day in and day out.0 -
I have to disagree.
I'm 26, 5'2, 138lbs. I did 1200cal or less for 6mo on weight watchers to lose 30lbs over 6 months in 2008. I've maintained 138lbs for 5 years STILL doing 1200cal most days. I'm a bit more lenient on weekends but if I feel myself gain any weight, I cut back for the next week to make sure I maintain. 1200 cal is perfect for me because I work 9-5 in IT then come home and do grad school work. I've found nothing wrong, dangerous, or unhealthy about eating 1200cal a day.
Math.
You MAINTAIN on 1200 calories?0 -
I just wanna say, i havent read all these but im 5' 2, 38, weigh 111lbs and am maintaining on 1900+ whilst lifting heavy and 3 x HIT spinning
Been doing the 1200 ish for so long having to set my base again. Love eating more, and its doing nothing but wonders for me.
Love eating0 -
Hi there,
I would really appreciate if you could give me what my numbers should be. I lost 30kg in 2011 doing optifast 800 and then fell pregnant, which has made everything different, so while this year I have lost around 9kg I still have so far to go, and just need a definitive answer because my instincts and information are all screwy.
I am 35, 5'3, 196lbs. my workplace is sedentary but I have 3-40 minutes PT 3 times a week, and 1 spin class as well.
can you pretty please tell me what calories I should be eating to ideally drop 1kg a week (sorry I am actually an aussie but converted all my figures above) thanks so much in advance!0 -
Hi there,
I would really appreciate if you could give me what my numbers should be. I lost 30kg in 2011 doing optifast 800 and then fell pregnant, which has made everything different, so while this year I have lost around 9kg I still have so far to go, and just need a definitive answer because my instincts and information are all screwy.
I am 35, 5'3, 196lbs. my workplace is sedentary but I have 3-40 minutes PT 3 times a week, and 1 spin class as well.
can you pretty please tell me what calories I should be eating to ideally drop 1kg a week (sorry I am actually an aussie but converted all my figures above) thanks so much in advance!
Spreadsheet on my profile page.
I'm guessing 40 min PT sessions are equal in effort to say walking 3-4 mph?
And spin class is 45-60 min long?
Correct me if wrong above, or use the spreadsheet actually, to also get a decent bodyfat % estimate, and get better figures to use. This BMR is likely inflated, therefore the numbers are too. And log your progress in inches and lbs.
Mifflin BMR - 1553 (Katch based on BF% likely lower)
TDEE for 120 min medium cardio and 52 min high cardio - 2128
Total Daily Eating Goal - 1553 (thats 27% deficit for now, but that will creep down as you have less to lose).
Carbs - 45%, prot - 30%, fat - 25%
Eat that daily, if you log exercise, do it after meeting your goal, or log as 1 calorie burned, or memorize 1550 as goal to hit. 50 over is better than 100 under.
The goal here is to retain muscle mass, so the TDEG wouldn't go down that fast as weight went down and fat is lost.0 -
THIS is what I want help with. I've been trying to do 1220 calories per day as calculated by MFP but I have been reading a bit and I think it might be too low? According to MFP I should be losing a kg per week on that alone, and I'm not. Plus I'm exercising 3-4 times per week. Getting so frustrated. I have a lot of weight to lose and I want to feel like it's actually working.0
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THIS is what I want help with. I've been trying to do 1220 calories per day as calculated by MFP but I have been reading a bit and I think it might be too low? According to MFP I should be losing a kg per week on that alone, and I'm not. Plus I'm exercising 3-4 times per week. Getting so frustrated. I have a lot of weight to lose and I want to feel like it's actually working.
So you accepted MFP calc of 1220 per day net eating goal.
Which was actually based on your selection of non-exercise activity level (honest on that?) and weight loss goal amount, did you use recommended 1 lb weekly?
Are you accepting MFP method of doing it, namely you log that exercise and eat back those exercise calories?
You follow their calorie recommendation, make sure you follow their method too.
Working out that decent amount, you'd probably like to benefit from the exercise, right, see improvements? Fuel those workouts by following the prescribed method.
And if the calories seem inflated on the workout days, who cares, it'll hopefully make up for it being to small on non-workout days.0 -
I'm on 1250 calories at the moment and I am not sure if I should increase it- I know everyone here seems to be saying that I do have to.. But I am stuffed? I am logginf correctly and my stomach is chock-a-block full on 844 cals right now.. That's with eating a good diet of veggies tuna and eggs mostly today. Surely if I eat healthily enough then this number of calories is fine?0
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Is this still a reliable calculator to determine intake??
http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/0 -
OK...I"m wayyyyyy confused now. MFP has set MY calories to be 1200. How do I find out how many calories I'm supposed to be eating???0
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Hi there,
I would really appreciate if you could give me what my numbers should be. I lost 30kg in 2011 doing optifast 800 and then fell pregnant, which has made everything different, so while this year I have lost around 9kg I still have so far to go, and just need a definitive answer because my instincts and information are all screwy.
I am 35, 5'3, 196lbs. my workplace is sedentary but I have 3-40 minutes PT 3 times a week, and 1 spin class as well.
can you pretty please tell me what calories I should be eating to ideally drop 1kg a week (sorry I am actually an aussie but converted all my figures above) thanks so much in advance!
Spreadsheet on my profile page.
I'm guessing 40 min PT sessions are equal in effort to say walking 3-4 mph?
And spin class is 45-60 min long?
Correct me if wrong above, or use the spreadsheet actually, to also get a decent bodyfat % estimate, and get better figures to use. This BMR is likely inflated, therefore the numbers are too. And log your progress in inches and lbs.
Mifflin BMR - 1553 (Katch based on BF% likely lower)
TDEE for 120 min medium cardio and 52 min high cardio - 2128
Total Daily Eating Goal - 1553 (thats 27% deficit for now, but that will creep down as you have less to lose).
Carbs - 45%, prot - 30%, fat - 25%
Eat that daily, if you log exercise, do it after meeting your goal, or log as 1 calorie burned, or memorize 1550 as goal to hit. 50 over is better than 100 under.
The goal here is to retain muscle mass, so the TDEG wouldn't go down that fast as weight went down and fat is lost.
thank you for this! I have jumped in and am using your spreadsheet and its a bit daunting but it is also helping me focus. so I should just aim for TDEG as 1550 but its better for me to be just over it than to not eat enough calories? I hope I understand that correctly. thanks again!0 -
Ok, confused now, I to was set to 1200 cals a day, and was working through the summer for me, losing about 2 pounds a week. But I ate my 1200-ish, going over slightly sometimes, and I would work off sometimes over that. Farm work, and workouts. Now I've been stalled for months. The last 5-10 won't come off. So what I'm reading is say I worked off 1300 cals, would I then need to eat 2500 cals in that one day, eating back what I worked off too?0
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I'm on 1250 calories at the moment and I am not sure if I should increase it- I know everyone here seems to be saying that I do have to.. But I am stuffed? I am logginf correctly and my stomach is chock-a-block full on 844 cals right now.. That's with eating a good diet of veggies tuna and eggs mostly today. Surely if I eat healthily enough then this number of calories is fine?
No.
Your body can be starved for nutrition (vit and min) and eat a bunch of junk food eating your caloric needs for maintenance and keep your weight.
How long does it take your body to show the signs of vitamin or mineral deficiency?
Does your body feel like it needs it while it's lacking it?
What are the outcome symptoms when it finally shows up you've been missing those needed things, and how serious then?
Your body can be starved for energy (calories) and eat a bunch of very nutrition foods way under your caloric needs for maintaining weight and lose weight - muscle mass actually.
How long does it take for your body to adapt to not getting enough calories for basic functions of human life, let alone growing new hair, skin, nails, such that it just slows you down to compensate?
Will you body always show that it needs more by being hungry or a shrunken stomach?
What are the eventual symptoms of eating like that?0 -
Is this still a reliable calculator to determine intake??
http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
Reliable as MFP is since you are selecting the options.
You gonna be honest with daily activity and exercise added together?
You gonna take a reasonable deficit selection for amount to lose?
Is 1 hr of walking the same as 1 hr of lifting as 1 hr of running?
Spreadsheet on my profile page can help - stick on Simple Setup tab for all the same stats you'd provide anywhere. Except more detail on your activity.0 -
OK...I"m wayyyyyy confused now. MFP has set MY calories to be 1200. How do I find out how many calories I'm supposed to be eating???
MFP did the math on the options you selected, so really you made it come out to 1200.
Really sedentary in daily life?
Select recommended 1 lb loss weekly?
Are you logging and eating back exercise calories?
Which can balance many times the MFP recommendation being too low for most.0 -
Spreadsheet on my profile page.
thank you for this! I have jumped in and am using your spreadsheet and its a bit daunting but it is also helping me focus. so I should just aim for TDEG as 1550 but its better for me to be just over it than to not eat enough calories? I hope I understand that correctly. thanks again!
Just stay on the Simple Setup tab as it says, well, use the Progress tab to log progress too.
But how many personal stats on the Simple Setup tab that you didn't know, or at least after getting measurements are glad you do know now?
Yes, 50 over is better than 100 below, like if you need a final snack to get you over the amount, as opposed to missing it by 200 calories. 50 over you still have a deficit.
Notice, compared to what you estimated burn daily, you are eating less daily.
Eating less than you burn is what causes weight loss, make it reasonable and it can hopefully be just fat loss, not muscle loss.0 -
I'm 24 years old, 5 foot 8 inches, and a female and I've been eating 1200 for about 6 weeks now and have been losing weight pretty slowly. I just bumped my calories up to 1300 but I feel like I should even be eating more than that. I was able to eat at 1200 calories without getting too hungry because I was working out.
I'm thinking about bumping up the calories to 1450. hmmm0 -
I really don't think that one size fits all and I do happen to think that we are all special snowflakes.
What works is following the mental and physical strategies of someone who has already succeeded at what you set out to achieve and then tweaking it to suit yourself. For some people this may in fact be 1200 calories, but I think that what the calories are made up of is the important part. It depends what your goals are - straight weight loss OR fat loss.0 -
Ok, confused now, I to was set to 1200 cals a day, and was working through the summer for me, losing about 2 pounds a week. But I ate my 1200-ish, going over slightly sometimes, and I would work off sometimes over that. Farm work, and workouts. Now I've been stalled for months. The last 5-10 won't come off. So what I'm reading is say I worked off 1300 cals, would I then need to eat 2500 cals in that one day, eating back what I worked off too?
2 lbs of what? Only fat? Water weight? Muscle mass?
Correct on principle, didn't you wonder why when you added exercise it increased your eating goal?
Are you aware that the 1200 was already less than what you burn daily - not even including exercise?
If you literally ate only 1200 or slightly above, total, no extra on exercise days, then you likely burned off a decent amount of muscle mass.
Now your metabolism has been shot down for that reason, compared to what it could be anyway.
In addition to that, it's probably been suppressed an additional amount - studies have shown upwards of 20%, which may never come back. Happy lowered eating levels forever.
So for farm work, did you select an activity level that was NOT sedentary, as farm work is hardly sedentary?
Probably Active or Very Active would have been honest. Then you don't log those kinds of activities, it's included already.
Also, with last 5-10 to lose, you should be selecting the goal loss of 1/2 lb weekly.
Also, any sloppiness with logging food eaten correctly can still show results when you have a lot to lose, you probably were eating more than you thought, and still are. Probably not enough to prevent muscle loss, but more.
Now with so little to lose, you have less room for error to still see results.
Need very accurate logging, especially following recommendation to eat more to keep the deficit reasonable for the amount you have to lose now.0 -
if you are a sedentary 38-year old woman, who is 4'10" and weighs 115lbs and does not exercise, then your TDEE-20% would be approximately 1200 calories.
if you are:
more active than that...
and/or younger than that...
and/or male...
and/or taller than that...
and/or weigh more than that...
and/or engage in cardiovascular exercise, then
you should almost certainly be eating MORE than 1200 calories per day.
i would hazard to guess that 99+% of the people on MFP are in the category that should be eating more than 1200 calories. 1200 calories per day is almost certainly too low for almost everyone who does not have an unusual medical condition requiring a low calorie intake, in which case that person would have to be under medical supervision.
if you are new here or are trying to adhere to a 1200 calorie diet because you heard that's what you need to do to lose weight, i would urge you to read through Dan's Roadmap:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12
when you are done, join the Eat, Train, Progress group run by 2 knowledgeable members who are trying to provide a safe harbor where accurate, scientifically sound health, nutrition, and fitness advice can be given without all of the background noise occasionally found in the public forums.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/10118-eat-train-progress
please do yourself a favor and find out the right calorie goal for yourself that allows you to change your body in a healthy and satisfying way. you don't need to starve yourself and you don't need to suffer the side effects of a 1200 calorie diet.
I would like to thank you for saying " almost never ", because there are a certain % of people here in MFP who are sick and tired of having to explain that yes there are people who should eat 1200 calories or even less and that the statement " no one should ever eat 1200 calories or they will starve " is just not true.
Some of us just don't need more calories , because we are really short ( in my case just under 5 feet ) or older ( also my case:66 ). If I would want to lose more than a pound a week I would have to eat 815 calories and I am not going to do that. I am set to lose .5 pounds on 1200 calories and am happy that I lost 45 pounds in just under 9 month, probably because I had 90 pounds to lose. I expect that things will slow down as I am exactly at halfway point.
Just wanted to thank you, for taking into consideration that indeed there is a group here who does need to eat 1200 calories a day and that we are not all uninformed idiots who don't know any better. It goes without saying that I agree with you.
Thanx.....0 -
Ok, confused now, I to was set to 1200 cals a day, and was working through the summer for me, losing about 2 pounds a week. But I ate my 1200-ish, going over slightly sometimes, and I would work off sometimes over that. Farm work, and workouts. Now I've been stalled for months. The last 5-10 won't come off. So what I'm reading is say I worked off 1300 cals, would I then need to eat 2500 cals in that one day, eating back what I worked off too?
2 lbs of what? Only fat? Water weight? Muscle mass?
Correct on principle, didn't you wonder why when you added exercise it increased your eating goal?
Are you aware that the 1200 was already less than what you burn daily - not even including exercise?
If you literally ate only 1200 or slightly above, total, no extra on exercise days, then you likely burned off a decent amount of muscle mass.
Now your metabolism has been shot down for that reason, compared to what it could be anyway.
In addition to that, it's probably been suppressed an additional amount - studies have shown upwards of 20%, which may never come back. Happy lowered eating levels forever.
So for farm work, did you select an activity level that was NOT sedentary, as farm work is hardly sedentary?
Probably Active or Very Active would have been honest. Then you don't log those kinds of activities, it's included already.
Also, with last 5-10 to lose, you should be selecting the goal loss of 1/2 lb weekly.
Also, any sloppiness with logging food eaten correctly can still show results when you have a lot to lose, you probably were eating more than you thought, and still are. Probably not enough to prevent muscle loss, but more.
Now with so little to lose, you have less room for error to still see results.
Need very accurate logging, especially following recommendation to eat more to keep the deficit reasonable for the amount you have to lose now.0 -
a lot of people brag about eating more than 1200 but their net is often just as low. that annoys me0
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I'm sure I selected active, as I am. I never really looked at what was happening as I logged. But am not sure what I have lost, maybe some of all, fat muscle and water. It was a loss of 22 pounds. My clothes fit smaller. I did notice gain in muscle in my legs and arms, and starting to form in abs area. I think if I was unsure of this then how many are there out there not knowing this. It's a learning process. Thought I did enough research...*facepalm*0
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Thanks for the help....I actually didn't realize!0
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I keep telling my friends this and they just keep ignoring me and getting angry. Le sigh.0
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a lot of people brag about eating more than 1200 but their net is often just as low. that annoys me
I agree. However I am even more annoyed by those who are 25, eat 3000 calories in doughnuts alone and live at the gym lifting heavy and then make fun of those who do not have the same lifestyle or eat the way they do as if they were doing something wrong by practicing moderation.0 -
I'm 5'3, I don't exercise (one change at a time for me) and I weigh around 160. My TDEE alone is 1800 when I don't do any light exercises, so I think 1,200 is ok for me. When I add exercise I will definitely up the cals.0
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