1200 Calorie

Been awhile since I looked at the boards. Now I remember why.

Such EXPERTS we have here.

The OP asked a question. Seems like the appropriate thing to do is either answer the question or go play diet expert somewhere else.

To the OP: SO many things you can have, as long as you budget it. Some things you'll want to have small tastes of instead of big bowls of, but really the whole world is out there for you to be able to eat, pretty much. Helps to eat healthy, make tasty veggies. Soup can make relatively few calories seem like a lot of food. So while there are many foods I love on my diet--a word that I do not think of as dirty, because what diet really means is a regular way of eating--such as ahi and berries and Greek yogurt.--my best advice would be to make and store several large containers of good homemade stock. Chicken and turkey are my personal favorites. Then you can come up with all kinds of things to put in them--Asian soups, tortillaless tortilla soup, kale-sausage-sweet potato soup--that are very nutritious and filling.

I have no problem adhering to a 1200 calorie diet...Im 5'2 and aim to lose 2lbs a week...almonds are great...I love huge home made salads...just make sure you portion out your dressings...grilled chicken and a steamed side do wonders...now if I work out I do try to eat back some or all of my exercise calories...this type of diet has always worked for me and I do not feel overly hungry..in case you are thinking "if this diet has worked so well for you...why are you still trying to lose weight" its because Im losing baby weight lol and once again its coming off as to be expected...good luck!

I also wanted to add that I eat almost anything I want...I just portion it out first...you don't have to stick with just diet foods.


you may also want to search the internet for dinners under 800 calories or however many calories you have left at the end of the day...this has led me to try many new recipes that keep food interesting and within my range

I wanted to add something to my previous reply... Although I am eating around 1200 right now, I just started lifting heavier weights last week and I will probably need to increase my calories to have the energy I need. I think a lot of the people encouraging the OP to eat more are coming from the point of view that you need to eat to have the energy to do your weights and cardio to lose fat and gain muscle mass. If you find that on 1200 calories a day you aren't hungry but all you have energy to do is curl up on the sofa and watch TV, you aren't eating enough to have energy to get up and be active. That's not maintainable in the long run and so you are more likely to gain your weight back.

I agree with the soup idea too! Put a carb in the soup like brown rice or barley and blend a little of the soup too - studies show that blending soup and leaving some of it chunky leaves you filling fuller longer. It takes the stomach longer to empty (like trying to run pulp through a strainer).

Im eating max 1200 calories too and my favorite snack is a table spoon of peanut butter and carrot sticks its about 90 calories depending on the peanut butter you choose.

Hello! I've been eating 1200 calories for 64 days and I've lost 12kg so far. In the last 20 days I' m adding some exercise (leslie sansone dvds) so I can eat a little more.

Not to starve, eating so few calories, my method is this: I eat 200 calories for breakfast (cappuccino and mini croissant) very low caloric foods at lunch\dinner but lots of them. As an example : 500gr sald+400gr tomatoes (only salt and balsamic vinegar for dressing) and 200gr of boiled chicken breast or 300gr of light soup with light mozzarella etc.... It's not that caloric but you've got a lot to eat. For my pms snacks I do have some good stuff (40 gr camambert cheese or 50gr salami etc...) to get some sort of reward...

I hope this can help!

PS: I'm 5'9 and now I'm 200 pounds (I was 225)

Before jumping on the eat more food bandwagon, I see you're 46 and female. How tall are you, and if you don't mind, what's your weight? Or, conversely, calculate your TDEE/BMR at one of the online sites and then folks will suggest foods. if you use iifym.com they'll tell you how much of each macro to eat based on what you tell them (standard, low carb etc...) and from there we can better advise you.

Please do know your BMR. You may find you have better long term success if you eat above it. Given your age, it's possible your BMR is less than 1200.

Also, how much do you want to lose, and how aggressively did you tell MFP you want to lose it?

Sorry, just felt given the "eat more" posts, it would be best to have more info about you.

signed: 48 5'6", 136 and bmr is 1333.

Which means you should at least be eating 1,333. MOAR THAN 1,200.

AND I DO. DUH.

You have to do what is right for you. I am following the 3-1-2-1 diet written by Dolvett Quince. He is one of the Biggest Loser trainers. It is 1200 calories a day for women. So if you buy the book or the Kindle version you will find many food choices and meal ideas. He requires you to give up refined foods and added sugars. You have 1 protein 1 carb, and 1 fiber at each meal. There is a list of choices. You can cheat 2 days a week - within reason, staying within 1500 calories for a woman. On cheat days you have a larger extended food list to choose from. I am not promoting his book, I just thought if you were looking for a 1200 calorie food plan and needed food choices you could find some here. I think you could also just Google and find plenty.
Good luck to all of us!!!!

I'm 5'2'' and lose on 1800-2000 so being short does not mean you have to restrict so much. It puts people at 1200 because everyone always sets their goals to lose 2lbs a week and put that they are sedentary.

In all seriousness, a lot of the short women who are not very overweight will be given 1200 no matter what they put in. When I first joined, the only way I got a # over 1200 was on the highest activity level setting, to lose .5 lbs a week, and I still only got 1330.

single serving sugar free jell-o about 10 calories, nice "sweet" treat!

Sorry if it's on here somewhere else, but can someone explain to me why MFP sets calorie targets lower than some of the other methods you guys have included links to? I have set to lose 2lb a week, but have also set that I have a pretty active lifestyle (job to be precise), and it's come up with 1340. I know it's not 1200, but it's not far off. Having seen higher numbers on the other links, I'm worried I might do myself some damage. SW 215 CW 195 GW 157 Height 1.69m Age 38. Thanks!

Different sites use different formulas for calculations like BMR. Also, if you aim to lose 2 lbs a week, that's an automatic calorie deduction of about 1000 calories per day. So if your TDEE is 2300 calories, trying to lose 2 lbs a week means that you're down to 1300. Sites that use 10-20% TDEE base it off your body's total needs but amount lost per week will vary from person to person. (TDEE 2300 - 20% = 2300-460 calories = 1840 calories, which is more like 1 lb a week.)