1200 Calorie

Why do people always tell people doing 1200 calories to "eat more food" before they ask them their height?

The MFP website puts shorties like me at 1200, in case people didn't know that; and scooby puts people of my height and lower at LESS than 1200.

MFP seems to put almost everyone at 1200. I am a 5' 10" male, and if I went by MFP's numbers I would be at 1200 which is considered generally insufficient to provide minimal nutritional needs for a male. At that level of calories men will lose a bunch of muscle with the fat. Since MFP almost seems to default to 1200 for pretty much everyone, including males of average and even above average height people tend to say eat more. Add to that many of the people on 1200 don't eat back even a portion of their exercise calories, and that means most, albeit not all, people on 1200 are not eating enough.

In your case, you probably told it 2LBS a week loss?

Why do people have to be so hard on someone they know nothing about? You don't know anything to be doing that to her.. how rude! people come here for support. My god look at my diary you all will probably go into cardiac arrest!
I had people come at me with their daggers when I first started here too.. Don't mind them any attention. Listen to the ones that actually want to help you and ask the questions, and truly care.. The other ones that say eat more without saying anything, they are what I call TROLLS.

Btw. I am a lap band patient and am under a dr's care, and ordered to keep it 6-800 calories...

Why do people have to be so hard on someone they know nothing about? You don't know anything to be doing that to her.. how rude! people come here for support. My god look at my diary you all will probably go into cardiac arrest!
I had people come at me with their daggers when I first started here too.. Don't mind them any attention. Listen to the ones that actually want to help you and ask the questions, and truly care.. The other ones that say eat more without saying anything, they are what I call TROLLS.

Btw. I am a lap band patient and am under a dr's care, and ordered to keep it 6-800 calories...

Because people start a thread without first reading the stickies, and reading the obvious. So we, the community end up answering the same questions every time.

Why do people have to be so hard on someone they know nothing about? You don't know anything to be doing that to her.. how rude! people come here for support. My god look at my diary you all will probably go into cardiac arrest!
I had people come at me with their daggers when I first started here too.. Don't mind them any attention. Listen to the ones that actually want to help you and ask the questions, and truly care.. The other ones that say eat more without saying anything, they are what I call TROLLS.

Btw. I am a lap band patient and am under a dr's care, and ordered to keep it 6-800 calories...

If it bothers you, I suggest you a) don't read it and b) don't feel compelled to give advice if you find the question repetitive. Who on earth wants to read years worth of forums to double check a question hasn't been asked before?

edit: that was for meankeen

Started a 1200 calorie diet January 1. Looking for food ideas. Anyone got ideas?

Doctor good place to start, they will give you the best advice. I will say I just took my daughter and he gave her a 1200 weight loss plan to follow. You stay at 1200 calories, if you eat more then that go under the next day. Cut all sugar from diet, read labels if sugar (in any form) is in the first three ingredients; don't eat it! Carbs; if they don't have more then 3 grams of fiber, don't eat it. 1200 calories doesn't seem like a lot, but if you are eating fruits and vegetables the add up a lot slower then a granola bar, or chicken breast, or nuts. Small portions of those things, double up on vegetables. Two servings of fruit a day. Look at the food chart it will tell you what a healthy plate looks like! Good Luck, I am also following a 1200 calorie diet. I am not training for any race, or on a sports team. I am an average woman, trying to stay healthy. I work out 35-60 minutes a day a varity of different things. He also said if you what to weigh 200 pounds eat 2000 calories, if you want to weigh 150 eat 1500 calories. I am going to reach my goal weight then I will jack my calories to 1350, 135 being my goal weight! Any step you take is a step in the right direction. Find a life style change that will help you STICK WITH IT.

1)
Every single person on here loses weight differently, but there are a few common factors everyone. The first is that we all have a metabolism, governed by how much energy we give it, how active we are, genetic makeup, and the type of energy we give it. With that in mind MFP has a relatively easy to use goals calculator that will give you the amount of food you should eat to lose the weight you desire and become more healthy.

2)
The relationship to your BMI (as flawed as that measurement is) and how much you can lose is real and governs much of your weight loss. People with a BMI over 30 (classified as obese) can lose weight faster then people that are under that number (generally speaking, see number 1) 2 lbs a week or more is realistic for obese people. Trying to lose 2 lbs a week for someone with a BMI under 30 is much more difficult, as well as much more time consuming.

3)
Starvation mode is REAL. It can and does happen. You should keep close tabs on where your BMR calories is. If you are under the obesity level then please try to stay (at a minimum) at your BMR. The goals calculator WILL account for weight you want to lose, don't think you can up the stakes by eating less, it doesn't work. And if you exercise, realize that you are creating a larger deficite, and make sure you eat your exercise calories.

4)
(This is one I see all the time) If you are close (say within 25 lbs or so) of your goal weight, 2 lbs a week is probably unrealistic. The human body knows where it's equilibrium is, attempting to go below it is a difficult, and frustrating process, 2 lbs a week (what ever you may think) is a drastic strategy for someone near their goal and usually doesn't happen. As you approach your goals, slow down your attempt at loss, try for 1 lb a week or less, it will give your body time to adjust it's chemistry more gradually, keep you healthy, and lessen your frustration.

5)
1200 calories is a number that doctors and nutritionists have made up based on averages. It's not a line in the sand. Your starvation calories depends on your body. For me that line is somewhere around 2000 calories, for a really small woman, it could be 1000, Generally it's somewhere around 1000 calories less then your maintenance weight. But being dynamic systems, some of our bodies can tolerate more or less. Be smart about your weight loss, use your common sense, if you're not losing weight and your at or below a 1000 calorie deficite, then think logically and up your calories a little, and keep upping them until you see improvement.

6)
Lastly, the human body has a 5 lb swing daily. That means that on any given 24 hour period yo can go from 5 lbs above your "real" weight to 5 lbs below. Due to water weight, and waste we can swing quite a bit. The scale is a generalist at best, good for an Idea of where you are, but not very good at calculating exact measurements. I generally recommend weighing yourself no more then once every 2 weeks, at the same time, same day every week. Use other measurements along with this, I.E. size measurements, Body Fat %, and over all fitness level to make up the difference.

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