How long before I lose 50 lbs with a 1200 cal diet?

MTCBVBC20CAM
MTCBVBC20CAM Posts: 22 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm a University student (20 years old, female) and I'm 5 feet and nine inches. I weight around 195 lbs (last time I checked). I don't want to change my diet (I still want to be able to eat pizza, burgers, wings, sushi from time to time when I go out with friends and to have a drink here and there) but I did lower my calorie intake to 1200 cal a day. I'm still eating the same way but I lowered my portions (I had always eaten lots of greens, low-fat products, low-salt etc).

I started two weeks ago. This is my first time trying this out. I was wondering how long it's going to take to go down to 145 lbs while taking into account that I am not counting proteins or carbs (I have very little time as a full-time University student with a full-time job) but just by lowering my calorie intake.

Also, if anyone has tips on food to eat to help lower your weight, that would be appreciated.

Thanks
«1

Replies

  • _chiaroscuro
    _chiaroscuro Posts: 1,340 Member
    Hi!
    You actually don't have to drop down to 1200 calories to lose weight. In fact people will tell you that's too low. I'll be happy to post a link to a calculator to find out a good number to start with, and explain why, if you'd like. Is that something you'd be interested in?

    Edit to add: There aren't specific foods which help you lose weight so you don't have to worry about that. It's about creating a calorie deficit. :flowerforyou:
  • arabianhorselover
    arabianhorselover Posts: 1,488 Member
    There's no way anyone can really tell you that. There are too many variables.
  • Serah87
    Serah87 Posts: 5,481 Member
    Slow and steady is the way to go. It can take 6 months to a year or more. 1200 calories seems low, I would starve at that.

    Read this OP: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
  • apercanis
    apercanis Posts: 72
    What did you set your weekly goal for amount of pounds to lose? If you use that, you should be able to tabulate how long it will take. As for food, I'd just try to avoid junk foods and follow your calorie deficit. Following your deficit allows you to eat pizza, burgers, wings, and sushi whenever. Dieting isn't a punishment.
  • Greenrun99
    Greenrun99 Posts: 2,065 Member
    how much muscle mass do you have at 5'9.. cause ya.. that will be gone.
  • violet791
    violet791 Posts: 13 Member
    Just curious for those who say 1200 is too low ... when I entered my info into this site, it recommended I eat 1200 calories a day. What guidelines do you use to determine your daily calories??
  • MTCBVBC20CAM
    MTCBVBC20CAM Posts: 22 Member
    It was myfitnesspal that suggested 1200 cal. What would you suggest quietsmile? And why is it bad to go at 1200 cal?

    Thanks
  • Missklara
    Missklara Posts: 282 Member
    lets say your body needs 2000 cals to maintaine. and you eat 1200, thats 800 cals saved for a day.
    one pound is 3500 cals, i you want to lose 50 lbs you need to lose 17500 cals.
    that means you can lose 50 lbs in about 220 days.

    dont take this as something you can count on, we are not robots and you can not eat like that every day, there will be ups and downs but if you work hard you can do it till summer! yay!
    :flowerforyou:
  • MTCBVBC20CAM
    MTCBVBC20CAM Posts: 22 Member
    Hi Greenrun,

    What do you mean the muscle mass will be gone? And I don't know how much is muscle and I've no clue how to find that out. I do know that I have fat and I want to lose it.
  • scottYBRIDGEWATER
    scottYBRIDGEWATER Posts: 206
    I'm a University student (20 years old, female) and I'm 5 feet and nine inches. I weight around 195 lbs (last time I checked). I don't want to change my diet (I still want to be able to eat pizza, burgers, wings, sushi from time to time when I go out with friends and to have a drink here and there) but I did lower my calorie intake to 1200 cal a day. I'm still eating the same way but I lowered my portions (I had always eaten lots of greens, low-fat products, low-salt etc).

    I started two weeks ago. This is my first time trying this out. I was wondering how long it's going to take to go down to 145 lbs while taking into account that I am not counting proteins or carbs (I have very little time as a full-time University student with a full-time job) but just by lowering my calorie intake.

    Also, if anyone has tips on food to eat to help lower your weight, that would be appreciated.

    Thanks

    Probably never given your unwillingness to make REAL changes.

    You want to eat junk food
    You want to drink
    You do NOT want to count your macros
    You only want to cut down to 1200 calories

    And you want to lose 50 pounds??? If you can't make these types of sacrifices for a few months, its doubtful you will even stick to your 1200 calories.
  • ElyseL1
    ElyseL1 Posts: 504 Member
    It has taken me a year and a half to lose 51 lbs. I however and trying to do this slowly and put on muscle. Just depends on the person
  • Dewymorning
    Dewymorning Posts: 762 Member
    Set a higher goal that you can actually stick to, make small changes to improve your diet over time, don't expect to lose the weight quickly, think of this as a lifestyle change so that you can be healthy/happy/sexy/whatever-adjective-you-want-to-be for the rest of your life.

    EDIT: And yes, you can still occasionally eat nice things with your friends, it is just about learning to not go overboard.

    EDIT2: If you lose 1 pound a week, which is in the range of healthy weight loss, than it will take about a year.
  • Missklara
    Missklara Posts: 282 Member

    What do you mean the muscle mass will be gone? And I don't know how much is muscle and I've no clue how to find that out. I do know that I have fat and I want to lose it.

    your muscles wont go anywhere if you workout :wink:
  • DemoraFairy
    DemoraFairy Posts: 1,806 Member
    I'm a University student (20 years old, female) and I'm 5 feet and nine inches. I weight around 195 lbs (last time I checked). I don't want to change my diet (I still want to be able to eat pizza, burgers, wings, sushi from time to time when I go out with friends and to have a drink here and there) but I did lower my calorie intake to 1200 cal a day. I'm still eating the same way but I lowered my portions (I had always eaten lots of greens, low-fat products, low-salt etc).

    I started two weeks ago. This is my first time trying this out. I was wondering how long it's going to take to go down to 145 lbs while taking into account that I am not counting proteins or carbs (I have very little time as a full-time University student with a full-time job) but just by lowering my calorie intake.

    Also, if anyone has tips on food to eat to help lower your weight, that would be appreciated.

    Thanks

    Probably never given your unwillingness to make REAL changes.

    You want to eat junk food
    You want to drink
    You do NOT want to count your macros
    You only want to cut down to 1200 calories

    And you want to lose 50 pounds??? If you can't make these types of sacrifices for a few months, its doubtful you will even stick to your 1200 calories.

    You don't need to do any of those things to lose weight. I ate 1200 calories a day, full of junk food and didn't track my macros and lost about 50lbs in just over a year. I agree they're all good ideas that will probably help, but not necessary.
  • bumblebreezy91
    bumblebreezy91 Posts: 520 Member
    -formatting problem :grumble: -
  • apercanis
    apercanis Posts: 72
    It was myfitnesspal that suggested 1200 cal. What would you suggest quietsmile? And why is it bad to go at 1200 cal?

    Thanks
    Just curious for those who say 1200 is too low ... when I entered my info into this site, it recommended I eat 1200 calories a day. What guidelines do you use to determine your daily calories??

    Some people recommend not to eat below your BMR.
  • Missklara
    Missklara Posts: 282 Member
    You don't need to do any of those things to lose weight. I ate 1200 calories a day, full of junk food and didn't track my macros and lost about 50lbs in just over a year. I agree they're all good ideas that will probably help, but not necessary.

    i agree, i eat crap all the time :laugh:
  • scottYBRIDGEWATER
    scottYBRIDGEWATER Posts: 206
    I'm a University student (20 years old, female) and I'm 5 feet and nine inches. I weight around 195 lbs (last time I checked). I don't want to change my diet (I still want to be able to eat pizza, burgers, wings, sushi from time to time when I go out with friends and to have a drink here and there) but I did lower my calorie intake to 1200 cal a day. I'm still eating the same way but I lowered my portions (I had always eaten lots of greens, low-fat products, low-salt etc).

    I started two weeks ago. This is my first time trying this out. I was wondering how long it's going to take to go down to 145 lbs while taking into account that I am not counting proteins or carbs (I have very little time as a full-time University student with a full-time job) but just by lowering my calorie intake.

    Also, if anyone has tips on food to eat to help lower your weight, that would be appreciated.

    Thanks

    Probably never given your unwillingness to make REAL changes.

    You want to eat junk food
    You want to drink
    You do NOT want to count your macros
    You only want to cut down to 1200 calories

    And you want to lose 50 pounds??? If you can't make these types of sacrifices for a few months, its doubtful you will even stick to your 1200 calories.

    You don't need to do any of those things to lose weight. I ate 1200 calories a day, full of junk food and didn't track my macros and lost about 50lbs in just over a year. I agree they're all good ideas that will probably help, but not necessary.

    My point is that the most important change needs to happen between the ears. When someone starts off with I want to eat junk food, I want to drink, I'm too busy to track my macros, then well.......I have to chuckle. Because they will fail before they ever begin. Its systemic of the "I want results" but I don't want to put in the work generation. Sorry, but she needs a reality check. Nothing comes easy.................
  • _chiaroscuro
    _chiaroscuro Posts: 1,340 Member
    1200 is the minimum number of calories recommended, and pops up frequently when people enter their desired weekly loss at 2 lbs/week. I started out that way too for about a minute until I found out it would make me hate life. The key is to create a sustainable plan for weight loss and decrease the chances of you quitting or bingeing after such a restricted diet.

    What the veterans around here taught me about was figuring out what your TDEE is (Total Daily Energy Expenditure). This is the amount of calories you need to eat to maintain your current weight. I found out what mine was here:

    http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

    My TDEE is 1786.

    Next, once you have that number, you'll want to subtract a percentage from that to create your calorie deficit. I want to lose 20-30 pounds, so right now, I eat my TDEE minus 15%, or 1500 calories per day. If I do cardio that day and burn, say 300 I also eat those calories back.

    I put in your statistics, but kept your activity level at sedentary b/c I wasn't sure, and your TDEE came out to be 2073. Because you want to lose 50lbs, you could do a TDEE minus 20% plan, or 1658 calories daily, with eating exercise calories back too.

    I know this might seem complicated, I'll answer questions or get smarter people than I to do so. Also, check out the sexypants thread someone posted. VERY good info there.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    There's a lot of good information happening above me, but I think some of it's getting garbled.

    OP, if you haven't yet the Sexypants guide is one of the best beginner's guides on the forums. It's a lot of reading (and you should read all of the linked posts, too) but it should straighten out some of your questions: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,219 Member
    I'm 5'9" and I tried sticking to 1200, but I couldn't do it. When I increased to 1600 I did much better. I can currently eat at 2000 and lose weight (because of strength training).
  • _chiaroscuro
    _chiaroscuro Posts: 1,340 Member
    I'm a University student (20 years old, female) and I'm 5 feet and nine inches. I weight around 195 lbs (last time I checked). I don't want to change my diet (I still want to be able to eat pizza, burgers, wings, sushi from time to time when I go out with friends and to have a drink here and there) but I did lower my calorie intake to 1200 cal a day. I'm still eating the same way but I lowered my portions (I had always eaten lots of greens, low-fat products, low-salt etc).

    I started two weeks ago. This is my first time trying this out. I was wondering how long it's going to take to go down to 145 lbs while taking into account that I am not counting proteins or carbs (I have very little time as a full-time University student with a full-time job) but just by lowering my calorie intake.

    Also, if anyone has tips on food to eat to help lower your weight, that would be appreciated.

    Thanks

    Probably never given your unwillingness to make REAL changes.

    You want to eat junk food
    You want to drink
    You do NOT want to count your macros
    You only want to cut down to 1200 calories

    And you want to lose 50 pounds??? If you can't make these types of sacrifices for a few months, its doubtful you will even stick to your 1200 calories.

    You don't need to do any of those things to lose weight. I ate 1200 calories a day, full of junk food and didn't track my macros and lost about 50lbs in just over a year. I agree they're all good ideas that will probably help, but not necessary.

    My point is that the most important change needs to happen between the ears. When someone starts off with I want to eat junk food, I want to drink, I'm too busy to track my macros, then well.......I have to chuckle. Because they will fail before they ever begin. Its systemic of the "I want results" but I don't want to put in the work generation. Sorry, but she needs a reality check. Nothing comes easy.................

    Actually, if someone loses weight by making lifestyle changes that aren't going to sustain, their chances of gaining all the weight back plus some increase significantly. That includes those who lose weight with the pills and the shakes, as well as those who give up everything they enjoy. It's much better to create a sustainable plan that fits within a person's lifestyle.

    And quit painting with such a broad brush. Not every young person lacks tenacity and work ethic. Kinda like not every 50 year old man is a bitter crank.
  • MTCBVBC20CAM
    MTCBVBC20CAM Posts: 22 Member
    Thanks Quietsmile

    And I'll check out that post (sexypants as well)
  • DemoraFairy
    DemoraFairy Posts: 1,806 Member
    I'm a University student (20 years old, female) and I'm 5 feet and nine inches. I weight around 195 lbs (last time I checked). I don't want to change my diet (I still want to be able to eat pizza, burgers, wings, sushi from time to time when I go out with friends and to have a drink here and there) but I did lower my calorie intake to 1200 cal a day. I'm still eating the same way but I lowered my portions (I had always eaten lots of greens, low-fat products, low-salt etc).

    I started two weeks ago. This is my first time trying this out. I was wondering how long it's going to take to go down to 145 lbs while taking into account that I am not counting proteins or carbs (I have very little time as a full-time University student with a full-time job) but just by lowering my calorie intake.

    Also, if anyone has tips on food to eat to help lower your weight, that would be appreciated.

    Thanks

    Probably never given your unwillingness to make REAL changes.

    You want to eat junk food
    You want to drink
    You do NOT want to count your macros
    You only want to cut down to 1200 calories

    And you want to lose 50 pounds??? If you can't make these types of sacrifices for a few months, its doubtful you will even stick to your 1200 calories.

    You don't need to do any of those things to lose weight. I ate 1200 calories a day, full of junk food and didn't track my macros and lost about 50lbs in just over a year. I agree they're all good ideas that will probably help, but not necessary.

    My point is that the most important change needs to happen between the ears. When someone starts off with I want to eat junk food, I want to drink, I'm too busy to track my macros, then well.......I have to chuckle. Because they will fail before they ever begin. Its systemic of the "I want results" but I don't want to put in the work generation. Sorry, but she needs a reality check. Nothing comes easy.................

    As much as I agree that you need to change your outlook to a certain extent, I think you're taking what she said a little too far. Of course people still want to eat junk food when they diet, and that's part of the beauty of the calorie counting diet - you can. And it's meant to be a sustainable diet that you'll stick with, I doubt she wants to cut junk food from her life entirely. Plus it's not like she's stuffing her face with pizza and drinking herself silly every night, she did say 'time to time'. I think she's being perfectly reasonable. She is going to put in the work - she's going to eat a deficit, and ultimately that's all she needs to do.

    As for whether or not 1200 is the right amount and she can stick to it, that's another matter. I had no difficulty at all sticking to 1200, but I am 4 inches shorter with a significantly lower TDEE.
  • _chiaroscuro
    _chiaroscuro Posts: 1,340 Member
    Thanks Quietsmile

    And I'll check out that post (sexypants as well)

    Sure thing! :drinker:
    And don't listen to people who say you aren't dedicated because you want to still enjoy things (in moderation) while becoming more fit. You only lack dedication if you don't follow through with your plan.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    Just curious for those who say 1200 is too low ... when I entered my info into this site, it recommended I eat 1200 calories a day. What guidelines do you use to determine your daily calories??

    The site "recommends" 1200 calories a day based upon a mathematical equation............you supplied the "I want to lose XX pounds per week".............that's merely as low as MFP will go.......not a one-size-fits all "correct" number.



    The sexypants thread is VERY helpful
  • MTCBVBC20CAM
    MTCBVBC20CAM Posts: 22 Member
    Greenrun99

    I do know that I need to change certain things but I already eat healthy (greens, fruits, nuts, meat, low-fat, low-salt, low-cholesterol products). What I meant by still being able to drink here and there and eat junk food here and there is that I want to be realistic. As a student who hangs out with other students, I'm bound to go out to a restaurant a few times in say, a month, at least. I haven't drank in over two months and I don't eat much junk food to start off with but I do like being able to have the freedom to eat the same way I do now. So say I want chicken fingers, I'll eat three instead of six, or I'll have one slice of pizza and instead of having fries with it...I'll have salad. I still want to eat what I desire. I just want to make sure I eat it in good quantities so that if I do want a chocolate bar once in awhile, I can do it (I just need to count it in my calorie intake).

    You do have a point though, the better regiments start with being willing to change things. You are absolutely right. But in my case, I'm not expecting to lose the 50 lbs in a short period of time.It might take over a year. That's fine. Besides, I actually only need to lose thirty lbs to be in a healthy weight category. The fifty lbs is the goal I'm aiming for in the long run. I don't want to change to a diet that I would quit after a few weeks. I want to change the amount I eat (as well as a few admittedly bad eating habits) so that over time it can become a lifestyle. And as I get used to eating smaller portions and counting calories, I can eventually add on the counting of the proteins & carbs and replace a few items with better and healthy items. But this isn't something I can do overnight. It's something that will be gradual and take time. Very few people can go from not counting calories or checking everything they eat to counting macromolecule that enters your body. But I hope that one day I will be able to.
  • simplykristie
    simplykristie Posts: 8 Member
    Hi :) I am a 5ft 6in female who is 165lbs I also have the same caloric intake of 1200 calories a day. My goal is to be 130 lbs, so I definitely have a long way to go! I joined myfitnesspal back in 2010 and I had the same goals then as I do now. I weighed 165 lbs then and with the 1200 caloric intake plus daily exercise of at least an hour, I lost the 35 lbs in 3 months.I know that it is different tho for every person, so my weightloss may not be the same for you. You could lose the weight faster or slower, just depends on your lifestyle. For me, when I lost the 35 lbs in 3 months, I was extremely focused. I was often below the 1200 caloric intake because I was working out. I would burn about 600 calories a day... I gained all that weight back after not watching my diet and when I stopped exercising. But now I am getting back into it, and I am hopefully I can lose those 35 lbs again! You can do you too!
  • MTCBVBC20CAM
    MTCBVBC20CAM Posts: 22 Member
    Thank you Quietsmile. And it's okay. Some people are more dedicated than others and I admire them. I just plan on taking small steps to achieve the bigger goal over time because I'm aware that all my motivation goes into my studies at the moment. All I want to do is dedicate myself to this small-scale plan (1200 cal) and eventually grow from there. Summer will help too, given the extra time for exercise. You've been a lot of help. Thanks :)
  • MTCBVBC20CAM
    MTCBVBC20CAM Posts: 22 Member
    Thanks simplykristie :)

Categories