How is 1200 Calories working for you?

I find that when I eat fiber rich foods and higher protein I'm fine. When I eat higher carbs, I'm hungry.

its working ok for me so far... i usually go over because my workouts give me extra calories.

I was doing 1200 a day when i had my goal set to lose 2 pounds a week. I couldn't do it. It was too low and I felt hungry. I changed my goal to lose 1 1/2 pounds a week and now can eat 1390. Those 190 extra calories make a big difference to me for some reason. Haha. Good luck!! )

1200 is too low, you're bordering the line that drives your body into starvation and slows your metabolism (at least that's the line for me according to this site). I rarely have time or breakfast, so my lunch and dinner are usually 700 each and that keeps me energized enough with a snack somewhere in the day. I usually do about 1500-1600. When I go too hard on myself I end up relapsing into constant over eating.

Well I have to eat 1,500 at least since I am a male (my goal is actually about 2,000), but my fiance is eating around 1,400. I made her change from 2 pounds to 1 pound per week because I wasn't comfortable with her using 1,200 as a goal.

But I will say this: There are many days where I have to struggle just to get UP to 1,500 calories. Here is a quick analysis of what I've eaten today....

Breakfast: about 500 calories. I had a piece of sausage, some oatmeal, a banana, and a glass of milk. (this is a big breakfast for me).

Lunch: I sauted some vegetables in 1 T of extra virgin olive oil. It was a BIG bowl full of veggies for about 200 calories.

Afternoon: I went on a 1-mile jog and burned 150 calories.

So there was my day before dinner. When dinner came around, I had a net of 550 calories, and that was with a breakfast about 200 calories more than I normally eat. If my goal were 1,200 calories, that'd leave me 650 calories for dinner.

In short: find healthy alternatives that you can enjoy and you'll do great! I'm a 220 pound male and I could easily do 1,200 calories if I wanted to.

I do the 1200 calories a day, and I find that I'm overly fully most of the time. I have this no carb, all veggie, lean meat or seafood thing I do. A few months back it made me lose 20 lbs in 8 weeks. Doing no carb, you really have room for TONS of food. For example, you can eat your weight in asparagus but not be over your calories. You just have to pick the right things to eat. I'm doing the no carb, all veggie/lean meat/seafood diet again until Christmas. Since Halloween, I've packed on about 5 lbs. I'll be back down to my lowest by Christmas then enjoy the holiday without feeling like I'm slipping even more off the bandwagon. I'll probably try to keep up the strict diet at least until Valentine's Day or so....

Just remember: if you pick low calorie food, meeting 1200 is easy. On my diet, I'm usually around 800-900 calories a day, and I've had PLENTY of food.

I am fine with it like some said eating raw food like a spinach salad with salmon, legumes, fruits and veggies. Eating whole grains, fiber rich and superfoods in general is what I eat and I feel great.

Ive only been at it a week, but it's been surprisingly ok...

Since I'm trying for this not to be a "diet", I'm trying to eat how I'd like to eat forever, including days that I go over, as well as under. Haven't had too many "under" days in the past, so it's taking some getting used to.

Plus things taste a lot better when I'm hungry, and it sometimes *not always- takes less to feel satisfied if I'm genuinely hungry, not just wanting to eat more.

So I am going to go easy on myself when I go over 2,3, 400 calories, but I'm going to try not to go over as part of my daily routine.

Also, I graze and pick a lot, so the lower calories have been helping me put myself in a mindset of if I'm going to eat something, I'm going to really eat it, not eat a little bit and pretend it didnt happen, which is where a lot of my calories come from.

I can't do it, even for a few days. The minimum I can do and not feel deprived and hungry is 1400. Like another poster, for some reason the 200 extra makes all the difference in the world. Also, I get some form of exercise every day to the tune of at least 250 kcals so that usually I'm at least around 1650 and that has been working fine.

I try to eat ALOT of fiber, and I still have some non healthy stuff sometimes. I usually have a problem eating the 1200 a day. But, it is because if you eat the extreme fiber, you are so full all the time that you have to force yourself to eat usually by dinner. I recommend if your hungry eat more fiber, one trick I have learned is blueberries and blackberries will Kill any hunger pain, wash it down with water, and just give it a few and it works. Fiber is your best friend, try it!

I am under most days. Because I am afraid to eat anything. Went grocery shopping today with hubby and I think I was ticking him off because I was obsessively reading EVERYTHING and then putting it back: "too many cals", "too many carbs", "too many sugars", "too much (insert soemthing here)". He was like "Jesus, Kristine! You have to eat SOMETHING and not everything is zero this and zero that!" And he is right.

I work nights so my eating times are slightly off, but I record like a day shifter would anyhow. I think today I did ok, and I even had a really good meatloaf dinner! Prob could have done w/o the gravy--it sent my sodium for the day over my allowance, but not by much and I deffinitely feel better today than I did yesterday when I deprived myself of everything good.

First of all..THANK YOU for asking this question. I've been wondering the same. Like most of the answers, I find it do-able on the days I exercise and get extra calories (and I DO eat them). On days like today, I didn't exercise because I'm too sore from my race yesterday and ifelt I needed a day off. Therefore, I had only 200 calories left at like 2 PM ..NOT GOOD!! but this happens to me frequently on the days I don't exercise. I just don't stress it and remind myself that I'm still eating less than I used to even if I do go over (and today I REALLY went over--hubby took me to Olive Garden). I've decided that having my calorie goal set at 1200 motivates me to get out and exercise so I can eat more that day :laugh:

I can only do it if I eat lots of fiber, lean proteins, watch my portions, eat whole foods, stay away from sugar as best I can, and exercise back some calories to eat.

A salad and raw pineapple can be eaten in large quantities as compared to something like a burger. If I eat less healthy foods I go over quickly and get more hungry. Eating just a fun size halloween type candy bar makes me hungry instead of satisfies!

So better choices, lots of juicy raw or whole foods, watch lables for whole grains less sugar, and be sure to exercise.

I have been eating 1200 cals for

It can definitely be hard. I think the hardest thing for me is that now, after 11 months of eating 1200 cals a day, I can no longer lose 2 lbs. per week doing it. In fact, I'm under 1.5 lbs. per week on the 1200 cals a day! So I have much less leeway... before if I went over by a few hundred cals, I was still able to lose. Now, I have to be much more careful... and it is coming at the worst possible time for me (lots of stress + no sleep = I need/want to eat more).

If you can't handle the low amount of cals, then slow your weight loss a bit and change up your goals so that you can eat more and still lose weight. If you stick to it, however, it is quite incredible and gratifying to see your hard work paying off when you start seriously losing!

Best of luck.