Confused about what to eat on the 1200 calorie diet

I'm going to bring this up because others will. Regardless if you truly are eating 1200 calories or eating more than you think, you are too active and close to a healthy weight range to eat only 1200 calories total. Be sure to change your setting to 0.5 lbs weekly weight loss and eat back about half of your estimated exercise calories so you stay about 300 or so below projected maintenance. The less fat mass you have, the less calories from fat your body burns in a day. So a greater deficit doesn't necessarily benefit you from a fat loss perspective when you don't have much to lose to begin with.

Edit: Another approach would be to use a TDEE calculator like this that factors in lean mass and enter in all the information. It will tell you how much total calories to eat with the deficit included.

http://www.weightrainer.net/losscalc.html

Edit 2: If I were to assume you are about 25% body fat with a moderate activity level (according to TDEE), you'd maintain at about 1900 calories. So to lose 0.5 lb per week, you could eat around 1650 calories.

Edit: Lastly, make sure you are using a digital food scale to weigh all your food and be honest with logging everything. If you just measure with cups or eye ball things, you likely will be eating far more than you think.

I keep my diet and exercise separate. If your losing weight too fast, add calories. If your losing weight too slow, train a bit less or reduce calories. Make sure you eat enough to maintain your metabolic rate. You need to be able to cut from something. Cutting from 800 calories a day is a rough starting point. Eat less vegetables or spice them up with some sauces to add some calories to them. Olive oil is great if you have the fat to spare.

More calories. You're starving yourself.

Anything you want to until you hit 1200 calories.

I'm 4'11" and about 98 lbs. I eat about 1200 and it is pretty close to maintenance. I eat back my exercise calories if I want to, but if I'm not hungry, I don't worry about it. When I first adjusted my diet and started working out, I couldn't eat enough either. My body adjusted and now I eat a lot more. My salads are huge and then in hungry a couple of hours later. Give your body some time to adjust and eat more as your appetite adjusts. Also, Some people lose weight when stressed, so if this is stressful for you, it could be killing your appetite at first.

I eat just about 1200 calories a day and I just want to say that as long as you are eating the right things you are NOT necessarily starving yourself, despite what others may say. When you eat a lot of fruits and veggies (like 8+ servings combined) it's really easy to feel full and stay super low cal. I add lean meat, a few carbs here and there, and I cook almost everything in olive oil or butter (and whole eggs are awesome!). My day ends up being three full meals a day (meat + veggies), fruit as snacks, and a dairy here and there. I am usually just around 1200-1300 calories (closer to 1300-1400 if I have a protein shake) and I know I am not starving my body.

Yes, calories in/calories out is the basics for losing weight, but to eat low cal and not starve your body of what it needs you need to eat high quality food, not junk. Eating 1200 cals a day of ice cream and cake vs. meat, eggs, fruits, veggies, and whole grains are not the same thing: you are far healthier if you eat the right foods.

I could eat 1200 calories at dinner alone

I'm going to bring this up because others will. Regardless if you truly are eating 1200 calories or eating more than you think, you are too active and close to a healthy weight range to eat only 1200 calories total. Be sure to change your setting to 0.5 lbs weekly weight loss and eat back about half of your estimated exercise calories so you stay about 300 or so below projected maintenance. The less fat mass you have, the less calories from fat your body burns in a day. So a greater deficit doesn't necessarily benefit you from a fat loss perspective when you don't have much to lose to begin with.

Edit: Another approach would be to use a TDEE calculator like this that factors in lean mass and enter in all the information. It will tell you how much total calories to eat with the deficit included.

http://www.weightrainer.net/losscalc.html

Edit 2: If I were to assume you are about 25% body fat with a moderate activity level (according to TDEE), you'd maintain at about 1900 calories. So to lose 0.5 lb per week, you could eat around 1650 calories.

This.


As for getting more calories-- stop eating egg whites and eat whole eggs. Swap out anything low fat for full fat. Roast your veggies in oil (because it's delicious) or saute in butter. There are tons of ways to get more calories in. Peanut butter is almost 200 cals per serving.

And this equals about 1200 plus 500 exercise calories, so yes, eat them.

Ok so I am 4'10" and 119lb. I am trying to get to 105lb.

just noticed this ..why are you trying to lose?

BMI is 24.9, which is on the cusp of overweight. She's only 4'10.

+ one.

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