Who can stick to a 1200-1350 calorie diet/lifestyle?

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  • Nutella91
    Nutella91 Posts: 624 Member
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    it is challenging and not sustainable without always wanting to eat. even for small girls like me. i kind of HAVE to eat less because i burn less calories than people who weight more, but thank god i'm tall.
    once i reach my goal weight i'm gonna try and have 1700 calories a day.
  • 2013sk
    2013sk Posts: 1,318 Member
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    Being 5 ft 9 there is no way I would be happy living on that amount of calories a day, and that's it!!!

    I love my food way too much. I eat what I want, then burn it off at the gym!

    I would probably end up binging where I am sooooo hungry!! Yikes!
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    I did once. Not on purpose tho.....it was awful...

    I was full at 985 and ate yogurt and chocolate to get to 1195...

    I paid for 3 days...no energy, lethargic, dizzy, my workouts suffered, tired and hangry...(ask my husband)

    I will never ever ever eat that little again...even if I am not hungry I will eat my 1600 and call it good.
  • missbirrell
    missbirrell Posts: 133
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    My calorie allowance was 1200 from October to mid March and I've recently upped it to 1350. At first it was difficult, but you get used to it. On exercise days I eat more, so my average is probably 1400-1500, but net calories is lower.
  • Sweet_Potato
    Sweet_Potato Posts: 1,119 Member
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    I think any lightly active person can lose weight eating at least 1500 calories, there's no need to eat any less than that.

    Allow me to introduce myself as someone who CANNOT lose weight on 1,500 calories a day, no matter how much I exercise.

    But it's nice to know you know my body better than I know my body. :flowerforyou:

    I'm one of those people too! There must be something wrong with us.
  • sophiam777
    sophiam777 Posts: 4
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    I was going over the T25 diet (and I know people will have something to say about this), if you're a sedentary female (NOT active) and weigh under 130 lbs., it recommends a 1,200 calorie diet: 3 meals of 300 calories each and 2 snacks of 150 calories.

    I can't say anything positive or negative cause I haven't tried it yet, but obviously the quality and combination of those calories is important.
  • marilandica
    marilandica Posts: 88 Member
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    I did and it wasn't really a problem BUT I did LOTS of cardio (5-7 very fast miles walked per day) and I ate back my exercise calories. I eat higher than that now because I'm at maintenance, but I still eat back my walking calories.
  • macchiatto
    macchiatto Posts: 2,890 Member
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    I was at 1200 for a long time here and struggled with it. I *can* do it; I just don't enjoy it. :p

    Since I re-started MFP in January, I've done a lot of experimenting with macros and have also changed up exercise (tried different types and amounts of resistance-based training). I really haven't lost much. Down 6 lbs since early Jan but 4 of those were in the first few weeks. I do find it tough to stick to 1350 and 1200 is crap. I do eat back a good 75% of my exercise calories when my goal is set in that range. I don't have much to lose at this point (3-7 lbs, somewhere in there, left to goal) so to some extent I'm just playing around, trying to hit the right balance of fueling my body and my workouts (lifting and training for my first 10K), not feeling hungry all the time, while actually losing a bit more weight. There have been a fair number of days I end up eating closer to maintenance but for now I'm OK with that since I'm focusing more on fitness/training and really want to make sure I preserve LBM as mine is on the low side to begin with.
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,741 Member
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    My current goal is 1,270 and I don't find it very restrictive. I usually eat back some exercise calories which puts me closer to 1,400 or so...but even on days that I don't, 1,270 isn't too hard to hit. I typically have a small breakfast packed with nutrition at around 200 cal and then a 400 cal lunch and can "splurge" with dinner being a bit over 600. I've managed to fit a lot of treats and hit most of my macros at the same time.
  • Sweet_Potato
    Sweet_Potato Posts: 1,119 Member
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    I was going over the T25 diet (and I know people will have something to say about this), if you're a sedentary female (NOT active) and weigh under 130 lbs., it recommends a 1,200 calorie diet: 3 meals of 300 calories each and 2 snacks of 150 calories.

    I'm a sedentary woman under 130 lbs and that's typically what I do on the days I'm not working out. Those who think you can't sustain a 1200 calorie diet are either larger, more active, or not eating the right things.
  • csontos
    csontos Posts: 76 Member
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    I have zero issues with it. I'm between 5'0" and 5'1" and people on the forums here act like I must be dying or starving myself to death. Nope. I don't go to bed hungry and I feel good throughout the day. Of course, the reason that I gained weight was because I was too lazy to cook and only ate fast food. It's quite easy to eat a normal sized portion of fast food and get a super high amount of calories. Replacing those high calorie meals with healthier options has allowed me to eat more food and take in less calories.

    I haaaate it when people tell me "oh poor you! I feel so sorry for you. I eat way more than you". Of course you do, you're like 9 inches taller me. You need more calories.
  • Graelwyn75
    Graelwyn75 Posts: 4,404 Member
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    I eat more than 1350 by noon--there is no way I could live on that few calories for an entire day.

    ^^ This.
    I net 1500 and eat a total of 2200 - 2600 a day to lose.
    And 80% is nutritious, healthy food, not junk. :)
  • ATT949
    ATT949 Posts: 1,245 Member
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    Who on MFP can stick to a 1200-1350 calorie diet?
    Is it challenging?
    What do you have for daily meals and snacks?

    I know a lot of people consider it unhealthy and say you will gain the weight right back but I think I'm willing to give 1200-1350 a try!

    MFP says in order for me to lose two pounds a week I would have to eat 1200 calories for my weight and height.

    I was thinking maybe a little fruit for breakfast with eggs and oatmeal, a piece of chicken and lots of veges for lunch and some kind of chicken or fish with veges for dinner. For snacks, maybe like nuts, yogurt or fruit.

    When I was losing weight, I ate 800 to 1000 cals/day. I chose an aggressive diet because I want to lose weight quickly and that was the right decision for me. I lost 95 pounds in seven months, and have continued to lose weight in a safe and controlled manner ever since then. In the years that I've been in maintenance my bodyweight has only fluctuated by a little over 1% from my desired weight.

    One strategy that I adopted was to increase my protein intake. There are two benefits from doing so. On one hand, when you eat protein, you burn about 25% of the caloric value simply to digest the protein. The second benefit is that eating more protein reduces the chances for hunger pangs-in all the time that I was losing weight I felt hungry only five times.

    My diary is open to the public so please feel free to review what I was eating back then. The time period in question is between December 2010 and June 2011.

    Looking back on my experience, I realize I ate very little food but I attribute my success to…discipline. The turning point is accepting responsibility for what we do with our bodies. Yes there are many reasons why we became obese and the path to success is to understand the reasons and to change our behaviors. The simple truth is that if we don't change out behavior, we will never get healthy.
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,750 Member
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    Just looking at my reports for the last week, and I wanted to weigh in on the "gross vs net" thing again, cos I still feel like it's getting confused.

    My NET goal is 1360. I have been averaging that easily over the last week or so. However, my GROSS calories varied between 1502 and 2475 (varying with A: exercise and B: greed).

    So when I say "my net goal is 1360" and you say "I can't eat less than 1500" - we're not disagreeing, we're agreeing. Like I said, on no-exercise days, I always go over, because yes, for me, 1360 GROSS is way too little.

    I just think there's a lot of cross-purposes talk on these sorts of threads.

    If you like to keep a steady calorie level and not eat back your exercise, great, seems to be a common approach that works for a lot of people, BUT it's worth remembering that that's not the way mfp works by default.

    New users especially will be likely to stick to the default method, which is to follow the net goal and eat back 100% exercise calories. The way mfp works, the net goal will be low, and the exercise calories will be high. The combined upshot is that their gross calories are probably pretty close to what everyone's recommending, but because everyone goes on about "1200 is too low!" without clarifying whether they mean net or gross, people get confused and worried unnecessarily.
  • lexidear
    lexidear Posts: 70 Member
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    I'm on around 1300, feel free to add me as a friend :)
  • verhunzt
    verhunzt Posts: 154 Member
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    You can definitely stick to it, but you should allow yourself to eat back at least half of the calories lost from exercising if you're hungry. :) Right now I'm on a 1200 calorie net diet and jesus I feel so healthy. I feel full too, because I eat LOTS AND LOTS of fruits and vegetables, salats with cottage cheese, eggs, no bread and pasta after 12pm.
    The 1200 calorie diet forces you to look for foods that keep you full with low calories - which is amazing.
    I have never felt healthier before and I can run faster than ever. I am never stuffed full and I never feel tired after eating anymore. I feel great. You can add me if you want to. :)

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