1200 calorie diet?

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  • jdb3388
    jdb3388 Posts: 239 Member
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    1200 Net calories is not the same as 1200 calories.
  • OkamiLavande
    OkamiLavande Posts: 336 Member
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    Do what's best for your body.

    When I first started calorie counting there were days I wouldn't hit 1200 and days I would, but all those fluctuations were fine because it didn't stop me from keeping my activity level up. Find a calorie amount that works for you and that's golden.

    I'm enjoying being able to eat more because it is changing how I view food. I used to have a really bad relationship with food, even things that are deemed more healthful than others, because I obsessed over the numbers and what it would do to the scale.

    Finding a happy medium is difficult and can take months sometimes, but be patient and understand you are retraining your body.
  • LexiMelo
    LexiMelo Posts: 203 Member
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    The first time I lost weight on 1200 net calories/day and kept it off for awhile but it wasn't sustainable for me. Now I'm eating 1650-2000/day and maintaining easily. I think it's all about what works for you and is sustainable.

    (I'm also 5'6" and 33 y.o.)
  • Erinelda
    Erinelda Posts: 96
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    I made a post when I first started.. it was pretty much "WTF I have one meal and my calories are pretty much gone!".. I didn't understand how to eat that low. Then I threw out all my junk and refused to buy more, I almost exclusively eat fruit, veg and dairy. I eat dairy daily because it makes me feel like I am not deprived (I highly recommend Parmesan, 50 cals for a huge 2tb that is enough to coat the entire meal and then some).

    I am thriving now, for the last month and a half on 1200 or less, I am not usually over but sometimes I sleep to much or forget dinner until it's too late. I can't even lose 2lbs a week unless I eat 500 calories so 1000-1300 works for me. I honestly didn't think it was possible to eat so little without being miserable.

    Here are my best 1200 cal tips:
    -Homemade soups made of what you would have eaten anyway. Free water, and blending it makes your body take longer to sort the nutrients in your stomach.
    -Find low cal options for your favorite foods and eat them almost every day! A few of mine are parm instead of cups of cheese, potatoes instead of pasta, and kale chips or fruit for snacks. Fruit for candy is a MAJOR one. A month without candy and fruit are so sweet and have notes I never noticed before.
    -In the grocery store, remember your struggle and don't bring home any crap!
    -Lots and lots of veggies.
    -Cottage cheese.
  • motivatedmartha
    motivatedmartha Posts: 1,108 Member
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    I am 58 yrs old, have between 40 and 50 lbs to lose and am very sedentary. Only 2 of us live in quite a large house so housework is minimal - I spend most of the day working at a computer and have no young people around any more to run around after. I set my weight loss goals at 0.75kg per week and 1200 cals was what mfp suggested. I have started walking (steep hills here) for exercise routinely and, if I have time, I do a variety of workouts, both aerobic and strengthening (prob 3x a week). I find I have little problem eating good food (most cooked from scratch) and staying within my calorie goal I eat back at least 50% of my exercise calories. So far it's working for me, I don't feel at all deprived, I have not banned anything from my diet - I just plan every day! I allow myself a wine and a treat most days (some days I don't want them) - I don't get hugely upset if I go slightly over and am happily and steadily losing weight.

    1200 works for some - we are not all young and active or working out at high levels (my hips won't let me - but who knows - one day?) Meanwhile my hilly walks are doing wonders for my general body tone etc
  • Erinelda
    Erinelda Posts: 96
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    I wish I was like you Martha, I needed to find a way to eat a lot of food. I have always had a large appetite. I agree that if you are capable of not cutting anything, meal planning does wonders. I use way less add in's if I know what I am going to eat before I am famished.

    I guess we are both sorta poster children for a couple ways it works. Yours is everything in moderation, mine is for larger appetites.
  • rjlkat
    rjlkat Posts: 82 Member
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    Doesn't this depend on people's height as well? I'm 5 ft 1 inch (female), and have been told by some people on the forum that 1200 cal/day (and eating back my exercise calories) is what I should aim for. If I used the TDEE method, however, I could eat up to 1412 and still be 'reckless'.

    Dang, I am confused. :sick:

    I'm a 5'1 female, also, and have done the EM2WL (am a member of that group, as well). After getting a great kick-start to my weight loss and fitness improvement through Insanity after years of working out and watching calories, I have revamped my weight loss regimen and believe I finally understand MFP much better now. I need to drop about 30 more pounds (I'll know more the closer I get, because I do weight train as well as cardio). MFP suggested to me 1200 calories because my job is sedentary in order to lose less than a pound a week.

    If I work my TDEE and BMR, my TDEE minus 500 IS just over 1200. My BMR is around 1450, and I feel better if I eat that or a little more. So for me it comes down to a goal of NETTING roughly 1200 calories/day. It has been working beautifully. I'm averaging a consumption of about 1450-1550 calories per day, but meeting my MFP goal as well because I log my exercise and eat back most of those calories (leaving room for calories burned error).

    With MFP throwing out 1200 calorie plans to seemingly more and more members... It *is* the right amount for many in the strictest sense of math based on what the member puts in for their numbers and wishes. I think what would help with what the OP was saying is if MFP would offer a bit more information at the time it spits out your goal number, such as if it gives you 1200, it has an aside that says it is talking NET calories, and that going below is bad for this/that reason. Or simply if MFP would - on the SAME PAGE (because too often we don't go back and read the 'rules') - note some basic points on nutrition, on when you should be aiming for less than 2 lbs/week loss, eating back exercise calories, et cetera. It's about education and informing people so they can make healthy choices and not just see a number and say 'that's all I can eat.' I love good food and to know I can 'earn' that indulgence somewhere and still lose weight in a healthy manner and feel good doing it works for me. :smile:
  • amyesposito7
    amyesposito7 Posts: 1 Member
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    If you're eating raw foods (mainly) and creating a base diet of vegetables, fruits, nuts, and beans then 1200 is completely realistic. It brings your diet back to the fresh and natural basics and you'll feel great.. and full
  • kuolo
    kuolo Posts: 251 Member
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    I agree that MFP probably gives too many people a 1200 cal goal by default, I guess because people set their weight loss goals to the highest rate possible, which isn't always realistic. Some guidance would be good, but at the end of the day it's a program, not a person, hence the forums I guess. I think some people probably try MFP's 1200 and find it really hard, so give up, where perhaps if they had started a bit higher they would have found it more sustainable. And yes there is also a dark side, I started off on a 1200 cal diet years ago and gave myself an eating disorder, and I can still cause myself problems if I drop too low over 10 years recovered - but I get that that's to do with susceptibility and is a personal thing. I personally cannot handle 1200 - which is what MFP spat out at me before I came on here and learnt about how to work the numbers out for myself, and that I didn't have to eat that low. And I think that while lots of people can handle 1200, there are more people that can't, and even more that can do it but are unhappy on it, and that results in unsustainable loss, potential eating and/or health problems, and people being unsuccessful because it's too hard for them. And some people it is appropriate for and I don't think anyone is knocking that.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    Doesn't this depend on people's height as well? I'm 5 ft 1 inch (female), and have been told by some people on the forum that 1200 cal/day (and eating back my exercise calories) is what I should aim for. If I used the TDEE method, however, I could eat up to 1412 and still be 'reckless'.

    Doesn't this come to about the same? I don't trust any of the TDEE calculators, but if I add my exercise in to get my TDEE and subtract calories, I don't get a higher number than if I start with 1200 and then eat back exercise calories, although the MFP method varies more from day to day.
  • whitemutant
    whitemutant Posts: 3 Member
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    Hi, I'm on a 1250 cal diet, I'm 18 stone and aged 57. I agree that this is too low for a normal healthy person who exercises regularly, but for someone like me with medical problems, the only way to lose weight is too cut back to this level, as exercise is very painful and sometimes impossible. Other than that, I agree with you completely
  • mactaffy84
    mactaffy84 Posts: 398 Member
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    This IS what MFP sets me at to lose 1 pound a week.
  • JoshD8705
    JoshD8705 Posts: 390 Member
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    MFP has me at 1750 to lose 2lbs a week.

    My maintain calorie mark is currently around 2921

    For healthy 2lbs weightloss I shoud be at 1921 calories

    What I do personally is eat close to the 1750, and then hit the gym. When I get home I eat back calories. Usually anywhere from 1900, and 2300 for the day. On diet only days I only eat the 1750.

    If my body is ever acting like it's unbearably hungary before bed. I'll feed it not try to hide it with water. I have tons of 100 to 250 calorie options that won't kill my weightloss. People who need less than 100 to avoid killing their weightless I recommend fruit.
  • Supadoopafly
    Supadoopafly Posts: 248 Member
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    I do 1200 calores for a few reasons:
    1. I'm a woman and we get less than you guys do.
    2. I'm 5'1" so need less.
    3. I'm 63 years old so need less calories and will need less every year.
    4. At 1200 without exercise I can only lose 1.5 per week. I still work full time and yet find time to burn 400-500 daily six days a week in exercise, but that just brings me up to 2 pound loss a week. I still have 70+ pounds to lose so 2 pounds a week at this point makes sense as it will get less the closer I get to goal.
    5. By the time I lose that weight I'll be 64 and my BMR will only be 1074 calories at 130 pounds.
    6. My health is good right now but I've had tmes where I couldn't exercise at all.
    7. Given all that, it makes sense to stick with 1200 calories now and get used to it.

    I don't feel deprived at all. I eat well and when I get to my weight and if I have extra calories I can eat and still maintain, that will be a great bonus!

    You can't paint everyone with the same brush as yourself. We are all so different 1200 works for some. Not for others.

    1200 isn't the default but it is suggested that less is unhealthy. As you can see, there are probably many like me, who fall in the 1200 calorie category.

    I certainly didn't mean to imply that a 1200 calorie diet is wrong for everyone and if it came across that way it was poor wording on my part and I apologize. I think it likely is appropriate for a 5'1" woman in her 60s.

    The point I meant to bring across is that regular reading of the forums here gives the impression that there are many people on a 1200 cal diet who shouldn't be but use MFPs calc as justification that it is okay and that concerns me.

    You are of course correct that it would be incorrect and over generalized to suggest 1200 is wrong for everyone regardless of who the are or their circumstances.

    I see the point you're making, and I myself get ranty and stabby over the same issue quite often. I see far too many people torturing themselves on 1200 calories - and I mean torturing, they are miserable, cranky, logging every single bit of activity they can justify in order to get more calories to eat so they're not so miserable and cranky and thinking this is the only way they will ever lose weight (this was me 2 years ago, so I know what I'm talking about) because they haven't come across the information, or haven't researched or won't research it enough to find out that eating more can still mean weight loss and they'll be more successful at it because they won't feel so deprived. I'm also not saying this is everyone on 1200 calories, but it was certainly true for me and it is definitely true for a good number of people who are trying to stick to 1200.

    However, I have come to realise that you can talk about how 'wrong' it is until you're blue in the face but you won't be able to fix everyone. There is a vast amount of conflicting information out there about how best to lose weight. There's a lot of different methods, some of them are very, very dangerous and have no basis in science, and others (IMO) which are perfectly fine as long as they work for the people following them.

    Edit: and I don't think that there's really a way to adjust MFP (which is really not taking an individual's circumstances into account) in order to have it give more realistic recommendations for people.

    I get this. I find myself happy as larry when I've done exercise in a day, but miserable as heck on one exercise days because I feel like I just can't stick to 1200kCal. I admire anybody that can. May be as I get smaller (I've 150lbs to lose) I'll be able to control it more?

    I'm currently set at 1200kCal and I'm considering revising it. I've had lots of advice from certain folks about BMR/TDEE and setting my calorie allowance to around 2000kCal per day, but this seems to high and it scares me.

    Just for info I'm a big female, vertically and horizontally! I think I'm gonna readjust to about 1800kCal for 1 month and see what that does for me, and hopefully I can find consistency in my eating instead of beating myself up about the 1200kCal target ... because I'm fed up of feeling like a failure, worthless and then binge eating which then results in me not losing ANY weight (which is happening right now).
  • Supadoopafly
    Supadoopafly Posts: 248 Member
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    1200 Net calories is not the same as 1200 calories.

    Please explain ... thanks!
  • MummatoSkye
    MummatoSkye Posts: 42
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    I was on 1200 but the doctor recommended 1500 and therefore I changed it, it's early days for me but I feel better eating 1500 rather than 1200.
  • knra_grl
    knra_grl Posts: 1,568 Member
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    I think people who restrict themselves too much soon figure out that they need to increase their calories or give up in frustration.

    I guess if you are a person of smaller "stature" then you can sustain 1200 cals but I am not sure of anyone who is happy with such restrictions.

    To each their own though :flowerforyou:
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
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    1200 Net calories is not the same as 1200 calories.

    Please explain ... thanks!

    If you net 1200 calories that means you have calculated the amount you burn from activity and exercise and eat that back in addition to the 1200 calories. For example you do daily cardio that burns 400 calories so you eat 1600 to net 1200. This is very different from someone who sees the calorie goal of 1200 and eats thag regardless of whether or not the exercise. From the forums seems to me that not understanding that the calories MFP suggests is what you should net (meaning a suggestion of 1200 might mean eating 1800 based on your exercise activity) is unfortunately common.
  • Supadoopafly
    Supadoopafly Posts: 248 Member
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    1200 Net calories is not the same as 1200 calories.

    Please explain ... thanks!

    If you net 1200 calories that means you have calculated the amount you burn from activity and exercise and eat that back in addition to the 1200 calories. For example you do daily cardio that burns 400 calories so you eat 1600 to net 1200. This is very different from someone who sees the calorie goal of 1200 and eats thag regardless of whether or not the exercise. From the forums seems to me that not understanding that the calories MFP suggests is what you should net (meaning a suggestion of 1200 might mean eating 1800 based on your exercise activity) is unfortunately common.

    I thought that is what was meant, but I wanted your take on it.
  • LoveInnocent
    LoveInnocent Posts: 44 Member
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    Since starting my journey, I actually haven't been keeping to a certain amount, though I guess you could say I'm trying to stay under 1500, but i don't know I base it off what I eat that day and if I feel full, the past couple days I struggle to even get the calorie counter to 1200, but I'm not starving myself or living off salads. I'm just having things like 100 calorie english muffins, multigrain breadthins, fruits and veggies, nonfat yogurt, turkey burgers, avocado, and my favorite egg whites <3 I've been drinking A LOT of water and green tea, and my own ginger drink (1 cup of water heated for a minute, fresh ginger cut into pieces, lemon juice, tablespoon of honey, and cinnamon, then cook for another minute and let sit.

    All that being said I probably am losing weight quickly since I lost 5 per week, but I'm also way overweight and I was working out everyday and will again. I eat more when I work out though most definitely, this week though I hurt my knee so I've been trying to rest it. (though I'm seriously getting ansy, I really like working out x.x.)

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