Anyone plateau on 1200 calories?

cook6609
cook6609 Posts: 182 Member
I'm just curious if anyone that is doing 1200 calories has plateaued? I have lost 50 lbs. Thankfully, I haven't plateaued yet. I'm just curious if anyone has avoided the plateau and why you think you were able to avoid it? Also if you have plateaued, what did you do to overcome it?

thanks :flowerforyou:

Replies

  • zichab
    zichab Posts: 1,491 Member
    I'm guessing since no one has replied to you that there are not a lot of plateaus for those of us on 1200 calories. My weight loss has slowed down, but I think that is to be expected and I am not all together unhappy about it. I am hoping it gives my skin time to "catch up" so the sagging is kept to a minimum. Having said this though, I am ready when a plateau hits from reading these forums. I will (she says more confidently than she really feels) increase my calories by 50 every two weeks until I start losing again. I KNOW it is counter to everything I have ever known about weight loss (hence my confidence lag here :blushing: ), but over and over people have said it broke their plateaus and jump started their weight loss again, so I will try that first. So far, I have not tried to avoid A plateau. I'm just waiting to see what happens since I have never lost this much weight before. This is totally new territory for me. Hope this helps? :smile:
  • cook6609
    cook6609 Posts: 182 Member
    I know that my weight loss has slowed as well... I'm losing an average of 10 pounds per month. I am comfortable with that progress since it will get me to my goal weight by the 1 yr mark. I did have a friend that was on here and when he would plateau he would eat a high calorie, high fattie meal... It usually got him over his plateau quickly... About once or twice a month, I have days like that due to parties, date nights, etc. It is hard to determine if that is the reason for not hitting a plateau yet, but so far I haven't seen one... I'm hoping to avoid it, but I'll just have to wait and see :-)
  • srm1960
    srm1960 Posts: 281 Member
    :sad: :sad:

    Yes I was on a plateau or 6 long weeks!!!........I didn't realize I was burning off half of my calories, which apparently messed me up good..& I was doing the same machine every day, & eating the same lunch too. People told me to switch it up @ the gym. & I raised my cals up too..
    In the end, I won't really know how I got the scale to move, now I change machines, & switch up my food. Mostly I do t et my exercise cals..
    Don't know if that helps you?
    :wink:
  • skinnyme444
    skinnyme444 Posts: 86
    Hi All,

    I've been on mfp for about 2 months and I've only lost 5.5lbs but it's 5.5lbs more than I would have lost by myself! A lot of people have been telling me i'm not eating enough and I was like what, i'm eating 1300-1500 a day but I was ignoring the NET number and only focusing on calories consumed and calories burned. Turns out I've been netting 700-900 pretty much all the time.

    I am trying to up my NET to 1200 a day but because I walk to and from work and then need to do an actual workout, usually Jillian Michaels DVD's my net becomes really low and I had to cram lots of food in last night and I feel really sick and I feel my stomach has got huge the past 2 days! I feel really lost now and not sure what i'm supposed to do to lose weight!

    All your suggestions are welcome and add me/mail me tips! I'm so desperate and even to lose 1lb a week at this point would make me really happy! x
  • cook6609
    cook6609 Posts: 182 Member
    I know with Jillian MIcheals 30 day shred, I lost only 3 pounds... I did lose a lot of inches... There are days when I net around 900 calories... I try not to net below that... Do not force yourself to eat... That would make me feel sick as well... If there is a daily work out that you do, log it a head of time... I did that when I was doing the 30 Day Shred... I did it, but if I didn't get to it until right before bed time I still used up those calories (so to speak) ahead of time... I definitely would focus on Net calories and aim for 1200... however, don't stuff yourself to make those calories (especially right before bed)...
  • __Di__
    __Di__ Posts: 1,658 Member
    I'm just curious if anyone that is doing 1200 calories has plateaued? I have lost 50 lbs. Thankfully, I haven't plateaued yet. I'm just curious if anyone has avoided the plateau and why you think you were able to avoid it? Also if you have plateaued, what did you do to overcome it?

    thanks :flowerforyou:

    I have to admit, I have never plateaued when I stick to 1200 calories per day. If my weight has stalled at any time, it is because I have been on holiday and been drinking like a fish lol
  • Aviva92
    Aviva92 Posts: 2,333 Member
    never hit a plateau on 1200 calories. at certain points I thought I might have, but nope, weight loss started up again after a few days. I went from 140 pounds to 103.4 pounds. My goal was 119, but I just kept on losing weight. For me, the challenge now is to stop losing weight because I am approaching too low a weight for 5'4".
  • photonerd31415
    photonerd31415 Posts: 2 Member
    I just changed my goal from 2 lbs per week to 1 lb per week. It calculated that I have an extra 280 cal per day to eat (1480 vs 1200). This gives me a 500 cal per day deficit not including any exercise I might do. I am going to try this for a while to see if it helps. I haven't really lost anything in the past few weeks and I am wondering if I am eating too FEW calories. I realize now that I have hit a plateau!
  • Mcgrawhaha
    Mcgrawhaha Posts: 1,596 Member
    nope, not I. I have been losing steadily since September.
  • Aviva92
    Aviva92 Posts: 2,333 Member
    I just changed my goal from 2 lbs per week to 1 lb per week. It calculated that I have an extra 280 cal per day to eat (1480 vs 1200). This gives me a 500 cal per day deficit not including any exercise I might do. I am going to try this for a while to see if it helps. I haven't really lost anything in the past few weeks and I am wondering if I am eating too FEW calories. I realize now that I have hit a plateau!

    I don't think that a few weeks really is considered a plateau. I'd have up to 3-4 weeks at a time of not losing, but then suddenly it would come off fast.
  • Cheeky_and_Geeky
    Cheeky_and_Geeky Posts: 984 Member
    I'm eating around 1200 calories a day & haven't plateaued but I only lose maybe 1lb a week. I workout 3-4X a week as well. But weight has always hugged on to me for dear life & is hard to lose for me. I lose 8lbs last month & would be happy to lose 5lbs this month. I think the losing inches in more important on the number on the scale though due to gaining muscle (especially if you do a lot of strength training). Good luck
  • __Di__
    __Di__ Posts: 1,658 Member
    I'm eating around 1200 calories a day & haven't plateaued but I only lose maybe 1lb a week. I workout 3-4X a week as well. But weight has always hugged on to me for dear life & is hard to lose for me. I lose 8lbs last month & would be happy to lose 5lbs this month. I think the losing inches in more important on the number on the scale though due to gaining muscle (especially if you do a lot of strength training). Good luck

    1lb per week is great!! It is a healthy weekly weightloss, you are doing grand!
  • Cheeky_and_Geeky
    Cheeky_and_Geeky Posts: 984 Member
    I'm eating around 1200 calories a day & haven't plateaued but I only lose maybe 1lb a week. I workout 3-4X a week as well. But weight has always hugged on to me for dear life & is hard to lose for me. I lose 8lbs last month & would be happy to lose 5lbs this month. I think the losing inches in more important on the number on the scale though due to gaining muscle (especially if you do a lot of strength training). Good luck

    1lb per week is great!! It is a healthy weekly weightloss, you are doing grand!

    Thank you very much! I've lost 4lbs in August & got 1 more pound to reach my Aug goal! I'm hoping for 2lbs!
  • __Di__
    __Di__ Posts: 1,658 Member
    I'm eating around 1200 calories a day & haven't plateaued but I only lose maybe 1lb a week. I workout 3-4X a week as well. But weight has always hugged on to me for dear life & is hard to lose for me. I lose 8lbs last month & would be happy to lose 5lbs this month. I think the losing inches in more important on the number on the scale though due to gaining muscle (especially if you do a lot of strength training). Good luck

    1lb per week is great!! It is a healthy weekly weightloss, you are doing grand!

    Thank you very much! I've lost 4lbs in August & got 1 more pound to reach my Aug goal! I'm hoping for 2lbs!

    Well there is just under halfway to go until the end of August, I bet you do it!! Fingers crossed! :flowerforyou:
  • Cheeky_and_Geeky
    Cheeky_and_Geeky Posts: 984 Member
    Thank you! I surpassed my goal for august. I've lost 6lbs with a week to go!
  • DebbieLyn63
    DebbieLyn63 Posts: 2,654 Member
    I did well on1200 for about 9 months before I plateaued. I was actually surprised it took that long, as I usually get used to a calorie level fairly quickly. After maintaining for almost 3 months, I tried out the 5:2 fasting plan, and as of this morning, I am down another 4 lbs in 6 weeks. YAY!
    I am also 50, and fairly sedentary, with a TDEE of only about 1500-1600 at this point. Most of the women on my list that are over 50 and have lost weight, are now averaging under 1000, and I was just afraid of dropping my cals that low. Now I eat 500 cals on Monday and Thursday, and average 1300-1600 on the other days. I like the flexibility I have on this as well. I end up averaging 1200 over the week still, it is just broken up differently.

    The 1200 worked well for me for 9 months, but when it came time to change things up, the 5:2 was the perfect solution.
    So anyone who has hit the plateau and is looking for something to break it, you might try looking into it. At least for a little while to break thru.
  • Inkymycat
    Inkymycat Posts: 16 Member
    Hello I've lost 35-40 pounds now doing RebootWithJoe.com but instead of juicing I did my Vitamix. I've somewhat gone vegetarian trying to lower my cholesterol and drop my weight down. I have back and shoulder pain so I focus on cardio.

    I am doing 1400 calories a day but mainly only do about 1200 or less. My fitness pal has me set up for:
    Carbs 50%
    Protein 30%
    Fats 20%

    I eat more protein than I do carbs. I don't have a problem eating fruits and vegetables and veggie soy burgers. Things I do not eat nor do I miss:

    Fried Foods
    Meat (Chicken, Pork or Red Meat)
    I gave up all soda and Red meat up over 1.5 years now
    Junk Food
    Fast food
    Most candy (Have a piece once I a while)
    Cheese and milk products

    Things I mainly eat:

    Fruits
    Vegetables
    Almond Milk
    Organic foods
    Veggie burgers

    I also do 65-100 minutes of cardio a day. The 700-900 calories I burn I do not eat back so it drops my calorie intake down to almost nothing. I've mainly been doing 1400 calories a day and my first week back at the gym I lost 7 pounds with what I mentioned. It's been several weeks now and I have not lost any more weight.

    I'm open to suggestions.

    Please add me as a friend as well.
  • missdani6
    missdani6 Posts: 5 Member
    Aviva92 wrote: »
    never hit a plateau on 1200 calories. at certain points I thought I might have, but nope, weight loss started up again after a few days. I went from 140 pounds to 103.4 pounds. My goal was 119, but I just kept on losing weight. For me, the challenge now is to stop losing weight because I am approaching too low a weight for 5'4".

    How long did it take you to get to 119?
  • Jobeth1961
    Jobeth1961 Posts: 40 Member
    edited August 2015
    I can report weightloss every week, I rarely eat exercise calories "in the bank" focusing on net ones at 1200 suits me, if I want 200 or so more then I have them, otherwise I can leave them. I am only walking though, 10k steps aday no more than 12k as yet. At 54 and having NEVER liked exercise, I am enjoying walking for the first time in my life, this is my health, my way of eating plan, I adapt it to my needs. If I were truly 'working out' then I would need to eat more to do it. I would never dream of telling anyone what they should be doing but drinking 2L of water aday, eating varied, fresh food is giving me a bounce back that I lost a long time ago. I think it wouldn't hurt to vary things if 'you' need to, extra calories sometimes, 5:2, so long as you enjoy food and feeling healthy, focus on a month net loss, says me who weighs twice a week! This is not America's /UK or anywhere else "Greatest Loser" where they drop 7-10lbs a week with intense support, exercise and TV cameras, this is your life, enjoy living it and yes if you are already happy, you just get happier! Only 24lbs to go!
    PS sorry I went way off subject in my passion!
  • amberjricker
    amberjricker Posts: 1 Member
    I have! I am plateauing right now! I have thyroid issues, though. I lost 15 pounds, and then boom, body won’t budge again. :|
    So I’m changing my ratios and diet up and adding more exercise to see if that shakes anything up. So frustrating!