feeling tired after cutting calories

I went from drinking cans of soda all day everyday in addition to munching my way 50 lbs up the scale....anyway, i am about 1 month in to mfp now. Sticking to the 1200 calorie a day limit. Trying to eat healthy and have lost a few pounds. Everything is going great except i am so tired everyday. Is it just my body getting used to the cut in sugar and caffiene? I am supposed to exercise to eat more......i am too tired to get up and do it. I need more energy!!! So, i guess my question is this....how to balance the lowering of calories with foods that would give me more energy that are not fattening. Anyone with any ideas on this, please help!!

why are your calories so low?

I weigh 250 and MFP gives me 2300 calories a day

I'm sure that cutting out the soda would have made a difference - you would have been getting a big energy kick from the sugar and caffeine. You've done so well do lose that from your diet, don't be too tough on yourself.
Combined with cutting calories so drastically, it's not sruprising you are feeling tired.
I'd suggest that you reset your goals - choose "lose 1 pounds a week" or "lose 1/2 pound a week" and eat those cals plus the ones you burn from exercise. You need to find a healthy eating pattern that is sustainable for you, and if you are exhausted all the time and don't have the energy to exercise, you aren't going to be able to keep it up.

I think the major issue is 1200 calories is not enough for a lot of people. Your body does go through a withdrawal period when you cut sugars and caffeine. Not all caffeine is bad though; have you tried green tea? It help boost your metabolism, and the caffeine is tea based. I take a green tea pill, on days I'm too tired one of those helps get me moving.

Getting 25% of your daily nutrition from Soda pop is probably why you're crashing so hard. Those aren't meals. You need to be eating at least 1600+ calories and cut out the junk.

Hi Ksr,
The number one thing to do to lose weight is you have to exercise, bottom line. Even if it's only 20 minutes a day, three times a week to start. If you don't exercise you are not really burning any extra calories throughout the day. Even if your tired just tell yourself you have to get it done. You should try upping your calories to maybe 15 or 1600 but make sure you do some type of cardio 3 days a week to start. If you notice the weight starting to come off slowly, it will really motivate you and you will keep up with it. Good luck to you.

KSR63, before I would change anything I would just log in what your "normal" diet looked like, for a week, before you decided to loose weight. That way you could see how many calories you were actually eating and want needed to be changed.

We're you maintaining that weight or gaining weight with your previous eating? If you were maintaining, then I would have recommended cutting about 500 calories/day by either decreasing your calories by that much or by expending more energy (aka: exercising) OR better yet, doing a combination of the two such as cutting 250 calories a day from your menu and then exercising to burn 250 calories/day.) The slow reduction in calorie intake will barely be noticeable (one candy bar or 1/2 an order of French fries). In case you're wondering why I used 500 calories a day, it's because one pound=3500 calories, so to loose a pound a week, you must cut or expend an additional 3500 calories/week. If you want to loose two pounds/week you'd have to double that to 7000/calories per week... But NEVER NEVER NEVER go under 1200 NET calories/day. In the long run it will only hurt you!

Adding a few 10 minute walks/day or one sustained exercise session of 20-30 minutes will not only help burn calories but also INCREASE energy levels as it releases endorphins (feel good hormones) and decrease stress hormones (cortisol). Did you know that 10 minutes of jumping rope (or just jumping in place and moving your arms like you're juming rope) burns about 100 calories?

The stated 1200 calories is an industry standard for the bare minimum calories the body needs to sustain the biological basics such as breathing and other biological functions, end of story. Of course, none of us have the same metabolism and therefore the 1200 calories is a guide. Most people need about 2000 calories a day, give or take, to meet basic biological functions as well as normal daily activities. If you work out hard, have a labor intensive job, or expend a lot of energy during the day that number needs to increase.

Going too low in calories will put your body in a sort of hibernation state, if you will. Kind of like a bear in the winter... Holding onto the fat stores until he can eat again come spring! Please don't starve yourself. Your body will get used to that new caloric intake number and when you want to begin to maintain your weight and add more calories you are going to gain. I like to try to vary my caloric intake from day to day, just like my exercise routine, so that my body never has a real chance to adjust to any one state... Some sites will actually say to use a weekly calorie goal, let's say for example 14,000/week. But instead of eating that equally distributed of 2,000 calories/day, to change it up such as one day eat 1700, then 2500, then 2200, then 1500, then 1850, then 2000, then 2250... It keeps your body from expecting the same energy content every day and ultimately is said to prevent from going into that static state.

I am not sure if you have begun to exercise yet, or not, but please do not overlook the importance of weigh lifting. Building lean muscle mass is crucial inseveral ways: it helps to slow down the loss of muscle that is inevitable as we age, it makes us stronger, it increases our metabolism not only while we are lifting but long after.. In fact, despite the instant gratification that the calorie burn gives after cardio, the after burn is short lived, with cardio... But with muscle its not.. It continues well after we lift.... Even while we sleep. So while the big calorie burn numbers look good from the cardio, in a 24 hour period having MUSCLE will burn more calories than your 30-60 minute session of cardio! So,while the immediate gratification of the calore burn is alluring, dont be fooled... in the long run make sure you have a healthy mixture of both....

The other thing that may be making you tired is the decrease in caffeine from soda. Increase your water intake. dehydration is a known source of feelings of fatigue. While industry standards suggest 64 ounces (eight, 8 oz cups) the reality is drinking about 1/2 your body weight in ounces( for example, if up I weight 150 pounds, drink 75 oz. of water/day) is a more suitable goal to prevent dehydration, especially when you are working out.

BTW, I know many many people give advice here. It is always wise to consult with a reputable website or better yet, a good nutritionist and/or personal trainer, about the ideas you get here. also, if you do change something,change one thing at a time and give it a few weeks to see if it is working or not. Changing too many things at once does not allow you to figure out what, specifically worked or didn't work for you. Learn to listen to YOUR body. While everyone has suggestions, no one has your exact body or metabolism... Tune in to it so you can make adjustments as you need to....

ksr63 may I suggest that you read some of the stickies on this page http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/3834-eat-more-to-weigh-less

I have increased my calories and I know that for definite I was thinking 'sure' but the way I look at it is that if your weight isn't shifting anyway then what do you have to lose by trying a different method? Oh and you may just lose some lbs at the same time.

I did 1200 for 3 or 4 weeks and I felt tired and grouchy. I was such a joy to live with, I'm sure. Since gradually increasing my calories over the last 8 weeks I am not only losing weight, albeit slowly, but then I'm not looking to rush it, I have more energy, my dry patches on my eyelids and near my ears have cleared up, I haven't had any spots on my face not even in the week before my TOM, I've only taken medication for headaches twice (I WAS having headaches a few times a week) and my IBS attacks have also reduced from a few times a week to 2 or 3 in total over the last 8 weeks.

I'd rather eat more, lose slower and have the health benefits that I'm having. When it comes to this method of eating more, for me, not having headaches and IBS nearly every single day makes it so, so worthwhile. I'm happy on 1800 a day and wild horses couldn't drag me back to eating 1200.