Struggling to eat 1200 calories

I always wondered how someone could become overweight or need to lose weight when they have a hard time eating 1,200. Clearly you didn't have that problem once. Add back some of the foods you used to eat. Nuts, peanut butter, avacado, olive oil. Lots of easy small ways to boost your intake.

Becoming overweight is not necessarily related to the amount of food you eat but to the kind of food. There is a difference if you eat a dish of fries, deep-fried chicken, and a salad with a heavy dressing or mayonnaise or if you have a large salad with light dressing and lean chicken breast. Maybe the sense of satiety is the same but the calorie intake differs significantly.

My father is overweight and he doesn't eat that much throughout the day. It's what he eats, not how much of it.

Same with drinks. There is a difference between drinking soft drinks and drinking water or unsweetened tea.

^^^^^^ nope ..... eating at a calorific SURPLUS is why you gain weight....

eating at a DEFICIT will lose weight

eating at your TDEE will maintain your weight ...

You're both saying the same thing. Read it again, butlersoft ;-)

No they aren't she specifically said:

My father is overweight and he doesn't eat that much throughout the day. It's what he eats, not how much of it.

it's not what he eats it's how much he eats

That's the same thing. WHAT he eats ie. calorie rich foods leading to a calorie surplus, not how much of it.

"There is a difference between drinking soft drinks and drinking water or unsweetened tea." - Yes, a calorific difference.

In her first paragraph: "Maybe the sense of satiety is the same but the calorie intake differs significantly."

Not sure why this is being debated the above poster said "it's not how much he eats it's what he eats" which literally means calories don't matter...

calorie rich food does not always lead to a calorie surplus.

Exactly .... 2000kcals of Cheetos or 2000kcals of Brocolli are the same calories. They will have the same effect as to cause weightloss in a person with a TDEE > 2000, maintain somebody with a 2000 TDEE, and gain weight on somebody with a lower than 2000kcal TDEE.

I know which one I'd prefer for the nutritional benefits though ;-)

Makes great sense, 2k calories is 2k calories. I do have one question about this that I do not see come up often......What about the "other things/side effects" of eating what you want as opposed to eating healthy? I know there is a drastic difference between Cheetos and broccoli but surely eating healthy goes a lot farther than eating the "sugary/fried/ sodium" rich foods? Right?

If eating 1200 is so hard...how did you get overweight in the first place? Eat more of the stuff you ate before, just in smaller portions, and you'll bump up your intake very easily.

This.

Those "all the wrong things" are food. Eat them, just not in the quantities that you did before.

ETA: Unless you had Pica, in which case, don't eat glass, clay, paper, etc. Those are not food.

Well not sure about the OP but eating some of the things as before, may trigger the unhealthy habits back. I like the OP have a hard time eating up to my calorie count. But I am not going to stuff "fried chicken" back down my throat or the candy bars. (If eating 1200 is so hard...how did you get overweight in the first place?) Could you have been more rude in the response? There are better ways to get the calories and better ways to respond. The comment above is like telling an alcoholic to go back to the bar because he/she is bored.

you don't have to eat fried chicken or candy bars. Obviously pretty much everyone on here is physically capable of eating over 1200 cals. My 11 year old can easily eat that much. Will done nuts, an avocado, cheese, etc cause you to call into old habits? How about a filling protein shake with some fruit and protein powder? There are plenty of healthy ways to get in calories.

Agreed, my wife and I are "adjusting to meet the caloric goals" Most of the time we are just full (same as OP), currently we are using protein shakes but sometimes hate the bloated feeling afterwards. The protein however (using whey protein also) is causing digestive problems. So we will have to slow down on it for a bit.

Sorry to be blunt, but I must....

1.) You say you became overweight by eating over 4000 calories of junk. So, you CAN eat more than 1200 calories. If you've got an additional 400 calories at the end of the day, eat some junk! You said yourself that you don't have to be hungry to eat it.

2.) It doesn't matter if you're not hungry. You need to eat. Not being hungry doesn't mean you've fueled your body sufficiently. Pull up those big girl panties and feed yourself like an adult.

3.) 1230 calories is probably way too few for you. I know you've got a ways to go, but a loss of 2 lb/week is the absolute maximum. I'd suggest calculating your TDEE - 25% and eating that much without eating back exercise calories. My guess is that it'll be quite a bit more than 1230 calories. I'd guess that your BMR is well over 1230 calories, and it's not a great idea to eat under your BMR for an extended period of time.

So, in short, it shouldn't matter whether you're hungry or not. I eat when I'm not hungry. You know why? Because it's my body and I'm going to take care of it by giving it the calories that it needs to function correctly. I don't sit around waiting to get so hungry I want to eat the whole house before I decide to put food in my stomach. I eat at certain times every day regardless of how hungry I am - if you need a schedule to get it all in, do it. If you need to pre-log to make sure you're getting in a sufficient number of calories, do it. Whatever it takes, just freaking do it and stop whining about it.

If a person does not eat up to the 1200 calories and ends up in moderate ketosis doesn't that curb the appetite in some people?

Sorry to be blunt, but I must....

1.) You say you became overweight by eating over 4000 calories of junk. So, you CAN eat more than 1200 calories. If you've got an additional 400 calories at the end of the day, eat some junk! You said yourself that you don't have to be hungry to eat it.

I know you certainly mean well, but there are many people here that have not yet reached a place where they can eat a single serving of junk food. For me, I don't know that downing 2 or 3 cherry filled twizzlers is going to stop at 2 or 3 twizzlers. It's going to be the whole bag. That is certainly not going to help me moving forward. I'm just not in a place where I feel like I have enough self control. That doesn't make me less than people that can. It means I have decided to stop lying to myself about my unhealthy emotional dependence on food. And that's a good thing. Eating junk and convincing myself that just a little is fine is how I got here. I'm not going back to that place.

Sorry to be blunt, but I must....

1.) You say you became overweight by eating over 4000 calories of junk. So, you CAN eat more than 1200 calories. If you've got an additional 400 calories at the end of the day, eat some junk! You said yourself that you don't have to be hungry to eat it.

I know you certainly mean well, but there are many people here that have not yet reached a place where they can eat a single serving of junk food. For me, I don't know that downing 2 or 3 cherry filled twizzlers is going to stop at 2 or 3 twizzlers. It's going to be the whole bag. That is certainly not going to help me moving forward. I'm just not in a place where I feel like I have enough self control. That doesn't make me less than people that can. It means I have decided to stop lying to myself about my unhealthy emotional dependence on food. And that's a good thing. Eating junk and convincing myself that just a little is fine is how I got here. I'm not going back to that place.

Well, if that's the case with the OP, then my other points are even more important. Eat whether you're hungry or not if you can't get to 1200 calories. As plenty of people have already said - healthy, calorie-dense foods like peanut butter or nuts would do just fine.

Sorry to be blunt, but I must....

1.) You say you became overweight by eating over 4000 calories of junk. So, you CAN eat more than 1200 calories. If you've got an additional 400 calories at the end of the day, eat some junk! You said yourself that you don't have to be hungry to eat it.

I know you certainly mean well, but there are many people here that have not yet reached a place where they can eat a single serving of junk food. For me, I don't know that downing 2 or 3 cherry filled twizzlers is going to stop at 2 or 3 twizzlers. It's going to be the whole bag. That is certainly not going to help me moving forward. I'm just not in a place where I feel like I have enough self control. That doesn't make me less than people that can. It means I have decided to stop lying to myself about my unhealthy emotional dependence on food. And that's a good thing. Eating junk and convincing myself that just a little is fine is how I got here. I'm not going back to that place.

Well, if that's the case with the OP, then my other points are even more important. Eat whether you're hungry or not if you can't get to 1200 calories. As plenty of people have already said - healthy, calorie-dense foods like peanut butter or nuts would do just fine.

I agree. Eating Walnuts never triggered me to have a food party. It was those darn sour twizzlers.

And eat enough fat that you are not limiting the absorption of fat soluble vitamins and don't interfere with elimination and health of hair and skin.

If eating 1200 is so hard...how did you get overweight in the first place? Eat more of the stuff you ate before, just in smaller portions, and you'll bump up your intake very easily.

You... you are the people I am talking about when I said this

"people often forget when you are eating without caring about calories its easy to pack away 4700 calories a day, but when you are eating and being mindful (more fruits/veggies less big macs and fries) it is harder to hit 1200 calories."

I got fat because I can literally eat 4700 calories and still be hungry at the end of the day. Creamer in coffee alone used to kill me calorie wise.

One thing you will find is that Carbs will drive your hunger.

I am not saying they are bad, or should not eat them.....I eat carbs and prolly ~300 - 400 gr.

But you need to be aware that they will drive your appetite more than protein and fat will.

Makes great sense, 2k calories is 2k calories. I do have one question about this that I do not see come up often......What about the "other things/side effects" of eating what you want as opposed to eating healthy? I know there is a drastic difference between Cheetos and broccoli but surely eating healthy goes a lot farther than eating the "sugary/fried/ sodium" rich foods? Right?

Then what you are looking at is nutrient rich foods, vs. foods that lack nutrients.

Like your example..cheetos vs. broccoli....

Not to mention, you consume a lot more calories quicker eating cheetos than what you can eating broccoli (talking steamed or raw here).

so there have been a lot of not so nice posts here... You might also want to look up BMR and TDEE (BMR what your body needs to stay alive more or less) and TDEE (BMR plus activity) - depending on your weight height activity..., none of these are perfect and exact but it might help

As for what you are doing now - if you are TRULY not hungry and have TONS of energy - I wouldn't fret too much

One thing is you may find somedays you aren't really hungry maybe others you are - so listen to your body (as it sounds like you are.... ) and see how it goes after a few weeks

depending on what exercise you are doing and how your body changes you may find over time that you are hungrier (if you begin adding muscle mass) but it sounds like you are listening to your body so kudos....

There are most definitely reasons to keep to *at least* 1200 cals, especially if you want energy and to live a long and healthy life.

See this article: http://www.shape.com/healthy-eating/diet-tips/10-things-you-dont-know-about-calories

"Women should not consume less than 1,200 calories a day," Brownell cautions. In fact, a diet below 1,000 calories a day (called a very low-calorie diet or VLCD) increases your risk for gallstones and heart problems and should be followed only by obese people under a doctor's supervision. While you can drop to 1,200 calories per day and survive, doing so is not a smart idea. Going for a bare-minimum caloric intake may yield quick results, but it also can leave you listless and unable to exercise (key to keeping the pounds off), and may lead to muscle loss and a slowing of your metabolism. Even if you're careful about what you eat, a daily intake of 1,200 calories can shortchange you on important nutrients such as calcium and folate.

Great article! thanks for posting

You have to treat the question of how you gained weight in the first place as something of a Zen koan. It's not meant to put you down or question your truthiness, but to get you to think about all the possible food options that you used to eat that could be reincorporated into your diet now to boost your calories. It's very common for dieters to cut out all the foods they consider "bad" and be left struggling to reach 1200 calories. There's a balance to be found somewhere between your old diet and your new one.

You have to treat the question of how you gained weight in the first place as something of a Zen koan. It's not meant to put you down or question your truthiness, but to get you to think about all the possible food options that you used to eat that could be reincorporated into your diet now to boost your calories. It's very common for dieters to cut out all the foods they consider "bad" and be left struggling to reach 1200 calories. There's a balance to be found somewhere between your old diet and your new one.

Absolutely I agree it is about balance and I know that is something I need to get better at. However, many of the people mentioning how overweight I am and questioning how I managed to get here have just been downright rude about it and there's no need for that imo.

You were totally missing the point. The point was you can totally eat 1200 calories, if we couldn't we wouldn't have weight to lose. That was their point.