Yes, 1200 calorie diets work!
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I too am on a 1200 calorie diet. That was the amt that MFP suggested when I input that I wanted to lose 2lbs per week. Reading this is freaking me out, so I changed it to 1.5lbs per week. I'm 26 and 5'4...I have lost 26lbs in a little over 3 month and honestly have 40-50lbs to go to be at a healthy weight. I don't eat back my workout calories, except on the weekends. You guys are scaring me! I'd rather be fat fat than skinny fat! ew.0
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Anytime I see the haters going on about low calorie diets, I just remember all of the times the SAME PEOPLE flame others because " they can just eat a deficit to lose weight"
mmhmm...
I'm confused about how these things supposedly don't work together. What part of 'you need a deficit' to lose weight doesn't work with 'Low calorie diets are usually unneeded?'0 -
I am one of those tiny people and I have tried my absolute BEST to stick to the 1200 - it has always worked before.... But EXCEPT for the one time I really needed to lose a huge amount of weight (a bad marriage.... I had never weighed that much before and never have since), I have never needed to sustain the deprivation for more than a few weeks....
I am vegetarian and do not eat junk.
Last year, I had several injuries that left me unable to work out very much PLUS I was in school, so I gained 15 lbs - this is pretty significant for a small person. I managed to take off 11 of the pounds using the 1200 calorie method. But - you know what? I am SICK OF IT! TOTALY SICK OF IT and tired of blaming myself for "binging" when I eat (OH MY GOODNESS!) 1400 calories on a day when I am working out....
So. I am going to try something new. For the remaining 4 pounds, I am going to use the TDEE method, which, in MFP terms, means I am going to start eating back those exercise calories. I have a hunch that the subtle shift in psychology is going to really help me not to feel so ANGRY all the time!
So, OP, please do whatever it is you need to do! I NEVER lost muscle at 1200 calories, but I am very small. And, for a small person, I lift fairly heavy and increase almost every week.
So - I would never ever judge ANYONE for finding what works for them.
Best of luck, Everyone!0 -
just to reemphasize....
He was only on 1200 to get started, so that doesn't really prove that 1200 diets work sense one of the huge points of them is that they are not sustainable.
The OP still has weight to lose and still hasn't had to maintain which can often be harder than losing.
None of these show that 1200 calorie diets work.
Misleading thread title is misleading.
copy cat
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That's how I am feeling. Feeling frustrated I stopped looking on here. Lol. But last week I replaced eating breads and chips with vegtables, dairy and meats. With everything I eat, I was just reading that I'm not eating enough calories though I'm already full already. I use to not eat at all and then devour a venti mocha and eat hoards of carbs for dinner. Not anymore.
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just to reemphasize....
He was only on 1200 to get started, so that doesn't really prove that 1200 diets work sense one of the huge points of them is that they are not sustainable.
The OP still has weight to lose and still hasn't had to maintain which can often be harder than losing.
None of these show that 1200 calorie diets work.
Misleading thread title is misleading.
post inspired by Iron_Feline
copy cat
Fixed my post for you
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This, although blunt, is correct. 1200 is barely enough to survive on especially the heavier you are. I did the 1200 calorie diet. I lost weight. I felt like ****. I was SKINNY FAT! All I did was cardio because I didn't have enough energy to lift weights. Nutrient dense, whole, clean foods, water, cardio & weight training are the way to lose weight & be healthy. If you really want to get healthy seek the advice of a licensed nutritionist. Best wishes & good luck on your path to health & wellness :flowerforyou:So in...
Okay OP..you are a 29 year old man eating less than 1200 calories of course you are losing weight but you are also losing fat and muscle...congrats to you.
In the long term you will notice the following as well...
Low energy
Lethargy
brittle nails and hair
Hunger cues will diminish
Your metabolism is going to slow eventually too
You will do damage to your heart and muscles
You will not be able to exercise much
And then...you will break...you will eat a wad of food
Long term you become nutrient deficient, your metabolism will adapt and make it hard to lose weight, your bones will become brittle due to lack of muscle...
But hey you lost weight...good on you.
As for the will power...naw...my goal is to be healthy and happy not weak, lethargic, unhealthy and skinny with no muscle mass...
Self control means eating as much as I can while I still lose weight not as little as possible as a form of self punishment for gaining weight.
There is no way as a man at 1200 calories you are getting in adequate nutrition...1200 is the bare min for a woman ...
But hey do what works for you...flay yourself as much as you want, don't learn to eat all food in moderation and when you come off this 1200 calorie a day diet and go back to "normal" and gain your weight back because you didn't learn moderation in all foods only self deprevation you will understand why there are those of us who say no to 1200...
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I too am on a 1200 calorie diet. That was the amt that MFP suggested when I input that I wanted to lose 2lbs per week. Reading this is freaking me out, so I changed it to 1.5lbs per week. I'm 26 and 5'4...I have lost 26lbs in a little over 3 month and honestly have 40-50lbs to go to be at a healthy weight. I don't eat back my workout calories, except on the weekends. You guys are scaring me! I'd rather be fat fat than skinny fat! ew.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1175494-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
Read the link - don't freak out :drinker:0 -
I know I will be trolled and flamed for posting this message but I am sick and tired of everyones high horse mentality when it comes to calorie counts. 1200 calories, if done correctly, is more than sufficient.
I began my journey January 1, 2014. I just completed 5 months and have lost over 55 pounds. I went from 280 to 225 and I feel great. Average calorie count is 1050 with an initial goal of 1200. After a few months, I moved my goal to 1400 and now I am at 1600. Yes, if you plan on just eating a cheeseburger at 1000 calories for the day, your screwed and will harm yourself. But let me give you an idea of my meals.
Breakfast is high protein egg sandwich OR oatmeal and high fiber toast. Either one is about 300 calories. Lunch is a special K protein bar at 170 calories. Dinner is either chicken breast with rice (370 calories), Large Baked potato with veggies (about 500 calories) or an extra large salad (350 calories). You see, at the end of the day, I have ample protein and fiber, good source of fuel (Carbs) and come in under 1000 calories. This leaves me some wiggle room if I want a small (and smart) dessert, some fruit with my lunch, or anything else. You see, I picked HEALTHY, LOW CALORIE foods to fill me up.
I will repeat. 1200 calorie diets, eating garbage, will allow you to lose weight but you will not feel good. But 1200 calorie diets that are low calorie, high nutrient food is a great way to lose the weight and keep it off.
Someone here will complain about my use of a protein bar. Many argue they are candy bars on steroids. They are meal replacements, quite tasty and have good nutrients (fiber and protein being the main ones). Regardless, you can not argue with the results. This diet has allowed me to lose over 55 pounds in 21 weeks. Right now, I average a weight loss of 1.2 pounds a week!
So before you all chastise someone for asking about a 1200 calorie diet, troll someone who supports the 1200 calorie diet, or even worse, name call (eating disorder, stupid, unhealthy) those who use the diet, take a look in the mirror. Why do you hate the low calorie diet so much? I think if you are honest with yourself, you will realize that is comes down to will power. Doing 1200 calories is the hardest diet out there. You go to bed hungry for the first few weeks before your body adjusts. Many don't make it past the first few days. So although I applaud those of you who are eating better and losing 0.2 or 0.4 pounds a week because you think everyone needs to eat 2000 calories and just exercises the deficit off, I wish you would applaud those of us who have the will power to change and who are losing 1.5 to 2 pounds a week because we refuse to listen to those who say it can't be done....
Let the trolling and flaming begin....
1600 cals guys. He lost substantial amount of weight I'm guessing at 1200 cals and now he is at 1600 obviously tweaking things to get what works best for him. I'm at 1250 cals and often don't eat back my exercise cals and I'm doing just fine. I lift weights a couple times a week, yoga once a week, run a couple times a week and with summer here I'll probably start swimming too. If he says it worked for him that's great and I'm totally supportive of that. Do what works for you and you only. Congrats OP :flowerforyou:0 -
just to reemphasize....
He was only on 1200 to get started, so that doesn't really prove that 1200 diets work sense one of the huge points of them is that they are not sustainable.
The OP still has weight to lose and still hasn't had to maintain which can often be harder than losing.
None of these show that 1200 calorie diets work.
Misleading thread title is misleading.
post inspired by Iron_Feline
copy cat
Fixed my post for you
:smooched:0 -
This diet has allowed me to lose over 55 pounds in 21 weeks. Right now, I average a weight loss of 1.2 pounds a week!
Then I doubt your "1200" calories is actually 1200 calories. I am averaging about a 1.3 pound loss per week currently and I eat about 2100 calories a day AND I'm smaller than you.0 -
MFP has me at a 1270 calorie a day goal and I am so torn with this because I want to lose weight but I don't want to sacrifice good fats and higher protein meals. I don't know how to eat higher fat more nutrient dense foods (avocados, nuts, etc.) and stay below at 1270. I am a 5'9" 230 pound woman. I'm not hungry eating this little and I am eating, I actually eat 5 times a day but I wouldn't say that I am satisfied. I also exercise and get about 500-1000 calorie burn days 5 times a week but believe me I eat those calories back. After reading a lot of these posts I'm now afraid I'm hurting my body? I get so lost with what is best and then I just get discouraged. 0
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MFP has me at a 1270 calorie a day goal and I am so torn with this because I want to lose weight but I don't want to sacrifice good fats and higher protein meals. I don't know how to eat higher fat more nutrient dense foods (avocados, nuts, etc.) and stay below at 1270. I am a 5'9" 230 pound woman. I'm not hungry eating this little and I am eating, I actually eat 5 times a day but I wouldn't say that I am satisfied. I also exercise and get about 500-1000 calorie burn days 5 times a week but believe me I eat those calories back. After reading a lot of these posts I'm now afraid I'm hurting my body? I get so lost with what is best and then I just get discouraged.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1175494-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
Please read this :flowerforyou:0 -
1200 calories, if done correctly, is more than sufficient.
Yes, it is. There is no particular challenge meeting nutritional requirements inside that caloric budget.0 -
I too am on a 1200 calorie diet. That was the amt that MFP suggested when I input that I wanted to lose 2lbs per week. Reading this is freaking me out, so I changed it to 1.5lbs per week. I'm 26 and 5'4...I have lost 26lbs in a little over 3 month and honestly have 40-50lbs to go to be at a healthy weight. I don't eat back my workout calories, except on the weekends. You guys are scaring me! I'd rather be fat fat than skinny fat! ew.
Amen to not being "skinny fat"!! Keep in mind too that you are female and 5'4" on 1200 calories, but this guy is MALE and probably has at least several inches on you, which means his eating 1200 would be about equivalent to you eating like 800. That's just not healthy or sustainable - and if you can't sustain it then what's the point?!0 -
I know I will be trolled and flamed for posting this message but I am sick and tired of everyones high horse mentality when it comes to calorie counts. 1200 calories, if done correctly, is more than sufficient.
I began my journey January 1, 2014. I just completed 5 months and have lost over 55 pounds. I went from 280 to 225 and I feel great. Average calorie count is 1050 with an initial goal of 1200. After a few months, I moved my goal to 1400 and now I am at 1600. Yes, if you plan on just eating a cheeseburger at 1000 calories for the day, your screwed and will harm yourself. But let me give you an idea of my meals.
Breakfast is high protein egg sandwich OR oatmeal and high fiber toast. Either one is about 300 calories. Lunch is a special K protein bar at 170 calories. Dinner is either chicken breast with rice (370 calories), Large Baked potato with veggies (about 500 calories) or an extra large salad (350 calories). You see, at the end of the day, I have ample protein and fiber, good source of fuel (Carbs) and come in under 1000 calories. This leaves me some wiggle room if I want a small (and smart) dessert, some fruit with my lunch, or anything else. You see, I picked HEALTHY, LOW CALORIE foods to fill me up.
I will repeat. 1200 calorie diets, eating garbage, will allow you to lose weight but you will not feel good. But 1200 calorie diets that are low calorie, high nutrient food is a great way to lose the weight and keep it off.
Someone here will complain about my use of a protein bar. Many argue they are candy bars on steroids. They are meal replacements, quite tasty and have good nutrients (fiber and protein being the main ones). Regardless, you can not argue with the results. This diet has allowed me to lose over 55 pounds in 21 weeks. Right now, I average a weight loss of 1.2 pounds a week!
So before you all chastise someone for asking about a 1200 calorie diet, troll someone who supports the 1200 calorie diet, or even worse, name call (eating disorder, stupid, unhealthy) those who use the diet, take a look in the mirror. Why do you hate the low calorie diet so much? I think if you are honest with yourself, you will realize that is comes down to will power. Doing 1200 calories is the hardest diet out there. You go to bed hungry for the first few weeks before your body adjusts. Many don't make it past the first few days. So although I applaud those of you who are eating better and losing 0.2 or 0.4 pounds a week because you think everyone needs to eat 2000 calories and just exercises the deficit off, I wish you would applaud those of us who have the will power to change and who are losing 1.5 to 2 pounds a week because we refuse to listen to those who say it can't be done....
Let the trolling and flaming begin....
1600 cals guys. He lost substantial amount of weight I'm guessing at 1200 cals and now he is at 1600 obviously tweaking things to get what works best for him. I'm at 1250 cals and often don't eat back my exercise cals and I'm doing just fine. If he says it worked for him that's great and I'm totally supportive of that. Do what works for you and you only. Congrats OP :flowerforyou:
I get so sick of hearing "do what works for you". Not singling you out, but hell, smoke some meth. That'll work too. Doesn't mean it's right. Obviously this isn't that extreme, but most consider 1200 to be unhealthy for a 29 year old male. Not sure how supporting someone on something that could be damaging their body is actually "support".
Granted, this thread isn't even close to that as it really wasn't a 1200 calorie diet to begin with and hasn't shown success with a 1200 calorie diet at all, but still.0 -
In!0
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MFP has me at a 1270 calorie a day goal and I am so torn with this because I want to lose weight but I don't want to sacrifice good fats and higher protein meals. I don't know how to eat higher fat more nutrient dense foods (avocados, nuts, etc.) and stay below at 1270. I am a 5'9" 230 pound woman. I'm not hungry eating this little and I am eating, I actually eat 5 times a day but I wouldn't say that I am satisfied. I also exercise and get about 500-1000 calorie burn days 5 times a week but believe me I eat those calories back. After reading a lot of these posts I'm now afraid I'm hurting my body? I get so lost with what is best and then I just get discouraged.
If you are eating back your exercise calories 5 days a week, you are eating more than 1200 calories on a pretty regular basis. Most people warn against eating just 1200 calories especially when exercising.
But if you have your weight loss goal set to 2lbs a week, you could probably drop down to 1.5 lbs a week (I think your ticker shows 68 lbs to go, usually 2lbs a week is for people with a goal of over 75lbs tolose).0 -
MFP has me at a 1270 calorie a day goal and I am so torn with this because I want to lose weight but I don't want to sacrifice good fats and higher protein meals. I don't know how to eat higher fat more nutrient dense foods (avocados, nuts, etc.) and stay below at 1270. I am a 5'9" 230 pound woman.
100g protein, 50g fat, 100g carbs -> 1250 calories. Swap some carbs for fats, if that's your preference, as long as what you eat back from exercising has a solid carb component.
Plenty of everything.0 -
1200 works and is ok for a short time I think but it's not sustainable. If you continue you'll end up looking and feeling like ****.
I thought this was about getting fit and healthy and changing our lifestyles and habits? I guess for some people it's just about getting skinny.0
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