Must I starve to lose?

I'm on 1200 >.<
and I'm struggling badly. I end up eating roughly 1400-1500 instead.
I'm five foot though, and wanting to go from a 115 to a 100 T.T
It's tough at first, but eventually your body will get use to it. I'm eating a ton of carbs so my calorie intake piles quickly.
Try lots of fruits and veggies.

I don't have much more advice to give to you then what everyone else have already said. It sounds like you eat good stuff and not junk already.. If you are really active and very muscular, you probably do need more calories just to exist.

What I DO have to say is I want your bathing suit! It is adorable!! So cute!

hmmm... I know you don't mean "starve" literally, right? 1600-1700 seems like plenty to me, but I'm only 5'3" and I've been doing this a long time. How tall are you? You say you have a "ton" of lean muscle...why is that? Were you a bodybuilder in the past? Are you sure about that? Have you had your BF% tested by a reliable method? I'm pretty muscular myself, but I don't use that as permission to eat more calories. Through lots of trial and error and measuring and weighing and experimenting, I've found my "sweet spot" of 1350 cals to lose about 1 to 1.5 lbs a week on average. Sure I'm hungry before meals...at first it was hard but I've gotten used to it. I've also learned that if I eat plenty of protein and fiber I don't get as hungry as when I eat meals that are heavier in carbs. i.e. I had pancakes for breakfast the other day and my stomach was growling a couple of hours later, whereas an egg or some Greek yogurt will last me to lunchtime.

AGREE

Once you get used to a diet it becomes a habit eat 1500 calories a day I'm 6ft 3 male 216lb and I eat like a king no starving at all its all about the right food choices and loats of protein take a look at my diary and you will see and I'm very active with a extreme training programme

no one on 1500 calories a day eats like a king (unless they are eating one meal a day)

I know where you are coming from with this because I eat the same amount and some days I am literally just still hungry. You know..it's not necessarily bad to feel hungry though when you are losing weight, but if you are feeling weak then something isn't right. Maybe you need more calories because of your busy life style. When I exercise I would usually eat a good amount around 2000 calories or so and I've still lost over 20 lbs in three months. Do whatever is realistic for you and you are going to stick to gal and good luck. I also found that drinking tea or coffee can help suppress hunger or playing a simple game on the computer or something takes my mind off of it.

All the online tools tell me to eat between 1600-1700 cals to lose. Seriously, I cant even get through one day on that?

I weigh 200lbs, but also have a ton of lean muscle. Im quite thin at 150-160. I dont work out much, but I have a pretty active lifestyle.

I eat lots of lean protein and fresh produce and high fiber grains- I eat very clean and healthy & avoid sugar. I also only drink H20. But I still find that if I go below 2000 cals I feel really weak. Must I starve and feel awful to release fat?

You will lose weight when you take in fewer calories than you burn.

How quickly do you want to lose weight?

When I decided to lose weight, I want to lose weight quickly and I ate 800 to 1k cals/net per day for 7 months. I lost 95 pounds and I had a superb weight loss experience. Some folks are comfortable with that approach (including doctors going back at least 40 years).

Other folks, including the good folks at MFP, suggest that you not eat less than 1200 calories per day.

If you really can't sustain a diet of less than 2000 calories, then < 2000 is a moot point - eat your 2000 and accept that it will take a while longer to lose weight.

If you have to stay at that level of calories, what about upping protein (so you feel full longer) and dropping the carbs, which are digested more quickly, hence causing us to feel hungry?

Having said that, if you want to change your weight, you're going to have to induce a caloric deficit. I'm 6' 1" and, with the exception of the calories I eat because I run, I only eat 1995 cals/day.

We all got to be obese because we shoveled in the calories. Sometimes you have to go through some pain to get to the other side, right?

Good luck with this. Lifestyle change can be tough.

All the online tools tell me to eat between 1600-1700 cals to lose. Seriously, I cant even get through one day on that?

Your body certainly can, just fine and without trouble. That is nowhere near "starving" levels of food intake.

Fix your mind, and your body will follow.

First, you might want to make sure you're not actually eating less than that or measuring what you're eating wrong. If that's not the problem, maybe eating 2000 calories is a better goal for you. You probably won't lose weight as fast, but maybe it'll be healthier and make you feel better. I can't imagine you would gain weight or maintain when eating that amount at 200lbs. You could also combine eating 2000 calories with a little extra exercise and that might help you feel less hungry, while still losing weight at the rate you want to.

You may be the type who needs to have small meals every 2 hours. AND, it is super important to accurately measure everything. The portion control and estimating amounts is what kills me. It is such a discipline to weigh each piece of food or put it in a measuring cup.
You need to wright it down . And, to get started, try alternating days with fasting and water, and the next day with a sensible meal plan. Do that one or two weeks only. It trains your stomach to eat less.

My tip would be to snack on raw veggies and fruit. Half a pound - 1 pound of carrots can leave a person very full but be relatively low on calories. I just don't do this the day before I weigh myself. Wouldn't want a pound of carrots sitting in my tummy being the reason I didn't lose as much weight. Note this could work with other veggies. I do tend to find carrots the most filling though.

Haha maybe this is just a weird trick I use on myself? Other people seem to have more scientific responses.