Busting the myth that 1200 calories is enough

Dunno, if it were me and I kept putting back on all the weight I'd lost, I'd be thinking it might be an idea to try something different next time. In fact, I did do that lol. Mistakes are there to be learned from.
What have you got to lose by eating more than 1200? It might mean you find it much easier to stick to it and enjoy it more, have more energy for workouts etc and keep the weight off longer term next time around. And, I'd say probably less likely to feel the need to binge as your body is not screaming at you for food it probably actually needs to function.

How about looking at your behavior AFTER you lost the weight, rather than how you lost the weight? How is it at all rational to think that how you chose to lose weight will somehow alter your future behavior?

Yes there are optimal ways to cut weight that help preserve lean body mass and other good things, but the almost certainly the reasons people regain weight are not because they lost weight in a slightly less optimal way. If I lose 5% more lean body mass on my cut due to a less optimal diet, yes my TDEE will decrease slightly - but that's a trivial amount of calories compared to someone reverting to their old habits, binge eating and the like. And while there are examples of people who have damaged their bodies through yo-yo dieting, the cases in which this damage causes weight regain is incredibly small (if not nonexistent). Just my own opinion, but I think too many people want to blame the diets they followed in the past (which worked just fine for their intended purpose of dropping weight), rather than taking responsibility for their actions (or inaction) that led to them regaining weight.

I thought this article was very interesting and insightful.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/iris-higgins/an-open-apology-to-all-of_b_3762714.html

Well I am not sorry I am on 1200 calories per day, do running, some weights and work fulltime. I am not sorry that I am losing weight. I am not sorry that I feel full of energy. I am not sorry that I eat 100% better than I used to when I ate many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many calories.

I am not sorry.

That is all I have to say really....

I am not sorry.

:drinker:

you probably will be eventually :flowerforyou:
good luck on your journey.

Well not really, this is my third flipping time doing 1200 calories, the first time I lost 33lbs, the second time 41lbs, and now this time.

I put weight back on because of my abyssmal lack of control for eating crap LOL!

I never regretted before and I don't this time

Don't you think you might have better control if you didn't deprive yourself and ate more?

I DID eat more, hence why I put the weight back on.

i wonder if this person ever ended up keeping their weight off with a 1200 cal diet, would be interesting to see since obviously they didnt see what was wrong with this picture in the first place

on an unrelated note WHO BUMPED THE ZOMBIE THREAD

It was bumped because someone took offense to the use of the word "gramma." Hopefully the person who originally used that word got the message almost a year later. :drinker:

I thought this article was very interesting and insightful.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/iris-higgins/an-open-apology-to-all-of_b_3762714.html

Well I am not sorry I am on 1200 calories per day, do running, some weights and work fulltime. I am not sorry that I am losing weight. I am not sorry that I feel full of energy. I am not sorry that I eat 100% better than I used to when I ate many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many calories.

I am not sorry.

That is all I have to say really....

I am not sorry.

:drinker:

you probably will be eventually :flowerforyou:
good luck on your journey.

Well not really, this is my third flipping time doing 1200 calories, the first time I lost 33lbs, the second time 41lbs, and now this time.

I put weight back on because of my abyssmal lack of control for eating crap LOL!

I never regretted before and I don't this time

Hmm... I wonder how many times you are going to go through this cycle without regretting it

What I find ironic about the article is that she is apologizing for what she considers misleading and poor dieting advice because she really wasn't educated enough to be doing so, then she says this:

"I'm sorry because it's only years later that I realize just how unhealthy a 1,200 calorie diet was. I stayed on a 1,200-1,500 calorie diet for years, so I have the proof in myself. Thyroid issues, mood swings, depression, headaches... oh and gluten intolerance that seemed to "kick in" after about a month of eating the pre-packaged food. Was it a coincidence? Maybe."

Yet another uneducated statement not based on fact, but on her own personal opinion of what caused her thyroid issues, gluten intolerance etc.

clearly she just can't stop giving advice on the subject of dieting!

Damnit I have zombie threads. That's twice today

I thought this article was very interesting and insightful.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/iris-higgins/an-open-apology-to-all-of_b_3762714.html

Well I am not sorry I am on 1200 calories per day, do running, some weights and work fulltime. I am not sorry that I am losing weight. I am not sorry that I feel full of energy. I am not sorry that I eat 100% better than I used to when I ate many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many calories.

I am not sorry.

That is all I have to say really....

I am not sorry.

:drinker:

you probably will be eventually :flowerforyou:
good luck on your journey.

Well not really, this is my third flipping time doing 1200 calories, the first time I lost 33lbs, the second time 41lbs, and now this time.

I put weight back on because of my abyssmal lack of control for eating crap LOL!

I never regretted before and I don't this time

Doesn't take Inspector Gadget to figure this mystery out.

The article notwithstanding, I don't see a problem with taking in 1200 calories for a finite amount of time as long as your doctor has no issue with it.

All this is going to do is force your body to burn whatever is in your glycogen store, fat, protein, etc forcing you to drop in weight. Of course your metabolism should also slow down to compensate.

As long as you are aware of what you are doing and there's no impact to your health, 1200 or whatever arbitrary number of calories/day should be no problem.

The article's author may or may not have cause to apologize. That is for them to decide and should not be taken as an absolute conclusion.

[/quote]

"Opened my diary, nothing to hide here. But than again I'm not making claims that other's are hangry or under nourished. Nope, I don't eat one meal daily , and yea, I'm a grandmother ~ was that meant to be some kind of insult??

What would make you reply with nastiness like "whatever crap I stuff my face with"? SMH :noway: . Simply because I questioned how would your couple/few hundred more calories prevent 1200/day'ers from sustaining weight loss? As I suggested, that could be simple as couple pieces of buttered toast to bring my calories up to yours ~ doesn't seem all that dramatic to cause high risk to gain in maintenance."
[/quote]

This was quite a graceful reply to what was I think intended to be quite a snarky comeback. Kudos to you, "grandma." :flowerforyou:

Everyone who posted some version of "live and let live" and "everyone's metabolism is different" is right on point, IMO. What I don't understand is the level of anger directed at those of us who are shorter/older/slower metabolized or whatever than average. Sheesh. It stands to reason that if you're "one of those" who succeeds on a 1200 (or whatever) calorie plan you should keep doing what is obviously working for you! Isn't it obvious that numeric goals aren't somehow imbued with magical powers, and that MFP's (or any website's) calculations aren't always 100% accurate. But whatever. If you're reading these posts and blowing your top at random people (and grandmas) on the internet, then yes you should probably go eat something. Hangriness is a real thing, regardless of one's calorie goals. :laugh:

Edited: Not sure how to quote, but did my best.