less than 1200?

hey,
I am quite small. Less than 5 feet but I still need at least 1200.
I think that this is the lowest recomended caloric intake for most people that will be able to provide all the nutrients that we need. I am not very sure but I think that is why most of us are supposed to aim for at least 1200.

Are you in total eating 1200 calories? As if you burn 300-600 calories a day then in an ideal situation you should be eating those back too. Your body burns on average 1500-1650 calories a day, so a 1200 calorie intake should see you loose some weight, but that is based on the assumption that you do no exercise. If you are doing exercise, then you should be eating back at least some of those calories or your body may have a net calorie intake on less than 1000 which could make it go into starvation mode and that slows down weight loss as it tries to retain the food you have eaten. There are lots of forum post on this site about this. I burn about 200-300 calories a day, but then I take in 1400-1500 a day in food to make up for that, and I am losing weight, albeit slowly but it is still going at a healthy pace.

I've been doing 1200 calories per day, excercising (hard) alot, and keeping a close eye on my salt intake. I am losing only 0.5-1 lb per week. I thought with my plan I would be losing at least 2 lbs per week. Why is the minimum calories one should consume in a day 1200, when everyone is of such different sizes? Why is a woman who is 5'9" and Ideal weight somewhere between 130-150 (random guess) have the same minimum calorie standard as someone like me, who's 5'2" whose ideal weight would be 100-115?
So, I guess my real question is, should I drop my intake to 1000/day to see better results? seeing as I am a smaller person than alot of women who plan to eat 1200? Seems like larger people burn more calories...

No, definitely don't go below 1200 ...
So are you including the calories burned during exercising to your 1200 calorie count??

I'm not sure what you mean, but I literally eat/drink no more than 1200 calories per day, and burn 300-600 calories at the gym 4-5 days/week.

Then you're not doing it right. You need to back the calories you burn from exercise. So if you burn 300-600, you need to eat that on top of the 1200 you already eat. You're not losing like you want to because you're not giving your body enough calories. Your body thinks it is starving, so it slows down your metabolism to store energy and fat. If you eat more, you'll see better results.

I've had the same battle recently & saw a nutritionist who looked at my diary and said I was not eating enough to match the large amount of exercise! My body has gone into "famine/starvation". What that means is that my body is now hanging on tightly to whatever fat stores I have because it thinks I am not feeding it enough. My metabolism has therefore slowed making it even harder to lose the weight.

So I have to now consciously eat 5-6 small meals a day (ie every few hours) so I set my watch to remind me. I have a piece of fruit, chopped carrot, nuts or yoghurt mid-morning & mid-afternoon and this helps me keep at minimum 1200 calories per day. Hopefully my metabolism will pick up again & I will be able to lose the weight.

It is a hurdle that will be overcome. Try eating more frequently (but smaller meals if need be) and your weight should readjust & start losing again. Don't forget too that muscle is heavier than fat so as you tone up, you might not show less on the scales but you will in the measuring tape & the fit of your clothes.

And definitely don't go below 1200 calories.

Cheers!

I have spent way too much time going below 1200 thinking that would accelerate any results and FINALLY it stuck in my head how wrong that logic is. Back when I first started dieting (ever!), it worked for a month, but now that I recall I actually started losing more weight faster when my diet was over (I was working out and eating 1200 cal/day (not including my burned cal so I was actually only getting 700 cal/ 5 days a week) to get ready for a theater performance) and I ate whatever but relatively healthy. Which just goes along with the idea that results come when your body gets the food it needs. Now I cant even attempt the 1200 cal thing bc my body automatically decides its in starvation mode. I can maybe do it for a week, but I get tired and cranky and my body is like "Don't even try it body, I'm gonna hang on to it all.". It's just no fun to deprive yourself. My metabolism is very testy from all the yo yo dieting I've done. Now I am finally fueling my body properly in accordance to my workouts and I feel great. I have so much more energy to work out and in four days lost a pound already! Also my metabolism must really be ramped up given I automatically get hungry every 2 hours. It almost gets sort of annoying lol. So i would totally agree and say as scary as it sounds sometimes to know you have to eat more and it seems to conflict our twisted logic that we must eat less to lose, eat the 1200 with the added burned calories and see what happens. It wouldn't hurt to try. I am pretty sure that you will see results.

Good luck