1200 Calories a day. Good or Bad?

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abray84
abray84 Posts: 55
in Health and Weight Loss
I have heard taking in 1200 calories a day is not enough and eventually your body will start storing the fat. I don't know if this is accurate. MFP tells me in order to get to the weight I want to get at 1200 calories works for me. What is everybody's thoughts on this? Is 1200 calories enough a day?
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  • autumn13
    autumn13 Posts: 295
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    bumpo!!!!
  • abray84
    abray84 Posts: 55
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    Love my Autumn!!!!
  • staceyo1211
    staceyo1211 Posts: 163
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    MFP set my cals at 1250. Your net intake should be at least 1200, if its under that is when your body goes into starvation mode. You can go over 1200 but dont go over what MFP set as your goal or you will gain weight. Also eat back your exercise calories or you will get stuck. I wasnt eating them back and when I started doing that I lost 2 pound in a week.
  • SlimmingSarah
    SlimmingSarah Posts: 74
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    Im dropping plenty of weight and Im eating below the 1200 mark some days. Its a matter of eating allot of low calorie foods. So instead of eating one or two really high calorie meals, I can eat like 6 low cal, low carb meals.
  • mjf0461
    mjf0461 Posts: 470 Member
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    Depends on your body size and how much working out your doing, basically your activity level.. You definetly don't want to be in the starvation mode on a regular basis. As a Paramedic/RN it was always said that no one should really be under 1400 calories a day. But MFP had me beginning at 1220 and I changed mine, cause I knew it was to low for me....
  • abray84
    abray84 Posts: 55
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    Thanks for the input ladies!!!
  • TuscanySun
    TuscanySun Posts: 3,608 Member
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    I've been told that while losing weight its ok for me to have net calories at 1200, but that once I'm at goal, in order to maintain, I'm probably going to be around 1500.

    I would not go below 1200....thats the absolute minimum I've gotten from my Dr. and many other resources.
  • waverly9876
    waverly9876 Posts: 605 Member
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    Im at 1200 calories. There are some days that I go under but Im eating healthy.. I have lost 10 lbs. Once I get to my goal , or around it, I will move up to 1450 calories.
  • abray84
    abray84 Posts: 55
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    I've been told that while losing weight its ok for me to have net calories at 1200, but that once I'm at goal, in order to maintain, I'm probably going to be around 1500.

    I would not go below 1200....thats the absolute minimum I've gotten from my Dr. and many other resources.



    Thanks...I'm glad that you got that advice from a Dr. It helps to hear that
  • kwrecks
    kwrecks Posts: 82 Member
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    MFP set my cals at 1250. Your net intake should be at least 1200, if its under that is when your body goes into starvation mode. You can go over 1200 but dont go over what MFP set as your goal or you will gain weight. Also eat back your exercise calories or you will get stuck. I wasnt eating them back and when I started doing that I lost 2 pound in a week.

    Okay, so you are supposed to eat back your exercise calories? The whole net calories thing confuses me, because I've heard that you should try to get your net to 0, but when I exercise, those calories get added into my calories that I can eat for the day. So, do I try to keep my net at 0 and burn as many calories as I eat, or do I eat my calories plus whatever calories i burn?
  • gigigee
    gigigee Posts: 26 Member
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    I think you need 1400 calories/day to stay at max BMR. I am doing this MFP with 2 other women in my office, and we have all adjusted our calories to 1400 (per MD's orders!) because 1200 is really too low to consistently maintain. If we exercise, we ADD that to the calories per day, to end at zero. Good luck!
  • jaded42
    jaded42 Posts: 14 Member
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    My doctor told me to stick with a 1200 calorie diet...When I signed up for MFP it also said 1200 calories...So..thats what i stick to..Ive gone over a couple times but most days Im right under and pretty close to the 1200 suggested....but I do my best to stick to 1200...It really depends on your size when you start and the total you need to lose...If I did more than 1200 calories I would be gaining...So far on 1200 Im doing great and I dont feel hungry or tired...You cant only go by caloric intake though..you also have to burn calories to lose weight....Without exercise..its not gonna work!! Good luck to you!!!
  • judz46
    judz46 Posts: 359 Member
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    [img]:sad:[/img][img][/img]
  • kwrecks
    kwrecks Posts: 82 Member
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    I know for me, I need to eat 1620 calories a day. I have about 100lbs to lose though, so that's probably why my caloric intake is a lot larger than most.
  • WarmDontBurn
    WarmDontBurn Posts: 1,253 Member
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    Eat your NET. MFP calculates a deficit for you.
    If you are eating below your NET you could be creating a deficit too large to do you any good.
  • Dreamerlove
    Dreamerlove Posts: 441 Member
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    I do 1200 a day and only eat half my exercise cals IF I'm hungry, I've lost 13 pounds since dec 1 ( a pound a week). Started @ 150.5 now 137.8 and I'm 5'4.
  • WarmDontBurn
    WarmDontBurn Posts: 1,253 Member
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    RatBoyGL broke it down nicely here :
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/196238-frustrated-consuming-all-of-my-calories-too-many?page=2#posts-2598718

    here is what he said:

    I will use my numbers for an example of how this works.

    My BMR (Daily Burn Rate at REST) is roughly 1900. If you click on Tools at the top of this site, there is a BMR calculator there. These are the amount of cals I will burn in a day if I do NOTHING, as in, sit in a chair. My brain burns this running my body, keeping my heart and lungs going, etc.

    My MFP Daily Set Goal the Site gives me is 1400.

    The 500 calorie deficit is how I lose weight.

    So, now, lets work out! I used an elliptical today and burned 450 calories.

    1900 BMR + 450 Elliptical = 2350 calories I burned today.

    So MFP sets my daily goal at the BMR - 500 + Work Out

    So my daily goal would be 1850 Calories, still 500 below my burn rate for that day.

    That is how it works. This site strives to keep you at the same deficit no matter how much exercise you get.

    Now, the question is, what happens if you eat less than the site tells you? You will hear terms like starvation mode, losing weight took quickly causing loose skin, etc. They are all valid concerns but it is not an exact hard science.

    As long as you are eating more than 1200 calories a day, starvation mode is highly unlikely.

    One suggestion would be to not enter in calories burned for daily things like making the bed. I basically put anything I eat in the site, and then my actual exercise in the site. But I don't try to put every little thing I do in to get max calories.

    Maybe I could be doing better if I did, but I really don't think so. Putting that stuff in would just make my daily goal higher, and I think I am eating plenty.



    Again not mine but I think it explains it better then I ever could!
  • kwrecks
    kwrecks Posts: 82 Member
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    Okay....just so I'm understanding....My goal is 1620. I've burned 720. Even though I've eaten 2165, my net is 1445, and telling me I have 175 calories left to eat. So should I eat those calories? Or should I try to make the net lower by burning more throughout the day?
  • Dreamerlove
    Dreamerlove Posts: 441 Member
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    Okay....just so I'm understanding....My goal is 1620. I've burned 720. Even though I've eaten 2165, my net is 1445, and telling me I have 175 calories left to eat. So should I eat those calories? Or should I try to make the net lower by burning more throughout the day?


    It might be different b/c you want to lose more, but for me, I don't eat my exercise cals back UNLESS I'm hungry and even then I only eat as little as possible or half. I also leave it low, incase I'm off in counting. Also I have one day week, whatever day I want where I don't count cals. Sometimes I binge and sometimes I do great. Try searching for friends who have started out at your weight and have accomplished their goals, and follow them.

    btw eating 1200 for me, I don't get hungry as long as I eat small things often, only whole grains, no salt, 70 oz of h20, LOTS of protein. Keep up the good work! Do you wear HRM, it's better so you know exactly how much you've burned, I think MFP lies.
  • WarmDontBurn
    WarmDontBurn Posts: 1,253 Member
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    Okay....just so I'm understanding....My goal is 1620. I've burned 720. Even though I've eaten 2165, my net is 1445, and telling me I have 175 calories left to eat. So should I eat those calories? Or should I try to make the net lower by burning more throughout the day?

    Yes. Since MFP calculates a deficit you don't have to. Now being that you are set to 1620 I am not sure it is such a stressor. My goal is set to 1560 and if I am a bit under I don't panic, it is those set to 1200 that go below that run into trouble since 1200 is usually a bare minimum to begin with. If you are hungry and want a snack then ya but if you are done for the night I wouldn't sweat it. I am new to the higher intake as I just upped my calories a few days ago.

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