New Here. What does 1200 calories look like?

May I ask how tall you are? 1200 is pretty low. You may not need to restrict that much based on you going down a bit of weight at 2000. Maybe try 1600 for a couple weeks and see where that gets you or use the calculator on MFP. Or Google the TDEE method. A lot of people like that method.

I generally eat 2 meals of around 500 calories (so something like a largish baked chicken breast or smaller steak (the frozen chicken breasts I buy are about 250 g (raw) each and I've never seen bigger ones) with 1/2 cup to 2/3 cup of cooked rice and a cup of steamed veggies and a sauce or cheese - probably not both unless they're in small quantities) and then I snack or have a breakfast for the remaining amount (but I eat about 1400 - 1600 a day). If you were topping off 2-500 cal meals, you could have a small breakfast of maybe a yogurt, a small apple, and a coffee with a splash of milk. In other words, at 1200 calories a day, you probably don't get 3 meals and snacks. More like 2 meals and one smaller snack. Or maybe 3 small meals and no snacks at all. Eating out? One restaurant meal (that you've found to be lower cal on their website) and a small meal nearly the size of a snack...

It's hard to describe what it looks like because it depends what you like to eat! The best thing is to use the recipe calculator here to see how your personal cooking turns out, calorie wise. Another example might be that you eat a homemade burger at like... 800 calories and then adjust your other meals accordingly. Or maybe you went to McDonald's and thought their chicken Caesar salad would be a good idea. Until you see that the salad without dressing is something like 450 calories and the dressing is 260 (I could be a bit off). Food "looks" can be deceiving.

You might feel a bit deprived at 1200. Eating out will be a bit of a trouble since eating out I generally find restaurant meals are no less than 800 calories, many more like 1500. But you could have a light 2nd meal those days of a lean fish and fresh/steamed veggies (such as basa or tuna, but salmon has a bit more calories). Then try to get some exercise in. If you decide to go 1200 calories, protein, fiber, and fat are your friends. Fluffier carb food might leave you feeling hungry (like white breads, pastry, for me potatoes... not that I'm against those things, but I just find they wear off fast when hunger is an issue).

Also if you start lifting (heavy) weights now (eg. Stronglifts 5x5), it's a good idea since you can retain more muscle (as a person diets, both fat and muscle is typically lost). Plus then when you're done losing weight, you'll have a more muscular look (I don't mean super buff though haha) and I've heard some people say lifting weights helps minimize the look of their loose skin.

And make sure to give calorie restriction at least month! It's hard to get used to and seems hard, but it get easier after that (maybe sooner).

You probably don't need to do 1200, certainly not if you are losing a little on 2000. I'd try 1600 or so.

However, I think 1200 is an appropriate level for some people, and I did it when I first started (my diary is open, so look at March and April if you want to see what it looked like). I'm much more active now, though also much smaller, so am doing 1650.

1600 sounds right. Maybe work your way lower if need be. But damn 1200 is low.

skahshiriki wrote: »

It actually doesn't look as bad as you think. Though I was told 1,300 calories the first time I started dieting a few months back. Just think about it. If you're losing weight on 2000 calories, think about how much you'd lose on 1,200!

Wow, totally solid advice. NOT.

OP - listen to previous advice and good luck!

skahshiriki wrote: »

It actually doesn't look as bad as you think. Though I was told 1,300 calories the first time I started dieting a few months back. Just think about it. If you're losing weight on 2000 calories, think about how much you'd lose on 1,200!

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bonniemasson wrote: »

The simple sciencefitness website is amazing though!

The0dora07 wrote: »

To
Also, don't forget your protein intake. That has to be pretty high.. 0.8-1gram/protein per body weight. Check out http://simplesciencefitness.com/. It's helped me tremendously and it's a wealth of knowledge!

Thanks for that link The0dora07!

You're welcome! It is a great site!

karenkasbi wrote: »

I've been eating a 1200 calorie diet for the past five months. I lost around 50 pounds without exercise. I never did any data entry on MFP as far as what I'm eating but my breakfast is a banana, snacks are a granola bar and carrots, not more than 100 calories. Lunch is a type of protein the size of the palm of my hand or whatever I've cooked that day and dinner is usually greek yogurt with black berries or cranberries. Sometimes I skip dinner altogether. As you see, it's pretty sad but it worked for me. Depends on how your body will react but if you want fast results, cutting down is a good option.

It also depends on how long you'll keep it off once you start eating more calories...

If you're using MFP the way it was designed (vs TDEE), your deficit is already built into your calorie goal. I'm set at 1 lb per week (500 cal/day deficit), and have 1300 calories a day if I don't workout....so that is usually only 1 day a week, maybe 2 if I'm in a taper week before a race or recovery week after a race. I workout the other 6 days a week and burn anywhere from 250 calories to 1000+ calories a day (per my HRM), depending on what my workout for the day was (could be an hour long yoga class, or a 3 hour bike ride). I allow myself to eat back roughly half of my exercise calories. And there are rest days where I eat over the 1300 calories - I just make sure I don't go more than 500 calories over, so I don't completely erase that day's deficit.

HTH