Is 1200 calories enough?

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srogers13990
srogers13990 Posts: 1
in Getting Started
Hello Iv just started dieting , but I'm constantly starving, I'm cutting down on bad things gradually and replacing snacks with fruit and sugar free jelly. However Im always hungry :neutral_face: . Is 1200 calories enough? X

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  • Grannieannie01
    Grannieannie01 Posts: 2 Member
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    It depends on your height and weight and activity level. Are you documenting?try to eat some proteins at each meal. I find that helps to curb the hunger pains. Ask yourself when you reach for something are you really hungry. I tend to brush my teeth after each time I eat a meal and go for hot beverages in between to keep me feeling full. Make yourself a low cal healthy soup and sip on that when you are hungry as well
  • debubbie
    debubbie Posts: 767 Member
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    You should be netting 1200 calories or more each day preferably to avoid any health problems. If you only have 30 pounds or so to go, you need to set your weight loss goal for a pound or less a week as this may give you additional calories to eat each day without feeling starved. As you get closer to your weight loss goal it is harder to lose a lot of weight each week.

    I definitely agree with grannieannie, try to eat more protein at each meal to help you feel fuller longer.
  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
    edited February 2015
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    Not in my world. I tried the 1200 thing - hated it, because like, I was hungry all the time. Turns out my body burns more than 1200 calories just doing nothing all day long, so obviously 1200 isn't enough for me.

    But hard to offer advice without knowing more about you - height, current weight, exercise, goals...?

    Edited to add: peeked at your profile - ticker says you want to lose around 30lbs. So for starters, if you set your weekly loss goal to 2lbs a week, go change it, that's too aggressive for the amount you have to lose. Set it to a half pound, or one pound per week at the most - this will give you a higher daily goal.

    Also, great reading here: So You're New Here
  • holly77az
    holly77az Posts: 17 Member
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    I have been drinking a cup of green tea in between meals and it seems to help
  • KharismaticKayteh
    KharismaticKayteh Posts: 322 Member
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    Oh, man, if I didn't exercise, my TDEE would be at 1400, and I largely choose to exercise regularly to raise my TDEE to around 1600 (and then I get another 200 calories from exercise almost daily, so 1800) because I just hate to eat that little. I mean, some days I'm just not very hungry, so I might barely net over 1200, but most days, guuuuurl, I like to eat.

    Sorry, anyway, 1200 is the most bare minimum a person should eat, really. If you want to lose a lot of weight quickly, do some exercise (and set an exercise goal for yourself on MFP, so it will give you an approximate goal based on a raised TDEE) so you can eat a little more. As mentioned previously, protein is good for feeling full for longer. I believe fiber is good for that too, but I'm not sure (I'm not as well-versed on these things as the most elite of MFP, haha).
  • MelisaSue
    MelisaSue Posts: 4 Member
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    Well is 1200 what mfp put you on based on your height and weight and what you want to loose a wk? And if you do exercises are you logging them into mfp? The more exercises you do, it will give you more calories so you don't feel hungry. If you try to starve, and such, your body won't loose weight because it will go into a starvation mode and start hurting your main organs. I personally not only log everything into mfp, I have a fitbit and love it, and just started really watching my sodium intake. I noticed if I ate normal stuff, the sodium helped me save my weight, but I didn't want that, so I've cut major sodium from my diet and have seen results.

    Just don't starve yourself!
  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,590 MFP Moderator
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    most people who are given the 1200 calorie goal have their weight loss rate set too aggressively for their goal. How much are you trying to lose and how fast?

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