How long can you stay on a 1200-1400 calorie diet?
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I wasn't, either. It took some input from some friendly people here that made me look into this a little more.I was on 1200 calories for year, and it crashed my metabolism and had my doctor call me at 9pm after she saw the lab results, completely panicked. Lesson learned: Don't do it for too long. It will take me quite some time to undo the damage I did by restricting my food intake so severely.
I’m sorry this happened to you, but I am surprised. You think the caloric deficit is to blame? I ask because loads of people eat around this number, and I wasn’t aware of any health risks…
In short, my blood work, which had always been stellar (and was in Feb 2014, shortly before I started the 1200 calories), came back screwed up in Feb this year. My thyroid was almost completely dormant, and as a result (you can google the correlation between this), my cholesterol, liver and kidney numbers were incredibly abnormal. I effectively put my body into the starvation mode because I am not completely sedentary, so the calories I netted were by no means enough. Believe me, I was surprised and shocked as well. The last thing I wanted to do was jeopardize my health. I have been eating a little more (around 1350) for 5 weeks now, and just had my blood re-tested, and the numbers were a little better again. Nowhere near normal, but yes, eating closer to the appropriate number of calories my body needs had a positive effect and is slowly getting my metabolism back to normal.
I am not a doctor, obviously, and I am not saying that it *has* to be or *will* be like this for everyone. I also don't think that a few months of 1200 will have the same effect. It was just a word of caution
Thank you for sharing this, and I’m glad things are getting better. I personally think it’s worth eating at least 1,300, even if it takes a bit longer to get the weight off. At the end of the day, being healthy and strong is my ultimate goal 0 -
extremelygrumpycat wrote: »It didn't take you a few weeks to gain those lbs. Go slowly, build new eating habits, start changing your life so you can keep up the lifestyle afterwards and continue to be at the weight you want. I don't see what the rush is. I am at 1830 cal/day and I am losing 1lb a week or so very happily. I could eat less, but what's the rush? Your body needs food to live. 1200 is so restrictive, at least IMO.
Wow, I’m losing 0.8 lb/ week at 1,300! Goes to show, depends on the person.0 -
That's exactly it
I wasn't, either. It took some input from some friendly people here that made me look into this a little more.I was on 1200 calories for year, and it crashed my metabolism and had my doctor call me at 9pm after she saw the lab results, completely panicked. Lesson learned: Don't do it for too long. It will take me quite some time to undo the damage I did by restricting my food intake so severely.
I’m sorry this happened to you, but I am surprised. You think the caloric deficit is to blame? I ask because loads of people eat around this number, and I wasn’t aware of any health risks…
In short, my blood work, which had always been stellar (and was in Feb 2014, shortly before I started the 1200 calories), came back screwed up in Feb this year. My thyroid was almost completely dormant, and as a result (you can google the correlation between this), my cholesterol, liver and kidney numbers were incredibly abnormal. I effectively put my body into the starvation mode because I am not completely sedentary, so the calories I netted were by no means enough. Believe me, I was surprised and shocked as well. The last thing I wanted to do was jeopardize my health. I have been eating a little more (around 1350) for 5 weeks now, and just had my blood re-tested, and the numbers were a little better again. Nowhere near normal, but yes, eating closer to the appropriate number of calories my body needs had a positive effect and is slowly getting my metabolism back to normal.
I am not a doctor, obviously, and I am not saying that it *has* to be or *will* be like this for everyone. I also don't think that a few months of 1200 will have the same effect. It was just a word of caution
Thank you for sharing this, and I’m glad things are getting better. I personally think it’s worth eating at least 1,300, even if it takes a bit longer to get the weight off. At the end of the day, being healthy and strong is my ultimate goal It may get annoying that it will go slower, but it's a lot healthier. If you do eat 1200, make sure you eat back some of your exercise calories to make sure you are netting enough at the end of the day.
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extremelygrumpycat wrote: »It didn't take you a few weeks to gain those lbs. Go slowly, build new eating habits, start changing your life so you can keep up the lifestyle afterwards and continue to be at the weight you want. I don't see what the rush is. I am at 1830 cal/day and I am losing 1lb a week or so very happily. I could eat less, but what's the rush? Your body needs food to live. 1200 is so restrictive, at least IMO.
Wow, I’m losing 0.8 lb/ week at 1,300! Goes to show, depends on the person.
I am still losing about 0.7/0.8lbs a week, on average, so it's still working well for me, too 0 -
About 1 day if I subsequently make up for the missed calories the next day. I'm not willing to subject myself to an unnecessarily low intake for my stats because a) I value my muscle mass, b) I value being full, c) I value fueling my workouts. I eat at a 10-20% deficit from my maintenance (currently estimated at a bit below 2400 calories, which includes my 4-5x a week workouts).0
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mamapeach910 wrote: »I was on 1200 calories for year, and it crashed my metabolism and had my doctor call me at 9pm after she saw the lab results, completely panicked. Lesson learned: Don't do it for too long. It will take me quite some time to undo the damage I did by restricting my food intake so severely.
I’m sorry this happened to you, but I am surprised. You think the caloric deficit is to blame? I ask because loads of people eat around this number, and I wasn’t aware of any health risks…
Too many people UNNECESSARILY eat at this number at the expense of their lean muscle mass.
It's a foolish, foolish thing to do.
Many posts in this thread are making me smh.
It’s funny you should mention that, I was just looking at research about what the minimum caloric intake is to preserve muscle mass. The general consensus seems to be that if you’re (1) above 1,200 calories for women / 1,500 for men, (2) doing strength training, and (3) eating lots of protein, loss of muscle mass is minimized. I haven’t read any of the actual science articles though.
I think it depends on what’s best for each individual.
Some sources: http://evidencemag.com/fat-loss-deficit/, http://www.acaloriecounter.com/diet/calorie-deficit-to-lose-weight/, http://ratfactor.com/fat-loss-calculator#fatvsweight
It's funny you should mention strength training, because if you don't NEED to be doing 1200 calories, you won't be able to do progressive strength training at all.
I'm older, my TDEE is such that a 1 pound a week loss puts me at 1200 calories. 1 pound a week for needing to lose 60 pounds is low, but I can't eat at a smaller deficit. However, I make gains when I'm using weights because for my body size, I'm eating enough.
Editing to add that if you read the article, it did say that what you're saying applied only to overweight people. Aggressive losses without losing muscle mass don't apply to people who have less to lose.
The problem is that there is a maximum amount of fat that the body is capable of burning in a day. If a person is eating at a deficit above that, the body will burn muscle. If you don't have a lot to lose, that maximum is lower.
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mamapeach910 wrote: »mamapeach910 wrote: »I was on 1200 calories for year, and it crashed my metabolism and had my doctor call me at 9pm after she saw the lab results, completely panicked. Lesson learned: Don't do it for too long. It will take me quite some time to undo the damage I did by restricting my food intake so severely.
I’m sorry this happened to you, but I am surprised. You think the caloric deficit is to blame? I ask because loads of people eat around this number, and I wasn’t aware of any health risks…
Too many people UNNECESSARILY eat at this number at the expense of their lean muscle mass.
It's a foolish, foolish thing to do.
Many posts in this thread are making me smh.
It’s funny you should mention that, I was just looking at research about what the minimum caloric intake is to preserve muscle mass. The general consensus seems to be that if you’re (1) above 1,200 calories for women / 1,500 for men, (2) doing strength training, and (3) eating lots of protein, loss of muscle mass is minimized. I haven’t read any of the actual science articles though.
I think it depends on what’s best for each individual.
Some sources: http://evidencemag.com/fat-loss-deficit/, http://www.acaloriecounter.com/diet/calorie-deficit-to-lose-weight/, http://ratfactor.com/fat-loss-calculator#fatvsweight
It's funny you should mention strength training, because if you don't NEED to be doing 1200 calories, you won't be able to do progressive strength training at all.
I'm older, my TDEE is such that a 1 pound a week loss puts me at 1200 calories. 1 pound a week for needing to lose 60 pounds is low, but I can't eat at a smaller deficit. However, I make gains when I'm using weights because for my body size, I'm eating enough.
That’s part of the reason why I don’t think 1200 is worth it. I gained 25lbs on my squats with 1300 or just above over a month, not sure that would’ve worked too great at anything below that. I’m considering 1,400 as my goal switches to strength gaining.
I’m glad you found your happy spot and that it works for you!
RE the article, you make a great point! Something to keep in mind for sure. Overdoing it with the deficit is not worth it in my opinion.0 -
I could never ever live on 1200 cals,,...EVER! Lol
But for a few weeks i was doing 300 cals worth of exercise (Cardio), so could get by on 1500 cals (losing a pound a week).
Even that was a bit of a struggle, so i lowered my weightloss to 0.5 pound a week (i only have a few pounds left to lose, so i'm OK with that).
But i can now eat 1440 with whatever extra cals i earn by exercising (between 1640-1740).
Why not do some exercise OP, then you can eat more!0 -
extremelygrumpycat wrote: »It didn't take you a few weeks to gain those lbs. Go slowly, build new eating habits, start changing your life so you can keep up the lifestyle afterwards and continue to be at the weight you want. I don't see what the rush is. I am at 1830 cal/day and I am losing 1lb a week or so very happily. I could eat less, but what's the rush? Your body needs food to live. 1200 is so restrictive, at least IMO.
Wow, I’m losing 0.8 lb/ week at 1,300! Goes to show, depends on the person.
At 1300, I lose at the same rate
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lloydbutterfly wrote: »I have been on a 1200 calorie diet for 4 weeks only list 3 pounds. I am very disappointed
Really? Thats a huge loss.0 -
I lasted about 2.5 months. I raised my calories to the 1500-1700 range and started moving more, and my rate of loss remained the same 2lbs/wk avg. At 1200 range all I wanted to do was sleep until I could eat again, and then go back to sleep until I could eat again.
I feel like a normal functional human being that can do more than just sleep through my misery by eating 1500 minimum.0 -
I'm currently in 1200 and exercise most days so I end up eating around about 1300ish. I'm happy on this. I'm losing approximately .5kgs per week. I am very short though. I'm having lots of fun eating low calorie snacks atm. To me it's a bit of a novelty still and I am slowly changing myunhealthy habits into healthy lifestyle0
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2-3 days.0
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mylosingtool0612 wrote: »How long can I do this? Is it too much if I restrict for 20 weeks?
I have less than 30 Pounds to lose (or max. 30)?
The more weight you have to lose at the start, the longer you can stay on it (assuming you're being smart about it). For someone with for example 100 pounds to lose, 3 or 6 or even 12 months, etc, is not going to cause any physical problems.
Mentally, who knows, it depends on the person....
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164 days ( so approaching 6 months) on 1200 calories... Last weeks it is up a bit towards 1300.
Lost 80 pounds going perfect!
I am doing this monitored/supported
I weigh EVERY solid food and measure every liquid except water & coffee & tea
I eat and cook as much as possible from scratch
Main foods are Meat, Fish, nuts, veggies, fruit, some diary and some grains pasta and potatoes
Next to that i eat my "take out chinese" , pizza, buffets, bottle of champagne or a beer. So i eat everything.
I only do not use salt at all and i am careful with sugar ( yes i eat all the fruit i want as long it fits in my calorie allowance) This for medical reasons.
But i fit it in my calorie amount, and yes i go over sometimes but dont stress about it at all.
It all come down to moderation and portion control. Normal life means eating sometimes that take out or buffet or that piece of chocolate or cheesecake, but after that back to portion control and moderation
I drink 2 to 3 liter water a day and when i want bigger meals i fill up on more veggies. I eat 3 main meals and 2 snack times a day.
Every evening i have a huge bowl of air-popped popcorn ( 240 calories) that is 80 grams of un-popped popcorn.
And i have my other snacks like almonds and protein bars.
Wise decisions and pre-planning your daily meals and snacks helps a lot. Being honest and not flipping out over fluctuations helps too. And patience!
This is how it works for me...but everybody is different.
I dont promote 1200 calories a day without (medical) support/guidance. But it is doable for sure.
Only when you dont need to go so aggressive, why should you do it?
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A better question is how long can you do it ? My ability and situation for doing it really has no bearing on how long you can or should do it.0
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mamapeach910 wrote: »mamapeach910 wrote: »I was on 1200 calories for year, and it crashed my metabolism and had my doctor call me at 9pm after she saw the lab results, completely panicked. Lesson learned: Don't do it for too long. It will take me quite some time to undo the damage I did by restricting my food intake so severely.
I’m sorry this happened to you, but I am surprised. You think the caloric deficit is to blame? I ask because loads of people eat around this number, and I wasn’t aware of any health risks…
Too many people UNNECESSARILY eat at this number at the expense of their lean muscle mass.
It's a foolish, foolish thing to do.
Many posts in this thread are making me smh.
It’s funny you should mention that, I was just looking at research about what the minimum caloric intake is to preserve muscle mass. The general consensus seems to be that if you’re (1) above 1,200 calories for women / 1,500 for men, (2) doing strength training, and (3) eating lots of protein, loss of muscle mass is minimized. I haven’t read any of the actual science articles though.
I think it depends on what’s best for each individual.
Some sources: http://evidencemag.com/fat-loss-deficit/, http://www.acaloriecounter.com/diet/calorie-deficit-to-lose-weight/, http://ratfactor.com/fat-loss-calculator#fatvsweight
It's funny you should mention strength training, because if you don't NEED to be doing 1200 calories, you won't be able to do progressive strength training at all.
I'm older, my TDEE is such that a 1 pound a week loss puts me at 1200 calories. 1 pound a week for needing to lose 60 pounds is low, but I can't eat at a smaller deficit. However, I make gains when I'm using weights because for my body size, I'm eating enough.
Editing to add that if you read the article, it did say that what you're saying applied only to overweight people. Aggressive losses without losing muscle mass don't apply to people who have less to lose.
The problem is that there is a maximum amount of fat that the body is capable of burning in a day. If a person is eating at a deficit above that, the body will burn muscle. If you don't have a lot to lose, that maximum is lower.
Another great thread! I'm learning some major stuff here. I've been at 1200/day and today did 1 hour of weights (full body). I'm eating back some exercise calories. Also walked 1 hour (3.5mph), going for another 1/2 hr now and another 1/2 after dinner. I am understanding why I was feeling fatigued and weaker last week. I'm still dropping and my clothes are getting real loose. What an education I'm getting. Thanks OP for the thread on this and all who are responding!
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I will add this - a large calorie deficit plus extensive working out is a recipe for body destruction. Smaller deficits and huge workouts, cool. Large deficits and light workouts, cool.
But together, and you're almost immediately breaking down lean body mass, without providing the tools to repair it.
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I will add this - a large calorie deficit plus extensive working out is a recipe for body destruction. Smaller deficits and huge workouts, cool. Large deficits and light workouts, cool.
But together, and you're almost immediately breaking down lean body mass, without providing the tools to repair it.
I am realizing this now. With so little I have to lose, I was sticking to a strict 1200 or less and feeling wasted, tired and really had to push myself in the workouts. I am starting to eat back a portion of exercise calories and working out more. I still don't know if I'm overdoing it yet and if I need to up my calories on a regular basis, but I'll get there. Great thread, great advice!
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