Why 1200 calorie goal is not a healthy choice?
eshnna
Posts: 109 Member
I've seen several posts were people are criticized for being in a 1200 calorie goal or saying that when they were at 1200 they lost weight in an unhealthy way.
MFP gave me this recommendation for my height so that is what I am doing. I eat about 1300-1500 though and still keep my totals to around 1200 because of exercise.
Am I doing something wrong? I am losing about a pound per 10 days.
MFP gave me this recommendation for my height so that is what I am doing. I eat about 1300-1500 though and still keep my totals to around 1200 because of exercise.
Am I doing something wrong? I am losing about a pound per 10 days.
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Replies
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I'm doing Nutrisystem for the time being to get myself used to smaller portion sizes and as a "training wheel" for getting used to eating more healthy in general, and 1200 is the calorie goal given to me by that program. I've never personally heard it said that 1200 is unhealthy. I know 1000 and below is getting into malnutrition territory though.0
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1200 calorie deficit or eating 1200 calories a day?0
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It's unhealthy because it's a blanket 1200. Like for example, I am a woman of 5ft9 height, and I'm expected to eat the same 1200 cals as a woman who is 5ft2. It's not taking into account all the variables. If you can safely eat at 1200, good for you, but for some of us, it's just isn't possible.
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People don't say 1200 is bad - it's that 1200, in many cases, is unnecessary.
Most people sign up here, and when they input their goals see an option to lose 2 pounds a week. And they think YES!!!!!!!! I want to lose 2 pounds a week!!
What they don't know is that if you don't have much to lose, it's an unrealistic, and overly aggressive goal.
The goal should always be to eat as much as you can, while still losing weight. It's harder to stick to high deficits long term, and it's harder to meet your nutritional needs while being satiated.
A good rule of thumb is for every 25 pounds you have to lose, add .5lbs per week. So if you have 50 pounds to lose, a good goal is 1lb a week.
These are all general guidelines. It is, of course, up to you to figure out what you want to do.0 -
1200 calorie goal. I am a short woman 5' 2. It just makes me think I am doing something wrong when I read that 1200 is too low.0
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TheVirgoddess wrote: »People don't say 1200 is bad - it's that 1200, in many cases, is unnecessary.
Most people sign up here, and when they input their goals see an option to lose 2 pounds a week. And they think YES!!!!!!!! I want to lose 2 pounds a week!!
What they don't know is that if you don't have much to lose, it's an unrealistic, and overly aggressive goal.
The goal should always be to eat as much as you can, while still losing weight. It's harder to stick to high deficits long term, and it's harder to meet your nutritional needs while being satiated.
A good rule of thumb is for every 25 pounds you have to lose, add .5lbs per week. So if you have 50 pounds to lose, a good goal is 1lb a week.
These are all general guidelines. It is, of course, up to you to figure out what you want to do.
Basically all this. People don't realise that 2lbs/week is unhealthy for them, so go for that option and MFP gives them 1200, then they get told that 2lbs/week isn't good for them. 1200 isn't an unhealthy amount to eat for everyone, it just is for many people here.0 -
I'm 5'9 and eating at 1200 since june 19th and feel great ! I've lost 15 pounds since then !0
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1200 deficit? Really? That means you would have to eat 2400 calories and burn 1200 of them? Or does it mean you eat and burn 1200 calories a day? I'm confused, please help me.0
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She means 1200 daily calorie goal.0
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glassofroses wrote: »It's unhealthy because it's a blanket 1200. Like for example, I am a woman of 5ft9 height, and I'm expected to eat the same 1200 cals as a woman who is 5ft2. It's not taking into account all the variables. If you can safely eat at 1200, good for you, but for some of us, it's just isn't possible.
Wow I am five ft tall and they put me on a 1200 cal a day program too,. Its the same as the bmi not taking into account muscle mass.
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1200 calorie deficit. I am a short woman 5' 2. It just makes me think I am doing something wrong when I read that 1200 is too low.
It's too low for the average person - average height, average weight, average activity. For someone shorter, lighter, older, more sedentary than average, 1200 might be reasonable. If your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE, there are calculators all over the place that can allow to you to find an estimation of yours) is, say, 2800 calories per day (typical for a tallish, somewhat active man, for example), then 1200/day is a daily deficit of 1600 calories or almost half a pound per day, which is quite aggressive and requiring them to eat well below their basal metabolic rate (BMR, the calories your body burns keeping itself alive before any activity at all - like if you were bedridden), which is not ideal and will usually mean that the body will be burning lean muscle mass as well as fat to keep itself running (also not ideal.)
However, if your TDEE is, say, 1600 calories a day (which might be the case for a five foot tall older woman with an office job) then 1200 calories is only a deficit of 400/day (less than a pound per week of loss) and probably not below her BMR at all.
If you're 5'2", female, and not doing a ton of activity, then you are not the average person and 1200/day is probably fine for you. but most people really can eat more than that and still be at a reasonable deficit.0 -
I've seen several posts were people are criticized for being in a 1200 calorie deficit or saying that when they were at 1200 they lost weight in an unhealthy way.
MFP gave me this recommendation for my height so that is what I am doing. I eat about 1300-1500 though and still keep my totals to around 1200 because of exercise.
Am I doing something wrong? I am losing about a pound per 10 days.
At 1 lb per 10 days you're eating about 350 calories below your TDEE and losing at a reasonable rate.0 -
Really? I'm 5'4 (average height), 24 (not exactly old), office job, and my TDEE is 1535. People often used to say I was eating waaay too little when I said I ate 1200 a day... it's a 300 calorie deficit, not exactly starving myself.
I mean, I do agree with everything you've said, but you don't have to be that old or short to have a TDEE of around 1600.
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I don't think she knows what deficit means....0
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I'm 5'9 and eating at 1200 since june 19th and feel great ! I've lost 15 pounds since then !
As a male, I think you should consider eating more. I SERIOUSLY urge you to eat more, in fact. There are risks to your long term health losing weight at this rate. Hormonal. Bones. Muscles. Hair.
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Yeah I got confused. I meant calorie goal. I edited my post. FORGIVE ME!
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LiftAllThePizzas wrote: »At 1 lb per 10 days you're eating about 350 calories below your TDEE and losing at a reasonable rate.
Yeah I am thinking I am not counting my calorie intake right anyway because per MFP I should be losing 2lbs per week. I am not.
What I am reading anyway is that I should up my calories and set my goal to lose .5lbs per week? This is the "healthier" way? But why?
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TheVirgoddess wrote: »People don't say 1200 is bad - it's that 1200, in many cases, is unnecessary.
Most people sign up here, and when they input their goals see an option to lose 2 pounds a week. And they think YES!!!!!!!! I want to lose 2 pounds a week!!
What they don't know is that if you don't have much to lose, it's an unrealistic, and overly aggressive goal.
The goal should always be to eat as much as you can, while still losing weight. It's harder to stick to high deficits long term, and it's harder to meet your nutritional needs while being satiated.
A good rule of thumb is for every 25 pounds you have to lose, add .5lbs per week. So if you have 50 pounds to lose, a good goal is 1lb a week.
These are all general guidelines. It is, of course, up to you to figure out what you want to do.
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This and yes, I am 5' 2.5" and my weekly average is 1650-1750 a day (I don't eat my cals back since I use TDEE-20%), and I have consistently lost 1-1.5 lbs every 7-10 days. I also lift heavy 3x a week, and do no more that 25-30min or cardio 3-4 times a week. It works for me, and I don't want to lose any lean muscle mass I currently have. If I don't eat enough, I feel like crap (no energy). You just have to find what works for you, and base it on how active you are and if your energy is satiated.0 -
Because your body fat can only release its stored energy so quickly. If you are creating demand higher than that amount, the extra energy does not come from fat. You don't want that energy to come from cannibalization of your muscles, organs, etc.LiftAllThePizzas wrote: »At 1 lb per 10 days you're eating about 350 calories below your TDEE and losing at a reasonable rate.
Yeah I am thinking I am not counting my calorie intake right anyway because per MFP I should be losing 2lbs per week. I am not.
What I am reading anyway is that I should up my calories and set my goal to lose .5lbs per week? This is the "healthier" way? But why?0 -
What I am reading anyway is that I should up my calories and set my goal to lose .5lbs per week? This is the "healthier" way? But why?
Losing weight is stress on the body. Doing it slower allows your hormones and skin and muscles to adapt to the changes. If you've set your loss at too aggressive of pace, you will lose more muscle and bone than you'd want to. The goal is to lose fat, not other tissue.0 -
DemoraFairy wrote: »
Really? I'm 5'4 (average height), 24 (not exactly old), office job, and my TDEE is 1535. People often used to say I was eating waaay too little when I said I ate 1200 a day... it's a 300 calorie deficit, not exactly starving myself.
I mean, I do agree with everything you've said, but you don't have to be that old or short to have a TDEE of around 1600.
It was just an example - not trying to say you have to be all those things to have a low TDEE, but that those are all contributing factors. You are not tall, I'm guessing you are not very overweight, and you are sedentary, so that's certainly enough of those factors to result in a fairly low TDEE.0 -
dennshah01 wrote: »
This and yes, I am 5' 2.5" and my weekly average is 1650-1750 a day (I don't eat my cals back since I use TDEE-20%), and I have consistently lost 1-1.5 lbs every 7-10 days. I also lift heavy 3x a week, and do no more that 25-30min or cardio 3-4 times a week. It works for me, and I don't want to lose any lean muscle mass I currently have. If I don't eat enough, I feel like crap (no energy). You just have to find what works for you, and base it on how active you are and if your energy is satiated.
I am also 5'2.5, I am jealous and I want your muscles.
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1200 calories is fine for me. I am 5' 2".0
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Really, it's based in numbers.
I'm a 5' 1" female. My BMR is around 1235cal, my sedentary TDEE is around 1350cal. But I'm a crazy person who does 20+ hours of intense physical activity a week, so my average daily TDEE incorporating my activities is ~2200cal.
If I were trying to lose weight while being totally sedentary, 1200cal could work, but not for an extended period of time.
However, I need to fuel my performance along with eating a deficit, so I'm eating at 1600cal. So far, so good, but we'll see what happens in the short-term and if I need to adjust that number based on performance.
I strongly recommend throwing MFP's default calculations out the goddamn window.
Check out these for more info on TDEE, BMR and figuring out what you ought to be eating:0 -
LiftAllThePizzas wrote: »At 1 lb per 10 days you're eating about 350 calories below your TDEE and losing at a reasonable rate.
Yeah I am thinking I am not counting my calorie intake right anyway because per MFP I should be losing 2lbs per week. I am not.
What I am reading anyway is that I should up my calories and set my goal to lose .5lbs per week? This is the "healthier" way? But why?
Depending on how much you have to lose 2 pounds a week may be too agressive of a goal. You used to be able to go into your goals and it would tell you how much your maintenance calories were, how much of a deficit you had, and how much you would lose a week. I know when this was still available and I would change it to lose 2 pounds a week it would tell me that at 1200 calories I could only expect to lose 1.3 pounds a week. You might be able to go on another website like scooby's or IIFYM and find out how much of a deficit you really have at 1200 calories a day.0 -
LiftAllThePizzas wrote: »At 1 lb per 10 days you're eating about 350 calories below your TDEE and losing at a reasonable rate.
Yeah I am thinking I am not counting my calorie intake right anyway because per MFP I should be losing 2lbs per week. I am not.
What I am reading anyway is that I should up my calories and set my goal to lose .5lbs per week? This is the "healthier" way? But why?
At my starting weight on MFP of 198 pounds my body needed more energy (calories) in order for my body to function how it was - pumping more blood for example. Now at 153 pounds my body does not expend as much energy just to live. So I have to eat less calories to maintain this smaller weight. I have myself set to lose .5 pound per week as I only have 9 pounds to go to go. To be blunt I don't want to have to live on the bare minimum of food. If I can eat more and still achieve my goal I am going to take that route and not the route that leaves me hungry and a totally moody B. Yeah it's taken longer, but in the process I've learned how to eat things I love in moderation and that for me is sustainable for the long haul, which is what I want.
Edit for spelling, and realizing I keep typing 155 out of habit from the last few weeks. :laugh:0 -
If she's logging accurately, she already has that data (350 calories/day) and there's no need for a calculator.LiftAllThePizzas wrote: »At 1 lb per 10 days you're eating about 350 calories below your TDEE and losing at a reasonable rate.
Yeah I am thinking I am not counting my calorie intake right anyway because per MFP I should be losing 2lbs per week. I am not.
What I am reading anyway is that I should up my calories and set my goal to lose .5lbs per week? This is the "healthier" way? But why?
Depending on how much you have to lose 2 pounds a week may be too agressive of a goal. You used to be able to go into your goals and it would tell you how much your maintenance calories were, how much of a deficit you had, and how much you would lose a week. I know when this was still available and I would change it to lose 2 pounds a week it would tell me that at 1200 calories I could only expect to lose 1.3 pounds a week. You might be able to go on another website like scooby's or IIFYM and find out how much of a deficit you really have at 1200 calories a day.
Start a lifting/strength/resistance training program and you can have your very own muscles.dennshah01 wrote: »This and yes, I am 5' 2.5" and my weekly average is 1650-1750 a day (I don't eat my cals back since I use TDEE-20%), and I have consistently lost 1-1.5 lbs every 7-10 days. I also lift heavy 3x a week, and do no more that 25-30min or cardio 3-4 times a week. It works for me, and I don't want to lose any lean muscle mass I currently have. If I don't eat enough, I feel like crap (no energy). You just have to find what works for you, and base it on how active you are and if your energy is satiated.
I am also 5'2.5, I am jealous and I want your muscles.
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