Should I be eating 1200 or 1500 calories?

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Killerdolphin_9
Killerdolphin_9 Posts: 22 Member
in Getting Started
I'm a bit at a loss for everything, so sorry for the many community posts.

ive used many many calculators recommended by people on here even.

To begin, I weigh 186.2lbs I'm 5'2
The number of calories I need to maintain my weight is a little over 2,000
My TDEE is a little over 2,000
My BMR is a little over 1,600

I was told by a friend that if I eat at 1200 calories, then I will lose weight quickly but it won't stay off and I am most likely going to gain it all back. She told me to eat about 1500. However, 1500 seems to be so much to me. I have 76.2 pounds to lose, and I want to keep it off. If I eat the serving size of everything I still stay around 1200-1300.

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  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
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    If your TDEE is really 2,000 and you eat 1500, you'll lose about a pound per week if you are logging/weighing your food accurately. You'll lose a little more than that if you eat 1200. It's a personal decision. I think eating 1200 stinks.
  • PaulaWallaDingDong
    PaulaWallaDingDong Posts: 4,641 Member
    edited July 2015
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    1200 is a number that a lot of people get stuck on, because it's generally seen as the number of calories that keeps you from starving to death, but you don't want to feel like you're just short of starvation during the course of your weight loss, right? Some people say they do well on it, and that's up to them. Try 1500 and see how it goes. If you're losing, then you don't need to (almost) kill yourself at 1200.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    The goal shouldn't be to eat the littlest you can and still survive. 1500 even sounds a little low. If you take 20% off your TDEE you can eat 1600 and still lose a good amount of weight. You want to be sure you're providing your body with adequate nutrition and losing in a healthy way, or at least I would want that, rather than just providing your body the bare minimum to keep you alive.
  • Killerdolphin_9
    Killerdolphin_9 Posts: 22 Member
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    1200 has been seeming to do okay for me on some days and some days not okay. Some days I only eat about 1000 on accident. But I don't want to force myself to eat a bunch of extra food if I'm not hungry. That's my concern
  • seska422
    seska422 Posts: 3,217 Member
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    I've done 1200 in the past, and I was hungry all the time. I couldn't wait to get to my goal and go back to not being hungry. I didn't have long-term success.

    This time around I'm eating 1400-1500 and I'm watching my macros to make sure I'm getting a good mix of nutrients. I'm not hungry and I don't have a specific goal because I'm comfortable with this and I feel like I can keep doing it. When I reach a weight that works for me, I'll just add on enough calories to maintain rather than lose weight.
  • Xanifur
    Xanifur Posts: 44 Member
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    http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    It's a personal choice. You could do 1200 (if it works for you) and there's no reason to think you'd have a harder time keeping it off, but then you also could lose at a slower rate if that's more pleasant.

    1200 is probably close to 2 lb/week; 1500 would be less (but it's more important to add back even milder exercise with 1200, so depending on how it's implemented it might not make much of a difference).

    The key thing is how to do you feel on lower calories, are you happy and satisfied, do you feel restricted. If you do lower calories and end up bingeing or going way over a time or two a week, you'd be better off on higher calories. But some find it helpful when they have lots to lose to lose faster. I did 1250 and lost fast at first and for me that allowed me to get back to exercising more vigorously more quickly which was motivating and ultimately allowed me to raise my calories, and I felt good on the lower calories then (and couldn't do 1200 now, I'd hate it).

    So don't worry about what other people did or say and figure out what works for you. There's a whole range of calorie levels you can lose on. But to lose over 70 lbs you need to find something you will be happy on long term (and same for not regaining).
  • Farahworld
    Farahworld Posts: 41 Member
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    1500 is the reasonable and most attainable goal.
    1200 will tire you so soon ...
    Best of luck
    I am doing the 1500 too

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