1200 calorie intake

hillabeans23
hillabeans23 Posts: 37 Member
in Food and Nutrition
MFP has me at 1200c a day. I'm trying to read how many calories I should be consuming on other discussions. Some say this is fine, some say not enough, some say depends on what you're consuming in those 1200 (I more so agree with this) and others say you'll gain it all back. I need some help. I'm 150, 5'5. Trying to lose 17 pounds. Yeah, odd number right? Suggestions or success stories on calorie intake/your exercise/time frame. Thanks!

Replies

  • kangabear
    kangabear Posts: 2 Member
    Hi
    Mfp has also put me on 1200 cals and i am day 4 into the plan. (Lost 4lbs already) To be honest i am shocked at how easily 1200 cals go even though i am choosing the right types of food. It has however forced me to exercise in order to give me more calories to eat. I have decided that i am going to do this for 10 days as a motivating factor) and then increase my calorie intake to be able to lose 0.5 - 1lb a week. I have 42lb to lose so its going to be longer weight loss journey for me anyway.

    I think the danger of eating too few calories on a regular basis means that you constantly feel you are depriving yourself and then get to a point where you give up and go on a splurge to compensate for your weeks of food denial. ( well i do anyway) I want to use mfp to re-educate myself on choosing the right foods and eating sensibly. If that means a slower weight loss over a longer period of time that can only be a good thing.

    Perhaps the best thing to do is see how you get on for a couple of weeks. If you have a good weight loss over those two weeks, then increase your calorie intake and monitor how you get on. If you are doing lots of exercise i would probably want to be eating more than 1200 a day.

    My advice could be completely wrong though and happy to be corrected.
    Best of luck!
  • karenkasbi
    karenkasbi Posts: 216 Member
    I'm trying to lose 10 pounds and MFP also has set me on 1200 calories. I also exercise so I get a little more but with this diet, I'm gonna lose 0.4 pounds per week. Previously I've done 1200 calories and lost 2 pounds per week. If you're switching from a 2000 calorie diet, you'll lose quicker. Try exercising, it's the best.
  • hillabeans23
    hillabeans23 Posts: 37 Member
    Do either of you add your exercise to mfp because I did yesterday and it increased my limit by 400, but i feel like I can't really trust that. Today, I'm trying to stick to 1200 because I don't want to exercise haha and I just want to see if I can do it. My mfp is set to 1200 because I put in to lose 2 pounds a week...don't judge that too harshly but I've had my account set up to lose 1 pound a week before and it had me at a slightly higher intake because I weighed more then. I keep hearing that's not successful for weight loss because when you 'go back to eating crap', you set yourself up for failure. But i don't want to go back to crap eating lol. I lost 25 pounds before with this site and it's because I was eating very clean (not crazy, just no fast food, out to eat a lot less, half portions of heavier foods) and when I did eat bad, I felt sick. Obviously I gained all the weight back but it took awhile.
  • hillabeans23
    hillabeans23 Posts: 37 Member
    And exercising of course. I'm trying to do an hour or more a day. Varying exercises.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    edited August 2015
    The fact that MFP has given you 1200 calories (the lowest it will go for a female) is usually a good indicator that you're trying to lose too much too quickly. If you only have 17 pounds to lose, make sure you don't have MFP set to lose more than .5 to 1 pound per week. Here's a good guideline:

    Pound per week goals
    75+ lbs set to lose 2 lb range (-1000 calories per day)
    Between 40 - 75 lbs set to lose 1.5 lb range (-750 calories per day)
    Between 25-40 lbs set to lose 1 lb range (-750 calories per day)
    Between 15-25 lbs set to lose 1 -.50 lb range (-500 to -250 calories per day)
    Less than 15 lbs set to lose 0.5 lbs range (-250 calories per day)

    The thing is, if you don't have a lot to lose it's pretty hard, if not impossible, to meet the 1000 calorie deficit needed each day to lose 2 pounds per week anyway. Given the 1200 calorie lower limit, which MFP has set for health reasons, anyone who is aiming for more weight loss per week than they should be is going to end up with 1200 calories per day no matter what. That means, even if you set MFP for 2 pounds per week, you aren't actually going to lose that much because you aren't really creating the necessary calorie deficit.

    Chronically under-eating will cause you to lose lean muscle mass, along with the fat. This will cause problems down the road because your metabolism will slow just a little which means it will be even harder to maintain your new weight and to lose it again if you should gain any back. You can see why crash dieting, gaining the weight back, crash dieting again- over and over - can cause a person's metabolism to become much slower as they age. My opinion is that you should change your goal, eat a little more, lose a little more slowly in a way that's going to leave you more healthy when you're done. I'd also throw in some strength training, if you aren't already, so you can keep more muscle.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    You'll always get lots of opinions and have to pick which you like. Here's mine...

    Eat as much as you can while still losing. Set the number high, like 1600. Wait two weeks. If you lose, great. If you don't, drop the calories by 100 every two weeks until you begin losing.

    I eat 1200 calories and I have a HECK of a time getting all my micros in on a regular basis. So do some people who eat 2000, but they're usually not concerned with it. Most people don't give a hoot about micros. But I do and I try and it's tough. If you weren't trying, it would be even tougher.

    Eat as much as you can while still losing! :)

    ...and feel free to take this advice or leave it if you like something else better. :)
  • hillabeans23
    hillabeans23 Posts: 37 Member
    Kalikel wrote: »
    You'll always get lots of opinions and have to pick which you like. Here's mine...

    Eat as much as you can while still losing. Set the number high, like 1600. Wait two weeks. If you lose, great. If you don't, drop the calories by 100 every two weeks until you begin losing.

    I eat 1200 calories and I have a HECK of a time getting all my micros in on a regular basis. So do some people who eat 2000, but they're usually not concerned with it. Most people don't give a hoot about micros. But I do and I try and it's tough. If you weren't trying, it would be even tougher.

    Eat as much as you can while still losing! :)

    ...and feel free to take this advice or leave it if you like
    something else better. :)

    Okay, thanks. I changed my pounds to lose per week to 1 and I'm at 1500 now. So keeping up with that and exercising, I'll see if I drop weight or if I should change my intake. Also, when should I weigh to see progress? Weekly? Bi?

  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    hillabeans23 wrote: »
    Kalikel wrote: »
    You'll always get lots of opinions and have to pick which you like. Here's mine...

    Eat as much as you can while still losing. Set the number high, like 1600. Wait two weeks. If you lose, great. If you don't, drop the calories by 100 every two weeks until you begin losing.

    I eat 1200 calories and I have a HECK of a time getting all my micros in on a regular basis. So do some people who eat 2000, but they're usually not concerned with it. Most people don't give a hoot about micros. But I do and I try and it's tough. If you weren't trying, it would be even tougher.

    Eat as much as you can while still losing! :)

    ...and feel free to take this advice or leave it if you like
    something else better. :)

    Okay, thanks. I changed my pounds to lose per week to 1 and I'm at 1500 now. So keeping up with that and exercising, I'll see if I drop weight or if I should change my intake. Also, when should I weigh to see progress? Weekly? Bi?

    Some people say they lose exactly what the math shows. Some people lose nothing for weeks and the WHOOSH, a bunch of pounds come off in a week. Other people lose slowly. It tends to come off quicker when you start, so I'll cross my fingers for you.

    You may lose at 1500. Some people lose eating even more! Not me, lol, but some people. :)
  • JJeMitchell
    JJeMitchell Posts: 160 Member
    1475 is your BMR (I don't know how old you are, so I kept the default, which is 30) which is the minimum you should be eating.

    1200 is not enough...my 5 year old has more calories than that! :)

    If you are exercising at a moderate intensity for an hour, you should add 100 calories. Try eating 1575. I guarantee you will lose weight :)

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