I'm hungry on 1200 calories :(

Hi

My question is....do I have to stick to a 1200 calorie allowance or can I up it to 1500 and not eat back any of my exercise calories. I feel hungry but I think it's more about not being able to snack in the evenings. Even if I don't eat the extra 300 cals, just knowing I could would make a difference. Like a buffer!! Lol

Thanks for any info :)

Replies

  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    Remember that 1200 is a base and you're earning extra through exercise. This is the MFP way. Alternately, you can do the TDEE way: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
  • katkins3
    katkins3 Posts: 1,359 Member
    I eat 1500. Sure I'll lose a bit slower, but it's just enough extra that I don't whine.....to offset, I've upped my exercise a bit. I do not eat back my exercise calories.
  • jugsy
    jugsy Posts: 31 Member
    katkins3 wrote: »
    I eat 1500. Sure I'll lose a bit slower, but it's just enough extra that I don't whine.....to offset, I've upped my exercise a bit. I do not eat back my exercise calories.

    Yes, that's what I'm going to do I think. It's all psychological......just knowing I have those extra is enough that I probably won't eat them anyway!! Lol

    Thanks
  • junestarrr
    junestarrr Posts: 52 Member
    You should try increasing your daily calories to 1500 for a week and see if you can lose any weight on that, and if not, maybe try lowering it to 1400 cals a week. I try to stay between 1200-1400 daily and I have been losing weight doing this. Also, make sure you're getting enough protein in your diet! This will keep you fuller longer. :) I post everything i eat in my food diary and it's public if you wanna check it out or add me. Good luck :)
  • MrDiiorio
    MrDiiorio Posts: 12 Member
    What have you set your loss too?
    Try setting it to one pound per week and see what MFP calculates your calorie allowance as.
  • jugsy
    jugsy Posts: 31 Member
    Thanks everyone. I put in my stats and it gave me 1200 cals but I just changed it myself to 1500. I'm going to give it a try for a week as suggested and see what happens :smile:
  • pug11
    pug11 Posts: 23 Member
    1200 is very low, don't know how tall you are. I'm 5'6 and lost weight on 1700, have maintained at 2100, sometimes more.

    You don't need to eat back your exercise cals, just set the # for how many cals it's suggesting you eat and do that everyday, not less one one day, more on another.

    Things are also not written in stone, you've got to see what works for you and keeps some cals for your evening snack and you'll be fine.
  • Cortneyrenee04
    Cortneyrenee04 Posts: 1,117 Member
    I would be hungry too! The idea is to eat as much as you can while losing, so you can lower as you get closer to goal.

    Good idea upping to 1500!
  • harmoniebaby
    harmoniebaby Posts: 5 Member
    You can still lose weight if you eat your maintenance allowance of calories on some days, it just won't be as fast. Also, just exercise to offset it. And you can exercise and eat until you hit your weight loss allowance, and you will still lose. So if your daily allowance is 1200, and you eat 1400, just exercise off the extra 200 calories, and you will have eaten more and still be losing weight. Also, be careful about protein. It is super hard to stay at 1200 calories and get a full day worth of protein. Not having enough protein will make you feel hungry, and when you do exercise, you will definitely need that protein.
  • harmoniebaby
    harmoniebaby Posts: 5 Member
    You can still lose weight if you eat your maintenance allowance of calories on some days, it just won't be as fast. Also, just exercise to offset it. And you can exercise and eat until you hit your weight loss allowance, and you will still lose. So if your daily allowance is 1200, and you eat 1400, just exercise off the extra 200 calories, and you will have eaten more and still be losing weight. Also, be careful about protein. It is super hard to stay at 1200 calories and get a full day worth of protein. Not having enough protein will make you feel hungry, and when you do exercise, you will definitely need that protein.

    Sometimes I switch my settings to maintain, just so I can see what I could eat to stay where I am. I won't eat that everyday, just every now and then. And even if you go over your weight loss allowance, without exercise, you can still lose weight, as long as you aren't eating what you used to eat before you started counting. Ex.: When I ate about 1400 calories one day, it said after completing my log "You will lose 7 pounds in 5 weeks" instead of the original goal of "10 pounds in 5 weeks". Still losing weight, still eating more. Play around with it, plug in different number and complete your log just to see what you really can do. You can always go back and edit the log later.
  • Merkavar
    Merkavar Posts: 3,082 Member
    So your eating 1200+exercise?

    And you want to go to 1500 with no exercise calories eaten back?

    Give it a go for a few weeks but it's likely to slow your weightloss.

    But I'm more of the opinion hunger isn't going to kill you, if you know you have eaten enough food put the feeling out of your mind.
  • MrDiiorio
    MrDiiorio Posts: 12 Member
    Seriously, set MFP to 1lb per week loss - Eat those calories.
    Also, I always eat my exercise calories back (unless I do a long distance run, then I just physically can't).
    I'm still losing.
  • tekkiechikk
    tekkiechikk Posts: 375 Member
    Those hunger pangs might subside in time, too... I've been on 1200 calories since January with success (46 lbs gone), and the first couple months were pretty miserable... now there are days when I struggle to eat 1000 (not many, but it does happen lol). I eat the majority of my calories in the evening, too... 130 for breakfast, 200 for lunch and the rest for dinner/snack. And I usually end up eating my exercise calories back the next day... when I do weights with cardio I'm ravenous the day after so enjoy those hard-earned exercise calories then.

    Or change to .5 lbs per week and then gradually work your way to 2 lbs/week if that's your goal.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    If you can eat more and still lose, eat more!!!

    If you're stuck with 1200, there is no need to go hungry. Fruits and veggies - most are low cal. You can eat loads of them, stay very full and lose weight.

    All that said,it's okay to be hungry sometimes when you're dieting. :)
  • AspenDan
    AspenDan Posts: 703 Member
    I like to wait until late in the day to eat. .that way I can have big meals and stay within my calorie goals..and if I get really hungry early in the day, I might eat high volume foods like veggies to hold me over =)
  • MagnoliaStorm
    MagnoliaStorm Posts: 32 Member
    You should try to do something when you feel hungry rather than increasing your allowance. I'm not in a position to tell you as I do exceed my allowance pretty much every day so I am even gaining my weight! But the trick is to reduce calory intake. My exercise routine cannot be changed.... Because I exercise enough.
  • robspot
    robspot Posts: 130 Member
    jugsy wrote: »
    Hi

    My question is....do I have to stick to a 1200 calorie allowance or can I up it to 1500 and not eat back any of my exercise calories. I feel hungry but I think it's more about not being able to snack in the evenings. Even if I don't eat the extra 300 cals, just knowing I could would make a difference. Like a buffer!! Lol

    Thanks for any info :)

    What's your rate of loss set to? And how much do you burn exercising?
  • Bonny132
    Bonny132 Posts: 3,617 Member
    If you exercise a lot 1200kcals is very low, you'll need to fuel your body. I have no problems sticking to 1200 a day myself, but I do eat more as I exercise a lot. Some days I do struggle to eat 1200 however. But I do eat a lot of fruit and vegetables, salads, and have proteins with every meal. My fave snacks is quark with fresh fruit, so lovely and filling, or cottage cheese with vegetable sticks. You have to find what works for you. Personally I found once I realised that carbs makes me feel hungry again real quick and switched over to a lower carbs higher protein diet that that works for My body, I do not suffer hunger pains and stay comfortable full. I also snack on seeds. I bring a small tub with me to work which has that day's allowance in it. I might just snack on it or add it to my salad.
  • Luvzy
    Luvzy Posts: 30 Member
    What kind of foods are you eating? For most lifestyles, home cooking and raw foods are essential because you need to plan at least one day ahead. If I don't make my meals ahead of time, then I have to go to the cafeteria, restaurant, fast food, etc. where I'm going to make higher calorie choices that don't keep me full very long. Plan everything 2-3 days out and make sure you have appealing 200-400 calorie choices available every 2-3 hours. Only eat when you're hungry. I found that when I was doing 1200, I was eating more often than non-dieters and enjoying my food more because I know what I like and prepped it ahead of time.

    If I don't meal prep, I could easily eat 1200 calories for lunch and then be hungry two hours later.
  • emilylauren296
    emilylauren296 Posts: 3 Member
    Try drinking more water throughout the day, it helps to fill me up. I find I'm actually thirsty and not hungry! xxx
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    From your ticker, it looks like you only have 13 pounds to lose. Have you set your weight loss to be 0.5 pounds per week? Anything higher would be too aggressive for that amount of weight to lose, and you would indeed be hungry.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    I haven't eaten under 1650 ever and I've lost 80 pounds.
  • Bshmerlie
    Bshmerlie Posts: 1,026 Member
    1200 is hard to do long term. I have also been given a 1200 calorie goal for a two pounds per week loss but I usually eat around 1300-1400 during the week and about 2000 on the weekend. So I average 1500 per day. I'm pretty sedentary over all but I do workout daily and burn about 300 calories per day doing that so it gets me back to my 1200 average. But eating only 1200 everyday... It's possible but I just don't like being hungry. BTW....I've lost 45 pounds since April....about four and a half months.