I'm hungry on 1200 calories :(

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.

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

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 wrote: »

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Try drinking more water throughout the day, it helps to fill me up. I find I'm actually thirsty and not hungry! xxx