Structuring a 1200cal day

juliebowman4 · November 2015

For those who are on 1200cal a day.....how do you structure your meals?
300 cal meals plus 3x100cal snacks?
Is it different everyday.....?
I've been (trying) to limit snacking so I can have a larger dinner....although not always possible with those delicious skinny cow treats in the freezer

MommyL2015 · November 2015

I don't eat breakfast, have a protein smoothie for lunch (sometimes with hot cereal to go with it) and then have the rest of my calories for whatever I want for dinner, and I usually have room for desert in the early evening. That's if I am strictly on 1200 calories because I have not been able to exersise. On a good day, I walk between 3-8 miles, so I eat some of that back with afternoon snacks or more at dinner.

ShrinkingKerrie · November 2015

I use around 250-300 on breakfast, same on lunch. Dinner I have 400ish then low cal snacks such as an apple, 10cal jelly or quavers.If I get any off excersize I try not to use them all back.

What are these skinny cow treats you speak of??

korilwelch · November 2015

I eat about 200 calories for breakfast, 300-350 for lunch and dinner 500 calories with 100-200 calories for evening snack. Love my skinny cow ice cream sandwiches and fudge bars.

neohdiver · November 2015

Whatever, whenever...

Fortunately, I don't get hungry - so I can spread things out however I feel like it and change from day to day. My first "meal" is often a quarter cup of nuts on the drive into work around 11 AM. My last meal is often around midnight - after I get home and fix it. I've been trying to snack more during the day (which I consider a pain), just to keep my liver from doing a glucose dump because it's internal clock decides I've been too long without food. My diary is open, so you can see what the calorie spread is. "Snacks" might have been all at one time, or multiple times throughout the day. Lunch tends to be 3 PM-ish (although today it was at noon - about 30 minutes after breakfast...)

ForeverSunshine09 · November 2015

I prelogmy day so each day is different. Most days my lunch is the smallest. I have 1-2snacks ranging from60-120cals

Expatmommy79 · November 2015

My days are pretty consistent:

Coffee when I wake up
Workout
Carrot juice - 150 cal
Protein shake w/ banana - 250-300 cal
Egg white omelette - 200 cal
Shiritaki noodles with marinara sauce - 200 cal
400 calories for dinner - usually bbq chicken / steak or prawns

I eat my exercise calories in snacks - so usually an apple or tangerine, sometimes 2.

If I am going out for dinner then I skip the snacks and give myself about 600 calories for dinner.

WinoGelato · November 2015

I would structure it so that I had more than 1200 cals to eat - either by exercising more or evaluating my numbers to make sure that 1200 was really an appropriate calorie level for me!

I tried 1200 for a few weeks and was constantly starving. I lost most of my weight netting 1500 cals and then 1700 cals.

lemonychild · November 2015

I always wondered what net is on MFP. care to elaborate?

BigMama24mfp · November 2015

Maybe my input here isn't welcome but anytime I see people trying a 1200 calorie diet I feel obligated, as a lifetime failed dieter, to say something. 1200 calories is too few calories, it is simply starvation. Look into the Minnesota Starvation Experiment. Participants were put on a 1560 calorie diet for 24 weeks with disastrous results.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Starvation_Experiment

Try this calculator to determine your BMR as well as your TDEE. You may be surprised to find out you burn many more calories than you think. http://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced
My advice for effective, long term weight loss is to reduce your intake by 500 calories at most.

I burn 3000 calories a day and eat 2500.

tiffkittyw · November 2015

I'm a snacker so I try to eat small amounts during the day. I start with black coffee and several cups of hot tea, then around 10 am I have a 160 calorie protein shake, 2-3 hours later I have lunch which today is a high carb day so I'm eating tuna with light mayo on a sandwich thin - 205 calories. Snacks I have an apple and a Greek yogurt- 172 calories, and in the afternoon I have more snacks, protein granola bar and 100 calorie popcorn- 290 calories. Dinner is salsa chicken tacos- 351 calories. With 4 calories for vitamins I logged 1,187 today. I might have a few sticks of gum to reach 1,200 lol.

Expatmommy79 · November 2015

The calculator puts my BMR at 1500 and energy expenditure at 2500.... When I eat 2000 cal a day I put on weight. When I eat 1200 + my exercise calories I loose weight.

I don't think it's fair for you to generalize.

pussingtonp · November 2015

Sadly BigMama24mfp for us tiny people with desk jobs, BMRs can be lower. My BMR is 1500 [edit] 1466

now Im even sadder [edit]. That aint a lot! So I have to go down to 1200 to feel any type of shift on my scale

For me I tend to do a small breakfast - I have to have a Protein shake (protein powder + almond milk) as per my Dr, that would not be my choice for breakfast at all! So I have that at around 5.45am, I usually have a Greek yogurt or cereal at work around 8am. I snack like a manic so that is tough for me not to snack!! I ususally to to snack on lighter version of things I like, so I like chips, so I'll try and snack on something crunchy to help that craving, etc. My lunch is ususally around 200-300 calories, and can range from a salad to a sandwich to leftovers. Dinner is usually where I splurge calorie wise. But I try to make substitutions to stay within my goals, so for example, one night I had pasta sauce on caultflower because I didn't have enough left for pasta.

Then if by the end of the day, I think I ate to much, and if I am not exhausted, I will work out to try and burn away my mistakes.

My activity level is low, as I have a desk job and long commute on public transit, so being active is hard. I probably walk about 5kms every day and that's my only burn.

My diary is public - but is completely a mess right now, I missed weeks, and haven't been logging (or eating) properly due to some health issues lately, but feel free to take a peek!

Expatmommy79 · November 2015

If you read the study properly, the subjects were already at their ideal weight, and those that weren't were put on a calorie goal to meet their ideal weight.

By the time they entered "starvation" mode, they were already at their goal weight.

These subjects also must have been big men if 3200+ calories was their target calories during the control phase of the experiment...

It's fine to quote a study, but you should probably read all of it, and not just the highlites.

WinoGelato · November 2015

Net would be the amount of calories you end up with after any calories burned from exercise are factored in.
MFP will calculate a maintenance level of calories based on your activity level including daily activities but excluding exercise. Let's say that MFP thinks your maintenance level is 1700 calories/day. It will then set a calorie goal for you based on the amount of weight you want to lose/week. Let's say that you want to lose 1 lb/week, MFP will deduct 500 cals from your daily goal, giving you a calorie level of 1200/day. That means if you do no exercise at all, you should lose 1 lb/week. If you do exercise, and burn say 300 cals running, that means that you are actually at net 900 cals, which is below a healthy level. So in actuality, if you burn 300 cals through exercise, you should be eating some or all of those back (exercise burn estimates can be inflated which is why many people recommend starting with eating back about 1/2 of your calories). If you ate back half of those, you would actually eat 1350 cals for the day, but your net would be closer to that 1200 goal.

I use a FitBit which I find to be pretty accurate for measuring my total calories burned so I tend to eat back all my calories, which means that I'm 5'2 and maintaining around 123 lbs eating 2000+ cals/day. I also have a desk job.

Hope that helps.

Optimistical1 · November 2015

Unfortunately, you don't get much of an allowance when your a petite female. I'm 5'0, my BMR is 1221. My TDEE is more forgiving since I workout 5x a week as its 1,856. If I subtract 250-500 calories from that to lose weight, I'm only allowed around 1400. It doesn't sound like anyone in that starvation study was extra petite :-(

I discovered intermittent fasting from the MFP community and it has changed my life. I get to socially eat, have second helpings and room for dessert, all while staying in my low calorie range allotment. I highly suggest you check out the intermittent fasting group here on MFP and research IF yourself, specifically Leangains intermittent fasting.

Meganthedogmom · November 2015

Mine tends to differ from day to day, but most days I don't really have breakfast (except for coffee + creamer). That tends to hold me over either until lunch, or at least for a few hours. Sometimes I'll have a snack around 10:30 or 11:00am, then lunch at 12:30. I like a variety, so my lunches tend to be a bunch of snacks.
I usually snack again before dinner, then have 300-400 cals at dinner.

Today I woke up hungry, so I had breakfast. My day looks like this:

Breakfast:
raisin bread 80 cal
14g peanut butter 80 cal
52g granola 200 cal
1/3 cup milk 40 cal

Lunch:
Danon light & fit yogurt cup 80 cal
3oz baby carrots 35 cal
Pretzel minis 100 cal
Apple 126g 80 cal

Dinner:
4oz salmon 235 cal
8oz zuchinni and summer squash sautéed in 1.5 tsp butter 90 cal

That leaves me with 180 calories if I want to snack some more, or I could have a bigger dinner if I wanted to.

To the BigMama person who states eating 1200 calories a day is starvation, you must not be short like some of us. Must be nice.

tiffkittyw · November 2015

Your BMR changes with age and activity level (I.e, sedentary desk job). I am also hypothyroid which the calculators don't account for. Without accounting for my hypothyroidism my BMR is around 1,300 calories. I exercise 7 days a week but I use those calories on the weekend. I go by a weekly deficit rather than daily (i.e maintain a 1,200 daily average over the week).

MarcyKirkton · November 2015

I structure it based on what's going on for the day, so it varies.

debrag12 · November 2015

I'm 5.1 and my tdee according to my fitbit is around 2100 but on work days it's close to 3000 so thankfully I don't have a low calorie goal.

kshama2001 · November 2015

I agree that 1200 calories is too few for women my height, almost 5'7", but realize that the shorter one gets, the less calories one needs.

LittleTikiBirdy · November 2015

I generally just skip dinner. Here's my typical day:

Breakfast:
550 calories:
1/2 cup oats with 6 dates, cinnamon, sliced fruit & a huge mug of herbal tea.
If I went for a morning walk, I get bonus peanut butter.

Lunch:
550 calories:
Huge shredded cabbage/carrot/coleslaw salad with a tin of beans or vegetarian meats and a lot of sauce (e.g. fat-free mayo + wholegrain mustard, lemon juice, apple vinegar, etc - skip the oil.) Pepper on top and another huge mug of tea.

Dinner:
0 calories
I'm usually working in the evenings so I drink heaps of water and the food goes down properly because I'm on my feet being busy. If I get low blood sugar, I put a dollar in the candy machine and have a few lollies.

Supper:
100 calories
Mug of tea, sugar-free jelly with strawberries

If I want something, I have tea with sweetener and a dash of soy milk, or lemon+vinegar water sweetened with sugar-free cordial. Usually I'm just thirsty. Also, post-workout = protein powder mixed in cold water

olive1968 · November 2015

I'm another shorty with a desk job, so I'm on 1200. I've also noticed since my kids have gotten bigger that I am much less active than I used to be. Oddly, I find 1300 much easier to handle, so if I exercise enough to earn some calories, I'll eat back a bit of them. But, as many here are quick to point out, the exercise trackers seem to wildly over estimate your burn so I have to be super careful or I get nowhere.

What I try to do, is have a 200-300 calorie breakfast, a 300-400 calorie lunch, 100 calorie snacks, and then 500 or so for dinner.

But I have started and stopped this process so many times, so who knows if this is even close!

peleroja · November 2015

As so many other people on this thread have stated, that's great if you're taller/heavier/more active, but for those of us on the shorter/smaller/more sedentary side, that's not realistic.

I maintain on 1500-1600/day if I don't exercise, and can bump that up to about 2000/day with a six-mile run (more on Saturdays when I do a longer run, less on my Friday rest day.) 2500/day would have me gaining a pound per week even if I were also running 40 miles a week. One size does not fit all and your target must be tailored to your body and lifestyle. For a lot of us, 1200/day isn't a particularly aggressive goal and can easily mean less than a pound per week of loss.

OP, when I was on 1200/day, I usually found it easier to do on two meals, which allowed me to have larger portions. I also stuck pretty much just to protein (whether meat/fish or legumes/eggs) and vegetables, and I ate very little in the way of treats because I just didn't have room for them in my diet if I was getting adequate protein, fat, and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals.) It definitely requires planning and consideration to fuel your body properly on a tight caloric budget. I was big on large salads with seafood, chicken, or eggs and a ton of raw vegetables (and dressing with some oil to make sure I got enough fat), protein bars (still am even in maintenance - 20g of protein for ~200 calories is a good deal, nutritionally-speaking) and piles of roasted/steamed vegetables. I stuck to low-calorie condiments for the most part (mustards, hot sauce, herbs), didn't drink my calories (water, black coffee, a little Coke Zero was pretty much it) and didn't eat many grains because I found breads etc just didn't fill me up like protein and fibrous vegetables did.

queenofpuppies · November 2015

breakfast: 120 calories (2% fage yogurt)
lunch: 160 calories-300 calories (usually a salad with protein or a stew I made in bulk)
Dinner: 600 calories of whatever I want
snacks and drinks: avoided but I have slush calories to cover them
I also take vitamins everyday to make sure I'm not too deficient and I try make sure I get enough protein, fat, and fiber from food every day but its really hard to max all three so I may be readjusting. I also eat back 75% of what I burn so many days I eat way more than 1200.
Good luck!

juliebowman4 · November 2015

I usually DO structure it that way.....and I'll eat back half of my exercise calories.
But I'm 4wks post broken foot.....so.....you get the picture.

azulvioleta6 · November 2015

300
400
(200)
300

I'm actually aiming for 1400 these days, but many of my days look like the above. There is no one right way to do things!

CoffeeNCardio · November 2015

I'm quite fulfilled and happy on 1200 calories (I'm 5'2" and JUST got out of the obese category). My days are different every day. Sometimes I eat hardly anything all day and have a big dinner, some days I "snack" the entire day and don't have any sit down meals. We have a two year old, so the small bites throughout the day tend to be par for the course anyway. My diary is public access if you want to see. There's some not great stuff on there as well as some delightfully healthy stuff. I aim for maximum intake with the fewest calories, that's my only structure.

WinoGelato · November 2015

Yup - that's a different story! Hope you have a speedy recovery!

jnnyp · November 2015

I stick to porridge or weetabix for breakfast and use almond milk for lower calories. What I prep for lunch, I will have for dinner so it's similar calories. I have quinoa, small portion of rice or sweet potato with lots of vegetables. Vegetables fill you up and it's low on calories. I will snack on fruits or yogurt too. If you find that you might go over then do some exercise

maidentl · November 2015

You might be surprised to find that my TDEE without any exercise is 1600 calories. 1200 calories is not starvation for everyone.

Structuring a 1200cal day

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