So what happens after i've lost a lot of weight?

I don't even eat 1200, I eat the average caloric intake for my ideal goal weight and current activity level. I am in no hurry to lose, just want it stay lost ;.)

As you go along you'll have to change expectations. When you have a lot of weight to lose it's okay to expect to lose 2lbs a week (and some weeks even more) but as you get closer to your goal you'll have to change your settings to expect to lose only 1lbs a week, or 1/2 a pound a week.

By then you should have a good workout routine in place too and exercising more lets you eat more. Plus you'll be used to a normal portion size and will find that MOST of the time you don't have the need/desire to eat as much as you used to.

I thought I'd be starving when I got close to my goal but I'm not, I'm not set to lose only 1lbs a week and my calories per day are a very comfortable amount for me even if I skip an exercise.

When I started at 242lbs I was eating about 1900 calories a day with a goal of losing 2lbs a week. Now I'm set to lose 1lbs a week (178lbs) and I am set to eat 1470 calories a day.

Good luck!

Aren't you eating way too few calories? I'd imagine you should be eating closer to 2500/day right now. That would give you about a 1000 cal/day deficit.

But yes, 1200 is it. It's going to take me nearly 8 months to lose my last 20 lbs. for this very reason (half a pound/week). Not ideal, but it's the truth.

What you will probably find is that you will lose a lot of weight fairly quickly and as you get closer to your goal weight it will slow down because it won't take as many calories per day for your more slender body to move around.

However, the reason they say you should still eat at least 1200 calories per day is that you body will go into starvation mode if you eat less and you will stop losing weight. As long as you stay at this level your weight loss may slow down as you get closer to your goal weight but it will not stop....Good luck and Congratulations on taking the steps to become a healthier, more energetic you

After you've lost a lot - hooray for one thing - and yeah you get less calories but you need less. Another thing as someone else said - once you get to goal weight you go into maintenance mode - and in maintenance you get more calories.

The most important thing - be careful not to dip too low now -you should be able to easily eat 2000 to 2300 calories a day and still lose 2 lbs a week at your current weight. If i were you i wouldn't go below 1500 - reason being - once your body gets used to a lower intake - it will adjust and that's all it will burn. When i was over 300# i usually ate around 1800 to 2000 a day and the weight came off just fine. It's up to you - and you have to do what works best for you - but i just thought i'd throw that out there Good Luck!

I would just watch out that you don't train your metabolism to slow down by getting by with so few calories. If I heard right you are currently 300+ lbs? It seems preposterous that you wouldn't be losing weight with as much as 2400 calories/day. Do you have a thyroid condition? Your metabolism may be severely out of whack if you have to maintain such huge calorie deficits just to lose weight.

http://optimalbodyweight.com/qa/weight-loss-tips/body/starvation-mode-weight-loss
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits

I weigh 133 lbs. and eat 1800-2000 calories a day. I would think you might be starving on only 1200.

Working out is your friend EXERCISE MORE, EAT MORE, BE HAPPIER!!

blessings.

your calories drop every time you lose weight...once you get to your "goal weight" you'll change your settings to maintain.

I've gone from over 3000 calories to 1970 by losing nearly 40lbs.

QUOTE NOT WORKING?

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I tried the eating calories back thing last week and I gained almost 3lbs.... I ate something like 2000(maybe more, give or take) calories a day to make up for the exercise. I went back to not eating the exercise calories (and eating 1200-1600-1800 a day) and it came back off.

I looked up thyroid problems - a symptom of hypothyroidism is fatigue which could explain why I need 10-12hours of sleep each night. If I dont get that sleep i'm a zombie during the day! Maybe i'll get my doc to do some bloodwork tomorrow :-/
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Well do get tested, but be careful. I have 3 paternal aunts and paternal grandmother with Hashimoto's Disease (autoimmune hypothyroid). I was diagnosed with it myself about 8 years ago (due to extreme fatigue, hair loss, gray skin, but NOT overweight).

I took hypothyroid drugs for 7 years. For 4 years they added in a narcolepsy drug bc I was so exhausted that I fell asleep in the car twice (aack)! However, the drugs NEVER helped. They would change them, up them, drop the dose, etc. Never got it right. But they told me I had to stay on these stupid drugs for the rest of my life. The only time I ever felt good was during a workout or for 2 hours after. Then I would crash. Life sucked, and I do not say that lightly.

Finally the main drug I was taking, Armour, became drastically underavailable in the US. I was without it for 2 months and non-functional by 2 pm every day. A chiropractor suggested that I did not need a drug to replace my thyroid hormone, but just an OTC supplement to kick my own thyroid into gear to make its own hormone. I had nothing to lose bc my drug was unavailable anyway.

It was nothing short of a miracle for me with regard to the energy (I did experience a slight weight gain though--10 lbs.). More than a year after I stopped taking both the thyroid and the narcolepsy drug I had my thyroid levels tested and they were NORMAL. I had a throat scan and had absolutely no indication of Hashimoto's whatsoever.

So that is why I say beware of thyroid drugs.

Also, interestingly, I struggled with that extra 10 lbs for the last year. I drastically upped my exercise (partially due to the fact that I could stay awake during the day--woot). I did not, however, at that time realize that I was undereating. Now I know to eat back the exercise cals, and guess what? 10 lbs. gone.

blessings.

As you lose MFP also automatically asks you if you want to recalculate your goals because you need less calories as you lose. I think mine asks me every 10 pounds. If I remember right I think my calorie goals went down by close to a 100 calories the last time it adjusted.

^^^ This. I found I'd done something that stopped mine automatically adjusting, so to "reset" it I changed by planned weight loss to a different amount then back to 1lb a week.

they say 1200 cals..thats a laugh..yet another diet myth with no science behind it.


you'll eat at your maintenance cals..looks up BMR formulas to calculate yours.