Does anyone use the 1200 cal guideline?

Sydneymchamberlain
Sydneymchamberlain Posts: 19 Member
edited December 2 in Health and Weight Loss
So, I started at 150lbs in March and I'm down to about 133 now. I'm within the "healthy" BMI for my height now (I was overweight), but I have 15lbs to my goal.

I haven't been counting calories, just eating cleaner and using portion control but my weight loss has slowed. I recently took up biking and swimming, but I think counting calories will help me reach my final goal.

My question is, does anyone actually eat the recommended 1200 calories? I burn about 500 a day between biking and exercising.

Any accurate calculators I can find online? Thanks!
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Replies

  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    1200 is my calorie goal without exercise. I usually eat more than 1200 calories when I exercise and you probably should too.
    1200 is the minimum recommendation for women to get enough nutrition. You really should not be eating less than that unless you are on a short term doctor monitored diet.
  • chocolate_owl
    chocolate_owl Posts: 1,695 Member
    With so little to lose, 1200 calories is very likely NOT an appropriate goal. I'd suggest setting MFP up to lose 0.5 lbs per week AND eating back the calories you gain from exercise. You'll probably be eating 1300-1400 before exercise, plus getting your extra 500. If you don't weigh and measure your food, maybe eat 50-75% of your exercise calories to leave some room for overestimation.
  • st476
    st476 Posts: 357 Member
    I started at 150 and I'm at 133 now too! I eat between 1200-1350 everyday and it's working well for me. I lose around 1.5-2 pounds per week, which is really extreme for someone my height and weight but I really don't feel deprived at all. You could get away with eating a lot more and lose weight slower I'm sure.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    I started about the same place you did (150ish) and now weigh around your goal. For the amount you have to lose and your activity level, I think 1,200 is too low. When I reached the 130s, my goal was 1,250-1,300, but I was eating back exercise calories. I was losing .5-1 pound a week for most of that time.

    I would start logging, get a good idea of what you're eating now, and adjust from there. It's really hard to fuel activity and feel good if you're just eating 1,200.
  • Caroline393
    Caroline393 Posts: 71 Member
    My goal is 1200, and at first I struggled with not going over that but it's gotten easier for me. I've learned portion control and how to make the most of the calories I'm allotted. I also go to the gym daily and gain ~300 from working out. That gives me some wiggle room. I usually eat some of them back, but try to come in around 50-100 calories under if I can. I've lost about 5 lbs this month, so it's working I guess. And I don't feel like I'm starving anymore. The key is lots of lean protein (I eat chicken all the time) because it's way more satisfying than stuff like pasta or bread. I can eat two chicken tenderloins and a side of veggies for dinner and feel perfectly satisfied vs eating a bigger bowl of pasta and then feeling bloated later. Drinking lots of water is also a major help.
  • fitmek
    fitmek Posts: 277 Member
    1200 is too low for me. I've tried it countless times and I sit hungry with a very loud growling stomach all day. Optimal weight loss for me happens around 1350-1420 calories. It's hard for me to even stay that low though most days. If you are working out as much as you say, I would aim for 1700-1800 calories a day because it sounds like you are burning around 400-500 or so with biking and other exercise. If you have lost weight on 1200 and if it works well for you, I wouldn't change much unless you start to stall quite a bit. I personally just cannot stick to that low of an amount.
  • SCoil123
    SCoil123 Posts: 2,111 Member
    That number isn't recommended for me. I don't think I could maintain that for more than a day or two.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    Sydneymchamberlain wrote: »
    So, I started at 150lbs in March and I'm down to about 133 now. I'm within the "healthy" BMI for my height now (I was overweight), but I have 15lbs to my goal.

    I haven't been counting calories, just eating cleaner and using portion control but my weight loss has slowed. I recently took up biking and swimming, but I think counting calories will help me reach my final goal.

    My question is, does anyone actually eat the recommended 1200 calories? I burn about 500 a day between biking and exercising.

    Any accurate calculators I can find online? Thanks!

    The MFP 1200 goal is without exercise. So you should log your exercise and eat at least portion back. Also, with only 15 lbs left to go, make sure you are not choosing a too aggressive weekly goal. It should prob be one-half pound per week. Good luck!
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Well, if you include exercise like you're supposed to, I guess I probably ate close to that for most of my weight loss.
  • KetoneKaren
    KetoneKaren Posts: 6,412 Member
    Yes I am at 1200 calories, which is appropriate for my age, activity level, and height.

    As others here have alluded to, setting a deficit based on your stats will help you reach your goal.

    Someone already mentioned setting the goal to 0.5lb per week for your recommended calories. That's good advice.

    You can tweak things a bit as you go along.
  • KiraCharman
    KiraCharman Posts: 90 Member
    I try and use the 1200 a day unless I have excersised. If it's a special occasion I use my actual targets that mfp set up for me. Seems to work for me :) hope it helps
  • AdmireDeVoll
    AdmireDeVoll Posts: 46 Member
    I'm following 1200 calories and stick fairly close to that, some days 1000 some days like 1400 but it balances out to 1200 a day for the week. I try to focus on packing as much nutrition into as few calories as possible, and if im hungry for no reason ill drink a cup of black coffee and that usually fixes it. (usually thinking about food makes me hungry) If im still hungry then i will have a snack. Exercise helps curb my appetite so i take my one hour lunch break and workout, then just eat like a quest bar at my desk. I dont have any rule for food. I want breakfast for supper? I want a snack for lunch? I want some friking carbs? Sure just keep it under 1200 calories. If you learn to like healthy food and just stop eating junk for a couple of weeks you will stop craving junk food and when u have some it will taste like crap. Ive been loosing pretty steadily. I highly recommend it.
  • LisaKay91
    LisaKay91 Posts: 211 Member
    edited June 2016
    I do around 1200 a day most days and weigh my food using grams as the unit of measurement.

    I don't eat exercise calories back just in case I underestimated my calories throughout the week
  • Sway2016
    Sway2016 Posts: 4 Member
    I followed 1200 a day for the first 2 months or so. As I increased my activity that went up to 1270. My goal is set to 2lbs. per week. I don't eat calories back because I like the buffer it provides in case I've made any incorrect estimates.
  • trjjoy
    trjjoy Posts: 666 Member
    I did the 1200 calorie before exercise thing. I've lost 13kg like that. Low-cal, high volume vegetables should become your Best Friend Forever.
  • tiffkittyw
    tiffkittyw Posts: 366 Member
    I follow 1,200 calories 6 days a week only so I can have 2,200 on Saturday (calorie banking). It's not difficult for me, but sometimes when I add up the macros I'm really getting like 1,250 a day, meh no biggie.
  • seekingdaintiness
    seekingdaintiness Posts: 137 Member
    The imaginary mfp diet strikes again!

    There is no magic eating back your calories science to weight loss. You don't do it, folks. You exercise to speed your weight loss. It doesn't work in some special different way because you are using this particular diet tracker. You misunderstand this particular software and use it as an excuse to eat more then wonder why you can't lose weight. It would be funny except for how you all misinform others on a daily basis.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    seekingdaintiness wrote: »
    The imaginary mfp diet strikes again!

    There is no magic eating back your calories science to weight loss. You don't do it, folks. You exercise to speed your weight loss. It doesn't work in some special different way because you are using this particular diet tracker. You misunderstand this particular software and use it as an excuse to eat more then wonder why you can't lose weight. It would be funny except for how you all misinform others on a daily basis.

    Actually, you are misunderstanding. This is exactly how MFP is supposed to work.

    You pick a weekly goal - say I want to lose 1 lb per week. MFP gives you a calorie goal so that without exercise, you lose 1 lb per week.

    Then you exercise. If you don't eat back at least some of those calories, you will lose faster than you wanted to, possibly undereating, and not fueling your exercise.

    So yes, if you are using the MFP calorie goal, you are supposed to eat back exercise calories.

    If you use TDEE or some other method that factors your exercise into your goal, then you don't eat those calories back.
  • godlikepoetyes
    godlikepoetyes Posts: 442 Member
    WHY do you guys eat only 1,200 calories? If MFP gives you so few, then by all means go with it. But most women, MOST, do not need to eat so few calories to lose weight. I hear about this "1,200" calories all the time. I think it's because many women believe, or fear, they just won't lose unless they eat the absolute minimum. This is simply not the case for most women. I was on another post and a woman, who is 5'8"!! was eating only 1,200! This is absurd. I suggest that everyone do some research into TDEE and to consider the World Heath Organization's definition of food malnutrition/food insecurity--anyone who consumes fewer than 1,800 calories a day is "chronically under-nourished and hungry." Obviously this is an average across the weights of every age, sex, and height of normal weight persons, but doesn't that number put things into perspective? The TDEE for healthy men and women is between 2,350 and 3,000 and those numbers are likely too low.
  • dlkfox
    dlkfox Posts: 463 Member
    Sydneymchamberlain wrote: »
    My question is, does anyone actually eat the recommended 1200 calories? I burn about 500 a day between biking and exercising.

    Can you do it? Sure. Should you do it? Depends on your height, weight, gender, age, and goal.

    Enter your stats into MFP and set it to losing a half pound a week. Then, eat back 50-100% of any exercise calories you get. What that number is, is unique to you.

    I do eat 1200 calories a day, because I'm short and sedentary. My body doesn't require the same number of calories that another woman who is 5'6" would require. I do eat back some but not all of my exercise calories, so on days I don't exercise, I keep it to 1200. On days I do exercise, I might be eating 1500. And I'm still losing.
  • Will_Run_for_Food
    Will_Run_for_Food Posts: 561 Member
    I follow the IIFYM plan and do NOT eat back calories burned through exercise.
  • BlondeTheHardWay
    BlondeTheHardWay Posts: 48 Member
    I get about 1,200 calories on days that I'm not really hungry or very very busy. The most I consume is 1,400 and I measure very accurately.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    edited June 2016
    seekingdaintiness wrote: »
    The imaginary mfp diet strikes again!

    There is no magic eating back your calories science to weight loss. You don't do it, folks. You exercise to speed your weight loss. It doesn't work in some special different way because you are using this particular diet tracker. You misunderstand this particular software and use it as an excuse to eat more then wonder why you can't lose weight. It would be funny except for how you all misinform others on a daily basis.

    This particular software uses the NEAT system and as such is designed for exercise calories to be eaten back. See http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/818082/exercise-calories-again-wtf/p1

    Just who are you talking about who is "misinforming" people how MFP is designed to work AND wondering why they can't lose weight?
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    Will_Run_for_Food wrote: »
    I follow the IIFYM plan and do NOT eat back calories burned through exercise.

    That's becaue the IIFYM calculator already accounts for exercise, MFP does not by default.
  • marqueechang
    marqueechang Posts: 2 Member
    I don't use the 1200 Cal guideline. Having said that, our Cal allowances will fluctuate based on our personal stats and goals. My calorie allowance in line with my current weight goal is 1610 calories. The changes you make to your diet must be sustainable if you want to keep the weight off. Do you think that you can make 1200 calories your permanent norm intake over time?
  • jkal1979
    jkal1979 Posts: 1,896 Member
    godlikepoetyes wrote: »
    WHY do you guys eat only 1,200 calories? If MFP gives you so few, then by all means go with it. But most women, MOST, do not need to eat so few calories to lose weight. I hear about this "1,200" calories all the time. I think it's because many women believe, or fear, they just won't lose unless they eat the absolute minimum. This is simply not the case for most women. I was on another post and a woman, who is 5'8"!! was eating only 1,200! This is absurd. I suggest that everyone do some research into TDEE and to consider the World Heath Organization's definition of food malnutrition/food insecurity--anyone who consumes fewer than 1,800 calories a day is "chronically under-nourished and hungry." Obviously this is an average across the weights of every age, sex, and height of normal weight persons, but doesn't that number put things into perspective? The TDEE for healthy men and women is between 2,350 and 3,000 and those numbers are likely too low.

    I think a lot of it has to do with the weekly weight loss goal. Someone sets up a new account and when they set up their goals they see that 2 pounds a week is an option and they go with it. I did the same thing but once I seen the recommendations from other members in the forum posts I changed it to 1 pound a week based on how much I have to lose.
  • jo_nz
    jo_nz Posts: 548 Member
    I am a fairly short woman with a sedentary job and not much exercise (slowly building up after an injury last year - can't believe how long rehab has taken/is taking, but it is what it is).

    My stats also give me 1200 per day, which I find fine as long as I eat sensibly.
    On days I exercise, I do eat back at least some of my exercise calories - if I feel like I am hungry I eat them all, if not, I eat maybe half.
    I enter my exercise using the MFP database, so don't use any other calculators.
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