Is 1200 calories not enough?
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800-1400 calories/day here (6'4", 47 year old male). Started at 300lb on Feb 12th, down 102lb today (welcome to onederland. Yay me!)
I am the guy who everyone ridicules, usually by saying my methods are "dangerous", "unhealthy" or whatever because they drink the kool-aid in these forums rather than doing their own research.
If you can subsist on your 1200/day level, and the results are happening at a personally satisfying rate (while at the same time not causing you any real hindrance throughout your day), then keep going. No one in here knows you better than you. No one knows your tolerances and adaptability the way you do. Don't let people (or some app) throw a number at you and say "this is where you belong". Challenge that number if it suits you to do so.
Seek that calories/day number out yourself - just do it slowly so your body and mind can adjust.
And that malarkey about "starvation mode" is just that. Yes, you're going to lose some lean mass through all this. But even at a huge calorie deficit, the amount of lean mass you will lose in reality will probably be minuscule compared to what everyone in here will tell you. If I listened to the "conventional wisdom" in here, then I should be a 198lb sack of oily lard with weak muscles and zero energy. Yet that's not what happened.
Think for yourself. Question authority.
Are you still eating that low?
You don't seem interested in any comments from others who have taken a different approach so I will just save my fingers the trouble of typing...1 -
Nightmare_Queen88 wrote: »hollygirl101 wrote: »I'm 5'4" and started at 275. Currently 259. I've been hovering around 1200 cals, which is below what MFP thinks I should be eating. I'm clearly in no danger of starving to death, what I am eating is healthy, and I'm not experiencing dizziness or any other side effects. In my opinion, eating fewer calories that what you're "supposed to" and losing weight has got to be better than being seriously overweight right?
Same here. I feel no ill side effects from what I'm doing. I just worry that after I've lost all my weight I'll gain it back some how because I wasn't patient enough and I didn't take it slow.
About 95% of people who lose weight put the weight back on regardless of what diet they did or didn't do or how fast or slow they lost weight. People put the weight back on because they just revert to old habits and haven't embraced a new "normal"5 -
I understand how you feel because I have 123lbs to lose and I'm trying to lose it fast, we're talking real fast. But in my opinion how many calories you take in is according to your preference, as long as it's not under 1200 I think you'll be fine, but I'd prefer 1500. It's better to stick with a well balanced calorie intake and go extreme on being active and doing workouts. I'm eating 1500 a day, some days it's over the limit. I try to workout every single day, for now only 1-2 hours a day, one day off every week. Ultimate goal is to always be taking 1500 calorie a day and working out every day for 4 hours with one day off every week. It really helps. Burn more than what you eat, I think that's the key and the better way. I've only started back 2 weeks ago. I gained a bit because I was sick the first week and I lost 2.2kg/4.8lbs this week, not to mention I already lost 5.9 inches around my waist. I'm currently 116.8kg/257.4lbs and 5'3 btw. It's just my opinion and advice, do whatever you think works best for you. All the best hunn
Anyway, to anyone out there, if you ever need a friend to accompany you through this journey to a happier and healthier life, motivate you to reach for you goals, support you through ups and downs, I'm always here to be that friend, so feel free to add me! I hope we all will succeed in this journey, until the end! Have a nice day everyone! 0 -
WinoGelato wrote: »
Are you still eating that low?
You don't seem interested in any comments from others who have taken a different approach so I will just save my fingers the trouble of typing...
I am still, yes.
And it's not that i'm disinterested in other people's approaches. I simply try to "take the emotion out of it".
As an IT guy by trade, I am very much into hard data. Unfortunately, hard data doesn't always translate well in the realm of human physiology. I have seen time and time again where this results in people "filling in the blanks" with their own interpretations of what needs to happen should someone want to lose weight. When one person says "you will experience lean mass loss during high calorie restriction", that gets twisted in so many different ways, it's laughable.
Correlation does not imply causation.2 -
I understand how you feel because I have 123lbs to lose and I'm trying to lose it fast, we're talking real fast. But in my opinion how many calories you take in is according to your preference, as long as it's not under 1200 I think you'll be fine, but I'd prefer 1500. It's better to stick with a well balanced calorie intake and go extreme on being active and doing workouts. I'm eating 1500 a day, some days it's over the limit. I try to workout every single day, for now only 1-2 hours a day, one day off every week. Ultimate goal is to always be taking 1500 calorie a day and working out every day for 4 hours with one day off every week. It really helps. Burn more than what you eat, I think that's the key and the better way. I've only started back 2 weeks ago. I gained a bit because I was sick the first week and I lost 2.2kg/4.8lbs this week, not to mention I already lost 5.9 inches around my waist. I'm currently 116.8kg/257.4lbs and 5'3 btw. It's just my opinion and advice, do whatever you think works best for you. All the best hunn
Anyway, to anyone out there, if you ever need a friend to accompany you through this journey to a happier and healthier life, motivate you to reach for you goals, support you through ups and downs, I'm always here to be that friend, so feel free to add me! I hope we all will succeed in this journey, until the end! Have a nice day everyone!
Holy hell, 4 hours??? Per day??0 -
Ok so I've adjusted my settings. My goal is now set to 1.5lbs per week and 1500 calories. I'm not going back down to 1200 ever again. The recommended from MFP, however, was 1650. So should I put that in as my calories or is 1500 fine? I really don't want to cause any damage to my body while trying to lose weight. I'll definitely learn to be more patient. 2
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Nightmare_Queen88 wrote: »Ok so I've adjusted my settings. My goal is now set to 1.5lbs per week and 1500 calories. I'm not going back down to 1200 ever again. The recommended from MFP, however, was 1650. So should I put that in as my calories or is 1500 fine? I really don't want to cause any damage to my body while trying to lose weight. I'll definitely learn to be more patient.
Try 1500 but make sure you eat some of your exercise calories back. In about 20 or so pounds when you get down to less than 50 lbs to lose you may want to increase again.
Another thing I tried to remember to keep perspective is that in almost every aspect of our life, we complain about how fast time goes. Can't believe the summer is almost over. Can't believe the kids are growing up so fast. Wish we could just slow things down and enjoy the moment... In everything but weight loss that is. With weight loss we want it as fast as possible. It makes sense, but try to just keep perspective that the time is going to pass and a year from now you'll likely be close to your goal...4 -
Ok I'll definitely do that. So as far as exercise calories go, if I burn 200 calories, do I eat 1600 calories? I'm only planning on eating half back or maybe 150 if it's 200.0
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I'm not saying everyone can do 1200 calories ( or even should do 1200 calories, I'm relatively sedentary, only walk 3 miles 3 days a week) but not all of us who are eating that low are starving. I choose to eat a lot of fruit and veggies and lean protein, so I can eat pretty high volume on 1200 calories a day. And I'm not spending my days hangry or anything. I supplement my meals with a multivitamin, calcium and vitamin D and I feel awesome. Tons of energy compared to when I was eating more.4
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I'm not saying everyone can do 1200 calories ( or even should do 1200 calories, I'm relatively sedentary, only walk 3 miles 3 days a week) but not all of us who are eating that low are starving. I choose to eat a lot of fruit and veggies and lean protein, so I can eat pretty high volume on 1200 calories a day. And I'm not spending my days hangry or anything. I supplement my meals with a multivitamin, calcium and vitamin D and I feel awesome. Tons of energy compared to when I was eating more.
Yes we are all different. I tried 1200 calories and i lasted 4 whole days before I caved.
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Nightmare_Queen88 wrote: »Ok I'll definitely do that. So as far as exercise calories go, if I burn 200 calories, do I eat 1600 calories? I'm only planning on eating half back or maybe 150 if it's 200.
That's a good starting point. Monitor what happens on the scale for a few weeks, if you are losing faster than expected then maybe eat a little more. I always ate back all the adjustments when I got estimates from MFP and when I got a FitBit and I lost at the rate I wanted and am now maintaining.0 -
I eat 900-1200 doing IF and Keto, and have no issues. If I have a particularly strenuous day I'll eat more, but on low energy/not so taxing days I just eat less.0
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I'm going to take a different approach and say
You've done amazingly well so far and have a way to go clearly, but you are going to get there
I would leave my MFP goal at 1200 calories for the 2lbs a week, but I would then invest in a pedometer (just a basic one, if you want one to synch to MFP them a Fitbit one or zip) and I would aim to work up to making the region of 8000-12000 steps per day my normal ...get up from your desk go for a lunchtime walk, make part of your journey to and from work a walk, go shopping on foot etc ...by doing this you will earn another 3-500 calories a day to eat ...so your intake will be around 1500 calories ...and you will be embedding lifestyle habits
Then when you workout, please be progressive resistance, eat back half to 3/4 of those calories too..you don't have to eat them same day ...use your calories as a weekly budget
Your aim is long term maintenance, your current stage is the loss part but if you don't get your head in the long term maintenance game early you risk joining the yo yo set
I say this as the person who told @winogelato that 'at the end of the day the one who eats the most and still loses wins"
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Those who are consistently eating sub 1200 are going against all scientific and current medical thinking and give me the sads
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Those who are consistently eating sub 1200 are going against all scientific and current medical thinking and give me the sads
Except it's not going against anything.
It may go against the current thinking at the NIH, but the NIH is so far behind CURRENT research (at least with what it publishes as its recommended guidelines TODAY), you would be a fool to accept anything it publishes as a recommendation. These are the folks that mfp quote when you try to close out your day's calories only to be scolded for not eating enough. They are also the folks who gave us the "food pyramid" lol
Read "good calories, bad calories" and/or "why we get fat" by Gary Taubes for starters. It is chock full of data that the NIH consistently gets wrong, but manages to publish as their "guidelines" despite all evidence being to the contrary.
Edit: and please don't misconstrue this post as an attack on your position. I'm simply saying that modern science is way ahead of what most people believe is the currently accepted "truth". For instance, if you try to get the NIH to take a position on intermittent fasting or ketosis as a nutritional management style, you would be SOL. Yet the science with supporting evidence has been there for years.
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WinoGelato wrote: »Nightmare_Queen88 wrote: »Ok I'll definitely do that. So as far as exercise calories go, if I burn 200 calories, do I eat 1600 calories? I'm only planning on eating half back or maybe 150 if it's 200.
That's a good starting point. Monitor what happens on the scale for a few weeks, if you are losing faster than expected then maybe eat a little more. I always ate back all the adjustments when I got estimates from MFP and when I got a FitBit and I lost at the rate I wanted and am now maintaining.
Ok I will do that. I think 1500 is a good range for me. Because I got really hungry last night and ended up eating a late snack when I shouldn't have. So I'm hoping eating more will prevent that.0 -
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Nightmare_Queen88 wrote: »Ok I will do that. I think 1500 is a good range for me. Because I got really hungry last night and ended up eating a late snack when I shouldn't have. So I'm hoping eating more will prevent that.
I'm 5'1", 200lb, losing an average of 2lb/week and am eating 2000+ a day, no way I could go below 1800 or so, I'd just be so hungry. But I am pretty active walking around 25000 steps a day plus working out (little bit cardio, lot of resistance) 2-4x/week. Maybe up your activity a little more and then up your calories, no more feeling "really hungry" and you could snack without feeling any guilt.
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Nightmare_Queen88 wrote: »WinoGelato wrote: »Nightmare_Queen88 wrote: »Ok I'll definitely do that. So as far as exercise calories go, if I burn 200 calories, do I eat 1600 calories? I'm only planning on eating half back or maybe 150 if it's 200.
That's a good starting point. Monitor what happens on the scale for a few weeks, if you are losing faster than expected then maybe eat a little more. I always ate back all the adjustments when I got estimates from MFP and when I got a FitBit and I lost at the rate I wanted and am now maintaining.
Ok I will do that. I think 1500 is a good range for me. Because I got really hungry last night and ended up eating a late snack when I shouldn't have. So I'm hoping eating more will prevent that.
I eat Greek yogurt when I take my bedtime pills. If I need extra protein, I add in nut butter and/or PB2. It only adds 80-200 cals to my day, and I always pre-log it like most of the rest of my day so that I make sure I have room for it.0 -
Cute kitty. Lol. But yeah you're right. I need to eat more. 1200 just isn't enough to live off of. Maybe some people can do it but I can't.
Except she isn't "right". She is correct in that it goes against the NIH's guidelines, but it is already well documented that the NIH's guidelines have little basis in modern science.
Allow me to directly answer your question. "is 1200 calories not enough?"
The simple answer is "1200 is enough for ME right now, given my goals".
The longer (but still simple answer) goes on to say:
But I avoid carbs because they make me more hungry. And I leverage intermittent fasting to eat more in each sitting, which keeps me satiated longer, which in turn allows me to burn more fat because doing it this way brings on ketosis.
I have lost a staggering amount of weight in a very short amount of time (102lb in 5 months) without losing a disproportionate amount of "lean mass" that the forum members here seem to claim is inevitable. I have tried to leverage any kind of measurable metric available to me. This includes blood work (which I'm required to get every three months thanks to my psoriasis meds), caliper BF measurements, my own scale that also measures pulse wave velocity and body fat, my fitbit measuring my resting heart rate over time, my simple measuring tape, and more. I am a numbers guy, so I will always gravitate towards Good Old Hard Data.
And by every measurable metric thus far, all of my numbers are going on the right direction - and I'm not passing out due to undernutrition or anything.
Despite my success thus far, you will be VERY hard pressed to believe what I am doing is "healthy" if you believe the people in these forums. Even with actual data, the MFP community clings to the idea that there is such a thing as a "dangerously low daily caloric intake" that will "make things worse for you" because the NIH says so. Well, we will simply have to agree to disagree. But my numbers don't lie.2
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