1200 calories
Clairebed1983
Posts: 13 Member
Hi everyone I've just started my calories back up after having my daughter almost 5 months ago. I will be eating 1200 calories through the week and then off the calorie counting at the weekend and just wandering how it will work? Would I still lose enough weight to do it like that? I know it will be a long process and that's fine. With lots of nights out planned will not be sticking to it at the weekend as will be drinking etc. Anyone else doing anything similar to this and how is it working? Finding being at home all day harder than at work seem to eat more now so had to make a change. Any advice welcome thanks in advance Claire X x
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Replies
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Is 1200 what Myfitnesspal gave you?1
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I essentially do that. The weight loss is slower but possible, assuming you don't go too crazy on the weekends & get in some exercise. Weekend exercise is generally more play -- swimming, tennis, etc then full on gym but it still burns calories. I had one really bad day of 3,000 calories & 2 where I was way over 2,000 but I am still losing.1
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Great to hear thanks for your reply. I find I'm not eating meals with my family now do you manage to? Some meals I can but where I cannot calorie count I don't. Yeah still want to be able to eat treats and have a drink at the weekend with my partner. How much do you lose each week on average?0
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I'm not sure what mfp gave me it may be more I have done 1200 calories before and know it is restrictive but it works0
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Clairebed1983 wrote: »Hi everyone I've just started my calories back up after having my daughter almost 5 months ago. I will be eating 1200 calories through the week and then off the calorie counting at the weekend and just wandering how it will work? Would I still lose enough weight to do it like that? I know it will be a long process and that's fine. With lots of nights out planned will not be sticking to it at the weekend as will be drinking etc. Anyone else doing anything similar to this and how is it working? Finding being at home all day harder than at work seem to eat more now so had to make a change. Any advice welcome thanks in advance Claire X x
Lots of people here successfully bank calories for the weekend. However, they still log on the weekends. If you don't log, you can easily wipe out the deficit you created and all that 1200 calorie suffering will be for naught.
I just exercise more on the weekend.9 -
Clairebed1983 wrote: »I'm not sure what mfp gave me it may be more I have done 1200 calories before and know it is restrictive but it works
Check your goal with MFP. You may be able to eat more and lose at a healthy rate.1 -
Clairebed1983 wrote: »Hi everyone I've just started my calories back up after having my daughter almost 5 months ago. I will be eating 1200 calories through the week and then off the calorie counting at the weekend and just wandering how it will work? Would I still lose enough weight to do it like that? I know it will be a long process and that's fine. With lots of nights out planned will not be sticking to it at the weekend as will be drinking etc. Anyone else doing anything similar to this and how is it working? Finding being at home all day harder than at work seem to eat more now so had to make a change. Any advice welcome thanks in advance Claire X x
Plenty of people zig-zag their calories. I eat (future) maintenance on the weekends, but lower during the week. People question 1200 because it's a default minimum, but you're not eating that way 7 days a week.
You might want to log on the weekends at the start, just to make sure you aren't over doing it. Some people have zero problems switching from low calorie days to higher ones, others (kind of) use it as an excuse to over indulge.1 -
Clairebed1983 wrote: »Great to hear thanks for your reply. I find I'm not eating meals with my family now do you manage to? Some meals I can but where I cannot calorie count I don't. Yeah still want to be able to eat treats and have a drink at the weekend with my partner. How much do you lose each week on average?
Weekly weight loss is going to vary depending on where you are it.
Something like this:
Pound per week goals
75+ lbs set to lose 2 lb range
Between 40 - 75 lbs set to lose 1.5 lb range
Between 25-40 lbs set to lose 1 lb range
Between 15-25 lbs set to lose 1 -.50 lb range
Less than 15 lbs set to lose 0.5 lbs range
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I would suggest logging all the time, even if you eat more on weekends, and even if you are guessing at times on calories.3
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Unsure how to check my goal? It says default 1200? I'm 5ft 6 and weigh 12 stone 3lb0
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Clairebed1983 wrote: »Unsure how to check my goal? It says default 1200? I'm 5ft 6 and weigh 12 stone 3lb
If you plug your stats into MFP they will give you a daily goal based on 7 days a week. The bottom number is 1200. That number happens when users choose a higher than average weekly weight loss goal, they are elderly, or they are very petite.
2 pounds a week would be very aggressive, you're more like 1 pound a week. But if you are eating more on weekends, you are going to average more than 1200 calories.
To find your maintenance google TDEE calculator. This is the number you definitely don't want to go over on weekends. This will chip away at the deficit you created during the week.1 -
That will work but you still need to be calorie aware at the weekend as its totally possible to undo all the weeks good eating by over indulging at the weekend and wiping out any calorie deficit made.0
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1370 is what mfp gave me daily for 1lb per week loss0
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Clairebed1983 wrote: »Unsure how to check my goal? It says default 1200? I'm 5ft 6 and weigh 12 stone 3lb
So 171 pounds for us Yanks...
What's your goal weight?0 -
Clairebed1983 wrote: »1370 is what mfp gave me daily for 1lb per week loss
So if you ate 1200 calories Monday thru Friday - that would give you and extra 850 calories to play with between Saturday & Sunday. (1370-1200=170 x 5=850).
Keep in mind MFP is before exercise. So if you are doing anything more than light exercise you can add more. Lots of people shift exercise calories too.1 -
Clairebed1983 wrote: »I find I'm not eating meals with my family now do you manage to? Some meals I can but where I cannot calorie count I don't. Yeah still want to be able to eat treats and have a drink at the weekend with my partner. How much do you lose each week on average?
I don't have kids but I do eat with my husband. He eats what I make. Most of the time he just eats more of it.
The beauty of MFP is that you can eat whatever. You simply learn portion control & balance.
For example, we're going out to dinner tonight. I know the portion will be too large & that like most people I eat with my eyes. Knowing that I will make sure to eat a very small light lunch. I'm having my mid morning snack of a 100 calorie granola bar right now. That will get me through the next few hours & I'll have a yogurt later. Thus I will have "extra" dinner calories available for my larger portion.
On the weekends I do have some alcoholic drinks which are empty calories. I try to balance that by making sure I dance when I drink. I'm usually still over but it's not as bad.
I have been doing this since July 1. To date, I lost 8 pounds so an average of 1 pound per week. It's not bad considering that I am over 1200 calories per day more then I am under & I have gone waaaay over on most weekends.
I figure I have to make this a lifestyle. I'm not one for austerity so never drinking again & never having my favorite foods certainly won't be sustainable for me.
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Clairebed1983 wrote: »1370 is what mfp gave me daily for 1lb per week loss
Im your height and 170(gained a few lbs back) and Im losing on 1730 calories(gives me over 1800 for my (set at .5 lbs a week).it gives me 1530 for 1lb a week for lightly active.and 1820 for active. I manually set mine to the 1730. are you setting it to sedentary is that why its giving you 1370?0 -
My ideal weight to start with is 154 and see how I feel and look from there....0
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Clairebed1983 wrote: »My ideal weight to start with is 154 and see how I feel and look from there....
With only 17 pounds to lose, a weekly weight loss goal of 0.5 pounds will be the most sustainable plan. Overly aggressive weight loss goals easily lead to burnout or binging.1 -
Yes as I am at home with my daughter most days do try and get out even for a 10 minute walk or cutting the grass but don't add it to mfp0
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Bringing your calories back up to maintenence level or a little above every 3 or 4 days will reset your leptin level (metabolism). It's beneficial to have "refeeds" because you prevent slowing your metabolism down (which stalls fat loss).
Maybe track on those days and just bring your calories and carbs up that day.
I do that every 3 days. My macros(protein fats and carbs) are currently at 139 g of protein (1 gram per lb), 45 g of fat (.3 ish g per lb) and 80 carbs. It equals to around 1289 daily. On my refeeds, I stay at 139P but I decrease fat to 35g and increase carbs to 175-200 grams! About 1550 calories!
I didn't used to do refeeds but I hit a plateau and it has helped me get through it and continue to lose fat! IIFYM really works!
Hope this helped.1 -
When I first started I couldn't do a lot of exercise so I would get up and clean a lot. Anything to keep busy, wash walls, clean carpets, move furniture. It would take all day. But now I am smaller I am faster.
As far as dinner with family I have dinner with them every night. Just 95% of the time I eat differently than them. My son usually eats what my S.O. eats its funny he is almost as picky as my son. Then my daughter has sensory issues and she only eats a very limited diet. Yesterday for dinner I made baked spaghetti and garlic bread for my guys. My daughter had her meal and I made chicken, broccoli Alfredo Penne without bread, I also had a side salad. It gets hard and hectic but I want to be at a healthy weight more than the food they eat. One day I will get them to eat more healthy but until then they will see me do my thing.0 -
Clairebed1983 wrote: »Yes as I am at home with my daughter most days do try and get out even for a 10 minute walk or cutting the grass but don't add it to mfp
If you have a newborn your activity level is likely not sedentary either.0 -
Clairebed1983 wrote: »I'm not sure what mfp gave me it may be more I have done 1200 calories before and know it is restrictive but it works
Its not that eating 1200 calories a day is a problem because you won't lose weight, you definately will lose weight so in that sense it "works". The way it doesn't "work" is that you will inevitably also lose muscle at such a large deficit and the longer you stay at 1200 the more muscle you will lose. Fat is easy to put on and honestly its not that hard to take off either, but muscle is a different story. Once you lose that muscle chances are you aren't going to be putting it back on anytime soon.
Lower muscle mass people are going to struggle much more to keep their weight under control in terms of adding fat. So sure, at 1200 calories you can lose weight...you can probably lose weight really quickly. But you are going to have a much harder time maintaining after than if you had set a more reasonable deficit and did resistance training with that extra energy from the additional food in order to maintain your muscle during weight loss.1 -
What do you have your activity level set at for that number?0
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If you're BF'ing, definitely don't go that low.1
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Some people (like me) would be more tempted to binge on the weekends. I would be like , well I ate good all week , now I can eat what I want0
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No my daughter is not breastfed. Scales say I've lost 2lb but haven't been weighed for a while. At a party tonight where I will be drinking and eating this is where the difficult part starts0
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To the OP I eat low calories during the week and splash out at weekends BUT I still log my weekends and I count my calories over 7 days. I loose 1-2lbs per week, but at weekends I alternate my alcoholic drinks with non alcoholic ones and also make sure my portion sizes are under control and I make the best possible food choices.
I have moved to LCHF which keeps me fuller for longer, otherwise I would have been starving as carbs personally leaves me just wanting more. I do recommend you to log your weekends though as the calories soon mounts up.0 -
I personally am too afraid to go offy diet on a weekend or any day bc I've worked so hard I don't want to convince myself it's ok. I've tried to make food that I actually enjoy so when I want a sweet dessert I'll bake a pear w honey and cinnamon instead of ice cream or apple pie. It's not easy at first that's why I try to make healthy food that I actually like. And yes I will have a drink or glass of wine but I track it. I know it's hard with a baby at home but when I feel like overeating I'll go outside w my son or I keep busy on projects and cleaning. And maybe excersize when he's napping or put him in baby seat so you can. But going off the diet makes me nervous personally. But what works for me might not work for others so don't over stress it0
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