1200 calories

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  • carleeeyyy_6
    carleeeyyy_6 Posts: 7 Member
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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.
  • louann_jude
    louann_jude Posts: 307 Member
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    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.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,223 Member
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    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.
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
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    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.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,223 Member
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    What do you have your activity level set at for that number?
  • VictoryGarden
    VictoryGarden Posts: 194 Member
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    If you're BF'ing, definitely don't go that low.
  • afort001
    afort001 Posts: 45 Member
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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 want
  • Clairebed1983
    Clairebed1983 Posts: 13 Member
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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 starts
  • Bonny132
    Bonny132 Posts: 3,617 Member
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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.
  • amyjoan1
    amyjoan1 Posts: 47 Member
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    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 it
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    Why wouldn't you still log on the weekends? It would be very easy to wipe out a deficit with a weekend where you are eating and drinking without tracking your intake.

    Agree that 1200 may be too low, I'm 5'2 and lost most of my weight (30+lbs) eating between 1600-1900.

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