1350 calories a day...how do you do it?

I netted 1200 for like 8 months. I was completely satisfied. I just decided if I wanted to eat more I'd have to do more to earn it. Have to be careful of the "runger" though. Add in vegetables (sneak them into anything you can--zucchini in your spaghetti sauce, cauliflower in your cream soups) make broth based soups full of vegetables to help bulk up a meal and keep you full on very few calories. Stop adding cheese to things where you won't notice it i.e. on a sandwich, I don't recommend avoiding dairy though and I would further suggest sticking with full fat dairy because the calorie differences are minimal and full fat keeps you fuller. If you snack try and make it include protein and fat together (this may be a purely "me" suggestion but I've noticed when I eat simple/refined carbs alone I become a bottomless pit.)

i eat about 1200 a day and I am usually pretty happy and full. I eat a lot of proteins. I count macros (grams of fat protein and carbs). Feel free to add me to get an idea of my day. Sometimes I am starving at 1200 calories and some days I cant eat it all!

I usually eat between 1250-1400 a day. A typical day for me is:

single serving container of 2% cottage cheese & 1 cup of fruit
Special K protein bar for a snack

Lunch = tossed salad. A BIG, romaine lettuce, baby spinach, a tomato, carrots, pepper, cucumber, dried cranberries (tbps) & apricots (2) with 5 oz. of lean protein...grilled chicken or a can of tuna fish, and 1 tbsp of Ken's fat free raspberry pecan dressing. Occasionally I'll make a wrap with lean cold cuts, lettuce tomato onion and mustard with baby carrots on the side.

I bring a sugar free jello and an 80 calorie greek yogurt for afternoon snacks

Dinner is a lean protein, a pile of steamed veggies, sometimes topped with parmesan cheese, and a sweet potato, cauliflower fried rice or acorn squash.

This leaves me enough calories in the evening to have a Skinny Cow ice cream cone

Aaron_K123 wrote: »

To be honest I don't do that, never would do that. If I want to lose weight I increase my activity level while carefully monitoring my calorie intake, but during times I'm losing weight I'm eating probably 2400 calories a day on average (varies day to day from 1800-4000 depending on activity).

In general most people find fat and protein much more satisfying than carbs and protein is the highest satiation to calorie macro. So you want to have low calorie while feeling full? Eat lots of lean protein. That said don't just cut out carbs and fat entirely, you need a balance. Just saying if you are hungry all the time try eating more protein and less carbs.

Another thing to consider is that 1350 might be too hard for you to do because it is too aggressive of a diet and you don't need to be eating that little...so you might just consider the obvious and eat more food.

Aaron, are you the one that posted about losing weight by increasing activity instead of heavily restricting intake? If so, although you got some push back, your post was helpful to me. It really made me think about how much more if any I could increase my activity in order to eat more. I'm in maintenance now, but I would like to be able to eat a bit more. I love the foods that I eat, and I don't feel deprived. I really enjoyed your post.

OP- sorry to go on a tangent. Yes, when I was losing weight 1350 was not hard, but now there is no way I can go that low. It actually impacts my sleep. So even if I am not hungry I will make sure that I eat more than that. Good luck.

Aaron_K123 wrote: »

Honestly troubles me how many people on this site seem to be trying to eat 1200-1400 calories a day, that just seems ludicrously low to me. That is like a sandwich, a glass of milk, a salad and a bowl of cereal for your entire day. You look at people who claim to be full on that and they are just eating a ton of fibery plant matter to I guess make them feel full in the physical sense...but that can't be satisfying.

The biggest trouble here would be the sandwich AND cereal. A more protein and fat packed selection would be better. 1200-1400 works for some people and not for others. Some people are small. Some people are not. Seems like a lot of people forget that. We can't all lose weight eating 3500 calories a day.

That being said, I used the Scooby Calculator to determine my intake instead of MFP. It's more clear what it means when you're filling it out. That and choosing a reasonable loss rate.

Aaron_K123 wrote: »

Look. Here is my issue.

When someone is saying they struggle to eat 1350 calories a day and on that thread there are a couple of posts:

One post says: Its possible that you don't have to eat that little, many people lose weight and don't eat that little...you are a younger woman you probably can lose weight at 1 pound a week and eat considerably more than that

Another post says: Drink lots of coffee, its an appetite suppresent

Am I wrong to think there is an issue with the community if the critisism is lobbed towards the person who suggests you don't have to eat that little to lose weight and nothing is said to the person who suggests literally substituting a nutritionless appetite suppressent for food?

The point is to be healthier right?

I'm not going to fight about this, I stand by my point that a 36 year old woman looking to lose some weight does not need to be eating 1350 calories a day to lose that weight and if she is struggling to do so then one solution is to not eat that little, eat more...perhaps add some activity in and be more comfortable while also being healthier. I also suggested lean protein over carb to help with issues with hunger. My apologies for making that suggestion, apparently it was offensive in some way to suggest people don't need to eat so little that they are uncomfortably hungry while dieting.

I agree, most people can eat more and lose at a reasonable weight. Sometimes, the issue is the perception of what's "reasonable." The other oft-used phrase that gets to me is "MFP only gave me 1200 calories a day." MFP provides a daily calorie allowance based on the information we enter. We gave ourselves that limit.

I'm just lucky I'm active. No yoga yesterday, but I did get in 20,000 steps. I'm set at sedentary knowing I get exercise most days, but knowing there are days when I go for 14-16 hours with barely a chance to walk tot he copier or the restroom. I eat 1500-1800 most days, which is plenty. But the "low movement" days take careful planning for me so i'm not distracted by hunger. At least I can usually see them coming. The days I can't, I eat the stash of food in my mini-fridge and desk and don't worry about it.

ElkeKNJ wrote: »

About twenty years ago (when I was still skinny) I overheard a pharmacist telling an overweight woman that you cannot diet without being hungry. That always stuck with me, and now I am her. I use his words as a mantra sometimes, though they might be a bit outdated. So either try and cope, look for more satiating foods, or up the kcals to a more comfortable level. But I guess the warm fuzzy gut feeling after a copious meal is no longer an option.

Oh my, if I had to be hungry, I would have failed during the weight loss process. I just try to make sure my macros are in line (fats, proteins) and I volumize. I also drink lots of water. Hunger wouldn't work form me.

CasperNaegle wrote: »

@Aaron_K123 I don't disagree with you completely, I think far too many people try to under eat, slam a lot of cardio in and really mess their bodies up. I also think many people really underestimate what they eat unless they weigh everything.

Yeah, I mean there certainly are a lot in the "I eat 1200 a day" that are actually eating 1800 a day because they aren't actively weighing their foods and are using cups or not measuring at all.

I made the point about lean mass being the important decider when it comes to BMR as well as probably what you can accomplish in burn through exercise so I agree with you there, I just don't think its an argument against that most people on a 1200-1300 calorie diet should really be eating more than that (assuming they are right about their intake).

From your profile pic you look like a big guy (in a good way). Larger frame, good amount of muscle. In comparison I am a pretty small guy, small framed, perhaps a bit undermuscled. I'm guessing your lean mass is much higher than mine so you probably require more calories even if we were of similar height and total mass. I do understand that.

I never ate less than 1650 calories. And I make an effort to be more active so I can eat more.. and I eat at least 100g of protein a day (and try to reach 60g of fat and 25g of fiber).

Spliner1969 wrote: »

ETA: I just tried it. With my current real bodyweight and height and gender stats I told MFP I was sedentary and wanted to lose 2 pounds a week. It told me to eat 1200 calories a day which is INSANE. It isn't intelligent, you have to know what is reasonable to ask.

That's not right. Something is wrong with the calculator. Go over to IIFYM.com and plug in your numbers in their calculator. Leave exercise at 0, sedimentary, with light intensity exercise and it'll give you around 1600 calories a day and that's with a 25% reckless deficit.

Nothing is wrong with the calculator, I am just intentionally misusing the calculator. I'm telling it I don't do any activity so it is setting my TDEE as slightly above my BMR (my BMR is 1750 so it probably sets my TDEE at 1950) and then I tell it I want to lose 2 pounds a week which is a 1000 calorie deficit per day so it thinks I should eat 950 calories a day because math but it refuses to go below 1200 so it says 1200.

Its not wrong...its just I would be foolish to try to diet that way. I only have 18 pounds to lose so I should at most be losing 1 pound a week and I should try to increase my activity level to get a healthier amount of food in. But I have to KNOW that...MFP isn't going to tell me that, MFP is just going to spit back whatever I put in.

The problem is (and please I mean no offense to them) many people don't seem to recognize that that is a very low amount to eat and so they put in that they are sedentary, they put in that they want to lose 2 pounds or 1.5 pounds a week and MFP tells them 1200 and they think "sounds good to me" and then proceed to try to do that. Its a mistake.

Aaron_K123 wrote: »

Nothing is wrong with the calculator, I am just intentionally misusing the calculator. I'm telling it I don't do any activity so it is setting my TDEE as slightly above my BMR (my BMR is 1750 so it probably sets my TDEE at 1950) and then I tell it I want to lose 2 pounds a week which is a 1000 calorie deficit per day so it thinks I should eat 950 calories a day because math but it refuses to go below 1200 so it says 1200.

Its not wrong...its just I would be foolish to try to diet that way. I only have 18 pounds to lose so I should at most be losing 1 pound a week and I should try to increase my activity level to get a healthier amount of food in. But I have to KNOW that...MFP isn't going to tell me that, MFP is just going to spit back whatever I put in.

I see. I have not used MFP's calc in a long time.

Spliner1969 wrote: »

Aaron_K123 wrote: »

I'm just curious. What do people think when they think they are sedentary?

To me sedentary means basically bed-ridden. You are on the couch or in a chair 16 hours and you are in bed 8.

Lightly active is you have a desk job but you do occasionally get out of your chair and walk to go get something.

Moderatly active is you have a desk job, get out of your chair occassionaly but also intentionally go for long walks in the mornings and evenings.

Active is the above plus doing some intensive cardio or having a more active job.

I think people mark sedentary WAY to often. Sedentary should be an unusual set of circumstances, not the norm. Lightly active is probably what most people are. If you are in an office job where you walk down the hall to talk to Bob, then you walk to the printer, then walk to your office do some work then get up and walk to the lunch room then walk down the stairs to get a coffee you aren't sedentary.

For me, sedimentary means desk job, which is what I have. I sit all day, occasionally get up to go speak to someone or fix something, go to lunch, but otherwise sit behind a PC all day. When I get home, I'll cook/grill and then finish my evening in my recliner and go to bed. To me, that's sedimentary if I don't include the 60-90 minutes of exercise I do first thing in the morning. Since I track exercise by allowing apps to post it to MFP for me for the extra calories, that's what I set myself at on any calculator I use. I've used IIFYM's calcs for the last 6-8 months and find them to be pretty accurate (for me).

To me anyway, Lightly would be a job where I stand around a lot not necessarily sit. Moderate would be a job where I not only stand but do a fair amount of walking. Active would be a physically demanding job. But those are just my opinions.

I have that job too. I have a desk job. If I do nothing but my desk job, take the bus home, and sit in front of the TV I STILL get 5000 steps which if you have an activity tracker MFP will set you to lightly active or you will start accruing extra calories if you set to sedentary.

I know people think MFP sedentary means desk job but I'm telling you it doesn't act like that. Since people are using MFP it doesn't matter what they think sedentary means it matters what MFP sets your TDEE to if you select sedentary and what it does is barely budge it off your BMR which is like what you would be if you were bedridden, not walking around on occassion with a desk job.

I encourage everyone who doubts me on this to try it themselves. Play with the MFP calculator, figure out what your BMR is and set yourself to sedentary and see that it considers your TDEE to be close to your BMR. Set to lightly active and see that it only bumps up from BMR not that much which is probably much more accurate for what most people consider to be sedentary.

Aaron_K123 wrote: »

I'm just curious. What do people think when they think they are sedentary?

To me sedentary means basically bed-ridden. You are on the couch or in a chair 16 hours and you are in bed 8.

Lightly active is you have a desk job but you do occasionally get out of your chair and walk to go get something.

Moderatly active is you have a desk job, get out of your chair occassionaly but also intentionally go for long walks in the mornings and evenings.

Active is the above plus doing some intensive cardio or having a more active job.

I think people mark sedentary WAY to often. Sedentary should be an unusal set of circumstances, not the norm. Lightly active is probably what most people are. If you are in an office job where you walk down the hall to talk to Bob, then you walk to the printer, then walk to your office do some work then get up and walk to the lunch room then walk down the stairs to get a coffee you aren't sedentary.

Picking sedentary is insurance for me. I can't be sure I'm going to be active. Especially given the fact that I have 2 very brokendown knees that act up on a moment's notice.

I used to teach and was on my feet all day. That meant 6000 steps a day if I didn't add in a deliberate walk for exercise. I consider that lightly active. Although I was on my feet for hours and hours, I was only walking back and forth across a classroom - not covering miles. At that level of activity, I kept a stable weight of 140 for over 10 years.

I'm now doing a desk job, and I get 3000 steps a day, again, before adding in deliberate exercise. I get up, go to a filing cabinet, go to the printer, go to the restroom, etc. Pretty sure 3000 steps a day qualifies as sedentary. It's sedentary enough that I was putting on 10lbs a year since starting this job.

I'm 5'8", 180 lbs, and aim for 1500 calories a day (~ 280 below my TDEE). Not hungry on that except for some weird days when I can't get full no matter what I eat. I'm definitely not breaking any records for my rate of weight loss. My strategy is very small breakfast (bulletproof coffee), very large salad for lunch (a whole head of romaine + ~ 200g lean protein + some other veggies), and then meat + 2 veg for dinner.
I don't generally eat back my exercise calories, so I can bank them for one big meal out a week.