Is 1200 Calories To Little?

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  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,068 Member
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    yes I agree a couple of hundred calories more really makes a difference - I first started on 1200 and lasted about a week before adjusting it to 1460 (by changing rate to 1/2 lb week)

    Again though it depends on your stats and whether1200 is appropriate in the first place.

    I was 5 ft 4 in (well , I still am!) 5o years old and lightly active with 10 kg to lose.

    Lost it slowly and steadily at 1 kg per month or about 1/2 lb/week.
  • starryphoenix
    starryphoenix Posts: 381 Member
    edited November 2016
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    When I'm on track I eat 1500 and burn 300. Therefore I net 1200 which is practically the same. I just don't go hungry.
  • Pierre_is_a_cat
    Pierre_is_a_cat Posts: 89 Member
    edited November 2016
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    I shoot for 1200 a day, before exercise.

    To be perfectly honest, I reckon I am skating pretty close to the line and I absolutely have found I am hungry some days. My solution has been similar to what @successgirl1 up above says -- choose really fibrous foods and get plenty of water. :) It's what's worked for me. I do all my food prep for a week (or three) in advance. I will say, the week I didn't have fresh fruit and veggies to supplement my prepared rice/quinoa meals I snapped by the time did I get to a supermarket and went WILD on fruits. Hahah. I binged on about 1000cals of them. That's a literal account, 1000cals... oops...

    I am still learning how to fuel my body appropriately and trying to listen to what it's telling me. So far I would say 1200 is fine. :)
  • chewyjello
    chewyjello Posts: 6 Member
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    I just got myself a personal trainer and told him I was struggling staying at 1200 calories (that's what it was telling me to stick to also) and he said "No wonder! That's not enough! You need 1500-1600." Granted I burn about 350 exercising daily (and one I start training im sure it will be more than that), but I had not been subtracting my calories burned by entering my exercise (read something that said that could sabatage you). So I started eating 1500 and I feel much better and I'm losing weight again! If you're not active at all I suppose 1200 could be necessary...but for me it was really hard and I would end up binging at night or giving into temptations because I was hungry.
  • successgal1
    successgal1 Posts: 996 Member
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    Yes I'm 95% not active at the moment. Not that I don't have the occasional active day. I have my fitbit tell me when that is. I've struggled in the past trying to lose and workout at the same time. I did lose almost 20 lbs, but its frankly too hard for me, takes too much time in my day and too much to think about. Plus while my body did reshape, I find it demotivating to never see the scale move down because of post workout water weight. I'm sure many of you are laughing right now. Me too. But anyway, I decided this time I'll just work on calories and fat loss. Underneath my fat I'm sort of fit, will just keep doing what I do, live my life, to maintain that. When I can lose the 7 lbs I put back on and drop another 20 I'll worry about upper body strength. And my fitbit HR will inform me of days I might want to eat a little more, if I did some yard work or something.
  • Evamutt
    Evamutt Posts: 2,424 Member
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    How many lbs did you set to lose a week? when I started I set it at 2. My friend, who lost 70lbs here said that's too little & I should eat 1600/day, so i set it at 1lb/wk. It gave me 1440, as I lost 20lbs, it went down to my current cal at 1340, which is doable, however about 2 weeks ago I got more of an appitite due to the cool weather i'm sure so i set it at 1/2 lb/wk. Even though I try to have calories left at the end of the day, I can eat 1600/day. I'm still loosing at 1600
  • MFPelr
    MFPelr Posts: 3 Member
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    I've been doing 1200/day since July 25 (with the obvious odd days where I'm above or below).

    I'm 5'9", start weight 255, current weight 217, goal weight (for now) 175.

    So in 105 days I've lost 38 pounds. Exercising slightly (10km stationary bike ride in 28-30 minutes 3-5 times a week and just started strength exercises).

    I feel fine. Normal. Like I did when I was eating 3,000+/day. Except I feel lighter now ;)

    But I do take the following supplements:

    * breakfast is a meal replacement shake (Vega All-in-One or Isagenix, JUST the shakes not the entire program)
    * B12 sublingual
    * B Complex
    * Vitamin D
    * Turmeric (for my knees ;)
    * Curcumin (again, joints)
    * Calcium/Magnesium before bed
  • jcraig10
    jcraig10 Posts: 477 Member
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    1200 is enough for me most days that I don't exercise. When I do exercise, I have found that I need around 1500-1600 to feel happy. If you plan your meals and snacks, 1200 isn't really that hard of a range to stay in.
  • MiniMansell1964
    MiniMansell1964 Posts: 188 Member
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    Its all down to the calorie content of what ever your eating.

    for eg. One mars bar at 260cal would not leave me feeling as full of 250g of 250gram or mushrooms which is only 55cal

    I can really feel full, with a plate of salad, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, grilled Salmon. and still come in less than a choc snack

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