Is 1200 calories per day sustainable?

People do eat 1200. You can and should do a little exercise to eat more.

There are a lot of variables. How much do you have to lose? What are your stats? Activity level? As an older female I started out with 1200, sedentary (is was winter and I was kind of being a slug), and added a strenuous hiking, snowshoeing, and skiing routine. I typically ate back some of my exercise calories, not all because I thought the numbers were way too high. I reached my goal mid summer, adjusted that down more and am now down 60 pounds overall. I did change my activity level over the summer so I could up my calories a bit. My maintenance if I don't do anything is 1440 or so. I continue to exercise a lot so I can eat more and so I feel good. If you want some extra calories for that wine or chocolate, move more.

If you are hungry in the evening then you are not eating enough during the day.
I eat at 1200 at 61 years age, almost 62 yrs old in February.
To lose weight I eat 1200, strength train and do HIIT. To maintain weight I have to drop to 1000 calories and at least walk daily.
If I have my wine or chocolate and follow either my maintenance or weight loss calories, I will slowly gain weight if I do not exercise.
When I'm at 1200 and I incorporate my wine or dessert into my daily plan, I can still lose weight as long as I'm exercising doing both strength and HIIT.

purrrmeowww wrote: »

I am 29, female, started at 122, want to be 110 (what I used to weigh at 20 yrs old), 5'3

I wanted to lose the weight by March, started end of December

Set your goal for .5 lb a week instead of 1 lb a week. If you exercise log it and eat some of the exercise calories.

My advice would be to spread your calories out more, if 1200 is your goal break that up so you have 400 calories per meal. Pushing your dinner time back a little bit may help too that way there's less time to be hungry between when you eat and when you go to bed. My last piece of advice will no doubt cause people to go apoplectic, but I stand by it (and will not argue it or discuss it) 30 minutes BEFORE dinner take a shot of apple cider vinegar. I use a standard shot glass myself and do it just as I start cooking followed by a full glass of water. Give that a try for a week and see how you feel.

I'd also recommend eating a bit more, and taking it more slowly.

Yes, this is because you have so little to loose. There's a limit to how much fat your body can metabolize daily. The research is a little ambiguous, but it seems to be no more than 30-some calories per pound of body fat per day. Beyond that, and perhaps even approaching that, your odds of burning lean tissue - of unnecessarily burning difficult to re-gain muscle, for example - are increased. You don't want that.

So, set your goal to 0.5 pound loss per week, and monitor your weight carefully. If you're losing much more than that weekly (on average), eat even a bit more.

The hunger question is separate, IMO. Satiation is a very individual thing.

For satiation, it can help to experiment with the timing and composition of your eating.

By timing, I mean how many meals/snacks daily, and what relative size each is. Some people do best with 3 even meals, some with 6 small meals, some do intermittent fasting and eat one big meal daily, or endless other variations. Some people need a big breakfast, while others feel fuller overall if they skip breakfast and eat those calories later in the day. Some people need to save calories for an evening snack. And so forth . . . .

By composition, I mean which macronutrients (fat, protein, carbs) you emphasize, while keeping all in a healthy range, and also how much of high-volume/low-cal foods (usually fiber-containing veggies) you eat. Here again, people vary. Some find protein filling, some prefer fat. Some people do best if they eat complex carbs (grains, potatoes), others find carbs cause them to crave more carbs. Some don't feel full unless they eat high volume foods, like fiber-containing veggies in good quantities.

So, for satiation, try experimenting with a different eating schedule or composition for a couple of days. If it works better, keep it. If it works the same or worse, try something else, and repeat until you find what works best for you.

It may also help to pay attention to the influence of other factors that can affect appetite/cravings: Sleep, stress, boredom, hydration, exercise, etc.

I'm not dramatically bigger than you (5'5", 120s, but maintaining). When I got to 10-15 pounds above goal, I cut my loss rate to 0.5lb/week, and found it helpful. I personally do best with a big breakfast that includes protein, and plenty of protein through the day, and a good lot of veggies. Your specifics will vary, but the general experimental approach to finding what works for you should work about the same.

ETA: I was at 1200 net calories only briefly, eating back all exercise, when I weighed 150-something. It was way too little, I lost too fast and was fatigued, so I adjusted as soon as I realized that. I could lose handily at 1400+, and I'm 61 years old. That doesn't work for everyone my age . . . but do pay attention to your personal loss rate.

Choose a lot of foods that are worth the calories, it's much easier to do this eating spinach, kale, collard greens, red and green peppers , then select lean meats for your protein. I'm never hungry and so it's doable for me.
I'm 5'1" and so am short.......
Many ppl who aren't tall are given 1200 calories a day. You could ask for friends with open diaries on the 1200 calories and check out what they eat on a daily basis.
One more thing, if you like fish, it's even easier to manage your calorie allotment. GL

Another vote for 0.5#/wk. It will take a little longer but you will have better body composition (lower %body fat) at the end. Totally worth it.

I found that slower weight loss was more sustainable. My calorie allowance is at 1300, but I rarely go over because I try to exercise every day. It's really just a matter of trial and error to see what works best. Good luck!!!

Reddit has a group called r/1200isplenty and they have all sorts of links and opinions, I've skimmed it over and the community seems to believe that yes, 1200 is (as the name states) plenty, but only if you're 1) of smaller stature and 2) if you eat a high-fiber diet that will help keep you full. A whole zucchini, for example, is only 35 calories, so you *could* eat 30 zucchinis and feel pretty darn full, while 1200 calories of bread and bagels really isn't all that much. Beans, rice, soup and vegetables should leave you right where you want to be.

It's totally do-able in a healthy way, but it's not easy, it would be very difficult to fit in much processed/take-out food and still stay under your calorie limit. Good luck!

AnnPT77 wrote: »

I'd also recommend eating a bit more, and taking it more slowly.

Yes, this is because you have so little to loose.

(Rest of original long, pedantic, trying-to-be-helpful post snipped.)

Aaarrgghh! *lose ! <pounds head repeatedly on table>