1200 calories a day and hungry, scared to up the calories

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Replies

  • HeliumIsNoble
    HeliumIsNoble Posts: 1,213 Member
    kenyonhaff wrote: »
    One of the HUGE and common mistakes for newbies (almost always female) is setting goals too high and calorie amounts too low.

    1200 is really appropriate for very short and inactive women, and you are not either.

    I'm about 5'7", and started at about 200 lbs, and I am at about 1600 calories a day. I've successfully lost 30+pounds. And not starving, cranky, or miserable.

    Yeah I think one of my problems is thinking I am less active than I am. I get in my 10K steps a day, and on the weekend go for 5+ mile hikes and am out with my husband and dog especially now that its getting warmer, but I am set at sedentary on MFP because I sit at a desk all day. Ive lost almost 10 lbs in 25 days, which im happy with, but would prefer to lose slower and have a little more wiggle room.
    Er. That's more than the almost 1.5lbs a week you said earlier. A lot more.

    Could you clarify what has happened? Do you mean that it was a 1.5lb drop in this last week?

    25 days is 3 and a half weeks, give or take half a day.

    Conservative calculations: 9 lbs ÷ 3.5 weeks= 2.57lbs a week.

    More realistically, as you said nearly 10 lbs, 9.7lbs ÷ 3.5 weeks = 2.77lbs.



    I was at 8.2 lbs lost and missed my weigh in this morning so I will do it tomorrow, I was assuming it would be another pound, but I could have gained. Im eating the 1,200 calories and MFP is set at sedentary, I have a fitness tracker but it doesnt work with MFP so those calories dont get added in unless I do it manually. I was assuming that since I have a bit to lose and I cut out all soda/ juice that was the reason for an extra lb or two the first week. It seems to be pretty consistent the past two weeks about a 1.5 lb loss. I realize two weeks may not be long enough to *kitten* how much I will truly be losing a week, but thats all I have to go off right now.
    Ah, so you're excluding the first week's losses as unrepresentative, for the purpose of more accurate projections? That makes sense. Thank you.

  • laurenebargar
    laurenebargar Posts: 3,081 Member
    kenyonhaff wrote: »
    One of the HUGE and common mistakes for newbies (almost always female) is setting goals too high and calorie amounts too low.

    1200 is really appropriate for very short and inactive women, and you are not either.

    I'm about 5'7", and started at about 200 lbs, and I am at about 1600 calories a day. I've successfully lost 30+pounds. And not starving, cranky, or miserable.

    Yeah I think one of my problems is thinking I am less active than I am. I get in my 10K steps a day, and on the weekend go for 5+ mile hikes and am out with my husband and dog especially now that its getting warmer, but I am set at sedentary on MFP because I sit at a desk all day. Ive lost almost 10 lbs in 25 days, which im happy with, but would prefer to lose slower and have a little more wiggle room.
    Er. That's more than the almost 1.5lbs a week you said earlier. A lot more.

    Could you clarify what has happened? Do you mean that it was a 1.5lb drop in this last week?

    25 days is 3 and a half weeks, give or take half a day.

    Conservative calculations: 9 lbs ÷ 3.5 weeks= 2.57lbs a week.

    More realistically, as you said nearly 10 lbs, 9.7lbs ÷ 3.5 weeks = 2.77lbs.



    I was at 8.2 lbs lost and missed my weigh in this morning so I will do it tomorrow, I was assuming it would be another pound, but I could have gained. Im eating the 1,200 calories and MFP is set at sedentary, I have a fitness tracker but it doesnt work with MFP so those calories dont get added in unless I do it manually. I was assuming that since I have a bit to lose and I cut out all soda/ juice that was the reason for an extra lb or two the first week. It seems to be pretty consistent the past two weeks about a 1.5 lb loss. I realize two weeks may not be long enough to *kitten* how much I will truly be losing a week, but thats all I have to go off right now.
    Ah, so you're excluding the first week's losses as unrepresentative, for the purpose of more accurate projections? That makes sense. Thank you.

    Yeah im not sure if thats what I should be doing, but Ive seen on the forums alot of times people experience a bigger lost in the first week if the drastically change their habits.
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 4,951 Member
    I would recommend more protien. That helps with satiety for a lot of people. Occasional treats are fine as long as you aren't using too many of your calories on foods that don't fill you up. If you are losing more than 1.5 per week then you need to be eating back more than half of your exercise calories. People will recommend eating half because it is easy to overestimate calorie burns, but if you are losing faster than your expected rate then you do need to eat more than half of them. I am 5'4.75" and lost most of my weight with my goal set around 1350 and with exercise calories I usually ate 1400-1600 calories per day.
  • laurenebargar
    laurenebargar Posts: 3,081 Member
    kgirlhart wrote: »
    I would recommend more protien. That helps with satiety for a lot of people. Occasional treats are fine as long as you aren't using too many of your calories on foods that don't fill you up. If you are losing more than 1.5 per week then you need to be eating back more than half of your exercise calories. People will recommend eating half because it is easy to overestimate calorie burns, but if you are losing faster than your expected rate then you do need to eat more than half of them. I am 5'4.75" and lost most of my weight with my goal set around 1350 and with exercise calories I usually ate 1400-1600 calories per day.

    Yeah that makes sense, sometimes im not sure how accurate my exercise calories are which is why I only eat about half back, for instance I went for a hike yesterday that said I burned around 850 calories, but we only hiked for about two miles, so im never sure if they are accurate or not, and dont want to wind up over eating.
  • laurenebargar
    laurenebargar Posts: 3,081 Member
    Also should I be adding my calories that my fitness tracker says I burned throughout the day from walking (between 6-10K depending on the work day) my tracker doesnt link to MFP
  • enterdanger
    enterdanger Posts: 2,447 Member
    Hi everyone,

    Im new here, I currently have my calories set at 1,200, but most days im still hungry, If I work out I eat half my Exercise calories back, but the thing is im worried about lowering my "goal" to loosing maybe one pound a week because even eating 1,200 calories a day, im averaging about 1.5 lbs a week lost. Is it normal to be so hungry at 1,200 calories a day? Also im measuring all of my food with a scale.

    My Info:
    5'4
    Current Weight 209 Lbs
    Goal weight 143
    Excerise: Hiking on the weekend, walking / going to the gym 2-3 times a week.

    We have the exact same stats. I'm 38. I'm losing near 2 lbs a week and I'm eating 1600-1700 calories a day. I'm eating back the calorie adjustment from my garmin, but I'm not logging any actual exercise, if that makes sense. So, if I run I eat the calorie adjustment from the steps, but I don't log that I ran 5mph for 40 minutes because I'm not as tight with my logging as I should be. I'm not too hungry.

    Weight loss is calories in vs. calories out, but fullness is more a macro thing for me. I've upped my protein, particularly in the morning and it helps a lot. I do save space for some chocolate right before bed.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,879 Member
    kenyonhaff wrote: »
    One of the HUGE and common mistakes for newbies (almost always female) is setting goals too high and calorie amounts too low.

    1200 is really appropriate for very short and inactive women, and you are not either.

    I'm about 5'7", and started at about 200 lbs, and I am at about 1600 calories a day. I've successfully lost 30+pounds. And not starving, cranky, or miserable.

    Yeah I think one of my problems is thinking I am less active than I am. I get in my 10K steps a day, and on the weekend go for 5+ mile hikes and am out with my husband and dog especially now that its getting warmer, but I am set at sedentary on MFP because I sit at a desk all day. Ive lost almost 10 lbs in 25 days, which im happy with, but would prefer to lose slower and have a little more wiggle room.
    Er. That's more than the almost 1.5lbs a week you said earlier. A lot more.

    Could you clarify what has happened? Do you mean that it was a 1.5lb drop in this last week?

    25 days is 3 and a half weeks, give or take half a day.

    Conservative calculations: 9 lbs ÷ 3.5 weeks= 2.57lbs a week.

    More realistically, as you said nearly 10 lbs, 9.7lbs ÷ 3.5 weeks = 2.77lbs.



    I was at 8.2 lbs lost and missed my weigh in this morning so I will do it tomorrow, I was assuming it would be another pound, but I could have gained. Im eating the 1,200 calories and MFP is set at sedentary, I have a fitness tracker but it doesnt work with MFP so those calories dont get added in unless I do it manually. I was assuming that since I have a bit to lose and I cut out all soda/ juice that was the reason for an extra lb or two the first week. It seems to be pretty consistent the past two weeks about a 1.5 lb loss. I realize two weeks may not be long enough to *kitten* how much I will truly be losing a week, but thats all I have to go off right now.
    Ah, so you're excluding the first week's losses as unrepresentative, for the purpose of more accurate projections? That makes sense. Thank you.

    Yeah im not sure if thats what I should be doing, but Ive seen on the forums alot of times people experience a bigger lost in the first week if the drastically change their habits.

    I always included it as it's part of what makes up the average over time...
  • dfranch
    dfranch Posts: 207 Member
    When I was losing, I ate between 1200 - 1500 calories a day. Once in a while I would hit the 1200, but I couldn't have done it every day. It was usually more like 1400 - 1500. I never ate exercise calories back though, not even half. Now that I'm in maintenance I do eat exercise calories back.
  • laurenebargar
    laurenebargar Posts: 3,081 Member
    Hi everyone,

    Im new here, I currently have my calories set at 1,200, but most days im still hungry, If I work out I eat half my Exercise calories back, but the thing is im worried about lowering my "goal" to loosing maybe one pound a week because even eating 1,200 calories a day, im averaging about 1.5 lbs a week lost. Is it normal to be so hungry at 1,200 calories a day? Also im measuring all of my food with a scale.

    My Info:
    5'4
    Current Weight 209 Lbs
    Goal weight 143
    Excerise: Hiking on the weekend, walking / going to the gym 2-3 times a week.

    We have the exact same stats. I'm 38. I'm losing near 2 lbs a week and I'm eating 1600-1700 calories a day. I'm eating back the calorie adjustment from my garmin, but I'm not logging any actual exercise, if that makes sense. So, if I run I eat the calorie adjustment from the steps, but I don't log that I ran 5mph for 40 minutes because I'm not as tight with my logging as I should be. I'm not too hungry.

    Weight loss is calories in vs. calories out, but fullness is more a macro thing for me. I've upped my protein, particularly in the morning and it helps a lot. I do save space for some chocolate right before bed.

    Alright thats great im 23 but thats the only difference, I think I def need to up my protein and see how I feel after that!
  • laurenebargar
    laurenebargar Posts: 3,081 Member
    dfranch wrote: »
    When I was losing, I ate between 1200 - 1500 calories a day. Once in a while I would hit the 1200, but I couldn't have done it every day. It was usually more like 1400 - 1500. I never ate exercise calories back though, not even half. Now that I'm in maintenance I do eat exercise calories back.

    i think I would be comfortable with that amount, and then some days if I get the 1,200 then I reach it, but if I go over, I still wouldnt be "off track"
  • karahm78
    karahm78 Posts: 505 Member
    edited April 2017
    You are definitely not sedentary even though you work at a desk, since your tracker doesn't sync I'd increase your activity level to Active if you don't want to manually log.
  • laurenebargar
    laurenebargar Posts: 3,081 Member
    karahm78 wrote: »
    You are definitely not sedentary even though you work at a desk, since your tracker doesn't sync I'd increase your activity level to Active if you don't want to manually log.

    What would you suggest I put it to? I was considering changing it, but wasnt sure what option to choose.
  • leanjogreen18
    leanjogreen18 Posts: 2,492 Member
    For me eating a carb/fat/protein with each meal has helped me stay satiated on 1200. I also don't like breakfast and on the occasions I do eat breakfast it seems to make me hungrier throughout the day, so now I eat brunch and dinner and that has helped because now I can have higher calorie meals since I'm only eating 2x a day.
  • laurenebargar
    laurenebargar Posts: 3,081 Member
    For me eating a carb/fat/protein with each meal has helped me stay satiated on 1200. I also don't like breakfast and on the occasions I do eat breakfast it seems to make me hungrier throughout the day, so now I eat brunch and dinner and that has helped because now I can have higher calorie meals since I'm only eating 2x a day.

    Thats interesting, I never was very interested in eating breakfast, I would have coffee and wouldn't be hungry until 11 or 12 when I would eat lunch, its very possible that eating breakfast is making me hungrier as well.
  • leanjogreen18
    leanjogreen18 Posts: 2,492 Member
    For me eating a carb/fat/protein with each meal has helped me stay satiated on 1200. I also don't like breakfast and on the occasions I do eat breakfast it seems to make me hungrier throughout the day, so now I eat brunch and dinner and that has helped because now I can have higher calorie meals since I'm only eating 2x a day.

    Thats interesting, I never was very interested in eating breakfast, I would have coffee and wouldn't be hungry until 11 or 12 when I would eat lunch, its very possible that eating breakfast is making me hungrier as well.

    All I have for breakfast is coffee w/soy milk and low cal sweeter. I eat brunch somewhere around 10:30-11:30 and then an early dinner 4-5ish.

    I should add...
    I try to drink at least 48oz water
    Get 7-8 hrs of sleep (less can cause stress hormones to increase thus you are hungrier)
    I zig zag my calories so a couple days a week I eat around 1000 so a couple of days I can have closer to 1400 this just works with my social calendar.

    Play around with your macros as well. Some need higher protein others fat. For me I just need a carb/protein/fat with each meal.

    Having said all that I'm 5'4", 50 and sedentary so 1200 is ok for me. You may however need a bit more.
  • chaosbutterfly
    chaosbutterfly Posts: 71 Member
    edited April 2017
    Looking at your diary, you're hungry because you're wasting calories on carbohydrate rich food. This means that you're probably eating very small portions, which of course, you're gonna get hungry if you're only eating a little. Plus, the way that carbs metabolize in the body, they don't keep you full for that long. So a tiny portion of something not filling = HUNGER lol.

    Cut out some of that stuff, and start incorporating more greens. Veggies have very few calories so you can eat a ton of them without much of an impact to your calories and the fiber in them will keep you full for longer. They are also rich in vitamins, minerals, nutrients, etc. Also, look for foods with higher protein and fat content, because those also help keep you full. Watch the fat though, it is easy to blow out your calorie goals because even a small serving tends to be calorie rich. But the fat will keep you full, so you won't suffer so hard.

    To be clear, I'm not saying that you have to go on a low carb diet. Just saying that you should reduce your carbs, up your protein, up your fat.

    I also don't know how much water you drink, but if you're not drinking about half your weight in ounces, I'd say you are not drinking enough and that's probably adding to your hunger. Green tea is also fabulous for helping you feel full. 1200 calories is hard but it's manageable, if you can eat and drink strategically.

    ETA: Check out the 1200isplenty subreddit on reddit. There are alot of good recipes and snack ideas there that have been really helpful for me.
  • StarvingDiva
    StarvingDiva Posts: 1,107 Member
    For me eating a carb/fat/protein with each meal has helped me stay satiated on 1200. I also don't like breakfast and on the occasions I do eat breakfast it seems to make me hungrier throughout the day, so now I eat brunch and dinner and that has helped because now I can have higher calorie meals since I'm only eating 2x a day.

    Thats interesting, I never was very interested in eating breakfast, I would have coffee and wouldn't be hungry until 11 or 12 when I would eat lunch, its very possible that eating breakfast is making me hungrier as well.

    If you still drink coffee, I add a protein shake to my coffee in the morning as my creamer and that way I eat protein at the beginning of the day, it works for me because I don't eat a meal until lunchtime.
  • MoiAussi93
    MoiAussi93 Posts: 1,948 Member
    edited April 2017
    I did 1200 calories for several months and was full on it. However, macros are VERY important on lower calorie diets. You must eat plenty of protein...certainly higher than the default mfp percentage. A combination of proteins and healthy fats always work to keep me full for hours. Things like pasta, cookies/pastries, chips, and other refined carbs might make me feel full initially...but an hour later I am hungry again.

    You have two choices...either increase your calories if you are willing to accept slower weight loss. Or, try increasing protein and staying at 1200. Do that for a few days and see if it helps...otherwise you will probably have to accept eating more calories.
  • heiliskrimsli
    heiliskrimsli Posts: 735 Member
    MoiAussi93 wrote: »
    I did 1200 calories for several months and was full on it. However, macros are VERY important on lower calorie diets. You must eat plenty of protein...certainly higher than the default mfp percentage. A combination of proteins and healthy fats always work to keep me full for hours. Things like pasta, cookies/pastries, chips, and other refined carbs might make me feel full initially...but an hour later I am hungry again.

    You have two choices...either increase your calories if you are willing to accept slower weight loss. Or, try increasing protein and staying at 1200. DO that for a few days and see if it helps...otherwise you will have to accept eating more calories.

    Protein, fat, and vegetables are the three legs of the 1200 calorie diet. Protein and fat are pretty obvious. Vegetables give you all kind of fiber and vitamins and minerals.