I don’t understand how some people stick to 1200 calories per day diet,
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anechka1981
Posts: 17 Member
I don’t understand how some people stick to 1200 calories per day diet, plus exercising and not eating these calories back.
I can barely stick to 1,500 calories intakes, that is to take in to count that I eat back those calories that I loose in the gym.
After 3-4 days of 1,500 calories per day, I start to experience headache, because my body just starting to fed up. I start to have sleeping problems. It's physical uncomfort, so my body reacts to it physically. I make sure I eat dinner at around 8, and go to bed around 10-11 pm, so I don't go to bed hungry, but then I can get up in the middle of the night from hunger. These problems only go away when I start to consume more calories. Sometimes I don’t feel hunger itself, I just feel light in head, during a day or night. If it happens at night, my sleep become very light. So, I'm either can't fell sleep for hours, or keep awaking from every noise. Sometimes, I have to go downstairs at night, and eat something, otherwise I won’t fell asleep till morning. And I have to get up for work at 6 am. My body stops feeling discomfort only when I start to comeback to my normal calories intake - 1,700-1,800. But this is not enough for me to loose weight. This is my normal allowance to maintain the weight that I have now. I'm only 5,2 and 145 pounds. It feels like I’m in the hell circle. I end up going to work hungry, and sleepy. As a result, ending up in absolutely horrible mood. I've always been a healthy eater, but trust me it is possible to gain weight from healthy food as well.
How does anyone cope with their low calories intake?
I can barely stick to 1,500 calories intakes, that is to take in to count that I eat back those calories that I loose in the gym.
After 3-4 days of 1,500 calories per day, I start to experience headache, because my body just starting to fed up. I start to have sleeping problems. It's physical uncomfort, so my body reacts to it physically. I make sure I eat dinner at around 8, and go to bed around 10-11 pm, so I don't go to bed hungry, but then I can get up in the middle of the night from hunger. These problems only go away when I start to consume more calories. Sometimes I don’t feel hunger itself, I just feel light in head, during a day or night. If it happens at night, my sleep become very light. So, I'm either can't fell sleep for hours, or keep awaking from every noise. Sometimes, I have to go downstairs at night, and eat something, otherwise I won’t fell asleep till morning. And I have to get up for work at 6 am. My body stops feeling discomfort only when I start to comeback to my normal calories intake - 1,700-1,800. But this is not enough for me to loose weight. This is my normal allowance to maintain the weight that I have now. I'm only 5,2 and 145 pounds. It feels like I’m in the hell circle. I end up going to work hungry, and sleepy. As a result, ending up in absolutely horrible mood. I've always been a healthy eater, but trust me it is possible to gain weight from healthy food as well.
How does anyone cope with their low calories intake?
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Replies
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You just do. I guess people have different tolerances, just like people have different pain thresholds...11
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It's damn near impossible and really only doable if you're eating a lot of vegetables. They're so low cal you can really fill up on them. I'm not saying that's what I LIKE to do but that's the only way I ever get it done tbh.8
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Better choices
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I'm eating 1200 and not eating my exercise calories back. It's not very hard for me because I'm not used to eat much during the day, my problem has always been late night snacking and it was rarely out of true hunger. Maybe you should try going slower? Reduce to 1600 for a while, and when you realize you're doing well, reduce again, until you get to 1200, if that's what you really want/need. If you really can't eat 1200 then you could try to workout for longer or more often.
But yes, veggies really help. Try soup!9 -
Women are different sizes, and different activity levels. It's generally going to be easier for a 5' tall, 135 pound, desk jockey than it's going to be for 5'8" 180 pound, waitress. It's not one-size-fits-all, nor should it be. You do what you are comfortable with.
Back in the day 1200 was one-size-fits-all. I'm not tall, I have a desk job. Very low fat and lots of veggies were how I got thru it. BUT very low fat diets aren't good nutrition, so now I up my calories.
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It's tough for sure. I'm struggling to stay at 1200. I watch the people around me eat regular-sized meals that I can't have, and I'm so goddamn hungry by the end of the day, and it sucks. I guess the only way to really deal with it is to do this weird psychological flip where you start to see the unpleasant physical feelings as a good thing, as a sign that you're making progress, as the necessary price you have to pay to have the body you want.
I fill up on green tea in the evening to help the hunger pangs. I snack on ridiculous amounts of raw veggies. I accept that I'm going to feel sick and week and miserable for awhile, and it's worth it to me.3 -
I do, and I'm never left feeling starving. I eat a high protein, low calorie breakfast (like a cup of nonfat Greek yogurt w/ a 1/3 cup of blueberries and an egg white omelette with spinach) followed by a carb-rich lunch (like 2/3 cup of whole wheat pasta w/ chicken meatballs and a small salad of arugula and romaine topped w/ mushrooms, onions, olives, and peppers) and then a balanced dinner (like grilled salmon w/ steamed broccoli and cauliflower and a baked potato topped with a tbs of sour cream). Sometimes I'll snack during the day, too, on things like veggie sticks w/ hummus or homemade trail mix.14
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Not so much of a problem if you are old, short, small boned, and if you were to eat good balanced meals, don't drink, binge, don't eat too many deserts or too often and exercise, and keep snacks to a minimum and under control. Exercise may give more calories to play around with but being old and small wouldn’t make the burn too large.
We are all different and like another poster said, there is not a one size fits all approach. Just worry about you.
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livingleanlivingclean wrote: »You just do. I guess people have different tolerances, just like people have different pain thresholds...
This is all that I can think of.
I've seen people around on the forums who say they get so hungry on 1600 calories it's unbearable. Meanwhile, once I'm done losing weight 1600 calories should be my maintenance number (before exercise).
I'm eating 1300 calories a day now (again before exercise) and it just doesn't bother me.2 -
I don't even make 1200 calories a day probably bc I'm never hungry, stress kills my appetite.
Today's meal plan
Breakfast: half ham and cheese omelette
Lunch: Rotisserie chicken breast, green leaf lettuce, ranch and cheese.
Dinner: Ravioli, sauce and garlic bread
Snacks: honey almonds or deli meat
Just remember protein keeps you full longer.
You can do it one meal at a time !0 -
if i had tried to start out at 1200 calories i would have completely failed. even right now i'm at 1310+ some eating back if I'm active for the day. In a month or so I'll cut down to 1200. lots and lots of veggies.1
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It's easy.
PUT DOWN THE FORK!10 -
I have managed to eat lower than 1200 calories, when I was not really doing much in the way of activity, but it was not healthy and I did not do it for long. I am fortunate in that I can lose weight quite adequately on 1600 net calories and maintain on upwards of 2000 (I am fairly active now). Different strokes for different folks, I guess. I know I can get by on a low number, but I have no wish to as my priority now is my health and fitness. Fortunately, I do not have weight to lose anyway.1
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I don't know how anyone survives on it either and I love veggies . MFP would set me at 1200 but I changed it . If it takes me longer that is fine. Slow and steady wins the race
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You're not really supposed to eat less than 1200, and not eating back exercise calories means you are eating less than 1200. It's uncomfortable because it's unhealthy.
Someone above said they accepted feeling sick and weak and miserable because that's the way it has to be - but it doesn't have to be that way. You can lose weight without making yourself sick.15 -
I would freak out and eat the whole house after about 3 days if I tried to stick to 1200 calories, even WITH exercise calories.8
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The reason I can do it is because I don't get any those symptoms you're talking about. I'm not uncomfortable on a diet until it's in the 3-digit range, but even then the only thing that happens is I binge later on. MFP has me at 1560, but those last 500 calories have been a struggle to get in the last few months.
If you don't mind, I wonder if it's a body weight issue, and I wonder if you're a lot smaller than me. I'm morbidly obese so my theory is I don't get those symptoms on any low-cal budget because I have enough fat reserves to cover it.4 -
I have been getting 900 to 1100 calories a day and cardio 4x a week, strength 3 x week. It takes a lot of discipline.12
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Planning, earning extra through exercise as top up. I did 5:2 diet couple of years ago and 500 calories was fine when got into habit, just had to make sensible choices and not waste on rubbish. I've had 1200 base from day one being short, it can be done.0
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