1,200 Calories
TheAFKPro
Posts: 7 Member
What would you guys recommend for a 1,200 calorie a day diet for weight loss.
Breakfast Lunch and dinner etc.
Breakfast Lunch and dinner etc.
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Replies
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I'd recommend eating more, considering you're a man and 1500 cals is the minimum recommendation30
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1200 calories is not enough food. You'll lose muscle as well as fat, your hair will possibly fall out and you'll be more susceptible to binge eating5
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No, that's really not enough for a woman to eat
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I eat more than 1600 a day and have lost weight doing so and Im female. 1200 is the MINIMUM for women,1
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*kitten* me and that 1200 calories crap...seriously...I also blame mfp for pushing 1200 calories crap to most women.
1200 is the MINIMUM that a female should take in if they are very short,sedentary,elderly or a combo of the 3. most women can get away with more calories but some think they cant lose weight unless they eat the minimum or think thats what you need to lose weight,while many also will eat the lowest they can to lose as fast as they can not knowing the repercussions of eating so little.3 -
I don't think MFP "pushes" 1200 calories to anyone. If someone enters that number ignoring their recommendation it is their bad....not MFP's. As the person above states, 1200 calories is appropriate for a percentage of women whose BMR's are lower due to age (over about 60) or small size and lower activity levels. It is the only way some women will lose weight....and in fact some people will not be much higher even in maintenance. It is a fact of life that not all people can lose weight on 1600 or more calories a day. I'm on 1200 calories per day with only a 400 calorie deficit, plus exercise calories that I sometimes get to add and eat when and if I move my rear. Anyway, as for the OP's question, assuming you are eating enough calories for your age and size, I eat basically smaller portions of normal, wholesome foods. For breakfast I eat around 250 calories of anything from eggs, omelets, bacon, sausage, hot/cold cereals, waffles, yogurt, fruit, toast all in moderation with coffee and diet juice. For lunch I eat 300-350 calories of protein of some kind plus usually vegetables. Sometimes soup or small sandwich or meat rolls and maybe some fruit. I like little street tacos, occasionally a corndog. Leftovers are good sometimes. I have an afternoon snack around 100-150 calories sometimes fruit or sometimes protein like nuts or beef jerky depending on where my numbers are. I like iced coffee drinks too. For dinner I save the biggest for last 400-450 calories of 3-4 oz. meat/poultry/seafood, 1/2 cup potato, grain, pasta; 3/4- 1 cup vegetable w/ butter. My evening snack is another 100-150 calories, typically dessert like a sugar free ice cream, pudding or Jello and sometimes popcorn w/very little oil/butter. I drink diet drinks, sparkling water, and teas. I'm not starving and I am losing weight.....the healthy way.10
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Since it appears no one looked, the OP is actually a female. She just has a different profile pic.
OP, 1200 may or may not be right for you it would just depend on what your stats are and your workout plan. If you are not very overweight or active, you'd want to consume more calories.
But in response to your main question, you should look at a lot of volume foods; lean proteins, low sugar fruits, low GI veggies.1 -
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CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »*kitten* me and that 1200 calories crap...seriously...I also blame mfp for pushing 1200 calories crap to most women.
1200 is the MINIMUM that a female should take in if they are very short,sedentary,elderly or a combo of the 3. most women can get away with more calories but some think they cant lose weight unless they eat the minimum or think thats what you need to lose weight,while many also will eat the lowest they can to lose as fast as they can not knowing the repercussions of eating so little.
I agree with you, but they seem to give that number to a lot of women regardless if they are short or not, this is a good read and I agree fully with the article https://aworkoutroutine.com/1200-calorie-diet/
MFP don't do anything except apply the maths.
It works out the NEAT then minuses off the calories needed for the goal loss, IE 1000 calories if 2lb loss is chosen.
The 1200 kicks in as a fail safe buffer if they chose an unhealthy rate of loss.6 -
Most women who are average height or less (or even higher than average if not obese) get 1200 if they choose 2 lb and sedentary (as their maintenance is not more than 2200 when sedentary). Most of these women are not sedentary and in any case should not be regularly eating 1200 as they should be eating exercise calories.1
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OP, if 1200 is right for you, it really depends on how you like to distribute your calories. I did 1250 for a while (until I realized it was too low -- I was losing about 3 lb/week), and ate around 300 cal at breakfast (2 egg omelet with lots of vegetables), around 400 at lunch (often a big salad with protein on it, maybe with some fruit or greek yogurt or cottage cheese), and a 550 cal dinner (lean meat, lots and lots of vegetables, starchy side). I varied this so it would not get boring, but I think realizing I had more calories to play with in reality really helped me not get into a rut.0
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My recommendation before exercise is 1,280. That's a lb a week. I'm still "overweight" by the WHO BMI scale, so a lb a week is a good rate of loss. Most days I exercise and eat 1,500, but I can't work out seven days a week.
And it must be fine. 85 days in, 18lbs lost. Energy is great. My mood is wonderful. I don't feel deprived. Rate of loss is appropriate. I've got all my hair. My skin is healthy.
Anyways, if you are going to eat for one lb of fat loss a week or more, please heed this advice- You must eat nutritionally dense food to avoid not meeting your nutritional goals. You have less calories to get your nutrients with, so don't go and blow all those calories on cake and ice cream and then wonder why you feel cruddy after a few weeks.
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Since it appears no one looked, the OP is actually a female. She just has a different profile pic.
OP, 1200 may or may not be right for you it would just depend on what your stats are and your workout plan. If you are not very overweight or active, you'd want to consume more calories.
But in response to your main question, you should look at a lot of volume foods; lean proteins, low sugar fruits, low GI veggies.
last time I looked I could have sworn it stated male but if female I agree on it may be ok depending on stats1 -
As a 58 year old female who sits at a desk all day, around 1200 calories was my limit if I wanted to lose, and if I ate back all my exercise calories, I'd gain. I lost 90 pounds and my maintenance is around 1500. When I read on here how much some people are able to eat, and still lose, I am so envious!
Back to your original question, lots of veggie soups, salads, tuna, eggs, and chicken. I need to eat in a way that I get the most bang for my buck. For example, I eat plain greek yoghurt almost every day for breakfast (with berries and stevia), but hardly drink any milk. If I want a "fancy" latte or something I make it with unsweetened almond milk and stevia. Way less calories than milk.
When you're eating at the low end of the calorie allowance its important to weigh and measure all your food because an extra bit of cheese here, or a handful of nuts there, has the potential to ruin all your day's hard work. Salad dressing is brutal so never be tempted to just pour it out of the bottle!
I make a big pot of soup on Sunday and thats my lunch for the week, with some protein on the side. This week its carrot-orange-ginger soup. And I baked some chicken breasts, smothered in slices of peppers and onions with a bit of grated cheese (I think the recipe was from an mfp blog) to have with the soup. In the summer I make a big salad on Sunday instead of the soup.
My only advice is make every calorie count. If I want that cookie, I'll have it.....but it better be an absolutely awesome cookie. I'm not wasting my calories on something thats only average!8 -
1200 is a very uncomfortable number of calories to eat - but if you do even a modest amount of exercise you can earn 400 calories which will make life much better. Even at 1600 you need to mostly eat nutrition dense food, or you won't meet your nutritional needs. I also take an iron supplement, as I was becoming anemic.
1200 is three 400 calorie meals, or 1 larger meal, a tiny meal, and a snack.
1600 will get you two full sized 500 calorie meals, a smaller meal, and a snack. Everyone is different but I prefer to eat a big 500 calorie breakfast, a reasonable 500 calorie lunch, a couple of hundred calories of snacks, and a very small dinner. You can just absolutely pig out on 500 calories for breakfast - yesterday I had steel cut oats with milk, walnuts, and apples, two eggs, two slices of bacon, and some cottage cheese. 500 calories of lunch or dinner looks like about 300 calories of protein and fat, plus 200 of vegetables. The protein might be a chicken thigh, small tenderloin steak, several slices of pork loin, or a fillet of fish. Plus half a cup of legumes and some green vegetables.0 -
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Mine is 1700..1
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I've been on 1200 since last March. I usually manage between 1100 and 1300. It's not easy but it is doable. If u send me a friend request ull see my diary.3
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such strong bashing of the 1200 cal a day diet. i tried 1400 a day for months and didn't lose any weight, and once i went to 1200 i could lose 1-2 lbs a week. annnnd i weigh my food on a digital kitchen scale, and with measuring cups and spoons! sorry i am not as cool as all of you who can lose at 1600. haha not seriously knocking ya, if you can eat THAT much and lose, great! just not all of us can!! just sucks when the OP has a legit question and everyone says she's not eating enough. she may be eating enough for her, no, 1200 isn't maintenance for most unless they are very petite/older, but it might be required for loss for many women. and i don't find it to be uncomfortable either.
that being said - on average, i eat three 350 cal meals and have a protein shake or bar as a snack for my 1200. after the first 2 weeks, my appetite shrunk and i'm not having problems. on days i work out, i can add another 200-300 cals, but with injuries i haven't worked out much.4 -
such strong bashing of the 1200 cal a day diet. i tried 1400 a day for months and didn't lose any weight, and once i went to 1200 i could lose 1-2 lbs a week. annnnd i weigh my food on a digital kitchen scale, and with measuring cups and spoons! sorry i am not as cool as all of you who can lose at 1600. haha not seriously knocking ya, if you can eat THAT much and lose, great! just not all of us can!! just sucks when the OP has a legit question and everyone says she's not eating enough. she may be eating enough for her, no, 1200 isn't maintenance for most unless they are very petite/older, but it might be required for loss for many women.
If you are losing 1-2 pounds per week on 1,200, then that means you had a deficit of around 3,500-7,000 calories per week (or 500-1,000 calories a day). Someone with a deficit of this size would also lose eating 200 calories more per day, they would just lose more slowly. That's just 1,400 calories more, not enough to cancel out a deficit sufficient to lose 1-2 pounds per week.
This sounds like it might be a logging issue (that is, your logging inaccuracies were making you think you were eating less than you were, so reducing it further finally created a deficit) than you actually requiring just 1,200 in order to lose weight. It has nothing to do with being "cool," it's just likely that many women can eat more than 1,200 and still have weight loss.6 -
i was being snarky...for sure. i just hate all the attacks on 1200 when it works well for some people. and my logging and measuring is better now than it was a year ago, for sure. however, i am indeed at 1200 now and if i creep up over 1300 even with my improved food measuring and weighing discipline, i really don't lose weight for weeks at a time. it's going really well and i don't know why i would add more cals until after my injury heals and i genuinely work out more! that's why for me 1200 seems to be the magic number.3
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I do agree that 1,200 has lead me to eat random snacks or if someone offers something I usually accept, I was on 1,500 calories before I put on a few pounds so I switched back 1,200 cals.0
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CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »*kitten* me and that 1200 calories crap...seriously...I also blame mfp for pushing 1200 calories crap to most women.
1200 is the MINIMUM that a female should take in if they are very short,sedentary,elderly or a combo of the 3. most women can get away with more calories but some think they cant lose weight unless they eat the minimum or think thats what you need to lose weight,while many also will eat the lowest they can to lose as fast as they can not knowing the repercussions of eating so little.
I agree with you, but they seem to give that number to a lot of women regardless if they are short or not, this is a good read and I agree fully with the article https://aworkoutroutine.com/1200-calorie-diet/
I don't blame MFP - it's just a default setting. There has to be a default. A higher setting would be incorrect for shorties.
1200 has been with us for decades, back when the average woman was shorter. Programs like Biggest Loser give people unrealistic expectations. It's no wonder people so commonly jack up the weekly weight loss goal (which in turn leads to 1200).
Unfortunately what many people fail to realize (starting out) is that 1200 is the starting point. You earn more calories for exercise.1 -
OP as others have mentioned, 1200 is the minimum amount of calories recommended for women, and that is a NET goal, meaning if you exercise, you should be eating more.
What are your stats: height, current weight, goal weight, and what rate of loss did you choose?
A lot of people have difficulty sticking with 1200/day, and a lot of people, even petite women with a desk job like myself, find that they don't need to go that low in order to lose. I lost most of my weight, ~35 lbs, eating 1600-1800 cals/day.
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RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »*kitten* me and that 1200 calories crap...seriously...I also blame mfp for pushing 1200 calories crap to most women.
1200 is the MINIMUM that a female should take in if they are very short,sedentary,elderly or a combo of the 3. most women can get away with more calories but some think they cant lose weight unless they eat the minimum or think thats what you need to lose weight,while many also will eat the lowest they can to lose as fast as they can not knowing the repercussions of eating so little.
I agree with you, but they seem to give that number to a lot of women regardless if they are short or not, this is a good read and I agree fully with the article https://aworkoutroutine.com/1200-calorie-diet/
MFP don't do anything except apply the maths.
This↑
..and MFP also spits out NET calorie goal - one is supposed to eat exercise calories in addition to that 1200. 1200 + exercise calories isn't particularly absurd for those who are short with a desk job.
In my case, my net maintenance (sedentary job) is estimated at 1400 (before exercise)..Plug 0.5 lb/wk loss into the calculator, and it will spit out 1200 net calories and inform me that it corresponds to 0.4 lb/wk loss estimate.
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www.reddit.com/r/1200isplenty0
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I do think 1/3 and 1/4 lb/week drop down boxes would be a nice addition to the setup.0
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