how to stay within 1200 calories day

I couldn't do this. I've lost 41 lbs, with 59 to go. Once i got in the 1200s I had to change my goal. Now I eat 1500-1600 net and lose 1 lb. per week. I am "lightly active" on MFP, but also work out at least 50 minutes daily. I always eat back all my exercise calories. But even at 1200 per day, it was too little food. I did it four 4 days and then upped my intake!

I use the 1200 as a guide and feel better when I have the choice to eat "burn" calories, which I normally eat half of those earned. I also won't "go hungry". If I am truly hungry, I will choose healthy carbs, lean protein, almonds, with water to satisfy the pang even if I go 100 or so over on calories for the day. I cook mostly from scratch so more certain of what is in the food I eat, using healthy substitutes for many creamy/soupy ingredients. This results in larger servings for your calories/macros. Hope this helps.

My calories yesterday came in at just under 1200. (Please keep in mind that I'm only 4'11" and don't have that much to lose. 1300 calories a day is only a 250 calorie deficit for me.)

My eating usually falls into one of two patterns:
1. One "large" meal of around 600-800 calories and then several small meals/snacks to reach 1300.
2. Two meals of around 400-600 calories and one or two small meals/snacks to reach 1300.

What I ate yesterday:

B: Chobani coconut yogurt. Cup of tea with a little milk.

L: 430 grams of cauliflower florets with 0.5 T of Kerrygold butter and hot sauce. Two Wasa crackers with Wild Planet sardines smashed on top with lemon juice. Celery with one Wholly Guacamole mini cup. One piece of Cabot sharp cheddar.

Late afternoon snack: Bluebonnet protein shake. (This is rare for me, but I have a tub to use up. I'm not fond of the stevia taste. If I buy protein powder again, I'd get the unflavored kind.)

Dinner: One beef taco from Moe's with sour cream and guac.

This came to about 1180 calories, but I'd guess it was probably more like 1280. I was totally full!

Whether this calorie level is doable really depends, I think, on how much of a deficit it is for you. It's a small deficit for me, so it doesn't feel bad from a hunger standpoint. (I'm not hungry at this level.) What sucks is how it eliminates so many choices bc it's hard to fit in calorie bombs. But that's the difference between losing and maintenance for me. The base of my maintenance eating is basically this calorie level, but on top of it I have high-calorie meals/treats a few times a week.

I have an English muffin and 1-2 eggs for breakfast. Then usually a banana during the morning. Lunch can be a salad with protein, maybe pretzels, a Lean Cuisine meal, and some fresh veggies. Snack usually is nuts, cheese, or a piece of fruit, and dinner is 3-4 oz protein, vegetables, rice/potato, fresh veggies, and maybe fruit at night. It is hard for me to get to 1200 calories each day. When I start exercising again, I add more protein, more snacks. It works for me as long as I use MFP each day.

I initially started on the minimum for my stats in order to lose 2lb per week. But after 3 weeks I found that I wasn’t eating as much fresh fruit as I wanted (just 2 pieces per day) so I changed it to 1.5lb loss and got 1500 cals per day on the premise that I would use the extra for fruit. THEN I read up a lot about damaging metabolism long term by under-eating calories so I changed it again to 1lb loss per week which gave me 1750 cals per day. This is working brilliant for me. I am finally at a stage in life where I realise that if I want to keep the weight off, I need to do it slow and steady. After 8 weeks I am over 1 stone down, I never feel hungry, I eat what I want which is good quality healthy foods with the odd smaller size treat meal thrown in. Because I am doing it slower my stomach is actually shrinking this time and I get full up much sooner than I used to. I am a happy Easter Bunny.

Think about your goal and whether you will stick to the plan to reach that goal by being on 1200. If it feels like a chore, try changing your weekly loss to something smaller and giving yourself more calories to play with. X

Exercise, then eat back your exercise calories. Win Win. You will feel better, look better, and have many other ancillary benefits.

RecognitionT wrote: »

How anyone does it is beyond me.

Yeah sure I get women need a little less energy than men to function in general for a variety of reasons, but I can't imagine staying within a 1200 window throughout the day.

Most of the time Ive busted 1200 by lunch hour.

Ditto. Never had to eat less than 1650.