1200 Calories and Listening to Your Body
starryphoenix
Posts: 381 Member
I’ve found eating 1200 calories very manageable as long as I understand what my body is asking for. It’s possible to not be hungry on this amount of calories if you eat right. I have noticed I only get really hungry when I haven’t eaten enough protein. Some days if I’ve had a truly good meal the day before I’m not hungry at all the day after. I eat anyway of course. So eating 1200 doesn’t mean always feeling hungry. You just need to figure out what your body wants and needs. Being able to listen to your body and know what it wants based on how you feel is a very useful skill. If nothing works then you probably aren’t eating enough and 1200 isn’t right for you.
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Replies
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Some people new to dieting have a "honeymoon" period during which their appetite plummets and they can eat very little without feeling hungry.
It's also very common for people to make logging errors and think they are eating less than they actually are, but over time, this will be demonstrated by the scale.
1200 calories isn't right for most women - only very very short women who are also sedentary.
https://www.aworkoutroutine.com/1200-calorie-diet/26 -
My body tells me 1200 calories ain't gonna cut it no matter what I eat or how much exercise I do.14
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starryphoenix wrote: »I’ve found eating 1200 calories very manageable as long as I understand what my body is asking for. It’s possible to not be hungry on this amount of calories if you eat right. I have noticed I only get really hungry when I haven’t eaten enough protein. Some days if I’ve had a truly good meal the day before I’m not hungry at all the day after. I eat anyway of course. So eating 1200 doesn’t mean always feeling hungry. You just need to figure out what your body wants and needs. Being able to listen to your body and know what it wants based on how you feel is a very useful skill. If nothing works then you probably aren’t eating enough and 1200 isn’t right for you.
What your body needs is largely dependent on your size and activity level. Most of us got here because we were lousy at reading our body's signals. Since 1200 cals is too low for the vast majority of people, there is no good reason to start at 1200 cals and "listen to your body". Luckily, you don't have to guess, you can use MFP or a TDEE calculator, log accurately and consistently, and tweak from there.
Most of the women I have seen here or in real life who said 1200 was "plenty" of calories were not logging accurately and were actually eating more like 1500. And sometimes when we are first starting out, our adrenaline leaves us feeling like we can handle the hunger when it's really our body telling us to eat more.
I don't mean to be argumentative, but I believe encouraging women to eat the absolute bare minimum of calories and suggest that if they eat "right" they will be fine is irresponsible. Food is fuel. Eating "right" should include giving your body enough calories to thrive, but not so much that you don't lose weight. I'd rather figure out how to eat as much as I can and achieve a healthy weight, than figure out how to get by on the bare minimum.41 -
I have mine set for 1200 calories but, I tend to eat between 1350 and 1700 per day. I have some wiggle room for the days I tend to need to eat more. I have been losing slowly but, I am losing.5
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Mine is set for 1200 calories and I'm not having any problems with it at all. I'm losing 2 lbs a week. I weigh and measure. I am perhaps luckier than many, because I eat most of the meals at home and I am in control. I am short and have been sedentary, although now I am getting 45 minutes to an hour a day of exercise walking. I'm careful about what I eat and I read labels very carefully and check portion sizes. A lot of days I don't even make it to 1200 and that is fine too. I pretty much have to watch meals, because my husband was diagnosed with Type 2. It is recommended he lose weight, so he has lost weight on what I am preparing, his blood glucose is steady and both of us feel good. So I guess I disagree with those that say 1200 calories are too little.24
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I find that around 1200 is ok for me--which is a good thing because at a goal weight of the very tippy top of healthy BMI my TDEE is 1370---so I'd better be ok with eating less. (yes --short and old)6
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starryphoenix wrote: »I’ve found eating 1200 calories very manageable as long as I understand what my body is asking for. It’s possible to not be hungry on this amount of calories if you eat right. I have noticed I only get really hungry when I haven’t eaten enough protein. Some days if I’ve had a truly good meal the day before I’m not hungry at all the day after. I eat anyway of course. So eating 1200 doesn’t mean always feeling hungry. You just need to figure out what your body wants and needs. Being able to listen to your body and know what it wants based on how you feel is a very useful skill. If nothing works then you probably aren’t eating enough and 1200 isn’t right for you.
What your body needs is largely dependent on your size and activity level. Most of us got here because we were lousy at reading our body's signals. Since 1200 cals is too low for the vast majority of people, there is no good reason to start at 1200 cals and "listen to your body". Luckily, you don't have to guess, you can use MFP or a TDEE calculator, log accurately and consistently, and tweak from there.
Most of the women I have seen here or in real life who said 1200 was "plenty" of calories were not logging accurately and were actually eating more like 1500. And sometimes when we are first starting out, our adrenaline leaves us feeling like we can handle the hunger when it's really our body telling us to eat more.
I don't mean to be argumentative, but I believe encouraging women to eat the absolute bare minimum of calories and suggest that if they eat "right" they will be fine is irresponsible. Food is fuel. Eating "right" should include giving your body enough calories to thrive, but not so much that you don't lose weight. I'd rather figure out how to eat as much as I can and achieve a healthy weight, than figure out how to get by on the bare minimum.
This is why I put that last sentence at the end. If this amount of calories isn’t right for you then it just isn’t right.7 -
I’m not saying 1200 is the answer for everyone. I’m just saying eating that much doesn’t always mean starvation. Some people just don’t eat right and their body complains. Sometimes 1200 just isn’t right for you. If that’s the case that is fine. I eat 1500 on the days I work out.4
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Was my post removed?2
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Water helps, for me. To curb the hunger. If I listen to myself too much, it’s too much. But protein is awesome, regardless3
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Your level of hunger is not a reliable way to determine whether or not a calorie level is "right" for you. You may feel full yet be undereating; you may also feel hungry even after eating far too many calories. Satiety and calorie intake really don't have much to do with each other. Most people find that feeling full is accomplished by eating fiber, protein, and/or fat.
1200 is only "right" for a very specific population. I am one of those people. I am under 5 feet tall and have a sedentary job. 1200 was my baseline calorie goal when I was losing weight, and that 1200 was *before exercise*. I ate back my exercise calories.
If you are not very short with a sedentary job, then 1200 is likely not right for you, regardless of whether you feel full on that number of calories or not. Set MFP to lose 1 pound per week, rather than simply guessing at your calorie goal based on how hungry you feel. If you feel hungry while eating at MFP's calorie goal, then adjust your macros to eat more fat, protein, and/or fiber.16 -
People have already pointed out that height, age, and activity level affect your calorie needs. I also want to point out that the more body fat you have, the easier it will be to sustain yourself on 1200 calories because your body can use its excess fat for energy. The leaner you get, the harder it will be to sustain such drastic deficits.10
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I would say a person should consider why they are trying to eat 1200 calories. Is that what MFP has given you because of your height, weight, activity level, and having chosen a reasonable weekly weight loss goal? Or have you chosen a goal of 2 lbs/week even though you only have 30 lbs to lose? Or are you extremely obese and chose 1200 because you've heard that number thrown around as what a woman should eat when she's dieting, when you could be eating much more and still lose at a steady clip? If the math makes it appropriate for you, great. Just don't chose it randomly and try to force your body to adjust.
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starryphoenix wrote: »I’ve found eating 1200 calories very manageable as long as I understand what my body is asking for. It’s possible to not be hungry on this amount of calories if you eat right. I have noticed I only get really hungry when I haven’t eaten enough protein. Some days if I’ve had a truly good meal the day before I’m not hungry at all the day after. I eat anyway of course. So eating 1200 doesn’t mean always feeling hungry. You just need to figure out what your body wants and needs. Being able to listen to your body and know what it wants based on how you feel is a very useful skill. If nothing works then you probably aren’t eating enough and 1200 isn’t right for you.
In addition to making the community correct several of your errors you have contradicted yourself here. If you are not hungry the day after a "truly good meal" your body is not telling you what you need to know. You are wise to ignore your body and eat anyway because it would be unsafe to do otherwise as a practice.9 -
FireVixen_Fayth wrote: »Was my post removed?
repost it? Maybe you 'thought' you pressed posted?0 -
I'm a 5'7" sedentary woman who had tried 1250 calories so that I could have a 1lb a week weight loss. I managed it for 1.5 weeks and I was eating very healthy (no processed food, plenty of protein wherever I could get it). It's not right for me. I was tired, cranky, starving, and actually dizzy/lightheaded on many occasions. I felt quite a bit better at 1500 calories but weight loss does stall there.
I'm always really perplexed when I read accounts of people who feel great on 1200 calories (or less), yet they have 80-100 lbs to lose. If people were satisfied at 1200 calories, it's very hard for me to imagine how they got from a normal weight to very overweight. In order to do that you'd have to be eating a TON of calories and feeling hungry for that. Just don't understand how you can go from overeating to undereating and "feel fine."
Now, if at a normal weight and small, I can see that that. My MIL was in her 70s, 4'11" tall, not sedentary, but she never really needed a lot of food. Wouldn't be shocked if her daily caloric intake was naturally at about 1200 calories.8 -
I'm a 5'7" sedentary woman who had tried 1250 calories so that I could have a 1lb a week weight loss. I managed it for 1.5 weeks and I was eating very healthy (no processed food, plenty of protein wherever I could get it). It's not right for me. I was tired, cranky, starving, and actually dizzy/lightheaded on many occasions. I felt quite a bit better at 1500 calories but weight loss does stall there.
I'm always really perplexed when I read accounts of people who feel great on 1200 calories (or less), yet they have 80-100 lbs to lose. If people were satisfied at 1200 calories, it's very hard for me to imagine how they got from a normal weight to very overweight. In order to do that you'd have to be eating a TON of calories and feeling hungry for that. Just don't understand how you can go from overeating to undereating and "feel fine."
Now, if at a normal weight and small, I can see that that. My MIL was in her 70s, 4'11" tall, not sedentary, but she never really needed a lot of food. Wouldn't be shocked if her daily caloric intake was naturally at about 1200 calories.
If someone goes from eating high calorie foods (burgers, cheesecake, potato chips) to eating more fruits and veggies and lean meats, the volume of food in their stomach might be similar, but the calorie values would be completely different. That can certainly leave one feeling full and satisfied on a similar quantity of food, but considerably fewer calories.
At 5'2" I can feel okay on 1200 as long as I'm not doing any intense exercise. At the same time, I don't find 1200 to be enough to get proper nutritional value from my foods. Not just fat and protein, but vitamins and minerals too. Plus I enjoy having a treat now and again, which is hard to fit into 1200 and get reasonable nutrition.8 -
FireVixen_Fayth wrote: »Was my post removed?
If a mod removed it, there will be a message from them in your notifications.
It may have simply not posted.1 -
FireVixen_Fayth wrote: »Was my post removed?
repost it? Maybe you 'thought' you pressed posted?
One of mine vanished. I thought maybe I didn’t hit “post reply,” but then a couple people quoted it, so I know it was there. Beats me.0 -
I'm a 5'7" sedentary woman who had tried 1250 calories so that I could have a 1lb a week weight loss. I managed it for 1.5 weeks and I was eating very healthy (no processed food, plenty of protein wherever I could get it). It's not right for me. I was tired, cranky, starving, and actually dizzy/lightheaded on many occasions. I felt quite a bit better at 1500 calories but weight loss does stall there.
I'm always really perplexed when I read accounts of people who feel great on 1200 calories (or less), yet they have 80-100 lbs to lose. If people were satisfied at 1200 calories, it's very hard for me to imagine how they got from a normal weight to very overweight. In order to do that you'd have to be eating a TON of calories and feeling hungry for that. Just don't understand how you can go from overeating to undereating and "feel fine."
Now, if at a normal weight and small, I can see that that. My MIL was in her 70s, 4'11" tall, not sedentary, but she never really needed a lot of food. Wouldn't be shocked if her daily caloric intake was naturally at about 1200 calories.
I'm 5'6", and had a similar experience trying 1200 calories. I think I made it about 2 weeks, but the dizziness scared me and I upped my calories back to 1500. My weight loss was slower, but that was ok.
I think most people who think they feel full at 1200 are probably logging inaccurately and/or eating more than they think they are. I know I was eating 1200 at that time because I was weighing every single thing. I was miserable and hungry on that amount.7
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