Is 1200 calories/day sustainable?
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serinaster
Posts: 17 Member
According to my smart watch, I burn on average 1500 - 1800 calories/day. I currently weigh 161 lbs at 5 ft 3. I'm female and almost 40. My ideal BMI weight is 135 but the last time I was that weight I looked malnourished so I'd settle for 145. I've been struggling with losing 15 lbs for almost 10 years now. I tried intermittent fasting and went down to 151, but thanks to PMS among other things, I end up eating like crazy for a week out of the month.
Should I shoot for 1200 calories or 1500? I do workout like 3 -5 days a week for 20-30 min and burn on average 200 calories. I also like to drink warm water but I think I may have been drinking distilled water instead since sometimes the water on my electric kettle is almost close to boiling so I add some more from my brita pitcher.
I've had folks tell me 1200 calories is basically starvation. Any advice on how to get the weight off and stay off would be appreciated!
Should I shoot for 1200 calories or 1500? I do workout like 3 -5 days a week for 20-30 min and burn on average 200 calories. I also like to drink warm water but I think I may have been drinking distilled water instead since sometimes the water on my electric kettle is almost close to boiling so I add some more from my brita pitcher.
I've had folks tell me 1200 calories is basically starvation. Any advice on how to get the weight off and stay off would be appreciated!
3
Replies
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How many calories does MFP give you to lose 1 lb/week? In addition, you should be eating back exercise calories, assuming they are calculated correctly.7
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maybe increase your workout to 45 minutes? 20 min is not that long.19
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Apullum- MFP gives me 1220, and it does add exercise calories. I track those on my watch which syncs with MFP.
Grace42c- right now 20 min is about all I can squeeze in a day given my crazy work schedule. I work out first thing in the AM. I struggle with getting enough sleep as well which could be another culprit. I'm working on moving my bedtime up one hr so I can be able to up my workouts to 40-60 min.2 -
Achieving a daily deficit of 145 Cal will get you there in a year!
My suggestion would be to aim for a 250 Cal deficit for 3 weeks a month and to aim for a 150 OVERAGE for 1 week.9 -
Maybe walk at lunch or if you get a break? You could get 20 more minutes that way.11
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Not forever. If you are sedentary and small perhaps. That is what MFP gives me to lose 1 lb a week at lightly active but I am usually more active and earn 200 extra calories. They really help.1
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I would recommend setting your rate of loss to 0.5 lb/week, then, since you aren't too far form the point at which you'd want to do that anyway. Lose a bit more slowly, but eat more and feel happier.7
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I'd go with what MFP gives you and eat back some of your exercise calories when you exercise.
I'm 49, 5'3, and my maintenance would be around 1550 if I were actually sedentary (I lost my weight at 44-45, and started at 1250, although I had more to lose than you do, and my goal/current weight was 125). I live in a city and so walk a bunch so in reality it's more like 1800 before exercise, and I run so it's more. But if I were mostly sedentary 1200 would be a good goal for weight loss.0 -
I agree with targeting half a pound a week. That will give you 1470 instead of 1220, which seems more manageable given your goals4
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1200 is def sustainable if you exercise and eat all your exercise calories back. I am 59, 5’4” and sedentary, and that’s what MFP gave me to lose .5 a week. You just have to make sure every bite is full of good nutrition, there is no room for treats or junk unless you have a big cardio day.3
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I would recommend setting your rate of loss to 0.5 lb/week, then, since you aren't too far form the point at which you'd want to do that anyway. Lose a bit more slowly, but eat more and feel happier.
Looking at her stats I think that even with 1/2 pound loss a week, OP won't get too much more than 1200 PLUS exercise calories. The joys of being vertically challenged .... sigh!3 -
I think more important than the calorie number is whether you are getting all the nutrition you need from your diet. If you stick to low calorie veggies, fruit, lean protein and drink only water you might find you can maintain 1200 without starving or being malnourished. I know it goes against what a lot of people here will say though, so watch me as I get flamed....
You can maintain 1200 without being malnourished, yes - but not on this diet, which completely misses out a major macronutrient.
I strongly recommend not taking dietary advice from someone who doesn’t realise that fat is essential to good health.17 -
I’m 5’2 and almost 40 and I have been netting 1200 daily for 12 weeks so far but I exercise more to eat more. I like to eat more and the more I exercise, the more I enjoy it. I also don’t plan to stay at 1200 the whole time I’m losing. Since it’s been working I’ve kept it up this long, but soon I plant to go to about 1450. This same pattern worked for me last time I lost weight (I lost a little more than 30 lbs a couple of years ago—all good until maintenance, which I botched by thinking I could get away with not logging).3
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While you are technically correct, I'd be a hangry witch without my exercise calories
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serinaster wrote: »I've had folks tell me 1200 calories is basically starvation.
LOL!!
Trust me. It's no where near.
What sort of workout are you doing to burn 200 calories in 20 min?3 -
kshama2001 wrote: »
While you are technically correct, I'd be a hangry witch without my exercise calories
Yup.
And I'm on the injured reserve list right now, not doing my usual stuff, so that issue is blindingly obvious to me atm
. But there was IMO (in the context of this thread) no particular reason for someone to keep pressing this particular OP (who is doing as much exercise as s/he believes fits nicely into his/her schedule) to be doing more exercise, via multiple posts.
Realistically, I probably responded in a cranky manner to that partly because I'm not getting enough exercise right now.:flowerforyou: 14 -
I am 5’4”, 128 lbs 50 year old woman. I exercise 3 times per week.
I tried to do 1200/ day and it just was not enough calories for me. I felt like I was always hungry. I bumped my calorie loss goal to .5/week, which gives me 1420 calls per day. I eat back my exercise calories.
What really helped me push the weight loss is cutting back on alcohol, and really logging my food consistently, especially at the end of the day.
The weight will come off! If you don’t have a lot of time to exercise, then increase your resistance /intensity in the time you do have.6 -
Lillymoo01 wrote: »I would recommend setting your rate of loss to 0.5 lb/week, then, since you aren't too far form the point at which you'd want to do that anyway. Lose a bit more slowly, but eat more and feel happier.
Looking at her stats I think that even with 1/2 pound loss a week, OP won't get too much more than 1200 PLUS exercise calories. The joys of being vertically challenged .... sigh!
Sedentary TDEE for OP's stats is 1643 according to tdeecalculator.net. A 250 calorie per day deficit would be 1393, not counting exercise. Of course, that's assuming the TDEE calculator is accurate for her, but to me 1400ish is considerably more calories than 1200.
I'm under 5 feet tall, so I wouldn't consider someone 5'3" to be short!8
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