1200 calories a day?

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What happens if you DON'T eat 1200 calories a day? Is it bad? Does it slow the process down? I am finding that by 7 or 8 at night I still have 200-300 calories left. I don't want to eat that late cause I've heard THAT is bad. Then if you burn calories you earn more..so am I suppose to eat the calories I've burned too?? I'm new to this site so any insight from anyone would be very helpful. Thanks in advance!!

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  • rosigirl
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    What happens if you DON'T eat 1200 calories a day? Is it bad? Does it slow the process down? I am finding that by 7 or 8 at night I still have 200-300 calories left. I don't want to eat that late cause I've heard THAT is bad. Then if you burn calories you earn more..so am I suppose to eat the calories I've burned too?? I'm new to this site so any insight from anyone would be very helpful. Thanks in advance!!
  • kerrilucko
    kerrilucko Posts: 3,852 Member
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    Yes that's bad. Eat all 1200 and also eat the exercise calories. AT A MINIMUM you need 1200 netcalories a day. If you don't eat that much, you are depriving your body of energy to perform basic functions such as beathing, heartbeating, etc.
  • Anna_Banana
    Anna_Banana Posts: 2,939 Member
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    Plan ahead and get all 1200 calories in. Going under slows your body down and will make it harder to lose weight. Also you need to eat your exercise calories, especially if you are on a 1200 calorie diet. You need to give your body something to fuel it and repair the damage that exercise does.
  • dmoulton123
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    Your metabolism goes into starvation mode if you are under 1200 calories a day which means your body will store energy as fat instead of burning it off. When I first started dieting, I was surprised by how much food I had to eat but surprisingly, the weight came off faster when I started eating more.
  • chrissyh
    chrissyh Posts: 8,235 Member
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    at 1200 and some days under I stopped losing at 1450 - I am losing. I have to Preplan in snacks - fruit, fresh veggies, 1/2 pnut butter sand, nuts, skim milk....
  • rosigirl
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    ooohhh! Ok, then. Well, I'm glad I asked now. I've been doing this for a week and thought I was doing so good staying UNDER the recommended. Thank you all so much! I guess I better start planning my food for the day!!
  • firewalking
    firewalking Posts: 335 Member
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    Eat. Eat. Eat. Not eating is just as bad as overeating.

    REMEMBER: It does NOT MATTER how late at night you eat. A calorie is a calorie no matter when you have it.

    There are tons of 100 calories snack packs - almonds (classified as a seed, not a nut),cookies, etc. Also, the skinny cows fudge bars (only 50 calories)...there is so much you can do in a pinch.
  • ziggycat
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    I feel so guilty eating all my 1100 cals, let alone my exercise cals!!!! I think its cos i tend to go over a lot at the weekend, then feel the need to claw back whatever i can througout the week.

    Does anyone else feel like that?

    Ziggy
  • ziggycat
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    I feel so guilty eating all my 1100 cals, let alone my exercise cals!!!! I think its cos i tend to go over a lot at the weekend, then feel the need to claw back whatever i can througout the week.

    Does anyone else feel like that?

    Ziggy
  • ziggycat
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    I feel so guilty eating all my 1100 cals, let alone my exercise cals!!!! I think its cos i tend to go over a lot at the weekend, then feel the need to claw back whatever i can througout the week.

    Does anyone else feel like that?

    Ziggy