1200 too few?

Yes, I'm with you. I don't understand why so many people try for 1200. It's freaking hard! I won't stick to things that are hard. I'd rather lose weight slowly and eat more (and some people will lose it faster while eating more so why not try it?).

i eat arounf 1200-1300 calories a day, i have at least 3 meals a day and snacks and i dont feel hungry at all, i dunno whether im just choosing low calorie food so i can eat lots but it seems to be okay for me xx

I was set at 1450 when I started MFP in february. I updated my goals and let MFP do it and after I dropped 50 pounds, MFP dropped me to 1200 calories a day. After 3 weeks of not losing anything, I decided to raise my calories back to 1350 and voila one week later I have lost a pound. I do eat my exercise calories back, but I dont have huge burns so I felt hungry the whole 3 weeks at 1200...
So yes, I think 1200 is too few!

Anyone who can eat 3 meals a day and 2 snacks must be eating tiny portions!

I like to have 4 meals a day otherwise I tend to binge anyway, and to have 4 x 300 meals would mean I'd just be starving.

I literally just upped my calories to 1500 and changing my goal to 0.5lb a week, and that was because I read about someone with starvation mode who literally cannot lose weight, even though she works out like a machine and eats clean and healthily.

I do 1200 but I eat back my exercise calories so usually I'm eating around 1500 a day. It is enough for me. Some days I get hungrier and go over.

Yesterday I only ate 787 calories. I was on the go a lot yesterday school shopping for my youngest daughter and then we were preparing for Hurricane Irene!

When people say to "eat more calories than 1200 to lose weight". How much more are you talking about? I wonder what "more" is suppose to mean. I can easily go over 1200. I truly believe the ones that cannot get to 1200 aren't logging all of their food (unless you are super thin) : all drinks, oil for cooking, butter, cream for their coffee, the little things ADD up. Make sure you log everything that goes in the mouth.. just a bite here and there add up to.

Forgot to add that the majority of my day is water drinking and occassionally I will have a diet coke which is on my diary

I think 1200 is WAY too little, for me personally at least. I lose more when I eat more. It sounds crazy but I have tried eating 1200 and got no results. Up it to 1500-1700, I have lost.

I truly believe the ones that cannot get to 1200 aren't logging all of their food (unless you are super thin) : all drinks, oil for cooking, butter, cream for their coffee, the little things ADD up. Make sure you log everything that goes in the mouth.. just a bite here and there add up to.

Oh, I do think that people really eat 1200. They eat egg whites instead of eggs, cook it in Pam instead of butter. They don't put cream in their coffee, or dressing on their salad. They only eat chicken and fish (no beef). They don't have cheese on their sandwiches. They avoid fruit and milk as they are too high in calories.

I'd just rather not eat like that. I like to eat. I like real food. I can loose weight, feel great, have a ton of energy whilst eating it. But I do try to remember that I'm not an expert and different people can do different things. To each his own I guess.

Every word of this.

I would think that in my late 30s and (before MFP) pretty inactive, my metabolism wasn't really all that hot, but I still did way better on more than 1200 calories. Eating less doesn't always equal optimal weight loss, and definitely not optimal FAT loss.

During my time on MFP, I lost more weight on 1400 calories (plus exercise calories, but I set my profile to lightly active instead of sedentary, and only logged actual exercise) than I did on 1200 calories. Typically around 1.5 pounds a week. My body needed more than 1200 net to let go of the pounds.

I lost the SAME amount of weight on 1500 calories as I did on 1200. Typically about one pound a week. I upped my calories as I got within 10 pounds of my goal.

On the other hand, years before I joined MFP and knew anything about the danger of starvation mode, I ate around 700-800 calories a day and never lost more than a half pound a week. I thought I was a diet failure because I couldn't lose. I didn't know that eating more would have weight loss easier, both from the perspective of more pounds lost as well as feeling better while I was losing it.

Plus, the more you eat, the less lean muscle mass you're going to lose. I'm about the same size as a lean and fit 130# 39 year old than I was as a 120# 26 year old with less muscle mass. Losing "weight," losing more pounds, isn't always that great if you're losing lean muscle mass as well as fat.