This 1200 calorie thing is driving me up a wall

OK I am stumped! I have been faithfully logging all my food and keeping it to 1200 calories a day, with up to 1 to 3 hours of exercise a day. I am eating the calories I earn with all that exercise. I figure my metabolism needs reving up. I am NOT losing. Help.

oh my, with 119 lbs to go you are by far NOT eating enough fuel for your body Hon! When you set up your MFP stats... and you possibly put in 1 1/2 to 2 lbs weekly loss....what did MFP give you as daily calorie allotment. Your body needs enough fuel to simply function on, let alone workouts and such.:flowerforyou:

Perhaps check out how you calcuted and see what it then shows. Feel free to post again so we can be sure you're getting in enough fuel to keep your body healthy and moving in the right direction:happy:

The BMI calculation says I need 1700 plus calories a day. Are you saying adjust this up? Doesn't the site make the calculations for you depending on your weightloss goals per week?

In the past, the only way I have ever lost weight (and I have lost a ton) is with extreme low carb and mega exercise. I know I can't sustain this lifestyle, so am trying the more balanced calorie approach.

I even tried juicing and going total vegetarian, but only gained weight and felt terrible. I think my body type requires a lot of protein to maintain my blood sugar.

Any ideas? I really appreciate any help I can get. I was once a size 7 and in the best shape, I want to get back to at least a 12 in this lifetime!

in serious need of a

definately :ohwell:

thanks, (course, I'm a guy so...calling me girl made me sad.) :laugh:
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ha ha ha this made me pee a little

bumping for later!!! and i completely agree with you.... 1200 isnt enough for anyone!!! I try for 1400-1600 a day plus i eat back most of my exercise calories!!!

Just realized how old this post was!!! But its a good one that everyone needs to read!!!

I nominate this for the "Best Bump of the Day."

1,200 calories is nothing but a big, huge red flag to me — one that says, "I put in the maximum weight loss per week, and this is the lowest the calories would go."

You can figure it out on your own with the help of an online calorie burn calculator - won't be exact because it doesn't account for body mass, hormones, etc. just considers your gender, weight, height and age. There's about 20 different things that factor into your Resting Metabolism (RMR*) and can make 2 people who are the same gender, weight, height and age have extremely different results. *RMR is part of the equation for figuring how many calories you should eat.....

1. How many calories do you burn with your RMR + aerobic + anaerobic activity per day?

Answer: Here's a nice calculator that gives you 4 categories to choose from for your anaerobic activity plus a place to put in what you burn per day in added exercise .... www.nutritiondata.self.com/tools/calories-burned

Some examples of occupations for figuring your anaerobic activity level:
Construction Worker, Landscaping, etc. would be very active
Nurse, Massage Therapist, etc. would be active (on your feet a lot)
Desk job would be somewhat active
Sedentary would be someone that just lies there and does nothing but minimal bodily functions

2. How many lbs. do you want to lose a week? Healthy rate of loss is no more than 2 lbs. a week.

3. What should your calorie deficit per day be to lose your "blank" pounds a week?

Answer: Multiply lbs. you want to lose per week (#2 above) X 3500 = Calorie deficit needed per WEEK to lose that # of lbs. Now divide this number by 7 and that is the calorie deficit you need per DAY to lose those that # of lbs.


4. OK Now we can plug everything into the following formula and figure out what "X" (number of calories to eat) should be.

"X" (number of calories to eat) minus Total # of calories burned per day = Your target daily deficit

Example:
Calories burned per day per the website = 2306
Target lbs. to lose per week = 2
2 X 3500 = 7000 (weekly deficit needed to lose 2 lbs. per week)
7000/7 = 1000 (target daily deficit needed to lose 2 lbs. per week)

Plug it into the formula..
x - 2306 (calories burned per website) = -1000
x = 1306 target calories per day to lose 2 lbs. a week with my current active level (Resting Metabolism + Aerobic activity + Lifestyle/Anaerobic activity

I am also 5' female 124.4 lbs. over 50 yrs. old; without exercise I have to be below the 1200 calories or I don't lose anything. I typically stay around 800-900 calories a day. No it is not fun but I have alos learned to not waste those precious calories on empty ones such as a pepsi (my favorite). I sit at a desk most of the day so I am not very active unless I actually exercise. I have lost 16 lbs and have 4 more to go for my goal, it has taken me over 4 months and I have been very diligent. I think in time everybody finds out what works best for them, but I do agree that it is hard to eat healthy below 1200 calores. Now if I could just figure out how to grow 6 more inches I think my problems would be solved!

Susan

Yeah, 1200 calories is hard. I keep headaches and feel light headed. However, 1500 to 1700 seems good. On exercise days I get really hungry, I have to be closer to 1700.

I'm 5'0" and I should weigh 120 and even then my BMR is 1350. Nobody should be doing 1200 or less. If your BMR is more, eat more. If you're having headaches or feeling light headed IT'S NOT A GOOD THING. Eat more!