1200 calories?!?!

I'm at 1200 calories and doing fine, what are you eating? If you want to friend me and check out my food, that is cool. I'm not perfect, far from it..but it will give you an idea.

What do you eat for breakfast? You probably just need to make a few changes

What are you eating? For me it helps if I log my dinner in advance and then I see how much I have to work with during the day. Some things I eat during the day are
country hearth 12 grain bread - 80 calories for two slices
lean deli sliced turkey - 90 calories for 6 slices
Swanson's canned chicken breast - 50 calories per serving
lots of fruits and veggies
I also manage to get chocolate in every day!

If you would like make your diary public so we can see what choices you are making and maybe make some suggestions. If you arent' eating back any of your exercise calories.....eat them!

I am having such a hard time sticking under 1200. By lunch I only have 160 left and I usually burn around 300 per exercise. How in the world am I going to lose weight? Do i need to stay on the treadmill for 3 hours???

Advice and help!!

If you workout and burn 300 cals your goal for that day should be 1500 (1200+300)

Another thing to consider is that your weekly weight loss goal is too aggressive, change you goal to lose 1 lb/week and you should get more calories (assuming you were set at 1.5 or 2 lbs/week)

with only 30 lbs to go you should not be set to lose more than 1 lb/week anyway. Here is a good reference:
If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.

I used to have that problem. Recently I figured out a way to do it that works for me. If you would like you can friend me and check out my diary. It's tricky but it's possible. I was able to go to Burger King with my husband this weekend and still manage it without eating back workout cals.

It's not just the number of calories per day...it's the quality of food you're eating. If you want help with what you're eating, you might want to make your diary public. Don't give up! It takes time to learn what works for your body.

I know this doesn't sound helpful, but my nutritionist has me at 1200 calories per day. Reduce but don't eliminate carbs from sugars including fructose, reduce but don't eliminate grains including cerals and breads, eat potatos only once or twice a week. Focus on lean meats and fresh vegetables (even for breakfast). With you continuing exercise, you should do okay. You didn't get here in a minute; you won't get "there" in a minute either. :happy:

Stop eating processed foods... if you are eating whole grain, less processed foods- 1200-1400 cals is a LOT of food

I too am trying to keep to 1200 calories but, I have 1350 set as my daily goal. My suggestions to help you stay below your total is to cut out a lot of carbohydrates and sugars (carbs). I've noticed those tend to be very high in calories as well as make you feel bloated and hungry faster. Now I'm not talking about carbs from things like fruit and veggies, just processed carbs like Wheat, Barley, Oats and Rye. I'm basically mimicing my wife's diet, who has Celiac's and cannot eat those things.

I also try to stick to eggs in the morning for breakfast as I feel like that keeps me full longer. Snack on celery, cucumbers and carrots for low calories but also gets rid of the hunger pangs.

Make sure you're counting your exercise in your MyFitnessPal totals. It is important that you take your calories burned into account as the net calories is what you're shooting for.

I bet that if you stay below 1500 calories and use a couple of my tips, if you haven't already, then you will see more success and not feel so badly. Because what you're saying is what I was feeling a couple weeks ago.

Also, stay away from fake sugar, those diet drinks are not so diet. They may not have any carbs but many of them will still spike your insulin which prevents fat loss.

I do zumba and it burns over 500 calories an hour and its fun! I also have to stay around 1250 calories and on days that I excercise I may go over 1200 a bit so that I don't feel too weak to excercise. I think lean meats and wheat bread, diabetic yogurt is low in carbs, weight watchers cheese sticks are good snacks, fat free jello, crystal light packets or sparkling water from Target is good with 0 calories, subway black forest ham or turkey only on Italian or Wheat bread. For lunch I usually have a smart one meal and a small side salad and some sparkling water, I usually stay under 300 calories for breakfast (yogurt, kashi granola bar, Trop50 Orange juice), 500 calories for lunch and 500 calories for dinner (protein shake or lean pocket or sandwich). Good luck, keep trying!!!