Anyone else on 1200 a day?

I'm 1200/day. It works. Though now since I'm near the end of my loss, I fluctuate my cal intake once or twice a week. After you get in the habit of seeing what foods fit in the category, you will find that the more nutritious foods are more filling. I do take GNC Women's Active vitamin packs, to make sure I get all my vitamins and minerals, because some of the low cal foods I eat daily do not have the most nutrients that my body needs to be healthy. When I first started my weight loss, I didn't eat back my exercise calories, now I do, and i'm losing more inches than pounds--but that's good!

How tall are you? 1200 per day should be more than enough for a shorter person, but may be difficult for a taller person. And agree with the posters re: food quality. Veggies/whole grains are filling and don't cost as many calories. Satiety is related to both volume (stomach stretching) and chemical signals (sugar, protein, fat). I find that my satiety is more related to volume. I feel more full on 200 calories of multigrain hot cereal with fruit than I do on 200 calories of a starbucks coffee because it is more bulky. If I eat the latter, I'm more like to overeat because I haven't gotten that "stretched-out-must-be-full" signal from my stomach.

I am 5 feet tall, on 1000 calories/day with weight loss, and only get hungry if I eat low volume but calorie dense foods.
An 3 egg white omelette with 1 cup of veggies (tomatoes, spinach,etc.) and 2 strips of turkey bacon is only about 200 calories, but way more satisfying for me than 1-2 slices of toast and 8oz OJ. I don't ever drink my calories…never feel full that way.

I'm on 1200, too.

At first it was really challenging. I was consistently going over my calories and I was always hungry. This was just my body adjusting to a new relationship with food. I have a slow metabolism, so I eventually I learned to read my body's hunger signs more accurately and work through the cravings. I made the 1200 more of a goal than a necessity, so I was slowly able to work down to it and make the most of my calorie intake, clearly identifying dietary choices that packed a solid nutritional punch. It's still hard, but I have discovered that my main problem was portion control. I was used to eating at least twice as much as I should have. I thought the feeling of over-eating was what "full" felt like...it's not.

Interestingly enough, I gravitated towards fresh fruits and veggies and away from prepackaged foods. This was more for financial reasons than anything else, but it has increased my healthful eating tenfold. A $5 box of clementines lasts me two weeks, even though I eat 2 of them a day as a snack. I also gave up soda - I had no idea how many calories I was consuming every day drinking that stuff!! Also, I found something about soda made me retain water weight. Drinking water, tea, and milk helps stabilize my weight. Friend me and check out my food diary if you want.

It's challenging, but give it a shot. Don't make it a do-or-die kind of thing, but make it your goal. If it's too much, set your weekly weight loss goal to 1lb and do your best to be between 1200 and whatever calorie amount they tell you to eat. Also, exercise to give yourself some wiggle room.

Hope this helps! :happy:

I started at 5'2" and 180 pounds..

Last year I tried for the 1200 calorie level (which is what I got from this website putting in a 2lb a week weight loss and a sedentary lifestyle). I just kept on failing over and over... I would do great for a few days and then give up and binge.. Went through this cycle for the best part of last year.

I recalculated this year at only losing 1 lb per week which allowed me closer to 1400 calories per day. This seems to make a huge difference for me. I have more energy, I am not hungry all the time and I can enjoy normal meals in moderation... I am already down 5 pounds and can't wait to continue my journey!!

I hope this helps,:flowerforyou:

Cheers,

Alsison

Ok..so my question is a little off topic but i cannot figure out how to post a topic (if someone can help me with that it would be great) i am on a 1200 calorie diet, have been for some time and i am 6lbs from my goal weight. What do i do to work up to maintain without starting to gain weight....it seems if i slip up on tracking and go over my calories for a week or two i seem to start gaining (like over the holidays)....very confusing

I hover around 1,200, but the only way I can really maintain it is if I am eating nutrient rich foods. If I don't eat a variety (mainly if I only eat carbs) it will turn out horribly. I've lost 31 pounds sticking between 1,200-1,400. I usually try not to eat my exercise calories though, but it depends on how hungry I am haha.

My goal is 1500 and I usually barely make it to 1200. I'm so busy with school its hard to find time to eat! Drinking lots of water/tea keeps me full most of the time so I barely notice any hunger pangs.

I am! 1279 a day...and struggling. but I am determined, I have a trip to Hawaii in April and my daughters wedding in June, so I have two goals to shoot for.
How are you doing it?

dugsgirl

I'm only five feet tall and have been eating around 1200 calories a day for the past 10 days as part of the Dukan diet. I don't really need to Calorie count on the Dukan, but I find that tracking down what I eat helps in ensuring that I'm within my program. I find that 1200 calories is actually more than enough if you're on a high protein diet like I am. I usually eat a lot of white and lean meat which keep me satisfied and full for most of the day. I snack on nonfat yogurt when I get hungry between meals.

So far I've already lost 5 lbs. From when I started the diet (dukan attack phase included), and I'm sticking with the 1200 calories a day for now. I am also doimg a 30 minute exercise 5 times a week.

Good luck!

Part of my calorie deficit to lose 1 pound per week comes from subtracting 250 from my maintenance calories, to equal 1450. The other 250 of the deficit is what I burn with exercise. So I eat 1450 calories a day, but my net intake is 1200 calories.
Since I'm so short and already at a weight in the "healthy" range, I don't need many calories to maintain my weight in the first place, so quick weight loss (2 lbs per week) isn't an option for me without going under the "safe" 1200 mark, which I'd rather not do. 1 lb per week is the most I can safely do.
1200 net (after exercise) is so much better and easier than 1200 intake (without exercise), so if you're doing the latter, I suggest you bump up your calories and then burn them off with exercise. That will add an extra meal to your day, at least.

No, I cannot maintain 1200 calories a day. I look at this as a way of life. Eating healthier and exercising. I am perfectly happy losing 1/2 pounds a week. That's 26 pounds a year.

I'm at about 1240 calories, more like 1540 since I am breastfeeding and replacing my lost calories from that. I don;t beat myself up if I go over. I am not going to completely cut out the foods I love (chocolate and chips) I just need to be more sensible on how much of it I eat.
I am set to lose 1lb a week but I don't mind 0.5 lbs, it's just fine by me.

It sounds like many are confused over BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) and maintenance calories and goal calories.

MFP along with other sites pretty much use the same formulas based on studies that estimate BMR based on the few factors that generally affect it.

MFP uses that and your choice of normal activity level to come up with maintenance calories figure.

MFP then takes into account what you want to do for loss. Also taking into account some minimums, to make Goal calories.

So several places these figures can be messed up.

BMR - you may not fit nicely in the bell curve.
You may have starved your metabolism much lower, such that MFP overestimates your BMR. It would be best in this case to get your BMR up, not lower MFP goals. Hence the reason many find eating more helps to start losing at all or more.
You BMR may just be higher or lower based on amount of muscle you actually have and rate it's working. Noticed by fact that you just aren't hungry or you are always hungry, based on hitting goal calories. This would be separate from messing up BMR with low calorie diet.

Then maintenance calories can be off for several reasons.
BMR is foundation of this, and is is way off.
Your selection of activity level was not correct, so the estimates are off. Or fact there is only 4 activity levels, and you are actually at one end of the range. This is where many like the BodyBugg/BodyMedia/FitBit, making this selection of activity level more accurate. But those units do NOT calculate BMR or even exercise calories that accurately at all.

Then the amount of exercise calories to eat back (remember deficit is already built into goal calories, usually off maintenance calories) could be way off.
You use the tables on MFP or other sites which usually make some concessions for averages if your effort (heart rate) is not used. So your weight, age, pace found in the avg's table may not be your actual level of effort.
You may initially be out of shape and therefore spending more energy than tables show to produce the effort.
You may get very fit and they now overestimate your level of effort and calorie burn.
Your HRM may not be accurate because it didn't ask for enough info to use good calorie burn tables, but averages just as bad as a machine or website tables.

There is so many places for inaccuracies to fit into place.

Obviously extreme lows or highs aren't going to be beneficial, but it's usually noticeable.

You can't give MFP another BMR figure for it to use. You can only change your goals, and therefore your maintenance calories.

So if under Dr's care and they did a BMR test on you, or feel they have a more accurate figure based on something, then the difference between that and calculated BMR on the site can be subtracted/added to your goal calories. Which if under Dr's care they probably gave you already.

Try to more correctly get those maintenance calories. If the next level in activity level makes too many calories, but the level you selected is too low, take the difference off maintenance calories.

Try to get those exercise calories more accurate. Get a HRM for cardio (not useful for anything that is under about 90 bpm) that needs input of age, weight, gender, more accurate if you can input your own resting and max HR's.

Eat those exercise calories back at a useful time. Most studies have shown for strength training, high protein within 20 min is most useful. For cardio decent carbs/protein within 30 min. You already have a deficit built into your goal calories, don't mess with that or you will probably cause your BMR to go down to compensate for lack of energy being taken in.

I do some kind of work out every day, even if it's just the wii. Feel free to add me and check out my diaries.