1,200 calories = STARVING CINDY!

How much do you weight and what is your goal? How many calories are you trying to lose? Perhaps you can adjust things so that you have more calories. Yes, it might slow your weight loss, but if you are hungry, then you may be too low already.

I'm 5'4" and weigh 131 - trying to get back down to the 115 I was last year:/

I would say you are not eating enough. Your BMR is 1325. That means you need 1,325 calories a day just to keep your body functioning, even if you laid in bed all day.

Take your BMR x whatever one of these fits your activity level to get your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure)

* Sedentary (e.g., you do no exercising and have a desk job) = 1.2
* Lightly active (e.g., you participate in light exercise or sports 1 to 3 times per week) = 1.375
* Moderately active (e.g., you participate in moderate exercise or sports 3 to 5 times per week) = 1.55
* Very active (e.g., you train hard 6 to 7 per week in exercise and/or sports) = 1.725
* Extremely Active (e.g., you exercise or play sports hard everyday & have physical job or 2X day training, i.e. marathon, contest etc.)

I find doing that and subtracting from it gives me a much better calorie count to strive for that what MFP calculates. For example, I'm 5'5, 123lbs and 33 years old. My BMR is 1340. I work out hard 6-7x per week, so I multiply my BMR x 1.725 for a TDEE of 2311. That would be maintenance calories for my weight. I'm trying to lose still, so I subtract out 500 per day giving me 1800 calories a day and I can still lose about 1lb per week. I recently switched to this and am MUCH happier (i.e. not starving on the 1200 calories I was trying to live off before) and still losing.

How did you come up with 1325?

I used this site to calculate BMR.

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

I believe it to be accurate. I just had my body composition done at a health center and they told me my BMR was 1337 - that website calculated mine at 1340.

Ditto on the TDEE way ) I calculated my BMR at 1400 per mfp and calculated it by the lightly active beacuse I have a busy job where i'm up most of the day (didnt count exercise since i;m using MFP and it accounts for that, tells me to eat those cals back) so that got me to 1975 so minus 500 (for the 500 cals less a day = 3500 cals less a week = 1 lb loss a week theory) which brought me to 1475. working so far! Plus it's nice to eat more, i'm not hungry all the time and even have room for "cheats" aka sugar free desserts, things I can't live without even though they're empty calories.. hey, they make me happy!

Also I went a stop farther and went to http://www.dietitian.com/calcbody.php it's got a super comprehensive "healthy body calculator" and that's what I used to change my goals for carbs, fat, protein etc (all macro nutrients). It told me different than what MFP had me set at (or example it said 64g sugar where MFP said 30... which is impossible for most becuase of natural sugars. 64's reasonable! I dont have sugary treats either). So i highly recommend the Tdee AND going to the site I said to figure out where your macronutrients should be at. No one's made to be on 1200 a day, i promise!

The biggest piece of advice I have is to limit your breads, pastas, cereals and most grains (except oatmeal). Even if they're whole grain, they're high calorie relative to the amount they fill you up. I'm a bread-aholic but I try to only have that type of thing once a day. Sadface.

I'm 5'4" too. I really find the 1200 to be more than I need, though sometimes if I plan my calories wrong, I have a bit of a rush to finish the day under-calorie. This is what I do (and feel free to check my food diary for recommendations, I realize there are a couple treats in there but you know, I usually manage to fit them in). I didn't particularly try to keep it under the limit from Christmas to New Years, but since then, I've only had one day I've had to hop on the treadmill to keep under my limit. I tend to disagree with people who say if you're hungry, it means you're not eating enough, your body just needs to adjust to the new calorie level and learn to not be hungry with that much. Certainly everyone's body is different, but I wouldn't immediately start eating more just because I was feeling hungry. It's also a bit to do with how you plan your calories.

My basic strategy is to make sure I get some protein in every meal to keep me full, along with fleshing it out volume wise with low calorie vegetables (spinach is great, broccoli is great, they've been my staples but there are a lot of them). You can also find really low calorie breads and things (La Favorita low carb high fiber tortillas are great, and only about 50 calories per small tortilla). I've decided to only eat that type of thing once a day, though. They do improve breakfast, so I keep them there. I also advocate limiting (and usually do, it's been my big holiday season splurge) sweetened beverages, lots of herb teas, green tea, and even coffee can taste good without added calories, so if I'm really wanting to eat something or drink something, or am hungry, I go for that instead. If I'm still hungry, I consider going and finding something to nibble on. Green tea with lemon is a good friend of mine!

So I'd say a relatively normal/ideal day would be:

Breakfast: A wrap on one of those tortillas with an egg (either hard boiled or cooked on the stove with just a spray of Pam, enough to keep it from sticking without adding to the calories, and some salsa, or perhaps spinach or broccoli (or any combination of the above!). You can either add those things later, or cook the egg in them. There's a lot of variety of things you can do with that so you don't get bored. Otherwise sometimes I'll have leftovers from the night before if it's protein packed and healthy. I combine this with a big (probably two cup equivalent) cup of green tea with lemon (which really fleshes that out into a good morning meal).

Lunch: Lunch is where I'm a little iffy but same basic principle based on what's around. I've boiled some eggs to put one on a spinach salad for lunch tomorrow, or perhaps I'll just have some turkey breast and vegetables.

Snacks: Occasionally I will feel hungry, but usually this isn't anything 50 or so calories can't cure. A little yogurt, a little cottage cheese. Again, any vegetables really. Lettuce and cottage cheese work really well together for a low calorie, high protein snack (or lunch for that matter). Olives are great because they're so flavor packed you can eat very few and still feel satisfied. Lots of that kind of stuff.

Dinner: By dinner I'm sometimes iffy on my calorie count, so I play it by ear. If I'm really low, I just put some low cal vegetables in the microwave, or steamer, or on the stove (or in the oven, haven't gotten to that one yet but I really should), with some seasonings, and a piece of lean protein (a little turkey, a piece of steamed fish, tofu), and some hot sauce (I kid, I put hot sauce any meal of the day).

I guess that's a rather long answer but I'll sum it up like this: Reduce the grains, low calorie vegetables and (mainly lean) proteins for meals, more water (or teas! They're more satisfying as well). Small snacks. Increase the taste of everything with low calorie condiments, it makes it feel more filling.

I'm supposed to eat 1500 calories a day, and I'm near 1200 most days, and I'm not starving. Protein is key for me.

I'm on Jorge Cruise Belly Fat Cure. I average between 1200 and 1400 ACTUAL calories eaten, and can honestly say I am rarely hungry. Got it at the library. Highly recommended!

bump

you probably put your goal at 2 lbs per week. and that's pretty extreme (as i've found out). At first i put 2 per week, lost more than that because i was underestimating the amount i was burning through the day. i've dropped it back to 1 pound per week and the calorie goal is MUCH easier to manage.

also, DRINK MORE WATER!!! it fills you up and keeps you from snacking when you don't need to!

I eat lots of veggies and soy meats, so I get to eat more food for my calories versus small portions of high caloric, processed foods. Are you drinking enough fluids?

I'm *definitely* not drinking enough. Like my mother, I'm a camel - I almost never feel thirsty and have to force myself to drink. Oh, and did I mention I *hate* water??

A lot of people actually confuse hunger signals for thirst signals. Many times your body is actually thirsty and you could be mistaken and want to eat instead. Increase your fluid intake and see if that helps.

Girl just eat more! I eat close to 2000 calories/day (with or without exercise) and I have surpassed my goal weight.

I honestly canNOT eat 1200 calories a day, no matter what kind of calories they are, without willfully suffering or feeling starving. I've done it. I know that I'll lose weight, but I'm just asking for a binge at some point if I do that.

I've come to terms with slower weight loss and more exercise. I used to eat around 1200 calories a day or do absolutely no carbs, and I was miserable doing both (although I saw results, obviously). Now I aim to eat 1500-2000 calories a day and burn anywhere from 500-1000 calories per day. I've noticed that the weight doesn't come off as quickly, but at least I can enjoy my life in the meantime

Turn away from the animal kingdom and embrace the produce section. Veggies are SO low in calories. You can eat as much as you need to feel full and still stay within your bounds.