1200 Calories?!

I've done 1200 for a month and lost 8 lbs. I was only hungry for the first week.

I calculated my BRM, took 500 calories from it, then burn 500 calories a day.

That equals to 7000 calories a week which equals 2 pounds.

see my other reply

Been using 1200 calories as a vague goal everyday since last June. Somedays I only eat 800 and others 1400, but I have lost 75 pounds and feel great. I eat a lot of beans, fruit, Greek Yogurt, vegetables, both raw and steamed, for snacks I have pretzels, etc. I drink a lot of iced tea, and water. I don't eat meat.

I love reading all of these posts! I wish there was a "like" button. I am on the 1200 calorie a day diet also. I am 5'6" and 163 pounds now. I usually eat oatmeal for breakfast & Subway or a Lean Cuisine for lunch. At dinner time we get creative. We've switched all of the meats that we can to turkey (turkey bacon, ground turkey, etc...) and have actually found that we like them better! We do big things for dinner with sensible ingredients and are always pleased with ourselves at how few calories it actually contained. In the past 12 days my husband has lost 14 pounds on a 1700 calorie diet and I have lost about 6 on a 1200 calorie diet. I am very excited!!

I'm 5'1" and 134.5 lbs, I eat 1200 per day. I stay well under that amount with diet and exercise....it is coming off very slowly!

1200 cals since Nov 5h 2011. Below, the weigh loss.

I think it tends to give me a higher number of calories burned for exercise than I would expect from what I have seen elsewhere. Maybe it is accounting for my weight, but I try not to eat back ALL my calories--maybe just 75 %.

Hi there.
I am on the South Beach Diet and at 1200 per day. They have a 2 week diet which gets rid of cravings and cleans your system.
For 2 weeks you eat only proteins and vegetables. No fruit. No carbs ( like bread, rice, potatoes, pasta , sugar - nothing.
You must have 3 snacks a day plus 3 meals. It is necessary for me to exercise in order to loose weight.
I do weight training 3 times a week plus the ellipitical machine for about 15 - 30 min. when I weight train and inbetween ( if I have energy) I do elliptical for about 45 - 60 min.
If you exercise you can choose to eat more to keep intake at 1200 cal or just have the extra excerise knock off more calories.
After 2 weeks you can slowly incorporate more foods.
I am never hungry if I follow their meal plan. Feel great.

In 3 days now I have lost 2 lb. I did this last year and lost about 8 lb in 2 weeks and it stayed off - until I went back to my old ways. ( love my wine).
I am determined to loose 30 lb this time. My blood pressure is high. My cholesterol is hige. Borderline sugar high. Back aches - so many things are associated with overweight. I just don't need the grief.

Take a look at the diet and perhaps you would like to try it too. It works.

i have been doing 1200 a day since mid nov and i have only lost 3 lbs the last 10 days i was eating over 1200 and i put back on 1.5, so down i go again.... it's so hard for me and i am exercising too and eating back my calories but i'm not getting anywhere...

Relate to that.
I've been on mfp for almost a year and Christmas was really a shocker. Trying to drop back to where I can maintain. But it is proving very hard to drop any at all. And I really kick myself the days I go up.:huh:

1200 calories would be the absolute bare minimum.

That would mean if you are not exercising, try to stay around 1200.

If you are exercising EAT BACK SOME if not ALL your calories. This is very important. You won't plateau as much if you do this. Working out for 1 hour or more a day and eating 1200 is just going to put you into starvation mode and/or you will be losing muscle and not fat. That is a very bad thing. It means your metaboliosm will gradually get slower and slower and you won't have much success in attaining or keeping your loss.

I went to a registered dietician. I trust her opinion over anyone elses as she has been educated in this.

As it stands I follow my dietician's advice and I haven't lost much muscle (mostly fat - i get my body fat % measured) and if I go off my meal plan like I did at Christmas, and eat my face off for 2 weeks, my gain is VERY minimal (half pound) because my metabolism is still high and I'm not in starvation mode therefore my body isn't storying any extras as fat.

That also means that maintenance won't be as hard for me as it is for those drastically undereating.

Food for thought!

I aim for 1200 calories a day, although it's rare I don't go over at least a little. I don't log on weekends (dieting on weekends is not sustainable for me, but I try to moderate my portions and be generally healthy and "careful"). I've lost 9 lbs in about 5.5 months, which is a good pace for me since I'm trying to tone and strenghen and not lose a whole bunch of weight. (5'7" 135 lbs). I eat back my exercise calories.

1200 with no serious exercise (I work in a busy kitchen 4 hours a shift, two shifts a week, which stops me being completely sedentary) i lost 20lb from Sept 12th 2011 to now.
I'm now going to the gym three times a week, sticking to 1200 with the option to eat back my calories if I get too hungry.

hi!

i can't make the 1200!! i'm always below (except saturdays) and because i work out, i'm even lower. They say that i'm in starvation mode but i'm simply not hungry for more!! is it bad that i'm not getting enough? i'm also below carbs and protein.

The app said I should eat 1200 calories a day but I changed it to 1066. I looked it up online and used a calorie calculator and it said to lose the 50 lbs in 5 months, I would need to eat that much a day! I have lost 8 lbs in 16 days!