1200 cal a day people please answer this...

I eat when Im hungry. I always net 1100-1200.

I make sure my net calories are at least 1200, most days they are over a small amount like 1207 or 1209. I have been very successful with eating my excess calories back. 2 weeks ago before I started tracking my food on here I started burning 600 calories a day at the gym but I know I wasn't eating even 1,000 calories. That week I actually gained .05 of a pound and I was so mad. I came on here for help and was told I was supposed to eat my excess calories. I realized that I was only netting 600-800 calories per day. These past 2 weeks I have lost 4 pounds so far making sure my net calories do not fall below 1200. Some days I will eat 1800 calories but then I will make sure that I burn my 600 calories at the gym, making my net 1200. Sundays I don't work out and so I just make sure I don't eat as much and I will only eat 1200 that day. Good luck!!

I try to not eat back my exercise calories unless I am just starving.

Here's the backup:

http://www.fitsugar.com/Why-1200-Calories-Day-Important-When-Dieting-13080864

I try to not eat back my exercise calories unless I am just starving.

So you are suggesting I fuel my very healthy 35 year old active body with 760 calories/day. Because I think that's what you are advising based on your comment. If I did not eat back my workout cals I'd be fueling my body with 760. How is that possible?

I eat back a good chunk on my exercise calories but usually not all of them. It also varies day to day depending on when I exercise. Basically when you exercise you are taking those calories away from your body if you do not eat a decent amount after exercising you can go into starvation mode. The 1200 calories a day is already a very low number and doing less then that is not overly healthy.

I try to make sure I get my 1300 (my recommended), or close to it. If I exercise, and am still feeling hungry, I'll eat a few more- but that hasn't been often. I'm looking at a loss of 15lbs in 4 weeks, without suffering.

I make sure I eat my 1200 calories net. any exercise is not eaten back... unless im hungry! then I eat a bit more.

I know you burn off calories naturally on a daily basis, your goal page will tell you what yours is and how much you would lose if you only ate your goal calorie and didnt have additional exercise added in. mine is something like 400 extra per day.

So If I wanted to lose 2lb a week i.e. 7000 calories deficit per week (3500 = 1lb) I would need to have a deficit calorie intake of 600 each day on top of what I naturally have burned (the 400). So that means I have to eat 1200 calories goal and exercise 600 extra calories a day to lose two pound a week.

I think thats correct in how I've worked it out.. feel free to tell me otherwise, cos it can get a bit confusing!!

I try to not eat back my exercise calories unless I am just starving.

So you are suggesting I fuel my very healthy 35 year old active body with 760 calories/day. Because I think that's what you are advising based on your comment. If I did not eat back my workout cals I'd be fueling my body with 760. How is that possible?

It doesn't sound like that is what she is suggesting at all. She was saying what works for her, not what anyone else should do.

I eat all of them back most days & at least half back and/or until I feel full on larger burn days. But I'm at a higher calorie count than 1200 to begin with. I look at it as 1200 is the least amount you should net to have healthy weightloss. This already takes into account a negative amount for weightloss. Go below that & you aren't fueling your body properly. The result could be slowed down burning. Now if you were eating closer to your maintaining amount I would say don't eat them back. It is different for each person but most won't lose as much if you go that low.

I don't eat back my excess calories, generally speaking. There are days when I have over 1200 and I figure it will all come out in the wash.

For the most part, my eating is for fuel and nutrition. I have excess fat to burn. I'm no expert but what I've read about the science of weight loss is that you consume fewer calories than you burn and you lose weight. Well, I have a very sedentary lifestyle - behind a computer or sewing machine most days - and I make time to run a few times a week. My goal is to eat what I would burn through normal everyday stuff - that 1200 calories - and let anything extra I do go to burning fat. I know the rule of thumb is that you need to burn approximately 3500 calories over and above what you already burn doing daily activities in order to lose one pound of fat. Well, that is NOT going to be easy to do with a desk job and 1200 calorie diet. Especially since I don't have any idea other than general guides how many calories I actually burn.

Obviously, when I'm done losing weight and want to sustain, I'll have a different approach.

I have to eat back my calories....I would have no energy if I didnt.

my personal trainer recommends that i do not eat back my exercise calories. i try to eat 1350 calories a day regardless of whether or not i exercise and i have been losing one pound a week.

I eat back the majority of my calories. The only reason I try not to eat them all is to allow room for error in calculating excercise and calories in.

I know the rule of thumb is that you need to burn approximately 3500 calories over and above what you already burn doing daily activities in order to lose one pound of fat. Well, that is NOT going to be easy to do with a desk job and 1200 calorie diet. Especially since I don't have any idea other than general guides how many calories I actually burn.

The rule of thumb is that you need to burn approximately 500 more calories a day than you take in, on average, to lose a pound a week. From a weight loss prospective it doesn't matter whether any given calorie is burned by running or simply to keep your heart beating. You exercise - not to create a deficit (as MFP is set up) or maximize this week's weight loss - but for your health, for your looks, and to maintain a higher metabolic rate that will help you to head off a plateau and make it easier to keep the weight off.

And unless you are tiny, have set the program to maintenance, or have already messed up your metabolism by under eating, that 1200 calorie diet already includes a deficit. Exercise above and beyond your daily activities shouldn't be required for weight loss.