People on 1200cal/day

Here's an old post of mine from similar topic:

OK. I'm gonna give this a shot. I am an avid lifelong athlete. I have never been overweight, however, I used to eat too few calories (without knowing it), and a couple years ago, I actually GAINED weight bc of having slowed my metabolism to the point that every little extra treat I ate caused a weight gain, even though overall my calories were too low. THIS DOES HAPPEN.

It is also the reason so many fat people stay fat. They restrict their calories so low, slow their metabolisms, binge (even a little), gain weight, restrict more . . . . and so on and so on. But they are still fat.

It is also the reason most people can't lose that last 10-20 lbs. For real.

1. MFP has a deficit built in. Let's say you're trying to lose 1 lb/ week. That is a 500/day deficit from your BMR (the amount of calories your body needs to complete basic functions.

2. You exercise and burn 500 calories. Now you are at a 1000 deficit. If you eat back those 500 exercise calories, you refuel your body and you still have a 500 deficit for that 1 lb loss. If you DON'T eat back those calories, you have too little fuel. This is bad. This is too much of a deficit for basic functions. If you do this for a long time, you will STOP LOSING WEIGHT. Why? bc your metabolism will slow down -- it's like a brownout--not quite enough electricity to make the whole city (your body) run, so it has to slow down some things. You will probably start being tired a lot, your skin and hair might start to look worse, and you might even gain weight. But you might NOT be hungry -- your body is getting used to fewer calories. That's bad.


That's when you start to gain weight. Let's say you're running along, eating 1200 calories a day, and exercising 400 calories a day, so net is 800. You're losing, you think this is great. You keep doing it, but after a while you stop losing. hmmmmm. One weekend you go out to a special event and have a slice of pizza and a beer. 1 slice of pizza and 1 beer. So you ate maybe 2000 calories that day and exercised off 400, so net 1600. BOOM! You gain 3 lbs! What?!

Next, you freak out and restrict yourself down to 1000 calories a day and work out extra hard, burning 500 calories. Great, netting 500 now. You don't lose any weight, but you sure feel tired. Better get some red bull.

Are you getting the picture?

EDIT: When you work out, you need fuel. Food is fuel. If you don't eat back those exercise calories, you will not only have a big calorie deficit, you will have an ENERGY deficit. Remember, the calorie deficit for weight loss is built in when you use MFP. Exercising basically earns you more calories because you must refuel.
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There are many people who will tell you not to eat exercise calories. Before you take their advice, you might want to see whether they are at goal, have EVER been at goal, or have ever been able to maintain at goal. If anyone says to you 'THE LAST TIME I LOST WEIGHT", just stop listening right there.

Ask some athletes whether or not they replenish their bodies with food equal to the calories they burn. Ask people who are fit and have achieved and maintained a healthy weight for some years. Don't ask people who count walking across a parking lot as exercise.

Here's an interesting case study about how to stay fat while consuming only 700 calories a day. Take a moment, you'll be glad you did:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

blessings.

This is very interesting! I'm also an athlete and have been since age 14 (now 25). I've experienced the same thing. In college I discovered calories and started restricting. I initially lost about 10 pounds (although I wasn't at all overweight) and then the weight slowly came back. I'm now 135 and 5'5" and would like to lose 10 pounds again and I can't to save my life.
I think it's because I've been eating too few calories since I was 18. I usually eat about 1700 per day and exercise off about 700 for a net of 1000.
Can I ask how many you eat and what has worked for you?

Short answer: 1800-2200 calories a day including exercise calories. I am 5'4 and normally 128 lbs., bodyfat appx 19%. I'm 44 years old.

Long answer:

Right now I am on the DL with a torn MCL, just starting to rehab my knee and get some cardio back (thank God) over the last few days. My current weight is up to 130.6 because my appetite does not know that we've been injured for 4 weeks

So, right now I have my lifestyle set to sedentary and maintenance. This gives me 1520 a day base cals and it is killing me to keep it that low.

Normally, I am set to active and I manage my calories over a week to net for a 1/2 lb. loss-- I eat 6 days as if at a 1 lb. loss plus exercise calories, then have a spike day on the one day I don't work out and eat the difference (extra 1250 calories). This allows for refueling and I don't starve on my rest day. I have a big appetite.

Feel free to look at my diary. I've been a bit sloppy logging since I got hurt, but if you look back before Feb 3, you'll see my normal eating. HOWEVER, because MFP resets history to your current goals, it will look like I was under-eating back then. I wasn't. My base calories were 1280 (to allow for my convoluted spike day, where I would eat about 2500 on rest day ha) then, not 1520.

I haven't lost any weight in several months, but that being said, I reached 128 and stayed. My goal is 127, so I'm not complaining.

Hope that wasn't too confusing.