1250 calories?

I don’t think 1250 calories is bad. My goal is 1200 cal. I have only been doing this for five days. I have been cutting back on the unhealthy snacking and cutting my portions down because I am a BIG eater...I don’t eat often but when I do eat, I eat a lot! Of course I have my spells when I get hungry but that's when I eat one of my 100 cal snacks, fruits or veggies instead of a bag of potato chips. But for the most part I feel like I can still eat, now there are other diets like the HCG diet that tells you to only consume 500 calories a day! So I don’t believe what we're doing is too bad.

Sounds like everyone is too focused on the number of calories rather than where the calories are coming from. I think if you eat good healthy food 1200-1500 is safe and healthy.

Yes I agree we do eat too much and too much of the wrong stuff.

The point I was making is its not good to say "Great job guys!" for dieting incorrectly.

Your basal metabolic needs are primary in a diet.
99% of the people starting out on MFP dont understand that and thats why you see so many posts about "Eating back calories" and "im at 1200 and not losing any weight!"

These people are not meeting basic basal metabolic needs.
They are uneducated in proper dietary principals!
Most doctors get this wrong too!
These are individuals who got to school for 8+ years and still fail to give good dietary advice!.

So again i'll make my point.

You have a basal metabolic need.
It covers your vital organs.
Average people who work out 3-5 times a week if eating at the basal metabolic level will fail at dieting.
They will initially lose weight.
20-50% of this weight is lean mass.
In essence they are shrinking their overall weight and size with little change to body fat and composition.

Your willingness to applaud people who diet incorrectly is where you are meeting with most of this resistance.
If you could accept the fact that if you dont meet your bodies basic basal metabolic needs, the amount of nutrients needed for vital organs to have proper nutrients daily while bedridden or comatose, you are painting yourself as a fool.
The more you defend this, the more foolish you look!

For instance my BMR is 1489 as dictated by my lean mass, age and height.
If I ate at 1200 calories I would lose appx 2lbs a week.
20-50% of that would be lean mass and I would slip into the skinny fat category.
Over time my hormones would go out of whack.
Cortisol levels will rise, leptin levels will drop, ghrelin levels will rise.
Cortisol will allow the body to slow itself down by targeting active tissue.
Just so we are clear this is lean tissue and can include skeletal tissue as well as the heart.
Are you still applauding the 1200 peeps?
Leptin levels drop and the body panics and decides to hang onto as much fat as possible.
Its not getting energy from food so its getting energy from fat.
90% of the numbers I have run for people on this site, i've only come across 1 person who had a BMR lower than 1200.
She was grossly underweight by 20lbs and had a severe eating disorder.
She couldnt have kids and was never hungry because her hormones were screwed from binge eating and purging.

Bravo on the 1200 cal diet gang!!!

Watboy, would you drive an old car 200 miles with 1/8th tank of gas?
Thats how these people are living their lives.

Sounds like everyone is too focused on the number of calories rather than where the calories are coming from. I think if you eat good healthy food 1200-1500 is safe and healthy.

Yes I agree we do eat too much and too much of the wrong stuff.

I hate it when people say 1200 is not sustainable, yes it is, we eat wayyyyy too much food, that's why we're fat!

It most certainly is. Look at my food diary.. I eat roughly 1200 calories, but I'm actually eating a hell of a lot more than I was when I was shoving junk down my throat.

I went from approx. 230 to 135 by following a 1200 calorie diet along with exercising most days. I was in no way starving... I was just filling myself with healthy food.

If you are eating healthy food then 1200 calories is just fine. Just don't fill your allowed calories with junk, otherwise you will be starving.

I'm only 4ft 11, I'm a prime candidate for the 1200 calorie diet, and I did follow it for a few weeks, but I stopped losing, I felt lightheaded etc

I wish someone had explained BMR and TDEE to me right at the beginning, because lets be honest, why would you only eat 1200 when you can actually lose fat at 1600? I've lost more inches of fat in three weeks on 1600, then I did after 2 months of 1200.

I think these threads are good for educating people, but there are always going to be others who think the number on the scale is more important than the ratio of fat to lean mass, and as long as they are losing weight they don't care what it is made up of.

Even if this thread helps just a few people to realise that there is another option then that is good.

I won't ever criticise anyone for eating 1200, as that is their choice, and some of my MFP pals struggle to make 1200
I just prefer people to make that choice after acquiring some knowledge rather than just accepting it must be right because that is what MFP told them.

This is the amount mfp has calculated I should eat .. I am 170 lb 5'6" 36 yrs old female .. this seems like too few calories

I have 1100 cal a day. I am a vegetarian and love eating whole fruit and veg so I can actually have decent sized meals with this amount of calories, also I don't mind going over a little.
I fell off the MFP wagon for AGES and didn't lose weight, but I wasn't eating a whole lot more in volume than what I am now anyway.
Use your calories wisely and it won't be so hard.