is 1200 calories a day too little?

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workoutgirl23
workoutgirl23 Posts: 267
in Health and Weight Loss
I need to know how many calories to eat every day. i'm confused about how much i should be eating. currently i have been trying to eat 1800 calories a day. but i want to lose weight faster, so i'm thinking i need to decrease my calorie count. but 1200 calories a day seems so little to only eat? i already feel like i'm starving all day and feel like fainting eating 1800. imagine me on 1200 lol. i changed my calorie goal to 1500 now, hoping that might be good. i dunno. what do you think. how many calories do you eat a day? I also work out 5 times a week at the gym, work part time and take care of kids during the day. i need my energy as well.

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  • Kennkaru
    Kennkaru Posts: 210 Member
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    My best advice is to ignore what MFP suggests and instead find this figure:
    Your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate)- how many calories your body burns on a daily basis at rest (and the calories your body needs for proper muscle, cardiovascular, and brain function). There are lots of online tools you can use to find this number, but you can estimate it by taking your weight x10.

    You should be eating close to this number in order to lose in a healthy way.

    My BMR is 1800, so I aim for that number daily. Sometimes I fall a little short- other days I go over. As long as it averages out, you're going to lose in a healthy way. If you are adding exercise to your routine, I would recommend eating back half of your exercise calories.

    If you eat way under your BMR long-term, your weight loss is likely to stall and you'll probably feel like crap.
  • Lozze
    Lozze Posts: 1,917 Member
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    So your current calorie intake is not enough for you to live your life and you're decreasing it? To be blunt that is stupid. You are a mother and NEED to look after yourself for your children. Is getting to a certain number on the scale (potentially) a couple of weeks earlier worth risking your health and your ability to look after your kids?

    What is your height? How long have you been doing this for?
  • chrisb75
    chrisb75 Posts: 395 Member
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    My best advice is to ignore what MFP suggests and instead find this figure:
    Your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate)- how many calories your body burns on a daily basis at rest (and the calories your body needs for proper muscle, cardiovascular, and brain function). There are lots of online tools you can use to find this number, but you can estimate it by taking your weight x10.

    You should be eating close to this number in order to lose in a healthy way.

    My BMR is 1800, so I aim for that number daily. Sometimes I fall a little short- other days I go over. As long as it averages out, you're going to lose in a healthy way. If you are adding exercise to your routine, I would recommend eating back half of your exercise calories.

    If you eat way under your BMR long-term, your weight loss is likely to stall and you'll probably feel like crap.

    This is close but not quite correct. You need to compute one more number once you know your BMR, and that is your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure), use the tools at fat2fitradio.com/tools to help. Once you have this number you can figure a 15% - 20% deficit from there. Another way is to eat at your goal weigt's TDEE? This is best if you have less than 30lbs to lose. I am writing on a tablet, so i dont have the link in front of me, but you search for a thread called "If youare scared to increase your calories" i explain this a lot further
  • Yasmineh_
    Yasmineh_ Posts: 43
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    It depends. Every person is different. Like KennKaru said, you must first calculate your BMR and have a deficit of like, 500 calories. Like my BMR is 1,700, and so I have 1,200-1,400 calories every day (keeping in mind that I do NOT get hungry having 1,200 and that's without working out, if I work out, the number goes higher.)

    In my opinion, if you barely get through the day with 1,800 then it's not a smart thing to do to go down to 1,200. You will NOT lose weight faster if you're starving yourself, in fact, it'll be harder to lose weight.
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
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    I think there is some miscommunication in this thread about BMR. Your BMR , aka Basal Metabolic Rate, aka RMR or Resting Metabolic Rate is how many calories your body uses to perform basic, life sustaining functions like breathing. BMR calories are required whether you get up and have a normal day, run a marathon, or are in a coma.

    Then this number is multiplied by a coefficient, the activity coefficient, which for a sedentary person is 1.2, which takes in to account any activity beyond being in a coma. This number is known as TDEE or total daily energy expenditure. THIS is the number you cut a deficit from, not the BMR.

    My guess is that the 1800 and 1700 calories described in this thread are TDEE numbers not BMR.
  • Kennkaru
    Kennkaru Posts: 210 Member
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    I think what you mean is "this is close but not quite complete according to my method." It IS correct.
    Not everyone goes by way of their TDEE. Some choose to instead eat back their exercise calories. As long as you're creating a healthy deficit one way or another, it's effective. The TDEE can be a helpful number but isn't necessarily relevant to everyone's plan.

    And the 1800 I mentioned is my BMR. Not sure if you were talking about me or the OP. My TDEE is something like 2600.
  • _AllieCat_
    _AllieCat_ Posts: 515 Member
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    My best advice is to ignore what MFP suggests and instead find this figure:
    Your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate)- how many calories your body burns on a daily basis at rest (and the calories your body needs for proper muscle, cardiovascular, and brain function). There are lots of online tools you can use to find this number, but you can estimate it by taking your weight x10.

    You should be eating close to this number in order to lose in a healthy way.

    My BMR is 1800, so I aim for that number daily. Sometimes I fall a little short- other days I go over. As long as it averages out, you're going to lose in a healthy way. If you are adding exercise to your routine, I would recommend eating back half of your exercise calories.

    If you eat way under your BMR long-term, your weight loss is likely to stall and you'll probably feel like crap.

    What she said. ^^^^^ 1200 is very low and your body will begin to lose muscle, and not fat. I was eating 1200 for a few weeks because I was getting frustrated. I upped my calories to 1600 (a teeny bit less than my BMR) and I have hot my goal of 1 pound a week since. When I was eating less I wasn't losing anything.
  • joan41
    joan41 Posts: 170 Member
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    go to the tools section in mfp (beside of reports and community) there is a place to calculate your bmr. Although my mfp says I should eat 1200 calroeis, I try to eat what my bmr is! I think this helps keep your metabolism at a rate that your body does not think its starving. Really you shouldn't eat below your bmr, but you definetly shouldn't eat below 1200! Hope this helps!!
  • jzaz903
    jzaz903 Posts: 306 Member
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    If you're not feeling well at 1800, 1200 is going to make you feel worse.

    Edit: what are you eating that you're still starving on 1800? Try eating low-cal but filling and nutritious hings, like vegetables and lean proteins. Eating better will make you feel better.
  • jbird50
    jbird50 Posts: 5
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    My daily cal intake suggest that I only eat 1240 which is feasible for some, but with only 46g of protein.
    I advise most patients to get no less than 60g of protein a day. So I would ignore what it is telling you.
  • Talita_Marie
    Talita_Marie Posts: 1
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    Your first step should be to find out your caloric needs for a day.
    Here is a useful site to find that out.

    http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

    Once you have found that out, you want to create a deficit of your caloric intake, meaning you want to eat less calories than your daily caloric need. It is suggested to decrease between 500-1000 calories. A daily 500 caloric defecit should result in around 1 pound weight loss/per week.

    1200 calories a day is the bare MINIMUM to which a woman should decrease her calorie intake. It's not healthy to go lower than that, and I also noted that you are a mother who lives an active lifestyle. It would be sheer folly to reduce your calorie intake. You need them to function!

    Check what your Daily calorie needs, then you will know where to go from there.

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