Why do I have to eat a minimum of 1200 calories?

Welcome to the forums. This question is asked often. But I'll try to sum it up.

1000 - 1200 calories is the bare minimum a person should eat in order to not die of malnutrition. It's great that you feel you have overcome your over eating, but you should eat at the very least 1200 calories. MFP defaults to this number so that people don't sure them for getting sick or dying. If you WANT to eat less than that, then you can go change your settings manually, but I wouldn't suggest that. The only people I have seen manually set them lower are people with under eating disorders (or recovering from).

My suggestion? Before you start a possible unattainable diet full of plateaus and yo-yos and binges, consider reading up about BMR and TDEE and figure out your calorie intake from there. My BMR is 1600 roughly, and I try to NEVER eat less than that. And I usually eat my exercise calories too. And I breastfeed and eat those caloires. I am losing weight. 1200 or less is not necessary.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

Welcome to the forums. This question is asked often. But I'll try to sum it up.

1000 - 1200 calories is the bare minimum a person should eat in order to not die of malnutrition. It's great that you feel you have overcome your over eating, but you should eat at the very least 1200 calories. MFP defaults to this number so that people don't sure them for getting sick or dying. If you WANT to eat less than that, then you can go change your settings manually, but I wouldn't suggest that. The only people I have seen manually set them lower are people with under eating disorders (or recovering from).

My suggestion? Before you start a possible unattainable diet full of plateaus and yo-yos and binges, consider reading up about BMR and TDEE and figure out your calorie intake from there. My BMR is 1600 roughly, and I try to NEVER eat less than that. And I usually eat my exercise calories too. And I breastfeed and eat those caloires. I am losing weight. 1200 or less is not necessary.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

Thanks. That was very helpful. But you know, having just over come the desire to over eat, this thing I should eat more is throwing me off balance. I feel weirdly guilty eating more now...and this coming from a person who can wolf down an entire tub of ice cream is saying something.

You know, it's not about eating MORE, its about finding the right amount to keep your body healthy.
- The amount of calories you were eating previously (including those tubs of icecreams!) was probably well over 3000 a day (just a guess but lets run with that).
- The amount that your body needs to function and stay healthy and maintain your weight is probably somewhere around 2000 (that's just an average, MPF will tell you your actual number - have a look at "maintenance calories on your goal page).
- 1200 is already a big drop from 2000, why stress your body and risk not getting enough good nutrition to keep your healthy?

It takes a bit of experimenting to find the right amount of calories for your body - a good way to do it is to eat the calories MFP has recommended, plus what you burn exercising, for a month. At the end of the month - does your weight loss correlate to what MFP has predicted (assuming you have logged accuarately and have actually eaten around the recommended calorie number)?
If not, then you know you need to change things around a bit.

It takes a bit of experimenting to find the right amount of calories for your body - a good way to do it is to eat the calories MFP has recommended, plus what you burn exercising, for a month. At the end of the month - does your weight loss correlate to what MFP has predicted (assuming you have logged accuarately and have actually eaten around the recommended calorie number)?
If not, then you know you need to change things around a bit.

You have made amazing progress! Normally, I implicitly trust the "old-timers" on the site. They have all been very successful. But we have to agree to disagree. MFP is a calculator. Not sure what OP har inputted as weight loss goals in whatever time period, but I have noticed that most average people looking to lose 20 - 60 lbs say they want to lose as much as possible as fast as possible - 2 lbs a week. Then MFP gives 1200 calories. There are exceptions. But I am one of the people who live by not eating less than at least BMR.

BMR calories is what the hospital would feed you if you were in a coma so that you don't waste away to nothing. It is what they would feed you to keep you where you are. 1200 calories is the BMR of a 4 foot 100 lbs woman.

If you find your BMR, then just rolling over in bed is a caloric burn above that. Your activities of daily living is a burn above that. Exercise is a HUGE burn above that. Depending on the size of the burn, you don't want to put yourself below net 1200. It's confusing, right?

There is a group on this site called "Eat More to Weigh Less". They live by the rule to never eat below your net BMR. I'm not that brave, but I appreciate the mathematics.

No no..it actually makes a lot of sense..I understand..The way I am doing it..though I dont feel hungry, I think I eventually will. Right? So goal for tomorrow is 1200. I will eventually try and eat in accordance to my BMR but this is the first step. Its funny this transition in me..I'm only spurred on cause I am losing a bunch of weight. Crazy loss this week..I hope you understand..

OMG of course I understand! It's such a big change. Like Rubybelle said, you probably were eating excessive calories. Now you're making a change and you are learning new habits. Nothing wrong with that. Just don't be surprised when eating 1200 doesn't cause weight loss anymore.

It takes a bit of experimenting to find the right amount of calories for your body - a good way to do it is to eat the calories MFP has recommended, plus what you burn exercising, for a month. At the end of the month - does your weight loss correlate to what MFP has predicted (assuming you have logged accuarately and have actually eaten around the recommended calorie number)?
If not, then you know you need to change things around a bit.

You have made amazing progress! Normally, I implicitly trust the "old-timers" on the site. They have all been very successful. But we have to agree to disagree. MFP is a calculator. Not sure what OP har inputted as weight loss goals in whatever time period, but I have noticed that most average people looking to lose 20 - 60 lbs say they want to lose as much as possible as fast as possible - 2 lbs a week. Then MFP gives 1200 calories. There are exceptions. But I am one of the people who live by not eating less than at least BMR.

BMR calories is what the hospital would feed you if you were in a coma so that you don't waste away to nothing. It is what they would feed you to keep you where you are. 1200 calories is the BMR of a 4 foot 100 lbs woman.

If you find your BMR, then just rolling over in bed is a caloric burn above that. Your activities of daily living is a burn above that. Exercise is a HUGE burn above that. Depending on the size of the burn, you don't want to put yourself below net 1200. It's confusing, right?

There is a group on this site called "Eat More to Weigh Less". They live by the rule to never eat below your net BMR. I'm not that brave, but I appreciate the mathematics.

Yes, you're quite right that 1200 is proably too low for the OP - but in view of the fact that she is struggling to eat 1200 I didn't want to scare her away by suggesting that she change her weight loss goal to "lose 1/2 pound a week" and eat those cals plus exercise. At least if she consistently eats 1200 plus exercise she'll be better off than she is at the moment.
And thanks for the compliments, I've just ticked over 500 days logging on, so I'm happy to be classified as an old-timer

OP - great. Eat a bit more and you'll probably find that your body adapts and even demands more! And that's OK!

You want to keep your metabolism revved up - and remember that nutrition is so important! Eating less than 1200 calories is not healthy or sustainable and you should be eating additional calories based on your exercise. My fitness pal calculates that for you. Honestly, just trust and follow the plan. You NEED those 1200 calories - minimum. Good luck!

Welcome to the forums. This question is asked often. But I'll try to sum it up.

1000 - 1200 calories is the bare minimum a person should eat in order to not die of malnutrition. It's great that you feel you have overcome your over eating, but you should eat at the very least 1200 calories. MFP defaults to this number so that people don't sure them for getting sick or dying. If you WANT to eat less than that, then you can go change your settings manually, but I wouldn't suggest that. The only people I have seen manually set them lower are people with under eating disorders (or recovering from).

My suggestion? Before you start a possible unattainable diet full of plateaus and yo-yos and binges, consider reading up about BMR and TDEE and figure out your calorie intake from there. My BMR is 1600 roughly, and I try to NEVER eat less than that. And I usually eat my exercise calories too. And I breastfeed and eat those caloires. I am losing weight. 1200 or less is not necessary.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

This is just about everything you need to know.

By the way, while your body does use stored up fat for energy, there are tons of nutrients that can't be stored in the body and need to be constantly replenished. If you are eating fewer than 1200 calories, you are running the risk of not getting enough of these nutrients and damaging your health. For example, your body can't store Vitamin C, so either you get enough from diet or you get scurvy and your teeth fall out.

A lot of members have told you why you need to eat 1200 calories so I suspect you got your answer. But here's a tip that may help you stay on track. It's not always how much you eat but what you eat. Complex carbs, such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains can take more than an hour for your body to digest leaving you full longer. Keep that in mind when snacking.