How do you people stay at 1200 a day??

I have a few questions.

Why are you eating only 1200 calories?
Did you enter your age, height and weight into the program?
Because it will tell you how many calories you should be eating.

I notice you wrote that you are eating RANCH dressing. For the love of God!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Check out the calories on there. And REALLY measure the amount you are using. You are probably using a ton more than you think.

A word of advice: Enter your age, weight, and height into the system and let the suystem determine how much you should be eating.
WEIGH and MEASURE everything you eat. Make better choices than RANCH dressing.
Look at my profile. I eat around 1500-1600 a day. And I eat PLENTY of snacks. And I have been decently successful.

I was like you ....how do people say they can't eat 1200 a day. Then I had a friend who is a personal trainer look at what I was eating. She said I wasn't eating enough protein. When I started eating between 59-70 grams of protein (which is my daily recommended amount) filling up on veggis and drinking all of my water I now sometimes have a hard time eating 1200 calories a day.

Also, if you have never read it pick up the book by Dr. Oz called YOU ON A DIET. It's a very easy read and helps you to understand what can help you stay full and how to eat. It really has helped me eat better. I follow that book to the T.

The idea of only eating 1200 calories makes me want to jump off a bridge. I have mine set to lose 1/2 a pound per week so that gives me a base of 1390 and then I eat back all my exercise calories (usually between 500-600 calories)

I eat roughly 1750 calories /day. Mainly Protein then fat then carbs.

Reduce your carbs and eat more lean protein. Drink lots of water/green tea. Welcome to look at my diet plan. I stay within the range and never get hungry. I could probably take the 2 meals i eat and break them down into 4. Sometimes I exceed my 1200, but not much.

I burn 900 calories every single day during my workout. And I workout 7 days per week, so I get good amount of calorie deficit.

The real question is "WHY"?
Some people - especially ladies, are small, so it's relative.
My beef are with people trying to lose more weight than is recommended and end of in one of these absurd crash diets that's doomed to fail.
I enjoy eating fabulous meals too much to join the herd of deprived, professional dieters.
All I think of are lemmings in mass rushing toward the cliff.

Find fullfilling foods that are low in calorie. I learned to replace breads with lower calorie breads, same with pastas and cheeses... Eat more fish, salads, lean meats. Nuts veggies and fruits. You can EAT SO MANY for 1200 cals. It's the choices you have to make. Choose wisely, eat proper portions.

My recommended amount is 1200 a day. It's pretty easy as long as you update your food as you go, so you can see how many calories are left. The first day I ate 840 calories of funfetti vanilla icing, but then rounded it out by eating some rice for dinner. ~GL~

You ate nothing but icing and rice all day? You got pretty much no nutrition that day... I would have eaten a healthy balanced dinner instead.

Also, MFP doesn't recommend anything. You tell it how fast you want to lose and it spits out a number.

Actually, I guess I mispoke..MY goal is 1700, set by this site, but I see lots of people who say that they stay at 1200 so I guess I was just lashing out at THAT particular number. I can't seem to stay under 1700. I eat A LOT of healthy food........but apparently not low cal enough......because I struggle with the numbers....and the scales have gone no where.....I guess exercise is the key and I have not built up to that hour of mad crazy exercise yet.....ugh......I just am doing a MILLION times better than I was BEFORE I started this and I still can't get the lbs to go anywhere....I don't know why I didn't weigh four tons when I think about how I ate before and how I ate now....if eating the way I eat now gains lbs then I truly don't know why I wasn't dead from my weight before....honestly....

Just as a hint I've found a LOT OF FOODS that i thought were 'healthy' were actually REALLY HIGH in calories, sodium, or sugar!!! They can be deceptive, for instance... Raisins... most people view those as healthy... there are something like 20g of sugar in 1oz of them!!! Read your packages... stuff can be scary high in the wrong places...

I have a few questions.

Why are you eating only 1200 calories?
Did you enter your age, height and weight into the program?
Because it will tell you how many calories you should be eating.

I notice you wrote that you are eating RANCH dressing. For the love of God!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Check out the calories on there. And REALLY measure the amount you are using. You are probably using a ton more than you think.

A word of advice: Enter your age, weight, and height into the system and let the suystem determine how much you should be eating.
WEIGH and MEASURE everything you eat. Make better choices than RANCH dressing.
Look at my profile. I eat around 1500-1600 a day. And I eat PLENTY of snacks. And I have been decently successful.

Seriously? WTH is wrong with Ranch dressing. A LOT of people eat ranch dressing. What happened to everything in moderation? You don't have to give up everything!

www.reddit.com/r/keto

I find it easy because of the ketogenic diet, and I actually have to make sure I eat enough, because of the nature of the diet, I am never hungry and when I don't eat my body just switches over to using body fat for energy...

Which is exactly what fat is for...fat IS stored energy to be used in times when we can't eat. It's diets high in sugars and carbohydrates, especially processed carbs and sugars...like breads, pasta, cereal, sodas, etc....that cause insulin spikes....and insulin is a hormone with many functions in the body, one of the primary ones being to tell our fat cells NOT to release stored fat...

So this is why many people who are on a "low fat -moderate to high carb" diet don't see any progress.....even if you eat at a caloric deficit, if you are still consuming primarily processed carbs and sugars, they don't see progress...because those foods are spiking insulin, which in turn keeps them from shedding body fat....

Even the idea of "Whole grain" being better is widely disputed and once it's in the body doesn't make much of a difference...TRUE whole grains are digested a little slower which helps minimize the effects of insulin...but still if you can handle it try to cut all processed carbs and sugars as much as you can...

Google Ketogenic diets if you can and also Paleo diets....this is what works for me anyways, as well as many other people...

I do not claim to be an expert but in my experience, and in the experience of many I know personally, this works well...good luck and feel free to message me with any specific questions!

Well. i guess i will admit. I don't really eat big meals through out the day. my breakfast usually consists of greek yogurt, or a slim fast shake or bar. and lunch is usually a granola bar, or yogurt or something. nothing very big. and for dinner its something smaller, usually a lean cuisine meal or something which is around 300 calories. i typically eat at least 1400 calories or day. every one is different. 1200 is too low for a lot of people. its all about watching what you eat. Learning to eat 1200 calories a day is challenging. but once you get used to it, its not so bad. i never used to be a diet type of person. thought i could never do it. but i've been doing really well in the past few months, and lost weight. as for being hungry all the time, if you eat small snacks through out the day, it helps with the hunger pains. and drink lots of water. your body will adjust to the diet after a couple weeks, and you won't feel as hungry.

Ha ha! Yeah, I just posted on my status the same thing. I have done the 1200 calories per day before, but it is something you have to train yourself to get use to. The way I did is was eating lots of boring foods that were very, very good for me. During the weekends I'd treat myself to something I couldn't eat all week. For instance, for Lunch and Dinner I'd have Veggies like Cauliflower and Carrots....I also would take bread out of my diet completely bread has a lot of calories! It is really hard to curve your appetite. We are so use to eating what we want. The first 3 weeks of dedication and not going of your diet will help shrink your stomach. Eat lots of Veggies, protein with very little salt in your diet and take all the bread out. I hope that helps...

I am allowed 1800 calories a day but I don't eat that many usually.

The secret for me is, I drink about 10 -12 cups of water a day. The first thing I do when I get up is drink two cups of water before breakfast. I drink 2 cups of water before a meal and I only drink water with my meals. I know I might be a little obsessed with water but it is a cheap filler and it does so much more for the body.

I also eat foods high in fiber like; oatmeal, spinach, broccoli, almonds, whole grain whole wheat products etc.
They help with managing your appetite and are lower in calories so you can eat more.

I do look at other peoples diary and wonder if they record everything or if they are serious about losing weight. If you want to succeed at this, you have to commit to making some difficult changes over time.

Generally I eat 800-1000 on a normal day, and burn 600-800 calories a day. I, personally, find it harder to eat any more than that, and it makes me physically sick to go over that. Everyone has different calorie needs, and I would never say one caloric intake is 'the best' for everyone.