People Eating 1200 a Day

Go ahead and add me. The 1200 isn't enough for me, so I exercise and get more calories. Good Luck to you

Glad to have you on board! 1200 is torture if you're eating packaged foods. I made that mistake in the beginning. But once you learn your staple foods like 4 oz chicken breast = 120cals add pretty much any seasoning you want mrs Dash is awesome and maybe 2-5 cals. 1/2 cup of white rice is normally 120-150. With staple foods you can build awesome things and still stay in line with the 1200/day. Feel free to add me! Diary sharing on other 1200/day MFPs is how I managed to not give up the first week. Good luck!

Hmm i don't always eat 1200 (sometimes more sometimes less) but my diary is open if you would like some ideas, it's pretty borning i suppose but it works for me. :happy:

I eat closer to 1500. You can take a look at my diary if you want.

I eat normal food, just not junk food. If you drink soda all day, or eat junk, you are not going to reach your goal.
I am not a big breakfast eater, so I have a Special K granola bar only for breakfast, which is only 90 cal.
Keep snacks under 200 cal for the day - snacks include drinks!!! Drink water!
That leaves you 910 calories to split up between lunch and dinner, and you can have a good meal for that.

good snacks are - 100 cal pks. They have SunChips, White Cheddar Popcorn, and Cheetos in those, also the little 100 cal packs of cookies and whatnot. fruit is always a good snack. I'm not a big snacker, so I usually just have one or none a day, which sometimes is one pop (or Cream Soda!) or one candy bar, but then that's it for the day.

Make sure when you make your meals, you are having plenty of good veggies, most are really low in calories. You wanna have a "green" veggie with every meal, if you are having corn and potatoes with your meat, you have 2 starches and no slow carbs, and you want to have one of each

Start off with 1lb lost per week see where that puts you at.

If the calories dont change then put it to light activity lifestyle.

Then if you dont have an active lifestyle, make that happen.

I eat a lot more than 1200 but you can still get ideas from mine as it is open to all. Not a lot of ideas though cause I eat the same things a lot

Hey!
I'm 5'3 and I was 168 when I started, and started losing 1-2 pounds a week on a 1200 calorie plan with a few cardio workouts a week.
It has been going really well for me. At first, eating 1200 calories is HARD. But it's easier if, as a general rule, you don't eat food that you didn't make yourself! I only eat out 1-2 times a week.
I eat tonnnns of veggies, meats, and very few baked-type goods (bread, pasta, pastries, etc.). I eat cheese all the time because I love cheese, and it's high in protein and calcium anyway. I also drink white wine on weekends, btw, I just make sure I do a kick-a** workout on Friday nights before going out to counteract all those alcohol calories. I also eat gelato, ice cream, and dark chocolate - but the key is moderation, and to keep your other food choices healthy!

Over time you'll get used to it, you'll stop thinking about food so much, and that plate that's half salad, a chicken breast, and 1/2 a cup of brown rice will be all you need, hell, it might even be too much and make you super full.
The best thing you can do for yourself though, is to make all your own food. That way you know what's in there and you can really control what you're eating, plus keeping your sodium low (high-sodium diets = bloating = dreaded inches!!)

P.S. Seeing that scale hit 160, and knowing that the 150s were only one pound away, was 1,000,000 x MORE AMAZING than any reese's cup, bowl of kraft dinner, or late night poutine has EVER tasted. Just seeing the number go down will be all the motivation you need - just stick with 1200 calories for two weeks and you will be way more motivated!

Feel free to add me, and you can check out my food diary as well

stfuriada is right on.

There are people here (myself included) who will recommend increasing your intake, at least a little bit, as 1200 is the lowest you should go, and that's not always healthy. However, whether you're eating 1200 or 1400 or whatever, you'll get the most bang for your caloric buck if you stick to more whole foods instead of pre-packaged ones. Fruits and vegetables, lean meats, fresh salads, etc. Eating more whole foods will also decrease your sodium intake (unless you load your food with salt), which is also healthier for most people. And you can tailor the flavor to suit your tastes just by adding spices. Homemade salad dressing is easy to make, delicious, and much lower in sugar and calories than store-bought.

DITTO, you will be amazed how much you eat when you add lots of veggies, and fresh food.

Good Luck on your ultimate goals.

You can add me, my diary is open and I am at 1250 a day.

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I eat a ton of food and stay at 1200, you just have to pick the right types of foods. And making generalizations about everyone's metabolism isn't the best idea.[/quote]

I totally agree - I've been on 1200 and have lost 22 pounds. My diary is open to friends, so feel free to add me

My beachbody coach increased my calories from 1200 to 1500 and changed my macros and that broke a year plateau. I'm working on cleaning up my diet, so that said, you can add me and look at my diary. I live in Texas and can't refuse a bowl of good salsa and chips. Also during the summer I over indulge on the adult beverages. That said, the scale keeps moving down. I'm also within 5 lbs of my ideal weight now.

is ur diary accurate!? are u eating soup and lasagna for breakfast, next to nothing for lunch, breakfast foods for dinner, and full meals as snacks?!

I eat clean, and eat approx 1200/day...never over 1500. It is a struggle to make it though! The more processed your foods, the more calories in my experience.

Cook up some turkey burgers, chicken, fish, veggies...all in 4 oz meat portions, I don't measure my veggies though - they hardly have any calories, so even if I'm off a little it's not really going to matter. You'll be surprised how much you can eat! I eat 6 meals a day and sometimes have to push to get to 1200...

Some of my favorite healthy low cal tricks:

Baking skinless boneless chicken in broth, covered. Keeps it super moist. Then I dip in soy and sesame seeds while eating.

Pan-fried zucchini. I hate hate hate veggies, but this works. Chop up a zucchini, 2 tbsp olive oil in a pan, season zucchini with garlic salt.

Fish fish fish fish

I love fruit so I eat apples pretty regularly (80 cals) and they fill me up for a bit.

Cherry/grape tomatoes, cucumber salads, etc, are also nice low cal treats.

I like to pan fry pork loin plain as well. Pork loin has a lot of flavor and isn't too much higher cal than chicken.