who eats 1200 cals, add me

I'm eating 1300 for now. I am sure it will go down to 1200 once I shed about 10lbs. MFP recommended 1200, but I adjusted my calories to my BMR and try not to eat back my exercise calories. How tall are you and how much do you weigh? Have you calculated your BMR?

I try to stick to 1200 but I am not completely fixed to it and if I creep up to between 1300-1500 I am not too bothered.

i am actually only eating around 1200 (give or take 100) kcal. And that's only because I'm 4'11. If you really want to stick to 1200, feel free to add me I lost a lot of weight before but i went slack with my diet and gained weight so im starting my diet again.

There's so many things wrong with only eating 1200 kCals per day. You'll find that out yourself though.

I have a daily limit set by my personal trainer and dietician at 1200 cals per day, so far this has worked for me for the goals that I am trying to achieve.

Some people my find that 1200 is "wrong" or doesnt work for them, however each person is different and I feel that your comment isn't particulary useful until you fully understand peoples situations and goals. Not having a go, just highlighting that whilst 1200 might have so many things wrong with it for you, it certainly doesnt have anything wrong with it for me.

I appreciate you taking the tie to write but I think it would be ok for a few weeks just to give me a kick start

The only thing you will achieve by having such a big deficit is an even bigger yo-yo effect.
If it takes people weeks and months to gain weight, what makes people believe it doesn't take weeks and months to lose said weight?

What do you suggest? That is the calorie allowance MFP has put me on. I am 51 and 5'2" currently weighing 186.6 lbs., looking to achieve a weight of 135. Advice would be helpful. Tell me why it's wrong, please.

I can't suggest anything without knowing how much you really need per day. Fill out whatever MFP asks for and cut 500 kCal AT MOST. Personally I didn't reduce my intake on calories every day for the same amount. Sometimes it would be only 100, sometimes even 600 less. Heck, there's even days when I had +100 kCal.

Just try to understand what goals you're setting for yourself. If you lose 450 kCal every day, that is 900 kCal every second day.
1g of fat has 9kCal, thus 900 kCal are 100g of fat, so basically you are losing 100g of pure fat every second day. Note that this is only theoretically, in reality there's more factors to be considered, but just try to understand how your body works.
So if you want to lose 10 kg of body fat, you would have to lose 90.000 kCal, that's all you have to do. With a deficit of 450 per day, it would take you 200 days.

Again, note that this is theory. It can take longer or shorter.

Now, why is 1200 kCal per day bad? Assuming you need 2000 per day (I don't know if this is true for you), you would go for a minus of 800 calories, that's way too much, your body will switch to starvation mode (I'm not familiar with the English terms, hope you know what I'm trying to tell you) and once you go back to your regular calorie intake you will gain fat abnormally fast.

I highly recommend consulting with a registered dietitian if at all possible. Check your local hospital, there is generally a weight management clinic where you can consult with one for a very reasonable price. The RD will perform as accurate a body composition analysis as you can find outside of a hydro-static chamber which is the best starting point for determining your actual BMR. The RD will also help you with macro-nutrient ratios and making sensible, maintainable, HEALTHY dietary changes.

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This works very well.
;D

littlecesar - your same height and weight as me with same amount to lose x

What part of her post did some of you NOT understand? 1200 is perfectly safe, especially if she's not doing any serious weight training. When you're eating healthy, nutrient-dense foods, there is absolutely nothing wrong with 1200 calories a day. Enough with the fear mongering.

Totally agree!

There's so many things wrong with only eating 1200 kCals per day. You'll find that out yourself though.

You just couldn't resist it could you.

There is NOTHING wrong with eating 1200 per day, I did and did it for six and a half months too right up to reaching goal weight, thanks very much. I never plateaued, never stalled and was NEVER hungry.

Now then, back to the OP:

OP although I am now at goal weight and have upped my calories for maintenance which means that ALL past entries now have my totals as over 1500 calories per day (unfortuately when it was changed it changes all past entries to the new total) - I was on 1200 per day during my weightloss, you are welcome to add me if you wish.

I have set 1200 as my target each day and so far it hasn't been bad. Went over one day by 60 cals. I was tol I'm pre-diabetic and Dr. told me to lose 10# by Sept or I have to go on meds. I'm doing everything i can to prevent the meds. I'm down 6# in two weeks. Dr. wants me to lose a total of 60# so I have a long road ahead of me. I've been wanting to drop some weight, the pre-diabetic thing has for sure jump started me!!!

I have a daily limit set by my personal trainer and dietician at 1200 cals per day, so far this has worked for me for the goals that I am trying to achieve.

Some people my find that 1200 is "wrong" or doesnt work for them, however each person is different and I feel that your comment isn't particulary useful until you fully understand peoples situations and goals. Not having a go, just highlighting that whilst 1200 might have so many things wrong with it for you, it certainly doesnt have anything wrong with it for me.

I'll be honest with you, I don't give half a **** about any personal trainer's opinion, not even if it was my own mother. It's 2012, there's free information everywhere for everyone. Paying for a diet/workout plan is close to the most ridiculous thing you can do nowadays. It just tells me you're too lazy to think for yourself and want a big red button to click that reads "Lose weight". That's not how reality works. You will never know why it worked or more importantly why it didn't work. Any mistake you may have made won't be obvious to you.

1200 is wrong for almost everyone, most likely you too.
Let's just pretend you really only need some 1500/1600 calories per day. Aren't you working out at all, no cardio, no weightlifting? You will have to increase the amount of calories you eat to be on par with the energy you use up. Unless you're 11 years old I don't think 1200 calories per day is the way to go and judging from your picture you're a little older than that and if you're here to lose weight you most likely aren't underweight, which again would only speak against your plan of 1200 calories per day.

Rephrase it is not wrong for almost everyone at all. I never used to eat my exercise calories back either except 50 to 100 calories per day. You see putting everybody in tiny little boxes is wrong for almost everyone, most likely you too.

btw I reached my goal on 1200 per day many weeks back and have not piled back the weight.

I have a daily limit set by my personal trainer and dietician at 1200 cals per day, so far this has worked for me for the goals that I am trying to achieve.

Some people my find that 1200 is "wrong" or doesnt work for them, however each person is different and I feel that your comment isn't particulary useful until you fully understand peoples situations and goals. Not having a go, just highlighting that whilst 1200 might have so many things wrong with it for you, it certainly doesnt have anything wrong with it for me.

I'll be honest with you, I don't give half a **** about any personal trainer's opinion, not even if it was my own mother. It's 2012, there's free information everywhere for everyone. Paying for a diet/workout plan is close to the most ridiculous thing you can do nowadays. It just tells me you're too lazy to think for yourself and want a big red button to click that reads "Lose weight". That's not how reality works. You will never know why it worked or more importantly why it didn't work. Any mistake you may have made won't be obvious to you.

1200 is wrong for almost everyone, most likely you too.
Let's just pretend you really only need some 1500/1600 calories per day. Aren't you working out at all, no cardio, no weightlifting? You will have to increase the amount of calories you eat to be on par with the energy you use up. Unless you're 11 years old I don't think 1200 calories per day is the way to go and judging from your picture you're a little older than that and if you're here to lose weight you most likely aren't underweight, which again would only speak against your plan of 1200 calories per day.

First of all. Rude.

Secondly. Did i mention anywhere that I do not eat back any of my exercise calories if I'm working out that day? Because I do. 1200 is my base number to start from. Like today I burned around 400 cals so I will eat around 1500/1600 cals today, but tomorrow if I dont train I will eat 1200.

Not that I should defend my decision to hire professionals to anyone, however I was training for an endurance event (Kilimanjaro and now I am training for an Everest trek) and I have no knowledge of the types of training required for this. I hired my PT based on a number of meetings with him, checking his credentials and also his reputation. I have a dietician as I wanted to ensure I was eating the right things for my body based on my past hisotry of illness/problems, however I appreciate that some people here are the font of all knowledge in such subjects and to them I give my upmost respect. I know nothing of nutrition and indeed had a limited training knowledge when I hired my PT, I think being educted is better than getting injured,

I really think that if you have nothing positive to say or supportive, in a supportive tone then you should just not post on such subjects. My situation is different from yours and I respect that, be an adult and respect my situation.