1200 calories a day?

I am 5'2 and weigh 150 pounds and on this website it suggest eating 1500 calories a day. Now I read a story somewhere on here the other day that someone with closely the same numbers as me was eating only 1200 calories a day...is that healthy?

I don't recommend eating 1200 calories a day. That's how much your body needs to survive if you do nothing but lay down still all day. If you're working out, going to school, walking around, it's probably better that you eat only 1500. Maybe even more, if you work out a lot that day. If you eat too little, your body will plateau and not lose weight.

Activity level, age, and a variety of other factors all influence what calorie range is good for any particular person. 1200 calories would be the bare minimum for anyone and if you are under 21 then you would need considerably more than that. I would go with the recommended 1500 and adjust accordingly. You don't want to go too low and cause your body to go into starvation mode, it's better to err on the side of caution and then make changes. I hope that helps.

I try to eat 1200 calories a day. More often than not, I end up eating around 1400, but with exercise totaled in, it comes out to about 1200. When I first began dieting, I cut back from eating like, maybe 1800 calories a day, down to 1200, and I lost 30 pounds in 2 months. I then plateaued for the better half of a year. So, I suggest eating more than that, at least 1500 calories.

Caloric needs all depend on stats: height, weight, age, gender and activity level. However, there are healthy minimums for various ages. An adult female, or, a female over 21, should ideally dip no lower than 1200 calories. But for a female under 21 (and at 21, obviously, as you do not just stop growing on your 21st birthday!), the minimum intake a sedentary female under 21 is 1500 per day. And believe it or not, that’s only the sedentary minimum! Unless you are very, very short and small, and if you are working out it is very likely you will need even more calories than those minimum guidelines.

CC's tools are inaccurate if you are under 21, and you should use this calculator instead: http://www.bcm.edu/cnrc/bodycomp/bmiz2.html. The extra caloric intake is needed as you are still growing. Yes, even in the later years - there's more going on inside of you that you simply can't see.

Eating too low a calorie intake, or having a deficit from your BMR greater than 1000 results in something called "survival mode", where your body holds every last thing it can get in expectance of a famine. Water, food, calories. Explained:

• Dieting & Metabolism - This article explains starvation mode and why undereating is counter productive.
• The Body Neglected - This is what happens when you undereat for an extended period of time. 
• "Obesity on 700 Calories" - A tale of starvation mode's devistating effects, and proof you don't have to be underweight to be starving.
• From Ask Mary, the segment provided by our CC nutritionist Mary Hartley: On the dangers of undereating and what it does to your body.

The physical dangers that come with undereating are numerous. You put yourself at risk of osteoporosis, of loss of fertility if you lose your period, hair loss, electrolyte problems, a weakening of the immune system, low blood pressure, blood disorders such as anemia, heart problems, and even death. The mental woes that come alongside can be just as devestating. Depression is common in undereaters, as well as distorted perceptions and problems like Body Dysmorphic Disorder. It also leads to frustrating plateaus, more often than not, and can also sometimes result in a trigger for binge eating.

As you're seemingly quite new to CC, I think you ought to read the following link: An Unofficial Calorie Count Guide to a Fad-Free 2009. It covers the basics of calorie counting, largely in how to do so safely and sensibly without resorting to drastic methods.

I hope this helps!

Ellie
Calorie Count Volunteer Moderator

thank you all very much! all of the replies were incredibly helpful and just what I needed to hear

<3