1200 calories??

How are you all making it on 1200 calories?!

CC tells me to have 2050 a day right now...I feel like a fatty cause of it!

well CC always calculates your calories to give you a defecit, so if it gave you 2050 it means before 2050 you were eating a lot more than 2050... but as you lose more weight it'll go down too

so don't worry about it!

I only eat 1200 calories on days that I don't exercise, which is hardly ever now that it's summer

1500 Calories in Six Meals-a-Day

Cool thanks! Does your stomach "shrink" or get used to not eating as much eventually...to be able to make it on 1200 cals.

I wouldn't know - I don't eat that little. Very few people actually need to eat that little to lose weight, and lots of people who try to eat only that much find that it inhibits their weight loss instead of helping it.

If CC tells you to aim for 2050, then do it (although you can post your stats if you want someone to double check - age, height, weight, and activities). You can use that link as a guide to getting there, but assuming your target is appropriate for your size, you'll have to add in an additional 500 calories somewhere (spread it out) to reach your intake.

so if they tell you 2050, you should aim to add in 500 extra spaced out? how do you come up with that figure? i just ask cause i want to learn!! i am totally retarded when it comes to this stuff..

 also-how do i post my stats? not sure where to do that at...

thanks!

Oh, sorry I wasn't clear - so if you use the 1500 meal plan that I linked to, but you should actually be eating 2000, then you need 500 extra calories to reach that target, so you could add ~100 to 5 of the 6 meals. Does that make more sense?

To post stats, just write them out in a post:

Current weight:
Goal weight:
Height:
Age:

Activity: I'm a (fill in the blank with profession or how you spend your day - student, desk worker, dock worker, mom of 3 toddlers, etc) and I go running/biking/lift weights/beat up my little brother (blank) times per week.

ohh ok! lol now i understand

I am supposed to eat about 1460..I am only 5 foot nothing..I never make it that high and I eat all the time!!!  I usually eat 1100-1000 calories a day.  I eat three meals and snacks to make this.  I swim 3-4 days a week usually.  At first it was hard, but now my body and stomach has gotten used to it.

Original Post by babyvdog:

I am supposed to eat about 1460..I am only 5 foot nothing..I never make it that high and I eat all the time!!!  I usually eat 1100-1000 calories a day.  I eat three meals and snacks to make this.  I swim 3-4 days a week usually.  At first it was hard, but now my body and stomach has gotten used to it.

Yep - your body is getting used to it by slowing down your metabolism to adjust to eating too little, so you'll start burning less and less, and it will be harder and harder to lose weight, so you'll have to cut down on your calories even more. It's already going to be difficult for you to get enough nutrition eating less than 1200, and as you further decrease your calories you will become malnourished.

Needless to say, I don't support your plan. Here's an article that might explain a little better what I'm trying to say.

 

Calorie Count's mission is to promote healthy and sustainable weight management. Please help our moderators follow this vision and respect the following guidelines.

Promotion of starvation diets or habits that exhibit signs of an eating disorder ("pro-ana", "pro-mia", etc.) is prohibited.

I'm very short too, 5'2.  And I eat between 1000-1200 a day too because I just don't agree that we need as many calories as people of "normal height" :) when loosing weight.

I am not malnurished or starving myself, and I don't have an eating disorder.  I just make very focused decisions on what I eat everyday.  My nurtitionist and trainer do not feel like there is anything wrong with this plan.  Granted, once I hit my goal weight, then I'll consume my 1600 cals. a day to maintain.   

I also don't swim 3-4 times a week, so there's a difference there.  All I'm saying is 1200 calories is the recommended minimum, but 100-200 calories less once in a while does not constitute a "problem" or being malnurished.  As long as you feel you are getting enough food.

Great article amethyst girl.  I am not exactly like the woman in the article.  But description of low cal life with "binges" (that is any food approaching a normal caloric intake) is spot on.  Throw in some steroids to treat illness and bam one fat chick in the making.

I remember having lunch with my mom one day (she is thin by the by), and watching her clean her plate with gusto.  Meanwhile I ate 1/3 of what she had eaten and felt stuffed.  She brought up my weight (in a kind way) and all I could say to her was "but I dont over eat, I never do" and feeling so miserable I started to cry.  

Little ladies - I am 5 zip too.  I started out at 152.  After getting some understanding of the metabolic process I am now 17 lbs lighter and still losing and I am doing it on 1500 cals a day.  It took a few weeks to get the message that "less" is NOT "more" and to understand that one can be thin and eat a healthy portion of food too.  I started at 800-1000 cal a day, moved up to 1200 then 1300 and finally 1500.

What amazes me is that even at 152 lbs I was suffering some of the symptoms of anorexia: light period, (occasionaly missing altogether), thinning hair, depression, lack of energy, anxiety, bleeding gums, poor sleep, and aching joints to name a few.  All symptoms of malnutrition. 

These symptoms did not show up right away.  They slowly creep in and you think you are falling apart due to some underlying auto immune disease or thyroid problem. 

Any way, if CC says you need 1400 cals it is because you really do.  And, depending on how you precieve your activity level you might actually need more. 

What is not really eveident when you start out eating too little calories is that as your metabolism slows your body rebells against excercise.  You can be really active but if you dont get the cals in then you find yourself making more and more excuses.  You are tired and probably feel sick.  Your body is just slowly grinding to a halt.

Any way - eat your calories! 

Thanks amethyst for for your opinion.  I happen to be an ICU nurse with multiple medical resources.  I have discussed my eating plan with my MD and a dietician along with multiple other MD's and nurses I work with.  I am losing weight at a reasonable rate and eat more when I swim. 

While I appreciate your concern, I think I will continue to do what works for me and what those with multiple years of medical experience advise.

Calorie count is not the only resource to base your diet on.  Yet it does rate me and "a" on my daily analysis EVERYDAY.

I started eating at 1500 calories and after about a month, 1000-1100 feels better for me.  I choose to eat more when I need to, but as I previously stated, this is with medical supervision.

madamq - thanks for sharing your experience.

to snowgurl0 -  and it's true - you don't need as many calories as "normal height" women, as you put it. That's why you might get a recommendation of 1200, while I at 5'6" would get a recommendation closer to 1500. And that's why CC asks for your height when figuring out your calorie target.

A CC user once asked her nutritionist where the 1200 number comes from. The answer was that it was essentially the BMR of a short and small young woman. I can't remember the stats off the top of my head - something like 5'2" 100lbs? Small, regardless.

In other words - 1200 isn't the minimum for an average sized woman - it's the minimum for a very small woman.

To all your other points, I refer you to madamq's post.

I don't understand why people insist upon advocating sub-1200 calorie diets on CC when such diets are clearly against CC's mission.  The OP appeared to ask about how some people manage to eat 1200 calories per day and feel sated, not asking for people who eat less to defend themselves.  Obviously people can eat however they choose, but this site is clearly not designed to be a forum for individuals to advocate extremely low calorie diets!

To answer the original question, CC tells me to eat 1200 on days when I am sedentary, but I just zig-zag my calories instead.  That means I eat a different number of calories everyday but my weekly average is always the same (1400).  This means that some days I eat as low as 1200 and some days as high as 1700.  I don't find the 1200 days hard to manage; I usually have some sort of cereal with 1% milk and fruit for breakfast, a light lunch (a grain and/or beans, more fruit, cheese or peanut butter, maybe salad too), a dinner of something like scallops or tofu with veggies and some kind of starch, and then maybe a bowl of granola or a small piece of candy as an evening snack.

If the calorie target calculator tells you to go higher, though, then go for it!  No guilt required!!

Not eating enough is counterproductive to weight loss.  Here's what happens -

Why does the body burn muscle when it could burn fat? 

Question... I was doing okay, or so I thought until I read about "starvation mode". Why would my body consume lean muscle mass for energy when I have more than enough juicy fat morsels to feed on.  Surely, it must be different for me.

 Answer The body burns muscle to meet the needs of the central nervous system.  That system, which accounts for at least 20% of calories burned, can only burn glucose, a carbohydrate  The body doesn't really store glucose, but protein, from the muscles, organs tissues, and cells, can turn into glucose, while fat cannot.  Protein breakdown continues until the metabolic rate shifts to burn fewer calories from all sources.  That shift is familiarly called "starvation mode" and it is a life-sustaining adaptation. To forestall starvation mode, lose weight slowly, do muscle building exercise to offset muscle loss, and eat about 20% of your calories from protein.

I'm almost totally sedentary, 67 years old, 5'4" and I need 1700 calories to maintain my weight.  I lose weight on 1400 at a rate of 1/2 pound a week.  If I go below that, I stop losing until I increase my calories. 

Younger people will need a lot more calories than that, and if you are active, way more.  If I was "moderately active" I'd need 2100 to maintain.

Original Post by amethystgirl:

madamq - thanks for sharing your experience.

to snowgurl0 -  and it's true - you don't need as many calories as "normal height" women, as you put it. That's why you might get a recommendation of 1200, while I at 5'6" would get a recommendation closer to 1500. And that's why CC asks for your height when figuring out your calorie target.

A CC user once asked her nutritionist where the 1200 number comes from. The answer was that it was essentially the BMR of a short and small young woman. I can't remember the stats off the top of my head - something like 5'2" 100lbs? Small, regardless.

In other words - 1200 isn't the minimum for an average sized woman - it's the minimum for a very small woman.

To all your other points, I refer you to madamq's post.

 It's also the minimum for getting in all your nutrient requirements. 

Here is an article that states what my physician told me:

It is unclear as to whether the relationship between reduced caloric intake and a lower metabolism follows a straight path or becomes more pronounced the greater the caloric reduction. Some studies have found no significant reduction in metabolism until the caloric restriction is quite large (e.g. 800 calories or less per day).2 Others suggest a linear relationship with small reductions in metabolism accompanying small reductions in caloric restriction, with the gap increasing as the caloric deficit is enlarged.

While there is no biologic evidence to support the "starvation mode" myth, there may be behavioral reasons why weight loss stops when calories are severely reduced. Over-restriction of calorie intake, known as high dietary restraint is linked to periods of overeating, hindering successful weight loss.3 (For more information on dietary restraint, read the Science Center article, The Skill of Flexible Restraint)

Stating usually the calorie reduction is not the problem, it is the overeating that follws SEVERE restriction, like under 900 calories a day.  Such as madamq was referring to.

I do not advocate a "starvation diet", I simply choose to do what works for me and does not put me at any medical risk according to my MD.

To answer the original question, I did not gain excess weight eating 1200 calories, I ate 3 meals of mostly fast food and snacks at work, averaging 2000 calories a day, which lead to weight gain.  Now, I eat the same amount of food, if not more, but make smarter choices, using great resources like CC, which are allowing me to see the results I am looking for.