Confused About 1200 Calories

Hello all and I wish you well!  I'm very, very confused about limiting my daily calorie intake at 1200 calories. CC+ states that is the amount of calories I need daily, in order to lose 1 pound of weight per week. I'm starving like you would not believe!!  Then I can't stand it and "indulge" at the end of the day which of course sends my calories way up. CC+ posters all mention the fact that the minimum calorie intake of 1200 calories is for a slightly built woman. Is this true?  I would appreciate any advice on this subject. 

Stats: age: 50 / height: 5' 8" / weight: 195 (lost 80) / build: large / activity level: sedentary, except on days I ride recumbent bike for 45-60 minutes and lifting weights (3 - 4  days a week.) 

Am I taking in too few calories and if yes, why would CC state 1200?  

I'm guessing that when you asked for a calorie target, you told the tool you are sedentary. Well, if you are exercising, you are NOT sedentary. I realize the rest of the time you are, but that hour a day counts. Especially with the weight training (go you!)

Try www.phord.com/cc for a calorie tool with easier to decipher activity levels.

 

Oh, and I lost 33 pounds, from 168 to 135, 5'6", 27 years old... eating 1450-1650, more on the weekends. So you should defnitely be eating more.

edit to make link clickable.

I understand what you are saying about 1200 calories. I am 26 years old, 5'6, 155lbs (almost your old-weight CC twin, amethystgirl!) - CC also says I should aim for 1200 calories and I can do that all day... up until about 7:00 after dinner - my tummy's grumbling and I end up over-eating probably another 500-600 calories before the night is up!! I'm thinking that if amethystgirl got to 135 (my goal weight) eating around 1500, maybe that is a better calorie goal. I don't know why CC says 1200.

PS - amethystgirl, how long did it take you to lose that weight? That's great!!

July 07 to May 08. Feel free to check out my bio.

It was slow going at times, but I've been maintaining for 8 months so I'm glad that it went as slow as it did - otherwise, I'm sure I'd be yoyoing, and I don't think I could handle that.

Are you sure that cc recommends 1200 calories for you per day?  when I enter your information into the calorie intake estimator it says 2300 calories to maintain on a moderate activity level.  By my calculation your nearly negative 1000 calories at the end of the day not including additional exercise.

I strongly encourage avoiding low calorie intake.  My girl friend has continued a long ongoing mental conclusion that less food = more weight loss and she doesnt understand why her body will not let he lose any more weight.  She joind weight watchers for about a year and lost 12lbs initialy but has lost none for nearly 8 months.  We calculated the calories her 22 points alowed her and found that she was only eating approx. 1100 calories a day and working out at jazzersize for an hour, 4 times a week.  CC says she needs approx. 2000 calories a day to maintain, but with the hour workout 4 days a week (approx. 500 cals) I believe while eating 2000 calories a day she should see a 1lb weight lose per week.  However I believe she will gain weight for a few weeks maybe before her body believes it is no longer being starved.  By the way she does not appreacieate the term starving because at this point her body is so use such a little intake that she isnt hungry any more.  I explained that starving is not necessarily feeling but a process, her body is being starved.  I just hope that she and all the others out there with the typical missconception of less is more will do the research and treat their body correctly and lose weight in a healthy manner.  Its not what you eat but how much, I believe in moderation, it gives hope for the future for those who achieve their goals and continue to maintain.

Currently I myself am in the process of losing weight and I must addmit initially I cut too many calories and my body told me so I found this website and became a member and I am now on a 2200 calorie a day diet with a hour a day of running and weight lifting and now I'm seeing results.  I am currently 190lbs and would like to see 170lbs before May.

PS- If it wasnt hard it wouldnt make you better, keep it up!

I really don't think you should be at 1200.  Perhaps your goal date is a bit aggressive so it's trying to give you a larger deficit than the standard -500/day.

According to http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/ harris-benedict-equation/
Your stats would be BMR (what your base burn a day is, just living): 1587
Multiply that x 1.2 (Sedentary setting): 1904
Subtract 500 (for a 1lb/week loss): 1404

And that's not taking into account calories burned through exercise on the days you do your bike & weights.  Depending on how many calories you burn there, you could be looking at a 1550-1700 a day allowance on days you exercise. 

Are you taking in too few calories?  Eh.. debatable.  As long as you're not going under 1200 and your deficit isn't bigger than 1000/day then you're OK. 
As for why CC is recommending 1200 though, I'm really not sure.  You can go by the other site's calculations and manually adjust your daily allowance in your account settings, or you can talk to one of the mods to see if there's a setting that's off somewhere, too.

I think 1200 may be a little extreme if you exercise, I am doing 1800 calories a day somedays a little more. I exercise most days and my job is pretty labor intensive, I started my new lifestyle the day after Thanksgiving and have lost 21 lbs. I have started adding more exercis into my day at it has helped, while I am at the computer desk I sit on a stability ball and I am here for awhile, I am a full time college student online. I sit on the ball while I watch tv and then do exercises on it during commercials. Everytime i go to the bathroom at work I do 20 jumping jacks I can't even imagine what my co-workers think when I come out of the bathroom lol. I try to get in a 3-6 mile walk once or twice a week. I used to sit when I coached basketball but now I stand for the whole game. I just find little calorie burners to help. I am losing weight slowly but I know this time and this way will work because this is something I can do for the rest of my life not just a temporary fix to lose weight, those never work. You have already lost 80, how did you do that? What plan were you using? how long did it take?

Just a thought... what are you eating? If you ate 1200 calories worth of cucumber a day I doubt you'd still be hungry. If you ate 1200 calories worth of fries it probably wouldn't be enough. Perhaps look up some recommended 1200-cal diet plans, and if those are too low you can always up your intake.

And if you're trying to lose weight, there's going to be once or twice that you feel hungry and you're just going to have to ignore it. Not that you should feel starved all the time. But if the reason why you gained weight in the first place is because your stomach felt completely overstuffed after a big dinner with dessert and all, then it's natural that in losing weight your stomach growls a little sometimes.

Thanks to everyone for your responses. I really need your input. Basically, I eat brown bread (100% whole wheat), brown rice, vegetables, fruits, olive oil, peanut butter, walnuts, almonds, chicken breast, turkey breast, 97% lean hamburgers, salmon-when I can afford it, skim milk (lactose-free), yogurt, mozzarella or Monterrey jack cheeses, eggs, oatmeal (non-instant), multi-grain Cheerios, the occasional Fiber One bar, light mayo, mustard, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray, lots of water, small amount of coffee, and a once a day Diet Dr. Pepper: caffeine free. The only "starchy" veggie I eat is roasted sweet potatoes.  I use a scale to weigh my foods or I use measuring spoons/cups. I was dropping the weight fairly easy until I switched to 1200 calories a while back. Now, I've hit the wall! And my tummy doesn't just grumble, it roars! Usually while in a quiet room full of people like a waiting room. LOL  Oh, the looks I get. That's not really my concern though. I don't want to cause any further damage to my health by limiting the nutrients that my body needs. I spent years shoveling in 5,000 and 6,000 calories a day, not exercising, not caring, which gave me high blood pressure, pre-diabetes, high cholesterol and 280 lbs. to carry around. In January 08 I did a 180 degree turn around and here I am. Eating every 3 - 4 hours helps a little bit. But I wake up hungry and I go to bed hungry. Also, my energy levels are zero.

Thanks again for everyone's response. Just looking over what I wrote AND the ideas you've passed on to me have helped me decide...FORGET 1200! I'm going back up to 1500-1800, depending on my activities for the day. It's not worth going crazy over. The CC+ tools are estimates only and I will take that for what it's worth. Also, looking over my list of foods above is pitiful! It would be helpful to introduce new foods to my boring menu. Thank you again for taking the time to help me out. I'll update this in a few weeks and let you know how things turn out. (Like I'm the most popular celebrity on the red carpet and everyone is waiting in breathless anticipation of my next move!) *laughing hysterically on my way to the kitchen*