Daily threshold of 1200 calories - Is my health affected?

Hi,

I'm a newbie & had a question regarding the threshold of 1200 calories per day for women.  My calorie intake is approx 1600 & the burn meter indicates that I burn 1900 calories per day for normal body functioning.  I currently burn approx an extra 500 calories in exercise each day, therefore my calorie intake after exercise is;

1600 - 500 = 1100 calories.

Question: this forum mentions that if you are a woman you shouldn't consume less than 1200 calories per day and I was wondering if this threshold is inclusive or exclusive of exercise?  For example, is the fact that my exercise takes me below the 1200 threshold an issue to my health?

Thanks

G

Nope. They recommend 1200 calories as a minimum because if you eat like a normal healthy person, the amount of food that totals 1200 cals will generally give you the right amount of minerals, vitamins, calcium, etc. give or take. There's no reason why if a physician or dietician prescribes an even lower diet that is very carefully planned with supplements or something, that you cannot eat less. This is true especially for a lot of petite women.

So you burn daily 2400 calories from exercising and just living.  Even if you had a defecit of 1000 calories, which you shouldn't have MORE of, you would still need to eat 1400 calorie to lose weight safely.  If I were you I'd eat 1400 on the days I didn't work out and 1800 on the days I did. 

have i got this wrong so are you saying on days you work out to eat more ??so if your eating what your burning whats the point of burning them..im getting confused here

Yep, on the days you work out, you should eat back some of those calories you burned so that your body is more efficient.  Why work out?  Well that's a good question.  Working out is not necessary for weight loss; it IS, however necessary for good health, especially your heart, plus if you do stuff like weight lifting you will increase your muscle mass and lose fat instead of lean tissue. 

Yes.  It's totally counter intiutive to anything you probably thought before.  We know, we all know.  But unless you are morbidly obese and/or under the watch of a doctor or dietition, this is the best way to lose weight and to keep it off.  For real you can eat a bunch and STILL lose weight.  Who knew!

You're fine to just eat 1600 calories too as long as you're feeling satisfied. The 1200 calorie rule is regardess of exercise. I find that on day's I work out I need more like 1800 to feel satisfied though.

right with you,thats prob why ive been stuck at 203 for the last 3 weeks then i thought i needed to up my exercise to get past it,which ive done ,when i saw there was still no results on the scale i just thought perhaps i wasnt burning as much as i thought,sorry gem for hi jacking your post!!

i have a question about the 1200 cals also...i want to lose about 10-11 pounds by April which i think is pretty doable. CC says i should eat 1200 cals a day to do this. Is that enough calories with exercising 4-5 times a week, burning about 400-500 cals each time? i dont want to go into starvation mode and not lose anything! my stats are:

Age: 23

Height: 5'3''

CW: 145

GW: 135 by April 1st

I would eat a little more, probably around 1300 to 1400 kcals, dieting around that 1200 kcal a day mark can get a little iffy. You definitely don't want to drop below that 1200 kcal mark. If your body goes below that it will start eating away at the muscles to get the nutrients your body needs. So just be careful and you will drop that ten pounds in no time.

Calories consumed = the total calories that go into your mouth

Calories burned = the calories your body burns during the day

Calories burned at the gym aren't special, they don't get subtracted from what you ate, they get added to what you burn just like the calories you burn sleeping, or the calories you burn watching tv.

Unless you're burning over 2200 or so a day, 1200 is probably fine. Eating back calories makes exercise pointless except for pure general fitness reasons, unless the exercise makes your deficit more than around 1000.

mochi-chan, that really isn't good advice. Yes, 1200 is generally considered the bare bones minimum amount of calories for a very petite (5 feet) adult female (are you an adult?) however, even so it is not usually the optimal amount of calories to eat to lose weight consistently and being able to sustain it.

Why eating only 1200 calories doesn't work

(from the Ask Mary section of CC)

In the long run, you won’t lose weight faster by eating 1200 calories a day. Under-eating deprives your body of essential nutrients and leads to muscle breakdown to provide energy. With less muscle, you require fewer calories and you reach a weight low plateau more quickly. Restrictive dieting also places you at risk for binge-eating which can lead to weigh gain and a life of yo-yo dieting.

I find this continuing subject "eat more" somewhat questionable!  I know the theory but I am convinced that most people underestimate their caloric intake and that most of us wouldn't be here if we didn't do that consistently.  I have a medical background that includes nutrition and I believe you can have a healthy diet at a lower calorie rate like 1200, it matters what you eat.  Noone is going to keep the weight off unless you eventually evolve into a healthy eater and I hate to face it............but I think my caloric intake will never be above 1200 and maintain my weight.  I wish I thought differently but I have been here before  and as long as I count the calories I can do it, get away from that and there is trouble.  I eat some of almost everything but rely very heavily on portion control and exercise.  Age probably has a lot to do with my weight control or lack there of!

Bibsey, I don't know how tall you are or how much you weight, but it is likely that if you cannot eat more than 1200 calories without gaining weight you should see a doctor as your metabolism is unusually slow. Even a petite woman of 5 feet tall and 100 lbs should be able to eat more than 1200 and not gain weight (I am just about those stats and only start gaining when I eat over 1800-2500 cals).

I am not saying that eating 1200 is always bad for you. In a well-planned diet you can get all the nutrients you need with that many cals and certainly it's ok for a short period of time. But in the long-run no one should have to eat 1200 cals just to maintain or slowly lose weight.

If you (or anyone else) is not counting your calories properly that's a whole different story. Buy a scales and start to count better!