at least 1200/day is BULL!!!!..for most people

Yes, the average amount a women should eat is at least 1200.  We all agree on this. But... what CC does not calculate is this:

I will use myself as an example. I'm 5'5 134lbs and 22 years old.  I have my activity set on sedentary as I sit in an office all day and classes (1700 cals/day) and add any additional excercise (going to the gym etc..) on top of that.

Now at 1700 cal/day CC says I could safely eat 1200 cal/day and lose 1/lb pere week.  WRONG.  Eating 1200 still puts my body in starvation mode!

Why?

My BMR is 1440.  this is the number that my body would burn if i slept for 24hrs straight.  It is the min # i need to eat to maintain my normal bodily functions (ex: breathing)  If I eat lower than this my body will go into starvation mode and store everthing I eat to have a 200 cal reserve for each day I only ate 1200 cal.

What this means as far as losing 1 lb per week:

1440+500 = 1950 burned to lose 1/lb per week

If I don't work out one day and still want my 500 deficit...too bad I cannot get it.  The highest deficit for that day will be 260.  Never eat below your bmr! and bmr is not 1200 for everyone that is an AVERAGE

I followed CC's advice in sept 06 to eat 1200 a day and safely lose.  What bull! I started at 129lbs and in 4 months had gained 15lbs. I was excercising and eathing healthy, just not enough. Once I figured out what was going wrong I bumped up my cals.  In another 3months I was back down to 134 by eating more!  I wasn't able to work out during this period either because I was too busy.  That's 10lbs in 3 months by eating more and not working out!!!!

Also while i'm posting I have something to add about low fat/carb diets.  Yes they work for the most part. But the biggest mistake that people make is think that if they eat no fat their body won't gain any fat. Wrong! You could eat no sugar or fat at all (hypothetically) but if you at 1500 cal and only burned 1400, 100 cal of those no fat no sugar foods would be turned into FAT by your body.  anything extra your body gets that is not burned off is turned into fat, regardless if it was a non fat food to begin with.

This also explains body starvation mode.  If you are eating low fat/carb but eating below your bmr you will gain fat.  Your body knows it needs to start reserving energy to maintain your bodily functions, so it turns whatever you feed it to fat because it is scared it would get feed again (and then what will it use to give you the energy to breathe?)  once you start eating at your bmr or higher again, you will initially gain a few lbs because your metab. is still slow, but once your body realizes it is getting food it will start let go of its reserves and you will start being able to lose as your metab. speeds back up.

This is also why it is important to eat breakfast! Even though you have only slept for about 8hrs this is enough time for you body to slowly start storing rather than burning.  If you eat as soon as you get up, your body knows it has energy till your next meal and won't hold onto your dinner from the night before.

Now people, STOP WITH THIS 1200 crap! calculate your BMR!

thanks for clearing that up amethyst.  When I do the total burn for myself I automatically lump my sedentary = excercise, and I forgot that when explaining.

BMR x 1.2 (sedentary) + extra exercise = total burned

total burned - wanted deficit = what you should eat (must be more than BMR)

EX: BMR = 1440, excercise = 300

1440 x 1.2 = 1728 + 300 = 2038 - 500(deficit) = 1538

With exercise of 300 cal I can lose 1 lb/wk by eating 1538/day

(a 600 cal deficit would require eating 1438 which goes below the BMR = NO)

See this has been my problem, I just can not figure out a baseline for maintenance.  My BMR is 1664, I exercise usually about 300, maybe more, but 300 is good. So that puts me at 1994. At sedentary it is 1996 without exercise of course. So regardlessIf I stay at 1664 and exercise 300 but do not eat them back that puts me at 1364, right.  Even at sedentary.  My problem is finding an appropriate deficit.  I've been here for about a year and still don't get, and just when I think I do, someone contradicts it.

So if my bmr is 1664, and I exercise 300, I should eat 1964 which still puts me at 1664 only a 300 cal difference for 300*7=2100 less than a pound a week.

But if I use 1664, exercise 300 puts me at 1364 with a deficit of 600 or about *7 thats 4200 just over a pound lost.  Right?

 

Thank you liz, I did not see your reply before my post, I like yours better. 

1664*1.2=1997+300=2297 2297-750=1547 (below my bmr) guess I have to exercise more.

you are confusing yourself. forget about eating back and do not subtract your excercise from you bmr (1664-300=1364)

your bmr is 1664 (you burn this by being alive)

doing no excercise- sedentary you burn 1996. So if you eat 1664 (which is ok as long as you do not go below) you would have a 300 cal deficit which is .6 lb/wk

if you excercise 300 extra cals then you add that to your sedentary so you have now burned 2296.  If you still eat 1664 you have a 632 deficit (2296-1664)

Because a 500 cal/deficit is a good number you can actually increase your eatting a little.

2296 (burned) - 500= 1796

take what you burned - eaten (2296-1796 = deficit of 500)

Now when you lose weight, your bmr will go down from 1664, get the new number x 1.2 and add your excercise to it and subtract your desired deficit to get what you should eat.

Making anymore sense?

And I have no idea how people CAN eat only 12oo calories a day...

 

I have 2,ooo at LEAST.. i cant HELP myself!!!!! it just keeps on going in and iN!
I'M SOOOOO LUCKY THOUGH!
i think its like super fast matabolism or something, cause my bmi's only 19-21 and i eat like SUPER CRAZY :).. (allthough i'm worried about todays sushi dinner) and tomorrows dinner... then the next days....

 w/e Xd

I agree that way too many people take the 1200 calorie MINIMUM recommendation way too seriously and under-eat. 1200 calories is BARELY enough for a 3 year old, much less an active adult. Under-eating can be just as bad as overeating when it slows down your metabolism and robs your body of everything that it needs just to function while lying in bed all day.

 I have lost 70 lbs eating an average of 1829 calories per day and I wish more people would see that eating very low calories isn't right for everybody. I personally believe that 1200 calories is right only for people that are very short, very sedentary and close to a healthy weight range, and/or have underlying medical conditions.

When you under-eat your body eats away at your lean body mass (muscle) which in turn slows down your metabolism so you're clinging onto more fat and losing muscle. Never the wise thing to do. You have to eat more to lose more! 

This has been THE most helpful post that I have read so far!!! Thank you VERY much! I have gone back and forth on what my daily caloric intake should be. So, here's how I figure it.

I'm 5'8, 35 years old, 138. My BMR (sedentary) X 1.2 = 1680. That's what I will eat each day, plus a tad bit more. I work out everyday and average 500 calories burned. So that's my deficit. I eat the amount of my BMR and work out for 500 calories.

That keeps me from going into starvation mode and I get my 500 calorie deficit and 1 lb weight loss a week. I'll keep re-calculating my BMR and once I reach my 8-10lb loss, then I will eat the amount of my BMR and exercise added together! That will allow me to maintain that weight.

That's it....right????? 

 

Just when I think I know what Im doing, I read something like this, and get worried about my current program. Im male, 24, 5'11, 200lbs. My BMR is 2050.

2050*1.2=2460    plus I exercise about 500 per day, putting total burn at about 2950. I want to maximize my deficit, about 900. So is it healthy for me to eat 2100 calories per day when my BMR is 2050 plus Im burning an extra 500 exercising?

bump

Thank you for this post. I just have one quick question.  I work out 5 times during the week, and sometimes once on the weekend. On average I burn about 700 calories each time I go to the gym. I want to lose at least 1lb per week. At a 500 cal deficit that would only put me at 2500 calories burned for the week. I was wondering if it was healthy for me to up my deficit to 800 to reach my goal of 4000 calories per week?

I'm 18, 5'0, 152lbs.

1516 x 1.2 = 1820 + 700 = 2520 - 800(deficit) = 1720

I'd be eating 1720 calories each day except for those that I don't work out.

Does that sound reasonable/healthy or should I lower my deficit to like 600? Thanks for the help. =]

I just want to add that all the calculators are estimates only.

For example I went to the freedieting site that was posted, and it said my BMR is 1072 (I'm 5'0" 107 lbs 42 years old).

I work at home so I'm incredibly sedentary if I don't run; the calculator gave me 1280 for that. And if I do run 3x's per week, it bumped me up to 1475. This is for maintenance - not weight loss.

Well, the reality is I lost 20 lbs this past year zig-zagging my calories and never going under 1400.... with frequent cheat days when I would eat  probably closer to 1800-2000.

And the reality is I have been maintaining 107 lbs since around October eating closer to 1875 calories!!!

My husband has been telling me for awhile that he is sure I am in starvation mode. I tallied things up and I should be getting about 1440 cals for my activity level and I have been getting 1000-1400..... and I wonder why if I workout more why I'm not losing weight. It started 2 years ago when I did my first sprint triathlon, my activity level skyrocketed and I didn't increase my intake!! Ugh! I have slowly gained about 15 pounds over the last 2 years..... I thought it was related to working the night shift!! Should I expect I gain initially --couple weeks maybe --- until my body isn't thinking it needs to store anymore? Have you read about that? Thanks for your candidness.

Here's the problem...this makes it pretty much impossible to lose weight!  my BMR is 1550...times 1.2 for sedentary activity is 1860.  I want to lose 2 lbs a week (that is safe according to most people) so I need a deficit of 1000 calories a day WITHOUT dropping below 1550 calories eaten...this means that after I cut the 310 calories I can safely cut without starving myself, I still have to burn close to 700 calories at the gym!  that is a LOT of working out...more than I have energy for.

This is depressing to me...

Ugh....I'm so confused.....I have no idea how to even calculate it....LOL! but to be honest when anything involves numbers my brain skips out on me or something......UGH

I'm 5'4 200lbs.......my BMR is supposedly 1698.9.

so now what? haha

Original Post by lizshuler:


This also explains body starvation mode.  If you are eating low fat/carb but eating below your bmr you will gain fat.  Your body knows it needs to start reserving energy to maintain your bodily functions, so it turns whatever you feed it to fat because it is scared it would get feed again (and then what will it use to give you the energy to breathe?)  once you start eating at your bmr or higher again, you will initially gain a few lbs because your metab. is still slow, but once your body realizes it is getting food it will start let go of its reserves and you will start being able to lose as your metab. speeds back up.

This is also why it is important to eat breakfast! Even though you have only slept for about 8hrs this is enough time for you body to slowly start storing rather than burning.  If you eat as soon as you get up, your body knows it has energy till your next meal and won't hold onto your dinner from the night before.

Now people, STOP WITH THIS 1200 crap! calculate your BMR!

Wow - you are wrong on so many things.  Your body burns fat if you eat less than your BMR + activity + TEF
Your body replenishes and stores after eating.  Normal 10% goes to break down the food (TEF), 40% to muscles (replenishment) and 50% to the liver to maintain blood sugar levels (continual energy).  If your muscles or liver do not need much replenishment, the excess is processed and stored as fat for future use.
When you eat, your body releases insulin.  The insulin tells your body to store.  As long as insulin is active, you will not be in the burning mode.  As long as you keep eating, Your body produces insulin and your body keeps storing what you eat.  If you have not eaten for over three hours, insulin reduces, leptin tells your body to tap reserves (fat) to maintain BMR or activity.  So in the morning, your body is using energy from liver storage and replenishes through fat.  Night time is when most fat is burned in the human body.
Starvation is a reaction to severe malnutrition.  It has nothing to do with a reduced calorie diet.  You body may fall into a famine type mode.  In the famine mode, your body will increase urges for food.  It wants to increase fat stores, but only can if you eat an excess of calories.  Metabolism may slow, but any activity will bring it back up.  Best way to know if your reduced calorie diet is slowing your metabolism is a constant feeling of being cold. 
Breakfast is important because it is restarting your energy cycle for the day. 

I agree that 1200 is way to low for most people. And kudos to you to bringing this up for people to read.  I lost 50 lbs and never ate 1200 calories, I usually ate about 1600 calories a day, and some days had up to 2100.

wow there sure is a lot of contradicting info on here. I dont know what to believe. I just want to make sure Im losing the maximum amount of weight, as quickly as possible, safely.

Im with you pdxandphx. 

Not quite done yet, see  some of us learn differently from other CCers.  Im so confused that I don't know what the heck to think.  So I'm going to go with bmr 1664. I want to lose 1.5 pounds a week so in essence 1664+750=2414-1996 for sedentary leaves 418 which now gets done through exercise.  Makes perfect sense to me,  I think 1664*1.2=1996sedentary+418exercise=2414 -750=1664eat LOLOLOLOLOL Im out.  Good Luck everyone.  I'm going to climb in a hole and be like albert einstein or something.

Oh boy. Looks like I have been eating too little calories. Guess I won't feel so bad about any small slipups anymore :D