Maintaining at 1200 cals/day

Hi everyone,

I am not at maintenance yet, and I'm still losing weight at 1200 cals.  However, I've realized that with my semi-sedentary lifestyle (I'm a student) that 1200 cals works pretty well for me menu-wise.  I don't really ever feel deprived, and I've figured out meals I truly enjoy that fit into the 1200 cal/day scheme.

Do people maintain at 1200?  I plugged my goal weight (135) in and it said that to maintain I need 1690 cals a day on sedentary.  If I keep eating 1200 will I become underweight?  I just can't see that happening (I'm currently 22 years old, 152 pounds, 5'7.5")

underweight on just 1200? unlikely. your body would most likely just adjust it's needs to the 1200 cal/day 

if you're currently losing at 1200 then you'd keep losing...that wouldn't be maintenance. if you're eating 1200 to lose then when you get to your goal weight then you'd either want to increase or suffer metabolic slow down.

I think if you eat 1,200 calories a day everyday you will eventually become underweight.  If your moving around and such.

I'm now at the point that I need to start upping the intake, that is the tricky point for me, I'm doing it slowly and continuing the running.

good luck to you.

I plugged your sex, age, weight, height, and sedentary factors into a few calculators, and I came up with an average of around 1825 calories you burn.  So if you stay on 1200, you will definitely be underweight.  I surely think you would want no fewer than 1500 if you want to lose weight slowly but steadily, and if you want to maintain, then I would think 1800 would be the number you would want.  3500 calories equals a pound, so even at 1500 calories a day, assuming that all things remain the same otherwise, you would lose a pound of weight every 12 days.  So at that rate you would be losing 4 pounds or more a month.  If you needed to lose weight, that would be a sensible way to do it.  But if you don't need to lose weight, then it seems to me that you should be eating around 1800 calories a day.

Original Post by pilgrimdude:

I plugged your sex, age, weight, height, and sedentary factors into a few calculators, and I came up with an average of around 1825 calories you burn.  So if you stay on 1200, you will definitely be underweight.  I surely think you would want no fewer than 1500 if you want to lose weight slowly but steadily, and if you want to maintain, then I would think 1800 would be the number you would want.  3500 calories equals a pound, so even at 1500 calories a day, assuming that all things remain the same otherwise, you would lose a pound of weight every 12 days.  So at that rate you would be losing 4 pounds or more a month.  If you needed to lose weight, that would be a sensible way to do it.  But if you don't need to lose weight, then it seems to me that you should be eating around 1800 calories a day.

piggy backing off of what has been said, the reverse is also true, say you overestimate your maintenance level by about 200 or so, and it is really 1600 because you're "sedentary" [which is virtually impossible unless you're bed ridden] it would then require you to eat 200 calories over everyday for 17 days until you gained a pound. But in the long run you would be more in tune with what your body needs and the possibility of the single pound gained in over 2 weeks would be worth the "risk" if it turns out that your maintenance is actually 1800 or beyond. i'd rather gain a pound and figure it out than err by eating too little and blunting my metabolism.