Can someone explain to me the 1200 kcal/day cutoff?

Why are we supposed to eat a minimum of 1200 kcal per day, exactly? And will anything really bad happen to me if I eat slightly under that (on a regular, ongoing basis), like between 900-1100 kcal/day? That's what I've been eating for about three weeks now and I was just wondering if I'm doing a lot of damage, and how important those extra 100-300 kcal are... could someone explain please???? Thanks!!

P.S.

I'm 19, 5'5" and about 120 pounds. I do exercise a bit but I generally don't feel hungry for more than that... 

Your body needs at least 1200 calories per day to survive. Here is a very rough scientific break down provided by a dietician for a  5' 2", 19 year old female weighing approximately 100 pounds, sitting around all day and doing nothing:


-The heart needs 12% of the calories (144 cals)
-The kidney needs 12% of the calories (144 cals)
-The Liver needs 23% of the calories (276 cals)
-The brain needs 23% of the calories (276 cals)
-The skeletal muscle needs 30% of the calories (360 cals)

Your body needs MORE than 1200 calories per day because you are taller and weigh 20 pounds more.  If you eat too few calories, you are depriving vital organs of essential nutrients that they need to function properly.

=^..^= MOLLY

 

Well 300 is 1/4 or 25% of the calories you need, sounds like a lot more when you think of it that way :)

Someone did make a post awhile back with the breakdown of calorie needs, like how much heart/brain etc uses but I don't know where that is, maybe they'll post again. Just wanted to say though if you really arent hungry for more, you can easily add some calories here and there by not getting 'light' versions of food for example, or things like nuts and peanut butter have lots of calories.

 

edit, molly just posted what I was talking about :P 

wow, thanks you guys! that really spelled it out for me pretty clearly. Really appreciate it! =)