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1200 calorie diets

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Calorie Counting

' Forum started by MandaBear, Jan 16th, 2014 at 02:58 AM.
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Jan 16th, 2014, 02:58 AM  
MandaBear
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1200 calorie diets

I know a lot of people that are using MyFitnessPal to keep track of their calories and it seems like almost all of them are trying to eat just 1200 calories a day. I'm not sure how many calories I'm eating since I'm doing Weight Watchers at the moment, but I've always heard that 1200/day is basically the "bare minimum." Is it really realistic to think that you can survive off of just 1200 calories a day for the long haul?
 
Jan 16th, 2014, 10:32 AM  
PrincessPikachu
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1200 calories is one of my major bugbears! It kinda seems like the easy option for dieting and people think well if I eat 1200 I'll definitely lose weight. But really, it's a bare minimum and the vast majority of people need more than that! Throw a bit of exercise into the mix and you'll stop losing weight cos your body's storing food to help it function!

When I started out, I was 5'1 and pretty sedantry and could lose on 1200 cos of my height, but at 5'3 now, I need a lot more! The best way to calculate it is google tdee (total daily energy expenditure) and it works out your height, activity levels etc to see what you need. 1200 just isn't healthy for a lot of people long term! /rant
 
Jan 16th, 2014, 10:41 AM  
PrincessPikachu
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Just recalculated mine out of curiosity and I need 1900 to lose and 2110 to maintain, I'm 5'3 and around 123lb, it's actually shocked me how much I should be eating (although I probably manage that most days )
 
Jan 16th, 2014, 22:50 PM  
Olivia
 
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I use MyFitnessPal and have yet to go to a 1200 calorie diet per day. In order to lose a pound a week (which is what's recommended) I currently need to eat about 1400 calories a day. If I exercise, that amount increases. When I switch to maintenance mode, my allowance will go up to about 1700 a day I think.
 
Jan 17th, 2014, 00:52 AM  
ChunkyBoots
 
Join Date: Nov 2013
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I was using MyFitnessPal at one point in time, too, and it only told me 1200-ish calories when I said I wanted to lose 2 pounds per week. At one pound per week, it was more like 1700-1800 calories, and maintenance (not that I wanted to maintain that weight at that time) was well over 2,000 calories per day. I think the problem is that doctors and nutritional books all say "Don't eat any LESS THAN 1200 calories per day," and what people hear is, "Eat 1200 calories per day."
 
Jan 17th, 2014, 11:59 AM  
Bevziibubble
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MFP always recommend is 1200 cal a day for me, but I always change it because for me that is far too low. Last year I did stick to 1200 cal a day when I was dieting and was exercising to. I lost quite a bit of weight and got used to being hungry but I don't want to do it that way this time.
 
 
Jan 17th, 2014, 16:38 PM  
avidian
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
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I tried to go under 1500 a few times and it always ended up being bad for me. I am on the go a good bit so trying to maintain my normal life with kids, a husband and the insanity that comes with my work in less than that is just not something good. The last time I did it I ended up getting pneumonia and had it for about three months.
 
 
Jan 20th, 2014, 12:39 PM  
Wobbles
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I did 1200 calories and was ok but I did eat back some I burnt off at the gym and I upped to 1500 some times. I found it worked ok but I wouldn't kick myself to go over.
 
 
Jan 20th, 2014, 15:27 PM  
StirCrazy
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Quote:
Quote by PrincessPikachu View Post
Just recalculated mine out of curiosity and I need 1900 to lose and 2110 to maintain, I'm 5'3 and around 123lb, it's actually shocked me how much I should be eating (although I probably manage that most days )
That's weird because I have one of those fitness wristbands sync'd with MFP and it says I need 1900 calories just to maintain, and I'm 5'9 and about 205lbs. I always thought men needed 2500 calories to maintain :/ Would probably explain why I wasn't getting anywhere aiming for 2000-1800 calories.
 
Jan 20th, 2014, 21:08 PM  
Wobbles
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I mostly has eggs for lunch which really filled me up I just got bored and protein shakes after the gym which helped curb hunger too. I made some big changes to how I ate though and took a couple if weeks to tolerate but after too much or bad food really sits yuk! x
 
 
 
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