To think 1,200 calories a day is enough?

[MissDallas]

I am 3 stone overweight. I have also been thinking about moving to a plant-based diet for health and ethical reasons.

I am considering a 5 day Juice Cleanse to kickstart some weight loss and break some old habits. There is a company locally who supply 5 days worth of juice and I asked them how many calories a day that is. The guy worked it all out by each ingredient and told me it was 1,200 calories per day.

I know that juice cleanses generally get a bad press and are considered 'starvation', but I think 1,200 calories a day is fine for someone who is trying to lose some weight.

What does everyone else think? Thank you.

I think there are two issues here.

One is 1200 kcal a day - which is fine for someone wanting to lose weight. As a guide, I'm around 2 stone overweight and MyFitnessPal gives me a daily target of 1200 with the intention of losing 1-2lb a week. It thinks 2lb a week is too fast but that's what I'd like to get to.

The second is juicing. Rubbish idea, sorry. There's no fibre in pure juices so you'll need a laxative, you'll feel washed out and terrible after a few days and with that amount of sugar going in you'll have energy spikes and slumps all day. You'd be far better to look at a 5 day kickstart of proteins and veges with minimal fruit & dairy, no caffeine/alcohol/sugar (where possible) to break your old habits. Use something like mfp to track your calorie intake and restrict yourself to 1200 kcal a day - it's a much healthier way to lose weight.

Intermittent fasting (calorie restriction to 500 for 2 separate days) can work but you need to work out what 500 kcal looks like before you do it. It's got more health benefits than sugar water (which is really all juices are).

Hi OP. This juice cleanse thing worries me because you have great intentions but I don't think it is the perfect answer, or even a good one. It will be high in sugar (just because it is natural sugar doesn't make any difference, it's still sugar) with all the fibre blitzed out. So you'll absorb the sugar instantly and end up feeling really hungry immediately. There's nothing 'cleansing' about it. I'd put your efforts into low GI personally, or there is a sub reddit called 1200isplenty which has some good ideas. Oh and I learnt that what we look like is 80% diet and 20% exercise. That little nugget changed a few things I tell you!

I lose weight fairly easily on 1200 cals, yes you get hungry but you get used to it, and I expect to be hungry on a diet. I just do old fashioned calorie counting.
If you've got 3 stone to lose, maybe start a bit higher calorie wise and drop down if you find your weight loss slows.

has anybody here actually done a juice fast for a significant period of time?

because I did one for five weeks, to clear up a chronic health problem. I drank four juices a day, so c. 1600 cals. To stop my metabolism from collapsing, I ate a super healthy solid meal every friday.

Health issue disappeared.
Losing weight is a side effect. I lost a stone but was already standard weight.
I would say though, dont fanny about with premade juices, you can get a decent phillips juicer for £100 and doing it yourself will be much healhier as nutrients degrade quickly.

Was it gall stones health?

Oops was it gall stones the health issue seasonal ?

Seasonal, this is just a genuine question, why not just cook and eat Veg?

I believe that your health condition disappeared, I've seen all sorts of symptoms disappear in people, when they eat mainly Veg.

It totally depends on how big you are and how active. Balanced diet is better than juice as you are getting virtually all of the calories from sugars, and juice is very acidic.

Something bowel related. last resort before they put me on really toxic drugs, i was totally desperate. but it made sense to me, first, i was giving my gut a chance to heal through not being used to digest heavy food. secondly, the amount of nutrients you can access through juice is incredibe: If, for example you're drinking four litres of carrot juice, that's requires about 4kg of carrots which is absolutely flooding your body with vitamins.

I didnt and wouldnt do it for weight loss beause then it is a crash diet....but the likes of Jason Vale and Joe Cross did also cure themselves through juicing.

As the PP said, it's 80% diet, 20% exercise, so going to the gym at lunchtime won't necessarily be enough to help you lose weight. That said, have you asked one of the instructors at the gym if they can put together a programme for you to follow? When I first went to the gym, I thought I was exercising properly, but I really wasn't using my time effectively.

Please don't do a juice "diet" or any other fad diet as they are unsustainable, and you'll get disheartened when you drop a load of weight quickly on it, then gain it back when you start eating normally again. Get the My FitnessPal app, track everything and weigh your food as it is very easy to get portion sizes wrong (especially pasta, rice etc) and the app won't help if you are putting in incorrect amounts.

1,200 calories sounds too low to be sustainable long term. I couldn't survive on that, I'd be thinking about food all the time.

You need a diet that is healthy and you can stick to, as there isn't a diet in the world that works when you're not actually on it.

I went vegan pretty much bang on a month ago, and have been eating curries, burritos, chilis, spag bol, lasagne, fajitas, burgers, pizzas, chips, onion rings, crisps, popcorn... and obviously plenty of grains, fruits, veg, nuts and seeds, and I've lost 12lbs as of yesterday. I've not limited food or tried to lose weight, just eaten as much as I want of what I want.

Low-fat, high-carb seems to be the best method of weight loss on a vegan diet as you're only eating low energy density foods - you eat a lot of food, which fills you up and gives you your vits and mins, but you're getting fewer calories. In a study participants had an average weight loss of 17lbs in 3 weeks & they were instructed to eat as much as it took to satisfy them.

I don't think you need to do any drastic diet plans or full on calorie restriction though. Since you're interested in a plant-based diet, why don't you try that for a couple weeks and see if you lose any before trying anything 'extreme'. If you find you do, then you know you have a way of eating that can take you through life, not just a couple weeks.

I love minimalistbaker for recipes if you need ideas.

1200 is not enough to eat in a day, studies have repeatedly found that sustained weight loss is more likely you reduce your intake to around the 1600 to 1800 range

You really need to know how much energy you expend in a day. Personally, I expend around 1800 so I wouldn't lose weight on that. 1200 is effective for weight loss, though you need to be careful about what you eat.

Those saying that going to the gym will build muscle and make you heavier - no. Going to the gym doesn't build new muscle unless you're a body builder. It tones your existing muscle and makes it leaner and more effective. If you exercise and calorie restrict you will lose fat.

Doesn't it just depend on the person? I am only 5.2", size 10, 1200 calories is pretty much maintenance for me

I agree with the others that the juice diet is not good.

1 Your body doesn't need a 'cleanse' - it's very good at cleansing itself, through your liver.

2 Juices tend to be all sugar and you will get huge blood sugar spikes and lows.

Re. number of calories- have you thought about investing in some digital weighing scales that measure fat, muscle, water and number of calories needed each day as a baseline? They aren't 100% accurate but might help. My scales say that for my age and height (and weight) I need 1100 cals. That's 'resting' calories- in other words breathing, sleeping, and doing nothing. As I'm very sedentary these days with my work and lifestyle, I don't need anywhere nr 2000 cals and don't eat that amount ever.

You'd be better off perhaps thinking along the lines of 3 meals a day of 500 cals each, plus some low-no cals snacks like raw veg, fruit and nuts, and increasing your exercise.

Going to the gym doesn't build new muscle unless you're a body builder.

That's not true. You can build muscle by doing exercise . As we age, we need to maintain muscle, and doing enough of certain exercises can build muscle. I do resistance type exercises for my legs and arms, and my thighs have more muscle than they used to have. I don't understand what 'toning' is if it's not building muscle?

Those saying that going to the gym will build muscle and make you heavier - no.

I understand your thinking, but this really wasn't true for me. As an ex-anorexic, dieting's risky for me. Between the ages of 35-50, I did shed loads of exercise covering weight-bearing, CV and core. My weight didn't change throughout this time, but my shape sure as hell did. I went from a size 16 to a 10 - I am 5'8". I could whittle it down to an 8 by dieting for two weeks and upping my CV (I had to lose about 3kg to get to an 8), but tbh that was hard.

My point being that I became significantly smaller without weighing any less.

I stuck to that for a while but eating normal food. I used MFP which takes into account your starting weight and how much you want to lose and gives you a calorie goal per day. Mine was 1,200 and I found it easy enough to stick to.

I used the My Fitness Pal app to lose weight, 1200 calories is the recommended amount but you can earn extra calories by exercise. So an hour walking at a brisk pace earns you another 250 calories-ish so you eat 1450 through the day.

It isn't a LOT but it is enough if you eat smart - porridge for breakfast, salad, reduced fat cheese or fish for lunch, chicken and veg for dinner.

And it does work.

Oh and the juice stuff is rubbish - save your money, get a free calorie counting app and eat proper food.

1200 calories of proper food - fine.
1200 calories of juice - hunger inducing and unsustainable. IMO.

Why not eat 1200 cals a day in fruit,veg, eggs, dairy, meat, fish etc instead and team that with exercise? A one-week dad diet isn't going to help you lose weight and keep it off long term.

(I've been on 1200 cals a day since Jan, to shift the baby weight, along with daily exercise. Am having no probs sticking to it 99% of the time)

1200 is barely enough if you do nothing at all. You'll be miserable the entire time if you try living on that.

You won't sustain weight loss with that. Your best off calculating your TDEE based on your current weight and activities and aiming for no more than a 20% daily deficit.

Your best off focusing on fitness. Heavy lifting is the fastest way to increase strength and overall fitness in combination with cardiovascular exercise.

I bet the sugar content is horrific. I wouldn't do that to my teeth, sod the calories.

Pop on over to the 5:2 thread - it's been a revelation for me.
Think about your teeth!