To think 1200 calories a day isn’t enough?

[Tigerwhocamefortea]

I have always been slim and been lucky not to carry weight, however after having my second DC I am at least a stone heavier than I want to be and need to do something about it.

I tried using Myfitness plan to log things and based on losing 2lb a week, which I thought was a sensible slow amount, it it tells me I can only eat 1200 calories a day! Surely this is far too few?

Sounds right unless you are particularly active.

Sounds about right for losing 2lbs a week, sorry!

It is too few mfp.is notorious for giving too few calories. I'd advise signing up to TeamRH they're amazing they work out your calories and macros for you, have great advice 24/7 available online.

2lbs a week is a lot so 1200 calories sounds about right. It takes 3000 calories to burn 1lb so to lose 2lbs a week you need a 6000 calories deficit which is about 850 a day.

I actually saw an NHS Dietician who worked out using my weight & age that I can stick to 1500 calories & still lose weight.
I'm 42 & lost nearly 3 stone on 1500 calories daily.
I do sometimes go down to 1400 calories if I'm not at work but it's a struggle tbh.

I personally couldn't stick to 1200 as I'd be hungry all the time! Especially as my job is very active.

2 lbs a week isn't slow especially if you only have a stone to lose. 2lb targets are for very obese people. 1lb is achievable but still a fair amount and 0.5lb is slow and steady. Count yourself lucky, I'm so short that 1200 for me is loss of 0.3lb a week.

Sounds about right, but 2 lbs is probably far too aggressive. Think slow and long term, not fast and unsustainable.

1200 for most women I know would be right if they wanted to do it that aggressively (5 foot 3 ISH, very low activity, desk job, walk between bus stop and home, no heavy lifting or anything etc).

How tall are you and what do you weigh currently?

I think MFP gives all women who want to lose weight 1200 calories per day as standard but you are correct that it isn't enough unless you are very small and/or inactive.

Google some total daily energy expenditure calculators to work this out and knock 500 calories per day off to lose about a pound a week.

As an example I'm 5'7, 46 and 12 stone and my TDEE is about 2200 calories a day, so I can lose on about 1600/1700 which is far more manageable and I'm not particularly active.

Try to eat good food and less sugar/carbs/processed food.

I've been losing weight about 2lb a week BUT if I have 'a day off' my weight soon goes up again.
I've realised I will always need to watch my calories.

That's what I eat a day and I run 25 miles a week. On the odd day I may go a 100 over but rarely

That's what I eat a day and I run 25 miles a week. On the odd day I may go a 100 over but rarely

That's what I eat a day and I run 25 miles a week. On the odd day I may go a 100 over but rarely

Depends on what type of calories you’re eating, and how you split them in your day.

Some foods will fill you up more than others.

And when I’m eating 1200 a day, I split them fairly evenly through the day - 2 boiled eggs for breakfast (140 cals), around 500 for dinner, and a lunch bag with the remaining 550 or so cals to graze on during the day with packs of berries, a dairy Lea dunker (111 cals), cherry tomatoes, cucumber sticks etc. Never feel like 1200 isn’t enough when I plan it properly.

Look at the bbc diet on their website they suggest 1400 calories

I found I only lost weight when I was eating more. At too low calorie counts, I just didn't have enough energy to do the exercise I wanted. I found eating more (but sensibly) and exercising more actually gave me a better result.

I was eating about 1500-2000 calories a day but exercising 3 hours a week (high intensity) plus walking to and from work fast every day (which was 5km a day) to lose weight

I lost about 2.5 stone like that and have kept it off even though I am eating the same and my exercise is down to the 5km walking per day plus 1-2 gym sessions a week

I do 800 per day for 8-12 weeks at a time!

Read the Blood Sugar Diet/Fast800 to understand why!

It depends on how active you are and how you answered their activity level question.

You can also set it to take sports/classes/activities into account.

It depends on how active you are and how you answered their activity level question.

You can also set it to take sports/classes/activities into account.

It depends on how active you are and how you answered their activity level question.

You can also set it to take sports/classes/activities into account.

I lose a lot more than 2lbs a week though.

I think it's really low, basically 400 calories a meal which is hard. I lost over 3 stone (on slimming world) and although I didn't specifically count calories I definitely ate more than 1200 of then a day. I agree with Barbara, when I was really over weight I could lose 2lb a week quite easily whilst still eating more than that, if you're not overweight then 2lb a week is a lot to lose.

I can't lose unless I'm at around 1200. I'm moderately active, but don't exercise as such.

I am 5ft 7 and exactly 10 stone. I know that isn’t massively overweight but I was 8.5 stone before having DC and now my eldest is 4 months old I weigh exactly the same as I was when 9 months pregnant!

I am breastfeeding and have a huge sweet addiction at the minute so I’m grazing all day long on chocolate!

I’ve lost lots of weight in the past and dropped to 7.5 stone at my lowest, however I had issues with food and was basically starving myself so I don’t want to get back to that point. But I do need to sensibly drop a stone, I am unhappy with the extra weight around my tummy and bum!

1200 a day is too low for most. Go to IIFYM.com & calculate your BMR/TDEE. A realistic deficit is 20% lower than TDEE. So I'm 5' 3, 12st & my TDEE is c.2200, so my daily cals are around 1700. I struggle to eat that so usually sit around 1500. I'm losing weight consistently & not even training very much currently.

Check out James Smith. Swears a lot. Calls people out for chatting shit. Or being twats. Knows his stuff. I love him.

1200 a day is too low for most. Go to IIFYM.com & calculate your BMR/TDEE. A realistic deficit is 20% lower than TDEE. So I'm 5' 3, 12st & my TDEE is c.2200, so my daily cals are around 1700. I struggle to eat that so usually sit around 1500. I'm losing weight consistently & not even training very much currently.

Check out James Smith. Swears a lot. Calls people out for chatting shit. Or being twats. Knows his stuff. I love him.