1200 cals a day

[bowiesmum]

I'm going to try and lower my calories even though I was advised to have nearer 1400.

I'm 5'2 and 10.3 stone,

What do you eat in a day at 1200 that keeps you full all day and no cravings!

I'm the same height and weight and used the James smith calculator which gives me more calories but you need to hit a protein target.

How many steps per day are you doing as that effects the amount of calories you can have?

You sound a bit like me @bowiesmum 5'1'' and ten stone and losing zip. I have been ''reverse dieting'' the last 8 weeks but now I'm ready to start having a few 800 days.

I've been maintaining on 1400 for the last 8 weeks or so. All the right choices (protein, measured good fats (avocado and walnuts but counted no refined carbs loads of veg) and I'm not miscalculating on myfitnesspal.

I started at the beginning of the year on 1200 and initially lost about 5lbs in the first 2 weeks, then nothing it stalled for six weeks, 7 even, finally lost a couple more pounds towards end of march, then since then another stall. So I started adding in 16 grams of dark chocolate or 15 grams of walnuts at the end of the day to bring my calories up to 1400!!! I did not gain back the 5lbs I'd lost luckily.

I eat all the right things, so I probably could go down to 1200 and not feel hunger but like others have suggested, I've decided not to. I do a bit of calorie cycling too. I just had a procedure so now it's behind me I will push forward again.

I sometimes do 800 calcs Monday, Wednesday and then on Friday or Saturday 900 and I will try and fit in a 4 mile walk three times a week.

The weight will come off slowly. This next month, I might lose a pound! It's so slow.

I definitely don't want my body to get used to 1200 cals per day because I can feel that in the pipeline. It would. Maintaining at 1400 now, my body could happily adapt to 1200 a day. It so would.

I do a similar version of calorie cycling as @ConcernedCatmother but it averages out at 1200 a day, using a mixture of 900/1100/1300/1500 days. The 900s can be tough but they're easily doable for one day, especially if you prioritise protein, and you know you've got more to play with the next day.

I can't do 1200 a day every day, it gets too restrictive for me. I save my high days for the weekend!

Protein! I have an egg, 50gr of smoked salmon and a handful of tomatoes for breakfast and it keeps me going to lunch. Then for lunch a filling salad with lots of bits and more protein (chicken for example).
My danger zone is post dinner when a high calorie snack becomes too irresistible!

Sorry I should have said I'm 38 and active. Would generally get 15k steps a day and go to gym 2-3 times although the gym is only back recently

Ok going to try at 1350 and weight everything today including veg.

I generally eat

Breakfast (late around 11) omelette with feta and veg, smoked salmon

Lunch toast sandwich on low cal bread and soup or tuna salad on crackers

Dinner home cooked usually around 600 calls

120 cal bar choc in the evening

I work nights so often body clock changes and also I'm at home a lot as work part time so sometimes I think I'm eating out of boredom, my kids are teens so coming in and out making food all day which makes me crave

I was thinking back to 2 years ago when I did lose weight and what I did then was a big brunch of 400cals, snack then dinner and treat in evening so might try that again too

Sorry to sound thick, but why is it everyone says to drink lots of water? Is it to fill you up, or is there aomething else going on? I'm awful for drinking diet Dr Pepper instead!

@wizbit93 I always see this too! I think it's probably a combination of things- confusing hunger and thirst is pretty easily done. For me, I don't feel quite as ravenous if I'm well hydrated.
I don't know the science about water retention, flushing out toxins, helping digestion etc but it sounds about right.
I probably don't hit 2 litres a day but do about a litre of water and several cups of herbal/tea/coffee.
I like a diet fizzy too but do get the false "sugar spike" sometimes.

Ok already over realised a mistake I've been making...not counting my low fat milk in tea! Thought it was only a drop but it's 40ml per cup!!! That's 60 cals a day I wasn't counting!

Before my wedding I ate 1200 calories a day for 3 months and I lost about 2 stones! It came off so quickly I was delighted- I was super motivated though.

Breakfast would be a smoothie or a piece of fruit. Lunch was a soup. Dinner would be a normal healthy meal (dinner is my favourite meal) and if I wanted a snack I'd have a fibre one bar/packet of skips/ fruit.

I also drank loads more tea!

It wouldn't be sustainable for a long time but definitely works short term. Good luck

Are you being serious?

Fizzy drinks, especially diet/sugar-free drinks are awful for weight loss as most contain aspartame which can actually hinder weight loss completely.

Also, water is calorie-free, all other drinks are not.

Drinking water

Yesterday at 1,192 calories (more or less) I had:

Morning: 2 cups of black coffee
Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs with tofu, spinach and tomato (high protein, kept me full for ages)
Lunch: Big salad with iceberg lettuce, tomato, cucumber, beetroot, alfalfa sprouts, 50g of chicken breast, topped with flaxseed and dressed with oil and balsamic, plus peach iced tea diluted with water (I like it about half and half)
Dinner: Chicken soup, and 10 frozen red grapes (sounds bonkers, but I love them!)

I don't usually start eating until 11-12 in the morning, so it all carries me through until bedtime easily.

You said I just feel I'm not losing on 1400, I'm down one week then not the next... It's important to remember that your bodyweight WILL fluctuate. Water retention, inflammation from exercise, hormones...

Consistency is so key, and not changing your habits because of just one week's results on the scale. As long as there's a downward trend over time, short-term ups and downs are just a body being a body.

Not true.

There's a huge difference between 1200 calories of lean protein, leafy vegetables and low-glycemic carbs like whole grain rice and 1200 calories of UHP food. Opting for low fat foods is a mistake too as the fat is replaced with sugar, often fake sugar to give it some taste. Best stick to full fat wherever possible.

Protein-rich, nutrient dense food and swerving sugar is key to staying satiated.

You're wrong.

BMR for OP's weight and height is about 1,500 calories a day, according to BMR calculator.

This is the number of calories her body needs just to exist, if it doesn't move at all. Presumably she is doing some kind of movement - most people burn at least an extra 300 or so even if they don't do any particular exercise, from normal daily movements.

So 1,800 calories is probably her maintenance, before adding any exercise on top.

There is no way to cut that by a third and "stay full all day with no cravings".

OP can do what she wants but she is going to be hungry. At 1200 calories her body is only getting two thirds of the minimum energy it needs.

You will have cravings and be hungry on 1200 calories, even if you eat protein rich and nutrient-dense food, because unless you are extremely petite and skinny or a small child (neither of which is OP), it's not enough.

You can do it, sure, and you'll probably lose weight.

But you won't do it without cravings and hunger, and it's not sustainable unless you live in a constant state of self-denial.

@PennineWay my body must have something very wrong with it, then – I've been averaging 1200 calories for over a month at a 500 calorie deficit and I feel great.

Sure, I feel hunger – and then I eat, largely lower calorie, higher volume foods. There's nothing wrong with experiencing hunger, and hunger isn't triggered purely by caloric intake.

But apparently 'there is no way' for my experience to be possible, and you clearly know best...😁

I could also eat 1200 per day and not experience hunger if I make good choices but its hard to always make the right choices 100% of the time.
My problem is that my body only needs about 1200 cals per day even though I walk about 10 miles a week.

52 years old, 67 kilos 155cm, menopause I guess.
Those TDEE calculators make me cry.
As if I could eat that much.
I just keep on keeping on.
I thought I was maintaining on 1400 the last few weeks but scales tell me different I have put on weight.

I have to laugh at all the advice out there not to count calories, I have to do everything, I eat in a window, make good choices, calorie count, go for walks, and still my bmi is 27.

I feel like a medical mystery.

@midgemadgemodge I think you are entirely correct, certainly in my case, can't speak for op. I dont want it to be true, but it is. I'm a 52 year old 5'1" menopausal woman and I had thought I was maintaining at 1400 but it seems I put back on some of the weight I lost at 1200 per day earlier in the year. The short menopausal woman does not need anywhere near as many calories as those TDEE calculators suggest.
I will keep eating healthily, for health reasons, I have my health and I'm grateful, no aching joints or anything but omg it is depressing how little food I need.

I'm quite carb heavy at the moment but have had 1295 cals today

Breakfast

Coffee with milk

A couple of Tinned peach halves which I never normally eat but just fancied them

Lunch
Lightly buttered Toast x 2 with one thinly sliced tomato and sliced spring onion
Apple

Snack

Same as lunch
Cup of Tea

Dinner

2 x medium baked potatoes with butter and cheddar

Got on great today and nothing passed my lips without being counted.

Breakfast porridge, berries honey 280cals

Lunch - high protein ready meal (taco fries) with some 0% fat free natural yogurt (330)

Dinner prawn spaghetti in a creamy sauce (580 cals)

Have 100cald left for a snack during night as working night shift.

I used wholewheat spaghetti instead of white same cals but more filling.

I'm also a divil for the Diet Coke...will work on my water intake from tomorrow!

We're doing quite well so far

I need / want to go down from an 16/18 to a 12 / 14. I do not want creep up to a 20

I'm finding it helpful just writing down what I eat like we are

I forgot to factor in yesterday that I had a handful of pumpkin and sunflower seeds. I wasn't even hungry they were just there looking at me.

This is around 1000 calories and I feel full on it with no cravings. It is a day of minimal exercise where I am largely desk based. I will eat more if I exercise. I feel cutting out the processed foods is key to cutting hunger pangs, bread and soup is homemade and I am trying to boost my microbiome with unpasturised french cheese. I drink black coffee and water.

I actually bought a 12 week food diary on Amazon last night and vowed I'm going to fill in every page for 12 weeks

Must go back to making homemade soup. So much more filling and less calls

Yes to soups - I love making them and using my stick blender to make them thick and smooth with it without bit's depending on how I feel

Currently drinking coffee with sweetners and milk, half a peach and about to eat 2 slices of toast with butter and marmalade

@ConcernedCatmother - how do you track your calories with calorie cycling? I use MFP.