Does anyone struggle with eating 1200 calories

[alleillveoka]

I'm really struggling lately
Breakfast today -banana and a two egg omelette (say 280 cals )
Lunch was -a roast chicken sandwich which was 460 cals
So there is 740 calories already
Which leaves me with 460 for the rest of the day

I'm hungry already for a snack and I only had lunch half hour ago

Yes because that is hardly any food.

Many others will come along to tell you it’s plenty though.

No it fine when I'm doing it properly. Usually a little exercise to make it to 1300 cal but not necessarily

BUT

No bread, so sandwich is out. Lots of green veg eg spring beans courgette.

Breakfast either -miso soup (itsu sachet) one poached egg 80g spinach to spring greens, 80-100g mushrooms (sub 150kcal)
Or scrambled egg in a wholewheat tortilla wrap (the one that's130cal in the Mexican aisle of tesco) 5 g chedder cheese (200cal approx)

Lunch: veg and protein left overs from the night before
Same tortilla wrap with roast chicken
Shakahaka one egg
All 200-300cal

Diner
About 80g-100g protein (salmon a littlemore). 2-3 veg. If pasta or rice 60g max eg chilli with 83g lean mince red kidney beans, tinned tomatoes, sweet peppers, sometimes sweetcorn and 30g uncooked quinoa.
Around 450cal

Gives some wiggle room for iced coffee/treats

No, it’s fine, but I do keto, which reduces my appetite and also removes any cravings for sugar/carbs, so I don’t really get hungry for snacks.

I would because that's not enough for anyone. Your body needs about 1500 just to be alive, breathing and keeping your hair and nails healthy

And religiously drink 2l a day!!

I don't struggle with it. I used to, until I started only eating when I was hungry and not because it was "expected" because it was lunchtime/dinnertime/etc. I also used to struggle with it when I was trying to replace my usual meals with something I perceived as healthier - my diet wasn't really terrible to begin with, and all the changes really did was throw me off further.

How much weight do you have to loose? Its one o clock, you’ve had an omelette, a large chicken sandwich (going by cals) and a banana and still hungry. Have you a lot to loose? If so it maybe too soon for 1200 calories. Otherwise have you drunk enough water? Could you be mistaking thirst for hunger?

I would barely maintain on that. The body needs surprisingly little. Plus we tend to under evaluate our calorie intake

As long as you eat enough protein and veg. Multivit just in case

I don't underevaluate because I weight and track all my food. I lose weight with 1500. I maintain with 1700 and I completely stall at 1300 and start losing hair

Body fat is calories we can use, if we don't eat enough. How else would weight loss work?

@Janieforever I'm 5ft 7 and weigh 11 stone 2lbs
Want to get down to 10 stone
It's the time of the month so constantly hungry
Yeah I drink 2l a day

Also I get up at 6am for work so have breakfast really early

"Body fat is calories we can use, if we don't eat enough. How else would weight loss work?"

if very low calorie works for you, that's great. Personally it doesn't work for me because the moment I start losing muscle, and I do with very low cal, then I stall. I prefer to eat 110grams of protein, low-ish fats and low carb. That maintains the muscle, and at 1500 calories, I lose weight without being hungry.

The calories in - calories out theory works well if you are a steam engine, in a very controlled environment, but that's not my case. Muscle burns calories for maintenance, so providing you are working and maintaining your muscle mass, the amount of calories your body needs naturally is going to be higher than a person with low muscle mass.

I didn't mention very low calorie, @TreesandFish, I said body fat is calories we can use if we don't eat enough.

If the OP is 5.7 and doing any form of exercise then 1200 is simply too low.

Weight loss is much more sustainable with a small deficit, that’s not very motivational as it’s slow loss though. If you diet to the point that you are starving hungry then you will binge and put it (& more) back on - fact.

As I say, it is works for you, and you have successfully lost and maintained weight loss in the past with your method, then that's great. The OP is struggling with her chosen diet option, so I am sure she will enjoy reading different tried and tested methods, so that she can make up her mind about what to do.

Yes it is difficult, but can be done. You just need to plan.

I make sure I eat tons of veg, and a lot of protein, especially cottage cheese, hard boiled eggs.

I average about 1600 calories a day and lose about a kilo a week on that. I do not do that much exercise either, but I do have quite a bit to lose.
I could not sustain 1200 calories for long, but I also do IF 16:8 and eat two meals so one of them can be fairly substantial so I feel satisfied.
I get up at 7am but do not eat til 11 or 12.

If you eat one meal a day it’s easier as your body quickly gets used to when feeding time is and will not expect food until dinner time. I couldn’t do it spread about the day as every meal would feel unsatisfying. One big meal that you look forward to is the way to go.

You can go higher in calories when you’re fasted for most of the day too, because your body switches from burning “sugar” to burning your body fat roughly 13 hours after a meal.

I was obese and this is how I stay in my preferred size jeans, in the size I look healthy. I never weigh myself anymore. If the jeans get tight (I wear them once a week) I immediately switch to one meal a day until they’re comfortable again a few days later. If they get loose, I know I’m not eating enough. I barely think about it, it’s just easy now. My body feels trained to it.

I went on the TDEE website and it told me that my maintenance calories were 1450 so my weight loss calories were 950. I know I am only five foot and a cigarette paper, as my grandad used to say, but I don’t know how to get that low whilst having a normal life. Oh, and I can’t eat fish or seafood of any description!

I did it for a while earlier this summer and planning to get back on it in a week or 2 post holidays. Depressingly seems in Peri that's how low I need to go to lose any weight.

What worked for me was not having breakfast at all. Something like a banana mid morning if I was really hungry but usually I'm not. Then soup, salad or porridge and yoghurt for lunch. Leaves enough calories for a snack about 4pm and a relatively normal, balanced dinner.

I think it is really low but needs must and all that! I sort of resigned myself to feeling hungry some of the time!

True, but no one is starving on 1200 calories a day, far from it.

op, if you’re hungrier as you have your period, then maybe up your calories on those days.

however to be hungry half an hour after eating a close to 500 calorie sandwich then I’m not sure it is actual genuine hunger versus just a physiological desire to eat. And that you need to be aware of, as part of the reason we gain weight in the first place is we eat when we aren’t genuinely hungry.

Why have you set your calories that low? Use a proper online calculator not myfitnesspal to set target. By all means use myfitnesspal to track what you eat.

You could try skipping the very early breakfast and going for a lunch and dinner of 600 Cals each - this would also mean that your body is digesting food over a shorter time frame.

it is always hard at the start though to change habits but once you adjust, you’ll start seeing the benefits.

More protein and less carbs is also good.