Where did this come from and how can it be accurate? How can there be some magical number that is the number women should not dip below for calories? How can a 5'0" tall woman have the same caloric limit as a 5'10" woman? It just doesn't make sense! A bigger body needs more than a smaller body, right? a bigger woman weighs more so her needs cannot be the same - she can't have the same size heart, liver, stomach, etc. No way. Smaller bodies need smaller organs. I looked it up and it's true. Maybe the variances are small (can't find info on that), but I really don't see how this magic number can be accurate in any way.
It's probably 1200 for the median, but is probably higher and lower for other women.
Here are a couple things I found:
http://www.fitsugar.com/Why-1200-Cal...eting-13080864
I got to thinking about this because I'm eating about 1200 calories a day and I think it might be too little and I'm slowing my metabolism too much. I'm exercising an hour 5-6 times a week too (pretty intense working out). I'm 5'6.5" tall and I have a large frame. I probably should be eating around 1500 calories and have dipped too low.
Could that be why so many women I know are stalling out with rigorous exercise and low calorie diets? They've dipped too low and slowed down their metabolisms too much?