First of all, I'd take those calories up to 1300 at least!

The way I do 1200 calories...well, I've found that eating mini meals all day just majorly screws up my hunger signals. I'll end up grazing and 100-200 over every day I do it. 3 meals, and one tiny snack after lunch tend to work the best, as once your brain leaves "eating mode" for a few hours, it's easier to hold out till the next meal.

My breakdown:
Breakfast: 300 cals-Egg beaters and cheese, fiber english muffin or low cal toast, yogurt, fruit

Lunch: 350 cals- Mini pitas with deli meat/big salads with lots of protein/omellettes with lots of veggies/quarter chicken with beans/etc

Snack: 100 cals of something. A fruit and about some nuts are good. A low fat cheese stick, some yogurt and cinnamon. Whatever you like that holds you over.

Dinner: 350 cals- Tons of variation here. Usually 80 cals of veggie w/some oil for cooking or a little sauce, and the rest is protein. You can take out some of the protein and add a little in the way of carbs, but I find its easier to leave them out for the purpose of reducing the late night cravings.

And then at night, since I'm always snacky, I'll have jello/cool whip, or fruit, or nuts, or maybe a piece of chocolate...whatever I've saved up. Or sometimes I'm feeling extra triumphant and awesome, and just skip the end day snack. -Flexes-



(I usually work in 50 cals wiggle room for creamer/things that I measure more loosely, like extra veggies or oil in a pan, or that sprinkle of cheese you fool yourself into thinking has no calories :P)

When I was your weight, I was eating probably 1600-1800 calories a day and still losing at a good clip. I'm eating 1200-1400 now, and there's no way I would have succeeded at that level 100+ lbs ago. I might have lost weight faster, but only if I could stick to it, which I wouldn't have been able to do. I would have felt like a failure for going over and eventually said, "screw it!" and gave up. So, I'm with the others who are advising that you adjust your expectations for yourself. Setting your calorie goal as 1200 calories doesn't do you any good if having it that low causes you to binge. I assure you that, at your weight, if you eat a little more, you'll still lose weight - and probably faster than you would if you were trying for 1200, because you'll actually be able to stick to it.

Yeah, I think your calories are too low. When I was at your weight, I was eating 1700-2000 calories and losing 2lbs per week.

I eat 2 meals, breakfast and a late lunch/early dinner combo and snacks all day as needed.

Sorry, but this baffles me. :?:

I don't understand why you can eat 1200 calories a day now, but when you were carrying around 100 extra pounds of stored body fat, designed to fuel you during times of famine, you wouldn't/couldn't do it. Why is it okay now, but not then? Fat does not require extra calories, fat is designed to fuel you when there are no calories coming in.


Anyway. I lost 190 pounds eating 1200 calories a day, most days. 3 meals and usually no snacks. (unless something ran a little lower than I had planned.)

300 calories for breakfast. usually 2 eggs veggie omelet, 2 slices 40 cal bread, and yogurt or low fat cheese. OR oatmeal with blueberries and yogurt and flax seed.

400 calories for lunch. Usually a chicken or turkey sandwich on low calorie bread, loads of veggies, mustard, a fruit and a serving of milk/cheese. or soup or stir fry...

500 calories for supper. Usually 4 oz lean meat, a serving of starch, (sweet potato, or baked potato or corn...etc) Salad w/ dressing and maybe a yogurt or more fruit.

I was never hungry because I ate loads of veggies, and ate very minimal processed carbs.

NOW I can eat more calories to maintain. I average around 1800-1900 calories a day to keep my weight stable at 140.

The myths surrounding 1200 calories are crazy. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it if you feel motivated to do it. The problem is, most people want to eat more... Which is probably why they need to lose weight to begin with. :dizzy:

Well, if that were entirely true, we could just stop eating, and live on our fat stores with no harm done, right? I'd be on a deficit of some 2700 daily, and lose five and a half pounds every week, and save lots on food!

But that doesn't work out so well. We do need food to sustain normal function, and carrying around an extra hundred pounds of weight is a physical drain. That's why heavier people have higher maintenance calories.

I don't think there's anything wrong with starting on 1200; it's great you did that and it worked for you! There's also nothing wrong with not being able to do that right away. Everyone's body is different, everyone's hunger is different. The starter of this thread is presumably different from you, as she feels she can't manage on 1200 right now. I'm not sure how useful it is to post about how it was easy for you, when it isn't easy for her.

Last I checked, there was nothing wrong with wanting to eat. Food is delicious, and eating it is an enjoyable experience. If you're a person who doesn't want to eat more than 1200 calories, hurrah for you. Me, I want a honey-walnut cheesecake and some cheese scones with strips of steak fried in butter. This is why I'm fat - but gosh, I had such fun getting fat! I'll never regret all the delicious foods I ate - no, not even now I'm trying to strip it off again. :)

It absolutely would have sustained me at 1200 calories. I wouldn't have died or anything. I'm talking about hunger here. If I was in a situation where I had access to only 1200 calories of food a day, I would have necessarily not eaten anymore - but I would have been miserable. A 300 lb person is going to be significantly hungrier on 1200 calories than a 200 lb person or a 100 lb person. For me, the hunger I experienced at 1200 calories and 286 lbs was unbearable, made me miserable, tired, lethargic, etc - and, most importantly, unable to stick to a sensible eating plan. I'm not talking here about "starvation mode" - I'm not saying that a person who is 300 lbs and eating 1200 calories is going to be unable to lose weight. I'm saying that for many, many obese people, eating 1200 calories just doesn't happen, regardless of their intentions. Frankly, I think the worst advice doctors give obese (particularly morbidly obese) people who want to lose weight is to eat only 1200 calories a day. Not because eating 1200 calories a day wouldn't work, but because most are unable to do it (whether it be for psychological or physiological reasons) and because most people, particularly in the beginning days of WL, have an all or noting attitude - so while they could still lose a significant amount of weight eating 1600 or 1800 or even 2000 calories a day, many would still see that as a failure and decide to give up. If someone is happy and healthy and losing weight at 1200 calories (at any weight), then I don't see a problem with doing that. Obviously, some posters at 3FC started out as heavy as I did, or heavier, and started from 1200ish calories right off the bat and were very successful and I don't have any objections (not that it would matter if I did ;)) to how they managed their plan. I tried that enough times to know that it didn't and wouldn't work for me. It just breaks my heart to hear people think 1200 calories is some sort of magic number (like you said. . .the myths of 1200 calories) and give up because they can't meet that ridiculously arbitrary standard.

My current weight and height are fairly similar to yours. When I started out, I ate 1200 calories a day, and my weight loss stalled out VERY quickly. It was suggested that I increase my calories to 1600-1800 a day, and 1) it's been EASY to stay in that caloric range, and 2) I have been losing nicely (3ish lbs per week) since.

I think you should be cautious setting your calories too low. If you eat less now, that doesn't mean you will lose faster. The more you can get away with eating, and still losing, the better it is, because you have more room to drop your calories later on, when your weight loss starts to slow down.

OP - I agree that whatever calorie limit (that results in a deficit) that is sustainable for you is the way to go. I work with a calorie range rather than a single number, and since the beginning of February (right after I began calorie counting) my range has been 1200-1500. For me, this is very managable. But despite the fact that I usually eat closer to 1200 (and some days struggle to reach 1200), if I could never go over 1200 without feeling like I had "failed" I would probably be pretty miserable. The range gives me much more flexibility, and my average intake of around 1250 daily has kept me losing weight consistently.

I don't really have a set plan of how I eat each day, but in general on weekdays I consume a light breakfast and lunch (sometimes "breakfast" and "lunch" are spread over a couple hours each, more like grazing), keeping my pre-dinner calories around 600-700. That leaves me 500+ calories for dinner and any after dinner snacks. My daily food intake since February is posted in the "Daily Calorie Intake #2" thread in this forum, if it would help you at all to take a look at it. I ate out yesterday for my BIL's birthday, so that meal was a little weird. :)

I'm sorry but this is NOT true for everyone, and probably not even true for "most people". I eat WAY more now than I ever did before I started trying to lose weight. I just make smarter, healthier choices now. Less food, but higher, calorie rich, nutrition devoid foods are what made me fat (along with lack of movement), not overeating. Not everyone who is fat is fat because they ate too much. I'd bet not even "most" people are fat from overeating.

Yes food can be delicious, but I really think you are in the minority when you say you had FUN getting fat. Most people are miserable when they are getting fat...just look around at the depression board and the Body image forum, chicks in control...heck every forum. Very few people trying to lose weight had "fun" getting obese.

There is a woman who used to post here, she lost around 165 pounds and has kept if off for years. She was a mentor to me and many others. She used to say that she never regretted not eating the cheesecake... That rang true to so many of us. When you read around on "confession Mondays" there is more regret than joy over indulgent weekends.

If you are the kind of person who wants to eat as much food as humanly possible and lose weight at the slowest possible rate than hurrah for you too. To each his own, but for what it is worth, the OP expressed a desire to eat 1200 a day. Her question was how those of us who actually did it... succeeded in it. She did not ask for reasons why NOT to do it.

Good heavens. You know, if you believe that people don't get fat from overeating than I have some ocean front property in Nebraska I'd like to sell you.

I am most people. I overate and got very fat. I still love to eat, that is why I eat loads of fruits and vegetables. I LOVE to eat. I stay thin now because I keep my calories in check by eating voluminous nutritious food.

ETA: When I say overeat, I mean consume WAYYY too many calories. Not the physical act of eating, but the consumption of JUNK.

I think what OhMyDogs was getting at is that some people may not have overeaten, but may have instead eaten the wrong things. For example, let's say someone eats a steak/egg/cheese bagel from McDonald's for breakfast (600 calories), skips lunch but has a piece of Cheesecake factory cheesecake (1,100 calories), and then finishes off the day with dinner at Chilis with Chicken Crispers (1,900 calories)...it's not a ton of food at all and it's not overeating, but it totals up to 3,600 calories which would cause someone to gain weight if they kept eating like this.

Sidenote: I like your new picture, Lori!

I disagree. Eating more food is exactly what makes us fat, there is no other way.

I eat whatever I want right now, I just limit myself to a calorie number and once I get there I don't eat any more that day.

I can have a day where I eat "bad" food, like pizza. Two slices of pizza hut pepperoni are about 500 calories. If I eat that, then I have to be extremely cautious about how I spread out the rest of my allotment that day. It is SUPER easy to go over on those days, because you can't fit much into the remaining numbers.

We don't get fat because we ate miniscule amounts of junk food. I got fat because I'd normally have eaten 4 or 5 slices of pizza, plus two other meals and likely more than one snack that day.

Most people DO get fat from overeating. Barring a medical condition, the ONLY way to get fat is to eat more calories than you burn for an extended time period.

Granted - if I make healthier choices, I can eat a larger volume of food than if I allow myself to have some junk. But I don't care how you slice it, you just don't get a helluva lot to eat on a 1200 calorie a day diet as compared to the amount of calories we are used to consuming as an overweight person.

I have found that it makes it alot easier to stick to if you have variety. Eating a low calorie diet it is easy to stick to a handful of "safe" foods, you know they are healthy and can fit in your numbers this way with this other food. Eventually that gets boring and you find yourself feeling hungry and craving other stuff anyway.

I like the hungry girl recipe books. She makes entire books like "200 meals under 200 calories", "300 under 300" etc. It is alot easier when you can mix it up and make substitutes for foods you already loved.

Right now this is what my menu looks like:

Breakfast - hungry girl breakfast burrito 230
Snack - large green apple 100
Lunch - 1 Tbsp peanut butter 90
1 Tbsp wild mayhaw jelly 30
2 slices natures own honey wheat lite 80
Snack - blue bunny krunch lite ice cream bar 90
Dinner - lean cuisine or smart ones plus small
amount of veggies or fruit 300-400
Snack - fiber one 90 calorie bar, toast w/ >100
cream cheese, etc


Still under 1200 calories so there is some wiggle room, and I am just eating smaller amounts, making lower calorie choices of things I liked anyway.

I started out at 1200 cals. It was rough. I'm up to about 1400 right now and working out 4 days a week. My doctor told me to bump to AT LEAST 1600 for the next couple of months and then we would revisit.