1200 seems like such a LOW number!
 

Using my fitness pal. Have it logged in to lose 2 pounds a week, and it's telling me 1200 calories is my number. It just seems like such a low number to me. It's probably my choices, but dang.

I'm not a tiny thing either, so you'd think it would allow me to eat a little bit more. Anyone else seeing this when using online calorie counters?

I think you can workout and add as much as you burned to the 1200.
i.e., walk 5 miles = about 450 extra calories for your current weight.

1200 calories is starvation. At least to me.

May I recommend the book fat2fit. It's a great book and explains how to calculate your BMR (basal metabolic rate) and then factor in extra calories for any movement you do. Great book. I got mine on amazon.

I use MFP and when I set my goal for 2lbs loss a week it gave me a similar number. I would set your goal for 1.5 lbs or less a week so you can have more to eat, because for many people 1200 per day isn't sustainable. Also a previous poster mentioned Fit2Fat, which is a great tool concerning exactly how much you should be eating! Check out the book and look up the website for it, you can get a calculation of your BMR and get a better idea of what your goals should be!

It might not consider any exercise. When I saw my nutritionist, she recommended 1500 on the days I didnt work out and on the days I did, 2000. And I’m 5’0 soooo..

I'm struggling with the 1250 cals LoseIt gives me, especially after several months on it. I can get enough food on that amount but it leaves no wiggle room for a fun beverage or a treat. You'll have to play around with it and see how much you can budget and still lose.

i'm glad you posted this, because i was just about to! looking back at my food diary..i'm like.."wow! i have 1390 calories to play with and some days i still struggle to stay under, i can't imagine how someone doing 1200/day manages!"

my MFP username is valalltogether, feel free to add me!

I LOVE my fitness pal! Don't worry about the calories if you are working out... each time you burn, it will tell you that you've "earned" more calories for the day :)

I stick to 1200 but its nice to know there are "extra" ones if you need them!

I've read that myfitnesspal starts everyone off at 1200 regardless of their current weight but that you can go in a fiddle with it and get something that actually applies to you.

Again, this is what I've read. I don't actually know anything about myfitnesspal.

My counselor recommended I not do 1200, but 1500. I have to lose over 100 pounds, so I could probably eat 1600 and still lose weight. 1200 does make me feel like I am starving. I set my fitness pal at 1320, just to remind me I am getting close to 1500. Then let my physical feeling help decide if I want to go over. Some days I am good and some I am not. Also I have found that fluctuating my calories is best. Eating the same calories everyday sets my system for that amount and I start to not lose. So I fluctuate.

Thanks for this... and to think that all this time I thought that myfitnesspal chose 1200 calories a day for me in some highly individualized way and because I was unique :)

I use other counters and input that number into mfp, I use this formula...

It's called the Olivia method but I've had more consistent results with it Of course you'd want to find your own numbers, these are mine from two months ago




*Bmr*1715 x 1.3(activity level) =2230

Set mfp to 2230
You must eat 1715 this is to survive!*

The 515 that is 2230-1715= 515 is part of your deficit from diet alone.*

1715+1000= 2715 this is maintenance*

2715-2230=485??? If I burn more than in this exercise, I need to eat that back*

I really hope that's not too confusing pm me if you have any questions

Never under estimate the power of vegetables. For dinner I had a 500 gram bag of broccoli florets, 4 huge roasted carrots and a omelet made with 1 jumbo egg and a tablespoon of real butter. For about 400-ish calories, I am completely stuffed. No reason to be hungry on a low amount of daily calories.

Thedollylala That is similar to fat2fit calculator or any calulator for BMR and TDEE. http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/

I too started at 1200 calories a day on My fitness pal. I was able to eat at that level for several weeks. After starting to work out consitantly I felt soo tired and grumpy. I upped my calories to 1500 then found out about BMR and increased it again to 1700. My BMR is 1690. With lifting weights and cardio I needed those calories.

There are 2 groups on my fitness pal that encourage higher calories and exercise (lifting weights) to lose in a healthy way. You do not loose as fast but you also don't lose muscle in the process. Eat more to weigh less http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/s...-to-weigh-less and In place of a road map http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/s...-of-a-road-map Both suggest eating above your basic body requirement and below your TDEE (total daily enegry requirment). Most suggest 15% below your tdee. I am very overweight so am going for 30% below.

I try and eat at 30% below my TDEE which is about 1900-2000 cal/day. I lift weights 3x a week and do cardio (walk 1.6 miles in 30min) 3x a week. I am still trying to work my way up to that level. Its hard psychologically to eat more. I am eating about 1800 on nonlifting days and 2000 on lifting days.

On MFP, I set my desired loss to one pound a week and it gave me a goal of 1630. I prefer more calories and slower weight loss.

Even though it recommended me to only eat that much, I set it to .5 or 1 pound a week to get it around 1400-1500 calories. I noticed that when I ate more, I actually LOST weight. When I was starving myself, I was not losing at all!

I also would eat back most of my burned calories as well.

I am 5'2" and 139 pounds. I am on a 1200 calorie diet, the minimum for Woman. For your height and weight tho, I would think you should be around 1500 per day. Maybe it's because you put 2 lbs per week tho. I stick to 1 lb per week.

Some days I find it super hard, while others I don't. I eat ALOT of veggies, and I find this fills up my plate without taking up a bunch of my calories. Here is my profile if you want to add me (or anyone else, need some MFP buddies )

My food log is open to view for Friends...

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/siobhan1983


My BMR is 1419

x 1419 by 1.2 (sedentary since I have a desk job) = 1702 maintenance calories to stay at my current weight.

minus 500 calories per day to loose 1 lb per week = 1200 calories for me (the minimum)

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

I use The Daily Plate to track my calories, but I have set my own calorie goal in TDP at 1500. My doctor and dietician have set my range between 1500-1700. I NEVER eat that much. Don't get me wrong I eat large quantities of food but it is A Lot of veggies and protien, very little carbs. I am rarely hungry and have been losing an average of 3 pounds a week.

I recently just started using MyFitnessPal. When it told me that 1200 was my limit I was surprised, and thought I was going to starve. But compared to what I used to eat (never tracked), I'm eating just the right amount of food during the day. 1200 seemed so low to me, but now I love it. It's just right. I can eat all day and still have a few extra left over.

*~Love and Light~*

I think it really depends on the sort of things you're eating.

I dunno, I eat like a slob when unchecked-easily going well over 3000 calories if given the chance OR if eating at a fast food restaurant.

What I've noticed is that it helps you put things into perspective, like "Wow! I can either drink this soda and be done for the rest of the day, or I can eat such-and-such and actually be full!"

It helps a lot that I'm vegan so many of the foods are much lower in calories than their nonvegan counterparts. Often I find myself cramming food away in order to meet my calorie limit at the end of the day (not the best idea).

It also helps motivate you to work out a bit when you've got quite a low calorie limit (or at least it does for me). Like "Hmm, that pizza looks very, very tempting...if I run about a mile that's 100 calories. I can easily have a slice!"

Idk. I thought 1200 was the bare minimum anyone should eat? At my heigh and generally sedentary lifestyle, I'm at a resting rate of 1900 to maintain so I'm on a 1400 cal diet. Which, honestly, could very easily be the difference between another meal or a single cookie compared to the 1200 minimum.

Just depends on what you want to spend it on. I think of the calories as sun, like in Plants VS. Zombies and think carefully about what I want to spend them on. It helps to just be continually eating small things throughout the day instead of three 400 calorie meals (at least for me).

...wow. that was a ramble and a half. Sorry.

I too had a BMR recommendation of 1200! I thought "what a piece of c**p this app is." :cool:

I do like it, but I prefer the My Net Diary app for some reason. They both accomplish the same thing, IMO.

1200 does seem very little for your current weight/height etc. When I started (albeit a fair bit above your weight) I was losing steadily on 1800. I dropped to 1600 probably around 170 pounds? I can't remember exactly. Then 1500, and I stopped losing at 1400 calories - which is also the time I sort of stopped counting and took a bit of a maintenance break.
I'm now losing again and I'm sticking to 1300 most days - but do 1600 at least 2 out of Friday-Sunday - and it's still working.

I think you need to shuffle around for a bit and see what works best for you. Maybe don't rely solely on the app?

I switched from Mfp to livestrong when Mfp told me 1300 calories. I weighed 430lbs at the time. My bmr was in the 4500s!

That being said, since going primal and cutting my carbs down to between 20-50gs, I eat about 950-1100 calories a day. (Thats base. if i exercise i eat back at least 75% of my burn). When I told my md that I was struggling to get my calories in, he told me at my weight that it was perfectly ok until I hit the low 300s. Of course I don't recommend a number that low, but the point is you need to eat a level that's comfortable. Add 100 cals every few days until you hit a number where you're full, but still losing. You won't stick to anything if you're hungry.

I agree with Joycelyn that 1200 is too low. It is something I can see someone who is just 5 pounds overweight doing to lose those last 5.
As long as I can do 1700 and under I'm super happy and I lose weight steadily. My problem is that I tend to eat that 200 calories extra per day somewhere which brings me closer to 2000 and I end up maintaining or losing too slowly. I know how starved I feel at 1500 and I could not imagine myself trying for 1200 except maybe maybe those last 5.

I've actually been doing 1230 and have been comfortable with it. I mean, it's what I would eat when I would be in maintnance and once I cut out all of the junk food and pre-packaged treats, I discovered that I could literally eat good things -all- day and not even come close to my caloric goal.

Apples, carrots, bananas, grapes, pineapple, fat free cottage cheese, tuna, chicken, turkey burgers. All of these things you can have in ONE day.