On a lot of sites I see people saying you need to lower your calorie intake to 1200 to lose weight. Is that actually the range people need to eat? I tried 1200 calorie counting one day and was getting paranoid that I wouldn't have any calories left for dinner..

The number of calories you should be eating, as I have read, depends on your bmr. 1200 is the lowest amount you should eat if you're not that hungry that day. Here is an article I've read about it.

http://weightlossproblems.tumblr.com...ie-deficit-and


I have never been able to lose weight successfully at only 1200 a day. Too hungry! I have lost weight at about 1600 to 1700 a day though with working out.

There's no such thing as a "magic number." As the commenter above said: 1200 calories is the minimum that a person should eat (actually, the minimum that a female should eat; I believe that 1500 is the minimum for men.)

But everyone is different and every body has different needs. Some people can thrive and do very well on 1200 calories a day; for others, 1200 calories isn't close to what they need to get through the day.

Personally, I can't do 1200 calories. I mean...I can *net* 1200, I suppose, but I exercise an hour a day, six days a week, and there's just no way that I can survive on 1200 calories a day. On the days I work out, I usually eat around 1,700 calories and burn off approximately 500 calories through exercise. It still leaves me with 1200 *net* calories, but at least this way I'm not passing out all over the place (the way I can be if I try to just eat 1200 calories.)

The key? Everyone's different. Everyone loses weight differently. What one person can survive on is not what everyone can.

Your BMR is the key here. If your body needs 1400 to keep you alive while you literally do nothing, then (and this is my opinion) you need to give your body those 1400 calories. I assume that nobody literally lays in bed 24 hours a day which means that you burn even more calories while doing your daily thing - workouts excluded.
Also - listen to your body. Are you still hungry? Do you feel sluggish? Play around a little and see what works for you.