Hi all. Every time I try to do a 1200 calorie diet I end up getting super depressed. When I do no carbs I get bad panic attacks, and if I exercise too much I get bad general anxiety. I always thought it was in my head but I've recently done some googling and found scholarly/academic articles from universities confirming what I thought was happening - that anything extreme messes badly with my brain chemicals.
A couple of articles talked about the negative effects of a low calorie diet on serotonin - the mood regulating hormone. Serotonin is also the issue when reducing carbs - but only if you had low serotonin to begin with.

The excessive exercising and anxiety has to do with cortisol and adrenaline. If you already have anxiety and you do intense workouts your adrenaline goes out of whack, adding to the flight or fight aspect of anxiety. (something to that effect.)

I need to lose a hundred pounds,I could even stand to lose more than that, so this is obviously disheartening. I was wondering if anyone else experiences one or all of these things?
Since I do not want to be on an antidepressant (I never liked their side effects) - I'm guessing I have to lose weight at a super slow pace by exercising and dieting a little - 30 mins of cardio instead of the 2-hr adrenaline increasing workouts i used to do, and maybe 1800 calories a day.

Has anyone successfully lost weight that way? Especially 1800 calories? Please please share.

If you get depressed on 1200 calories, it probably means you should eat more than that. What you eat is more important than how much you eat. What kinds of food do you eat?

I think 30 minutes of cardio per day should be enough. Do you do weightlifting? I suggest weightlifting 2-4 times a week, in addition to the cardio.

That’s how I lost my weight! I ate 1800 calories and after a few months started exercising 30-45 mins a day. Slow and steady does it, fad diets and quick fix diets don’t last.

Yes I think 30 minutes of cardio + light weight-lifting will be very doable, especially since I used to overdo it with 2 hours of "fast" Pilates.
As far as what kinds of food I eat... when I'm being "good" it's lean protein and high fiber in the form of fruits and veggies, very little fat, I even mistakenly avoid healthy fats. When I'm being bad it's microwave cheese quesadillas every day lol, a big cheese omelette, ice cream cone. I'm all about the carbs + dairy.

Hearing someone say "If you get depressed eating 1200 calories then you probably need more than that" is SUPER comforting because it confirms how I feel and feels super supportive. Thank you so much for that!!

Yes!!!!! I always thought/knew a "higher" calorie restriction diet was probably the most effective but I have not for the life of me been able to get that darn 1200 calorie nonsense out of my head. How long did it take you to lose the weight and how much did you need to lose, if you don't mind my asking? Thank you for sharing your very inspiring experience!!

It took me years to realize that as JulesMarion indicated, slow and steady wins the race.

I'm glad that you've made the association between food/exercise and depression. That will help a lot of people, I think.

I lost 80 the first year and 40 the second year and about 10 the third year and have been maintaining since.

You need some healthy fats in your diet. Approximately 20-35% of your calories should come from fat, so if you're eating 1800 calories, that's about 40-70 g fat.

Some good sources of healthy fat are nuts (e.g. walnuts, almonds, pecans), avocado, chia seeds, some types of fish (e.g. wild alaskan salmon), and extra virgin olive oil. I always put olive oil on my vegetables, which is an easy way to get more healthy fats and makes the vegetables taste better.

If you want a healthy alternative to ice cream, you should try the famous "banana ice cream" recipe. The recipe: slice 2 bananas, put on a plate and cover in plastic, freeze for at least 2 hours, and blend. If it's not blending well, you can add 1 or 2 tbsp of milk. If you want to make different flavors, you can add things like vanilla extract, cocoa powder, berries, or nut butter. If you want to see the recipe in action, there are a lot of videos on Youtube.

RL99- I have the same problem. I suffer from depression and when my calories or carbs are too low my depression gets worse. I take medication for my depression and still have a problem with too low carbs or calories. I don't know why it affects me this way but feel somewhat better knowing that this happens to other people as well. At times I can overdue it on the exercise and this also affects my mood.