The 1750-1800 calorie diet wasn't doing the trick for me. When I planned out my menus, there was way too much wiggle room and it just set me to eat a lot of high calorie junk just because I could. That created the problem of being hungry later and not having the calories to spare, so I was actually eating more like 2300 calories. So, starting this past Wednesday, I dropped it down to about 1200 calories. I make my food plans using the Microsoft templates (these are cool, has space for food, calories, fat, and a little comment section for mini-journaling). My menus have been coming in at 1050-1250 calories, *Miracle* I have been able to stick to them like glue. I am completely satisfied and my mind is OFF the food because I am not constantly trying to figure out how many more calories I can eat. Sometimes I have even been skipping my morning snack because I am not ready for it yet. By lunchtime my stomach is growling but I have come to LOVE that feeling because I know its a sure sign that what my body needs is FUEL, not comfort, not stress relief, not a boredom-breaker. I know a lot of people here are not crazy about the lower calorie diets but I think this is my magic wand here. I skipped my weigh-in on Friday because I am starting a new weigh in day, Wednesday. I weighed in on the 12th at 264.8 (up .8 on the 1800 calorie plan) and I will weigh again on the 19th to see what my new plan is doing for me.
Hi,
I really think 1200 calories is too low at your weight, because when you begin loosing weight at a higher calorie intake , you gradually lower it as you lose weight, I started out at about 1700 calories a day, and have losed 55 lbs, now I am down to about 1400-1500( once in a while I will have a 1600 calorie day), and am still loosing, I probably will have to take this # down to 1300-1400 calories a day when I get under 200.Do you understand what I am saying? I am giving my body room to adjust to the lower calories, so I don't shock it, and then when I begin eating to mantain it is not such a big surprise. You might feel satisfied, right now with 1200, but I am sure in a few days you will get hungry.
Good luck with this, and I hope it works for you.
cheryl
Good luck!! Personally I would have dropped it in increments, rather than just doing one big jump from 1800 to 1200 until I found what worked for me. But it's your body and only you can determine what works for you. The bottom line is that 1200 calories is still healthy, if the 1200 calories comes from healthy foods!!
I do hope that you add a "healthy" snack back in even your stomach isn't growling yet, because I firmly believe that the small snacks help keep your metabolism going strong.
I know there are plenty of people hanging around who do fine on 1200 calories a day, and if that works for you then I say rock on. I will share my own experience, though, just as food for thought.
I started trying to lose weight in June 2006 and I stuck to 1200 calories. There were days when I was starving and went over, but for the most part I stuck to it. I really got a charge out of the days I was able to get by on less than 1200, kind of like it was a challenge to eat as little as possible.
And it worked for about four months. I worked out hard and I ate 1200 calories a day, and I lost 30 pounds. But then one day it just stopped, and a year later I'm still trying to figure out the formula to start losing again. It's really, really frustrating, and I still haven't figured it out. I'm trying the Wendie Plan in calories (thanks to a generous soul on this board who posted the breakdown in her blog), so I'm at an average of 1450 calories a day now, and I work out as much as possible. Which is still not as much as I should if I want to lose at the rate I was previously, but I know my limitations now, so I'm okay with slow weight loss Honestly, at this point any weight loss would be welcome.
So that's what happened to me. I hope the same doesn't prove true for you.
Good for you for finding something that works and that you can stick with! As you're discovering, 1200 calories can be a great amount of food if you make healthy choices. I know I can lose well at between 1200 - 1300, and I get some great nutrition.
I think what people are concerned about with someone who starts off his or her weight loss journey at 1200 calories is, where do you go if/when your body starts to plateau? Normally, people who plateau drop their calories by a couple hundred and ramp up the exercise. Dropping to 1000 calories is tough, and if a person plateaus again before reaching goal, it's even tougher to drop lower. Maintenance might be difficult, too, because maintenance usually involves eating about 300 more calories per day more than what you ate to lose weight. So if you had to drop to 900 calories per day to reach your goal, you'd probably maintain at 1200 calories per day. Doable, but tough to sustain for a lifetime.
However, every body is different. Like everyone here, you need to do what works for you. Good luck with your weight loss journey!
Its funny. Because I always thought that people that said they couldnt eat enough calories or they only ate 1200 calories were crazy. I was like. OMG. If I only had 1200 calories then I would be starving. But I was counting calories this week and 3 of the days I only ate 1100 calories and was trying to find stuff so I could atleast get to 1400. It was really hard. So I dont think 1200 is bad.
It's important to do whatever works best for you...
I'm not a big fan of the 1200 calories right off the bat, although I do eat about 1200 on non-exercise days, personally I like the wiggle room and sustainable loss of the more moderate calories so I'll be able to decrease as I get closer to goal.
I'm not here to disagree with what your doing though! I just wanted to chime in that if you do want to add more back in at some point so you can do a more gradual decline you can try adding high-impact but healthy calories in like peanut butter or nuts... that's like 200 calories right there for 2tbsp or 1oz give or take. (Plus very healthy fats!)
I totally understand everyone's point here, but the big point I was trying to make is that the higher calorie diet was not working for me. For some reason, I couldn't stick to it. Now that I am comfortable, I can't imagine adding more calories for no reason. I would honestly have to either 1. Eat when I am not hungry or 2. eat larger meals and eat past the point of satiety. These are 2 habits that I am NOT interested in going back to. Thanks for the advice though!
I eat primarily lean meat, veggies and fruit and have very little trouble sustaining 1200 a day. I am like you, I would have to eat when I wasn't hungry or more than I'm comfortable with in order to go much higher. I also enjoy the structure of fewer calories and not feeling like my world is revolving around food.
Everybody assumes there will be a plateau at some point and what will we do then. I'm in almost 4 months and have not had a week where I didn't lose weight. I don't think a plateau of any substantial size is a foregone conclusion. Some people plateau and some don't. I tend to think that people plateau when they begin to fudge their calories a bit or get so comfortable at whatever exercise they are doing that the body doesn't see it as a workout anymore. Be aware of those things and I think you'll be fine but always be prepared to try new things if it becomes too much of a strain.
Robin, that's a really good point you're making about becoming complacent. I know I certainly have a habit of going really well for a few weeks then thinking something like "I'm doing well, I can afford to have one or two days off plan". Pretty soon the couple of days turn into a week and...we all know how that one goes.
Marseille, if it works for you, then go for it. For me, that wouldn't work, but we're all different. I personally would have given it a little longer before making changes, but my body takes a couple of weeks to catch up with any changes I make. If you find you're hungry and that that number of calories isn't enough, then please do have another look at making more changes to your plan...
I've been sticking to 1200-1250 calories since the beginning of my plan. There has only been 2 weigh in's where I didn't lose. And the next weigh in was back on track. So those could have been from bloating or muscle or something else. So far I have not had a plateau and I have not had to decrease my calorie intake at all. I do change up my exercise routine. I was walking 30 min. a day now I run 30 min. and walk 30 min. most days of the week. I like to miss no more than 2 days. I do crunches everyday and lift weights{just my arms, until I can get a new weight bench}. I do get satisfied on the 1200 calories. I eat a lot and it seems like all the time. Good luck on your new plan, be sure to eat often to keep up your metabolism.
if i eat any more than 1300 i feel too full and bloated. That's because i don't eat meat, mostly veggies and fruit really. And i keep losin weight, so it can't be a bad thing! Just do what you're bodies telling you to do
Oh hey, I watched a marathon of Brookehaven Clinic today on TLC, abotu the morbidly obese wieghtloss clinic in New York. Every one fo the residens there, 500ish-1000ish pounds are placed on the 1200 a day diet.
My doctor placed me on it as well. I am working at it, I have lost 2 1/2 inches, but I am going slow and changing my entire life not just my food intake.
I am concentrating on portions and lowering my fat intake. I had no freaking clue to how much I fried. I am tossing out more and more fat and baking and and stuff instead. My goal is not to stop eating the things I love, but to make the things i love to eat healthy as well.
I think it's important to stress that the folks on the Brookehaven program are under medical supervision and it is residential. This may not be something to try on one's own.
As you can see, I was not as heavy as most of you posters, but on days when I was down around or below 1200, it was often very hard not to be hungry all the time. I really had to tough it out. So I find it amazing that so many in this thread have said they are comfortable at that level. Of course, I was also execising 5 or 6 times a week.
I also don't see what the problem is with eating more--Marseille, why did you choose to eat "high calorie junk" to fill out your calories? It's quite possible to have extra ounces of lean meat, or a little more of a complex carbohydrate, a larger serving of vegetables, or even a little full-fat salad dressing or dairy, to increase calories.
I'm all for doing what works, though! My concern is that 1200 calories might not be sustainable in the long run, and it's easy not to get enough nutrition at that level. Plus, as another poster said, there's no room to go lower later on, if weight loss stalls.
But, hey, you can cross that bridge when you get there!
1200 Calories
