Maintaining 1200 cals a day?

Mamafran, 1000 cals is really low for your weight. It sounds counter-intuitive, but you do have to eat to lose weight- try bumping up your cals and see what happens. Since you aren't fueling your body, its really not surprising that you don't have the energy to go to the gym! Try calculating your BMR and start there when figuring out how many calories to go for. I think you'll feel a lot better and be surprised at the results. I promise you, you don't have to stave yourself! It does more harm than good in the end.

1000 calories is really too low, your body must be going into starvation mode or something and storing fat deposits etc. I'm just repeating something I've heard.

Yesterday I was only at 800 calories and made myself eat something healthy (10 strawberries and low fat creme fraiche) just to get up to 1200 calories as I'm sure it's not good to go below that.

I am eating between 1150-1200 a day and do not go to bed hungry. I eat 3 meals and 3 snacks.

ill eat usually 600kcal to 1100kcal. depends how long my working days are ( i work as a saleslady which means i need to walk, stand and carry heavy packages whole day ).
when i'm using those mealreplacement products ( shakes and bars ) i'll usually eat 600kcal to 700kcal.
i would feel aweful if my calories go over 1100kcal everyday. but maybe i'll try that spike day thing.
i think this calorie amount thing has no right answer. some need more, some need less calories. every person is a whole new case. i even saw a document of man who was super overweight and he only drank water and took vitamins for one month ( 4 weeks ) to see if he could survive only by burning fat that his body already has. he didn't feel sick or anything at all.
i would feel sick if i'd try same, but i would also feel sick if i ate 1500kcal a day!

Anwoo, it's true that calories vary for everyone but if you're eating so low on a regular basis, my guess is that you have a damaged metabolism that needs to be fixed. You'll be happier, healthier, and more able to lose weight (as crazy at that sounds!) once you're eating a more sustainable level of calories. In addition to not fueling your body appropriately, you're probably not getting enough of many nutrients at your current calorie levels. Check out this article for some insights: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/core_march_8.htm

GNAT, that article was dead on!

yes that was very good article indeed, but i still keep my point.
i used to have problems with binge eating, but now when i eat low-cals but still adding a lot different healthy foods i feel great and i have learned to control my binge eating.
when i ate " healthy " and 1200+kcal, i was back in my binge eating. since i though " oh i'll just let myself to eat, since i have no rules execpt to keep my calories 1200+ and try looking that nutrion in things i'll eat is ok "
it made me think " oh maybe i could eat this.. and this too.. etc. "
i had no control.
but when i made decision; THAT'S IT! ONLY 1000kcal!
everything started to work. my weight that had been for long in same started to go down finally and i felt better.
i know that many keep my dieting unhealthy but if they knew how much i eat, they wouldn't be worried.
when i eat lots but with low-calories, i don't see problem there. humans should only eat for hunger, right? that's what im doing, and i don't feel hunger.
since i eat a lot cheeses, and i spoil myself with apple and peanut butter ( which i used to hate actually haha. )
when i want something sweet, i just drink a cup of latte.
when you eat less, even tiny things taste sweet enough to keep binge problem away.

anwoo,

Typically people binge, not because they lack will power or eat too much, but because the eat foods that hyper-stimulate their appetite aka sweets, flour, & processed foods.

I agree that we should use hunger as our guide to tell us when to eat however if we eat too little our bodies will turn down our metabolism to survive it's perceived famine. With a low metabolism hunger will subdue, just as you're experiencing. But once your body realizes that there is no famine you will binge and you will have no control over it. You're setting yourself up for failure, you've been warned.

i take the warning, though i lost ~38 lbs with this style and nothing came back even though i kept 2 months pause last summer.
on that pause i ate so much junk stuffs like pizza and mcdonalds, many times a week... and no it wasn't because i was unhappy to my dieting, it was because i went to abroad to spend time with my husband-to-be and we wanted to enjoy our time together.
now i have lost total over 44 lbs. and i feel healthy. and don't think i always eat just 600 kcal. only in very rare days, probably once a week or less. mostly i eat 1100 kcal, but i'm saying here that 1200 kcal is too much for me.
i have lost lot weight and i'm healthy and even i tried, none of weight i lost came back when i ate lots junk foods.
( i will not eat junk food at all anymore though )
but yeah my point is; i eat enough, only to hunger and i'm healthy, been doing this over year. maybe i'm alien since i don't fall to binge..
i knew i shouldn't had wroted to this topic, since i get everyone against me, but i still repeat; my point was that people are different.
science is not always right.
and what comes to my metabolism, i eat 2 times a day green tea capsules which are supposed to make metabolism faster.

Only way I maintained a 1300 cal diet was to eliminate processed foods and prepared everything. Only way I could eat right and maintain the nutrient balance. Good Luck...

I've been on a 1200 calories diet since november 11 and it's not that hard to follow ! you can spy on my diet calendar if you want

Thank you so much for posting that article! I've been trying to eat 1200 but keep ending up between 700-900 and not losing weight, I used to be anorexic and still don't get hunger pangs so the whole try to eat more to lose weight is new to me