Maintaining 1200 cals a day?

I'm new to FatSecret - been using the online and Droid app for about 2 weeks and it's really helped raise my visibility to the number of calories I'm eating. I'm struggling to get down to my goal weight, having lost 25 lbs on Weight Watchers and then stalling for months. My doc recently said I should get down to 1200 cals a day to "reset" my metabolism (was eating around 1400-1500 but with workouts always maintaining a calorie deficit). 1200 cals a day is hard - any suggestions from folks out there?

That doesn't make any sense to me- eating fewer calories slows your metabolism, it doesn't increase it. In the time you've been losing weight, have you periodically had days where you go "off plan"? I feel like a lot of people have experiences where they're stuck, splurge for a few days, then start moving again. You should also try changing up your workouts, if you haven't already. Try something different or increase the intensity- I've found that adding morning workouts helped me to break a recent slump.

As you get closer to your goal weight, your body is a little more reluctant to lose weight and I've heard that it actually helps to maintain smaller deficits at that point instead of larger ones- Jillian Michaels talked about that in a podcast I heard where you essentially have to sneak the deficits by your body, so stick to about 500 a day. Another consideration is whether or not you actually need to lose more weight- do you strength train? If you don't, adding this might help you to achieve the look you want without actually losing more weight.

Just some food for thought- I hope you find some way to get things moving again!

Everything gnat824 said I believe to be true as well!!! 1200 is VERY hard and I could never do it when I tried. I do wonderfully at 1500 and exercise.

Surprisingly a lot of doctors know very little about nutrition. Half the doctors I see are obese themselves. 1200 is too low for anyone.

I know women have lower targets than men, but that seems too low for me too. I've been working at improving my diet for about 14 months first at 2200 calories then at 2000. I occasionally go over but usually not much. That plus exercise has worked well for me. I'm not sure what the equivalent for women is, but I typically don't feel hungry or need to use my iron will (which I don't have) to keep from eating. But you have to exercise AND eat healthier and there is always an eating challenge. Right now it's sodium for me.

I regularly eat around 1200 calories a day with a spike day once or sometimes twice a week. But I am a 5'-1" woman that weighs 108 lbs and has a desk job with limited exercise. I do lift weights for half an hour 3 times a week. And try to walk for half an hour 3 times a week. My typical caloric deficit is between 100 and 400 calories a day (except on spike days). I am losing about a quarter pound a week. I feel that I am close enough to my goal to gradually increase my calories to about 1400 a day.

So, if you still think you need to be at 1200 calories I can offer the following advice that has helped me:

1. Eat a high protein diet (especially at breakfast). It helps keep hunger away.

2. Make a point of finding healthy foods that you enjoy enough to consider as treats. (Most recently for me home made fruit smoothies with no added sugar.)

3. Have a spike day once a week. It helps keep your metabolism up and allows you to eat the things you crave so yuo won't feel depraved.

Good luck!

sorry, what is a spike day?

A spike day is when you eat around twice as many calories as your base metabolic rate while maintaining a caloric deficit for the rest of the week. The term comes from the spike diet which I don't exactly follow, but I've definitely adopted the spike day philosophy

sounds good! I'm aiming for 1200 calories a day, (excuse my lack of knowledge, I'm quite new to all this)! so how many calories would I consume on a spike day? I am about 143 pounds, 25 years old and about 5'2''. I'm also looking for buddies if anyone wants to add me for moral support?! I failed first time round,

hang on, I've just found a 'BMR' calculator...

It works out my BMR as about 1450 ish calories, so my spike day I would eat 2900 calories....???? Is that right??

If so, I'm on that!

Did you eat anything on your spike day? That can be my alcohol day haha!

Lozenge, I'm following the Spike Diet right now. My BMR is right around 1400. I try to eat around that 6 days a week. Some are lower and some are higher depending on how much I work out or how hungry I am! Then once a week the goal is to hit 2800-3000 calories. You can do it any way you'd like. Generally for me it is a day that I have alcohol but that's because I have a hard time getting the calories in without it!

The spike days do seem to help keep your metabolism burning. It's also great because you can have some of those foods that a low calorie diet doesn't always allow room for. I suggest getting the book if you're interested. It's a super quick read and written in a way that you don't need nutritional experience to understand.

This does sound rather good I have to say, can't see me having much trouble getting up to that many calories on my spike day, being a beer drinker! The only concern is that I don't get much exercise, do you still think it could work for me?

Exercise is great for overall health but you don't necessarily need it to lose weight. The spike diet should still work as long as spike days don't turn into spike weekends!

For those trying to stick to a 1200 calorie diet, try Slimfast's 3-2-1 diet. It's built around a 1200 calorie plan.
Breakfast - Shake or Meal bar (180-200 Calories)
Morning Snack - Snack Bar (100 Calories)
Lunch - Shake or Meal Bar (180-200 Calories)
Early Afternoon Snack - Snack Bar (100 Calories)
Late Afternoon Snack - Snack Bar (100 Calories)
Dinner - Well-balanced dinner (500 calories)

This is really easy to follow, not very expensive, and is working great for my fiance, who is a member of the USAF. I just started on it, and I feel pretty good.

My low days on the Spike Diet are 1200 calories and I mostly don't have difficulty at that number - and I'm a big girl (5'7", 194ish) ...but I'm with gnat - your doctor sounds as if s/he might not be fully up on exactly how this whole thing works.

To answer your original question - lots and lots of protein (a 4oz chicken breast is only about 10% of your 1200 calories - that blows my mind every time!), and veggies add tons of bulk without a ton of calories. It's very doable with the right food.

But still, I don't know if your doctor's instructions are the right advice for you. I'd do some more investigation, either with a trainer or nutritionist or with reputable online sources of weight loss and nutrition info.

1200 calories is tough.

I tend to have a low fat vegetable soup for either lunch or dinner most days, they're filling and very low calorie and very good for you! One serving is half a can but if I feel hungry a bit later I eat the rest, and it's still under 200 calories!

6 small meals is a good way to go too if you're having trouble...?

Loz

I am using that slim fast product but sometimes only once a day.I need motivation from buddies like you./ GOOD LUCK TO US

If you're not comfortable with dropping to 1200 calories, then don't. Try some of the other suggestions first and see what happens. It doesn't sound like you are on a low-carb/no-carb plan, which is fine. But maybe try an inverted carb plan. This means eating carbs in the early part of the day and tapering off so you stop consuming them by the afternoon. So by the time you get to dinner you'd be eating lean protein w/ veggies.
Definitely change up your exercies routine. Muscle confusion is a great way to boost metabolism. It can be as simple as adding jogging intervals to a walking routine.
If this doesn't work, try the 1200 calories temporarily and see. Everybody's different and its about finding what works for your body and lifestyle. Sometimes all you can do is trial and error.

I tried the 1200 a day for a while after meeting with a trainer. I was at 1600 and she said that that was a lot for people who want to lose weight. I was not successful what so ever at 1200 cals. I never once stayed under and then I would just grow frustrated. I work out pretty hard and a 1200 calorie diet just doesn't work for me. I'm set at 1700 and try not to go over. If it happens, it happens. I'd rather just see me go over every now and then, than going over all the time, which is what I was doing at 1200. I'm going to try and drop to 1500 but for right now I'm seeing results. It's all about making healthy choices and not overdoing your "splurges" Everything in moderation is my philosophy. But I do think that strength training may help tighten and tone if you don't already do that. I have just lost my first 10 and it took a while but I lost a size with my first 5. Everything tightened up and got slimmer before the scale number dropped. Good luck with everything. Hope you can find something that works with everyone's input.

I usually hit in at around 1000 calories or even lower. I have been working on decreasing my carbs and increasing my protein.I was doing good about exercising but the last few days I have not had the gumption to go to the gym. I feel like I might possibly gain this week even though I have only eaten 1000 or less calories per day. I will listen to any advice.