1200 Calorie Diet

brij2006 · February 2014

Not sure how many of you ladies use My Fitness Pal or follow a 1,200 diet, but this is an interesting article about it.

http://sophieologie.me/2013/09/26/1200-calories/

The dietitian I'm working with for the PCOS diet, has me sending her my MFP diary every 2 weeks. She responded with this article and asked me how long I've been doing a 1,200 calorie diet and training for half marathons. Um, since about a year before the wedding. So almost 3 years now.

New plan of action: 1,770 calorie PCOS diet, continuing my weight lifting, and any day I run I need to replace those exact amounts of calories I burned with PCOS friendly foods. She thinks this may have contributed to me no longer having regular cycles (I had no problems when I was heavier), and wants to give it a try. Never did I think the way I lost my weight may have contributed to this.

LuckyAngel07 · February 2014

I'm being lazy and responding before reading the article, but I did know that women should eat no less than 1200 calories per day, period. If you add in exercise, you should increase your calories. 1200 is a great calorie limit if you're just dieting without doing a lot of exercising, but with the amount of running you do, I'm honestly shocked you're not starving eating only 1200/day. I could almost never stick to that limit when I was working out before my wedding and when I was doing my 5K training; I got way too starving.

I really hope this change in your calorie intake helps your body get what it needs to do what it should be doing! GL!

islandmonkey8 · February 2014

The misinformation about weight loss that is publicized is amazing. My mother couldn't believe it when I told her one of the reasons she couldn't lose weight was because she wasn't eating enough. She started eating regular portions of food and snacking healthily and was finally losing weight like she wanted to.

Eating isn't a bad thing. It's what you eat that is important not how little.

brij2006 · February 2014

@luckyangel07 The days I do a long run (3 miles or more), then I usually replace most of the calories. It's the other days with shorter runs that I never replaced them (do now).

But I just found it interesting that even on something like MFP or even Weight Watchers (theirs the equivalent points to calories), it has women doing a 1,200 calorie diet. I did this even prior to training for half marathons, and had problems with my cycles then. Even when on BC.

I just wanted to share it here to give other ladies some insight, since I know many of us have weight loss goals.

GoodWolf · February 2014

I did this as well for about three years and only when I upped my intake to 1700-1800 calories and started replacing the calories I burned was I able to have cycles less than 50 or 60 days. It also helped me be able to listen to hunger cues, eat when hungry, and avoid binge eating. And I was surprised at having more energy and actually not gaining the weight back. It's amazing that this is such a wide held rule of "dieting" and it's not healthy at all. I hope it helps with your cycles!

LuckyAngel07 · February 2014

brij2006 said:
But I just found it interesting that even on something like MFP or even Weight Watchers (theirs the equivalent points to calories), it has women doing a 1,200 calorie diet. I did this even prior to training for half marathons, and had problems with my cycles then. Even when on BC.

This is why I liked Spark People. If I intended to work out X number of times each week, I was given a higher calorie range than if I checked off no exercise. And it definitely didn't give every woman a 1200 calorie limit right off the bat.

If I ever start tracking my exercise/diet/calorie intake again, I'll be using Spark People to do it. They do a really great job of stressing healthy foods, getting plenty of water, and trying a variety of exercises. They promote a lot of strength training, too, and don't just advocate cardio.

mrshall1027 · February 2014

Thanks for posting that. I've mentioned on here that I am now doing the PCOS diet and so far, it's been really good for me. I also started doing T25 last week. I'm actually having a problem with getting up to 1200 calories a day. I feel satisfied after I finish eating and I'm not starving myself; when I am hungry, I eat. I'm focusing on eating a lot more greens and mainly lean proteins with some fruit and limiting carbs. I'm wondering what else I can do to increase my calorie intake...? I'm only 5'0" and have a very small frame; does that have any impact on it? The most I've calculated eating in the last week is roughly 1000 calories.

GoodWolf · February 2014

@LuckyAngel07 @brij2006 I use MFP and it gave me a higher calorie limit than SparkPeople. SP is what actually put me at 1200 originally. I like that MFP ups my calorie amount based on how many calories I burn and gives "warnings" if I'm too low on calories. If you say you want to lose too many lbs/week and don't input the correct activity level I think that's when it drops down to around 1200.

brij2006 · February 2014

GoodWolf said:

I did this as well for about three years and only when I upped my intake to 1700-1800 calories and started replacing the calories I burned was I able to have cycles less than 50 or 60 days. It also helped me be able to listen to hunger cues, eat when hungry, and avoid binge eating. And I was surprised at having more energy and actually not gaining the weight back. It's amazing that this is such a wide held rule of "dieting" and it's not healthy at all. I hope it helps with your cycles!

This gives me hope.

ETA: H made a few remarks this summer about my calorie counting and long cycles, but when we asked my Dr about it he said I wasn't at a low weight for it to be a concern.

One plus to this 2 years of TTC without any assistance, I can give these different things a try and see if they get us any closer to our BFP.

islandmonkey8 · February 2014

brij2006 said:

@luckyangel07 The days I do a long run (3 miles or more), then I usually replace most of the calories. It's the other days with shorter runs that I never replaced them (do now).
But I just found it interesting that even on something like MFP or even Weight Watchers (theirs the equivalent points to calories), it has women doing a 1,200 calorie diet. I did this even prior to training for half marathons, and had problems with my cycles then. Even when on BC.
I just wanted to share it here to give other ladies some insight, since I know many of us have weight loss goals.

If you do WW properly this is not true. The new program doesn't calculate in calories at all (uses fat, fiber, protein). Also, you are supposed to add in any workouts you do and it gives you more points to use. The problem is people who don't do the whole plan and properly track and only eat the minimum and don't use the extra points which are calculated for a reason. WW also gives you more points the more you weigh so it doesn't start you off anywhere near the bottom (unless of course you have little to lose). Sorry, WW put me in the best shape of my life and I don't want people to think it is a bad plan.

islandmonkey8 · February 2014

ystaalenburg said:

Thanks for posting that. I've mentioned on here that I am now doing the PCOS diet and so far, it's been really good for me. I also started doing T25 last week. I'm actually having a problem with getting up to 1200 calories a day. I feel satisfied after I finish eating and I'm not starving myself; when I am hungry, I eat. I'm focusing on eating a lot more greens and mainly lean proteins with some fruit and limiting carbs. I'm wondering what else I can do to increase my calorie intake...? I'm only 5'0" and have a very small frame; does that have any impact on it? The most I've calculated eating in the last week is roughly 1000 calories.

Could you post some examples of your daily intake? Maybe we can help if you show us what you are eating.If you started T25 you definitely need to be eating more than 1200 calories a day.

OohSparkly13 · February 2014

ystaalenburg said:

Thanks for posting that. I've mentioned on here that I am now doing the PCOS diet and so far, it's been really good for me. I also started doing T25 last week. I'm actually having a problem with getting up to 1200 calories a day. I feel satisfied after I finish eating and I'm not starving myself; when I am hungry, I eat. I'm focusing on eating a lot more greens and mainly lean proteins with some fruit and limiting carbs. I'm wondering what else I can do to increase my calorie intake...? I'm only 5'0" and have a very small frame; does that have any impact on it? The most I've calculated eating in the last week is roughly 1000 calories.

I've never done the PCOS diet so I am not sure what is and isn't allowed but could you add olive oil anywhere in your diet? Maybe in a salad dressing or when cooking your protein? Olive oil has about 120 calories per tablespoon and its considered a healthy fat.

brij2006 · February 2014

@islandmonkey8 I'm so happy to read the the new program does it differently. Guess I haven't done enough research on the new program, just the old one. My bad.

@ystaalenburg You aren't alone in having trouble filling your calories on the diet. So here's what my go-to calorie fillers are...

Celery w/ PB
Plain Greek yogurt with low sugar granola, cereal, almond butter, or fruit (fresh blueberries are lower in sugar than some)
Quinoa granola bars (there are recipes on pinterest)
Almonds (Dark chocolate ones are great for a sweet tooth, smoked ones if you're craving chips)
Beef Jerkey (low sodium, no sugar added)
Pumpkin Seeds (keep these in my desk drawer)
Deli Rollup - Sliced lunch meat, cheese, and tomato. Wrapped in lettuce.
Shake - 1 frozen banana (I slice up the brown bananas and freeze them), 1 cup chocolate almond milk, and 1 scoop of peanut butter. Blend in blender. (this can be higher in sugar, so it's more of a treat)
My ultimate go-to is Dark Chocolate Cheerios with Almond milk (unsweetened, plain). I think MFP had it as my top used item for a long time.

mrshall1027 · February 2014

Thanks @brij2006. I guess I need to get some more snack options. I've never been a big snacker, so that's something I definitely need to incorporate in between meals. Hopefully that will do the trick!

lfk2013 · February 2014

Dark Chocolate Cheerios are awesome. I used to mix them with the Peanut Butter ones.

Back when I lost the biggest chunk of weight (before meeting DH), MFP had me set at 1200 calories at one point. I was hangry all the time. Like really mean hangry. I also "bottomed out" at one point for a few months and was so mad. I ended up upping them on a whim and actually lost more weight afterwards. FWIW, I've gone through some of the boards on MFP and a lot of people that have been there forever and have had success actually berate newbies for following the 1200 calorie limit and then question why they aren't losing and why they are hungry and tired.

brij2006 · February 2014

@lfk2013 Why must you mention mixing the PB and Dark Chocolate ones? Now I'm adding them to my grocery list. Anything chocolate, PB, and banana and you have me sold.

DangerMuffin23 · February 2014

My biggest problem with losing weight is that I DONT eat enough calories. Never have. I've very much wrecked my metabolism. Learning to eat the right amount of HEALTHY calories is one of the hardest things I've ever done.

LittleLady77 · February 2014

Great article. Thanks for sharing!

FutureMrsWright2012 · February 2014

Great article... Thanks for sharing! I accepted the fact long ago that since I'm 6'1", I would probably starve to death if I only ate 1200 calories per day.

VadersValkyrie · February 2014

Also, for anyone who has a Samsung phone; the S Health app has me at a net of 1400 calories (1993 to eat/544 to burn) with light activity. I'm 5'5" and 154 currently. Just to give maybe a different option for calorie intake.

Sorry if this is a bit OT.

1200 Calorie Diet

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