1200 calories! Will it work?

S

Soontobeslim7

Member
Hello everyone, I hope you're having a great Saturday ?

I'm a 26 year old woman, 5'6 and I weigh 360 lbs! I tried to do the Cambridge diet but as I suffered from depression for I years and I'm finally feeling better now, I found that being on a very low calorie diet is miserable and my Dr said I must come off it immediately.

So now I am thinking why would I want to starve and be depressed when I can have a lifestyle change (not a diet) where I won't put the weight back on? So here I am about to start 1200 calories a day and an exercise program that will kick start my new life.

Any thoughts, advice is very much appreciated?

Also my Dr think I will be losing 4 lbs a week this way because my weight is very high. do you think that's possible?
 
I think 1200 cals is prob too low to begin with! Find out what your bmr is online and begin at that and gradually reduce of weightloss slows or plateaus I think dropping that low to begin with will both be a shock and unmaintainable x
 
You can find out what your resting metabolic rate is online, then take 500 calories off that to start with :)
 
Welcome to Minimins.

I started at 362lbs last February and had around 1800-1900 cals a day. Can't say I do much exercise apart from walking but have lost almost 5 stones up till now and haven't reduced my cals by much. I usually just drop them down by 50 every three months or so.

The bigger you are the more cals you are allowed. You will probably find on the calculators you need around 3300 a day to maintain your weight. So I'd try starting with 2000 and see how you go. It's important to eat enough so you lose only fat and not muscle. I seem to recall if you lose anything more than 2lbs a week some of it comes from lean muscle mass which isn't good.

good luck.
 
Yes, as tranquility says, 1,200 is way too low for someone of your weight with so much to lose. I too have lost almost five stone, since last August, on 1600-1800 calories and no exercise. Starting at 1200 will doom you to failure as it's unsustainable, and your body will soon rebel and stop losing. I too would recommend starting at between 1800 and 2000.

Good luck! x
 
Thank you very much I'm taking it all in and won't start with 1200 calories but I will start by going to the gym! Problem is I'm horrified of what might people think of me and I'm a little embarrassed tbh ?

Ps. 5 stones! Omg well done to both of you that's amazing ?
 
Hi there, would walking progressing onto countryside trails and hill walking be suitable for you? either instead of or in addition to a gym. I too recently came off Cambridge for medical reasons and am healthy eating and hill climbing 5 days a week. I've seen an improvement in my fitness already. I don't think I'd enjoy being indoors in the gym but everyone to their own :) Xx
 
Hiya. I've been calorie counting for a few weeks now and have done loads of reading up about it. I'm maintain, at 10st 6lb/5lb and 5ft 8. I eat around about 2200 cals with exercise.
I've done absolutely loads of reading and please do not start on 1200 cals, that is way too low. Work out your BMR (there are loads of calculators on line) and then your tdee (again loads of calculators online). Take 20% from your tdee and eat that everyday, if you exercise eat those cals back too. Never ever go below your BMR - that is the rate your body burns energy to just to live (lungs, kidneys, heart) and so on. If you stay above this you should retain lean muscle mass and burn fat more efficiently.

Good luck with your journey. Wishing you all the luck in the word xx
 
what mrslmc said exactly!! never ever eat below your bmr its nuts...you will see losses but at what cost?
 
Sorry to hijack your post soontobethin7. Never eat below your BMR? Mine is 1721, that seems like a lot of calories to eat while 'dieting' :eek: x
 
yeah but whats your tdee?? if you ate 1700 odd thats prob still a big deficit.
 
teetiefunk said:
yeah but whats your tdee?? if you ate 1700 odd thats prob still a big deficit.
Click to expand...

Ok I'm confused by all of this...

So my bmr is 1679
And my tdee is 2314

I have no idea what this means?! X
 
your tdee is what you burn per day based on your activity level. So if you ate 500 cals less per day that would create a theoretical 1 lb loss at the end of the week. Your BMR is the cals your body needs to stay alive if you did nothing at all ie lay in bed all day completely still...if you dont eat at least ur bmr then your hair nails etc may suffer as your body is not getting enough energy for basic functions and you will ultimately lose weight but it will be lean muscle mass too, which you defo dont want. If you go to the forums on my fitness pal it describes it better than I ever could.x
 
Teetiefunk thank you so much I didn't know any of that! So my BMI is 2550 and my tdee is 3383 let's say I start with 1500 because I'd like to see big weight loss and I think I'm able to do it. The question is: is it healthy? :)
 
teetiefunk said:
your tdee is what you burn per day based on your activity level. So if you ate 500 cals less per day that would create a theoretical 1 lb loss at the end of the week. Your BMR is the cals your body needs to stay alive if you did nothing at all ie lay in bed all day completely still...if you dont eat at least ur bmr then your hair nails etc may suffer as your body is not getting enough energy for basic functions and you will ultimately lose weight but it will be lean muscle mass too, which you defo dont want. If you go to the forums on my fitness pal it describes it better than I ever could.x
Click to expand...

Well I eat about 1450 cals a day according to mfp recommendation but my weightloss is slowing so I can't believe I'm supposed to eat more than that it seems silly! X
 
I think you can have 1200! :) I'm on the exante diet and if your having food with it then try say not to exceed 1200 that's including the shakes! The reason they have probably said that is because thats probably the most calories you can have in order to start shifting weight!

Hope this helped!

Asha x :)
 
Mizkirsty, i'm so confused about it too. MFP puts me at 1200 to lose 2lb a week :eek: i'm going to bump it up a little and do between 1400 and 1500.

Having a think about it though, on Supersize v Superskinny, normally the supersizers are sent home with a diet plan of around 2000 because they are so overweight and still have very good loses. Maybe it does make sense lol x
 
no wonder your losses have slowed...your body is protesting and went into starvation mode. I would never ever eat below my BMR...I want to keep as much lean muscle mass as possible.
 
it defo explains it a lot better on the mfp forum.
 
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