Calories per Day?

My nutritionist tells me that 1200 cals/day is a perfectly safe amount to consume as long as you are using it wisely and eating healthy nutritious foods. I have been operating on a 1200-1400 calorie diet for quite a while, and have lost almost 100 lbs.

I am well into my 40's and stayed around the 1200 mark to lose weight 45 pounds. Very safe amount of calories.

I had a college roommate who was at the end of her Registered Dietician program. She totally promoted the 1,200 calorie diet. She claimed that 1,200 calories are what the body NEEDS to function without thinking it is starving and holding onto every bit of food and fat. She did say that it may confuse your body if you go from eating 2,500 to 1,200 too suddenly. So if that was the case, you may want to take a couple steps down. I did the 1,200 calorie diet in college (so I was like 22) and it took a few weeks to see the weight come off, but when it did, it was a few pounds a week or more. It's pretty neat how if you just eat healthy, it's rather easy to reach the 1,200 :) Keep up the good, healthy work :)

No, you are fine - what I have always gone by is reduce gradually so your body does not go into starvation mode - but that is more for the people who are going from 3000 to 1500 a day. In addition a few plans I have read about say if your goal is 135 eat 1350/day. So, if you are really concerned then consult your doctor and if you are doing any realy working out then I would condiser bumping it up a bit. I know that reducint 500/day will result in a lb/wk.

Its seems a little low but not life threatening low. Been aehile since I wotked as a Dietitian (stopped after baby #2 i have 6 now). You just want to make sure your not eating empty calories. That your selections are nutroent dense loaded with fiber to keep you full. And if you go over/under a day or two don't panic that limit is an average goal. Mix in exercise and water and you should make your mark.

Depends a lot on your activity level. Most people way over-estimate how active they are. If you walk 30 minutes a few times a week, that isn't "active" that is more "mostly sedentary, with some activity". To be "active" you need to be going to the gym or running or something very physical 5 times a week. Most people don't, but "think" they do.

Women should never go below 1200. Men should not go below 1800. After both my children I ate about 1400-1500 per day and exercised daily (running, hiking, weights and swimming). I lost the weight and wasn't hungry. I could have done it faster eating less but I do so love to eat and i'm mean when I'm hungry! And I do exercise hard so I took that into consideration. The only time I cut down to 1200 calories I made sure to work in a day or two a week where I ate 1300-1400. Make sure you get enough protein and that you are lifting some weights in your routine. I find when I initially cut down my calories I'm ravenous but after a few days I feel better. Then I just listen to my body. If I work out and am extra hungry I eat an extra snack. I just try to keep it something high quality. FYI I am also 5'5" and weighed 165 after babies. Not sure exactly how long it took to lose all the weight - maybe 6 mos? I was in a haze of no sleep so not sure! Oh also I cut out any alcohol and most sodium during this time. Zone diet also worked great for me and i didn't have to write anything down! I just ate from their list of foods and kept the portions according to what they dictate. It was nice to not track everything!

I use MyFitnessPal too. The amount you should eat daily is based on your height, weight, age and fitness level. Your burn rate. Based on your statistics, MyFitnessPal has calculated that you burn approximately 1700 calories a day.

That 1700 calories per day is what you should eat if you only want to maintain your weight. If you want to lose weight, you have to eat less than 1700 calories per day.

To lose 1 lb, you need to eat 3500 calories less than what you burn. So, if you want to lose 1 lb per week, you need to consume 3500 calories less than you normally would each week. 3500/7 days = 500 calories less a day. So MyFitnessPal calculates you should only be eating 1200 calories a day in order to lose 1 lb per week.

Good luck! When I started I was at 161 and now, 3 weeks later I'm at 157. Trying to get to 145 by midsummer.

Yes, the reason you should not eat LESS than 1200 calories per day is that your body will go into starvation mode and this is what creates yo-yo metabolisms....if you starve then feed, your body will retain for later. We as women are designed to 'save' weight just in case of pregnancies...that harkens back to our survival days and long winters.

If you eat properly at regular intervals, your body will learn to expect that level of nutrition and you won't store up fat unwanted by you, but quite nice for the preservation of our species.

Calories REALY depend on several factors.

As an athlete I was eating 12,000 per day and barely managing.

I've also done 'well' on 800 a day

I've also been a mess on 800 per day.

A 2litre of coke has about 800 per day. So does gorging on sushi.
12,000 per day on 80% protein? Or 12,000 per day on 80% fat?

And those are just 2 variables amongst MANY. (# and type). There are 12 variables that plug into my hospital nutritionist software program (with several score variables per 12 main categories). Any program that has fewer than 10 variables is only a partial picture. Any that just has ONE (age, for example) is a massive generality.

Age
Height
Weight
Body type
Activity level
Type of activity
Length(s) of activity
Pre existing conditions
Climate
Medications
Food source (fresh, fresh cooked in WHICH WAY, frozen, dried, canned, marinated, pickled, mass produced, etc.)
TYPE of general diet (omnivorous, vegetarian, pescatarian, octolavo, vegan, kosher, etc.)

Are the BARE basics in determining diet and expected caloric and content needed.... Because they all affect our physiology. OTHER factors (also in the software, which is still an actuary type thing based off of stats which can be wrong for an individual)... Include

Eating alone
Eating with people you like
Eating with people you dislike
Time of day (in comparison with activity, type, and length)
Dress (this goes with climate, both being a HUGE game changer)

ETC

If you are not eating enough calories you body goes into panic mode. It starts storing more fat to live off of and you do not lose weight.

So you must eat more calories so you body will kick it up a notch and start using all it's resources.

I think that what you eat.

My FIL does low carbs. He was just starting to be diabetic and he has quadruple bypass surgery on his heart. His blood sugars went to normal and he has not had to do any insulin or other diabetes meds since starting this way of eating. His cholesterol and triglycerides have stabilized. He eats less than 100 carbs a day, not sure how many below 100 but never near that many. His heart doc has started putting other patients on the low carb diet too and he is seeing a trend in their improvement. FIL eats bacon and eggs for breakfast every morning, he eats meat at every meal, all kinds of good foods we all cut out when dieting.

One of my other friends uses sparkpeople.com. She uses it to do her calories and stuff. She uses her own ideas too, it does not rule how she eats, it's a tool that she uses to calculate her calories and exercise ratios.

Susan Powter was very overweight. Her hubby moved out, she was left with kids, a house, etc...she wanted to lose weight but could not take the kids with her to a gym, plus she couldn't afford it. She started walking. She walked from one side of her yard to the other. Then when she lost some weight and was able to do more she did more. Then she started a whole weight loss empire with videos and talk show spots. She was one of the best people to help those of us who struggle. She had been there.

Do what feels right for you. Eating less calories is not the right way to lose weight. Kicking your metabolism up several notches is the right way. Then no matter what you eat you will lose weight.

I worked in a group home where a little lady was put on a diet by her doc. The house manager thought she was gross and told the doc without his orders the lady would eat everything in the house. She did not do stuff like that though. The house manager just wanted her to be thin. The doc wrote her orders for 1000, the house manager went back and said she was still gaining weight. The doc did 800 calories, same thing. Eventually the doc said no more and cancelled the orders. The lady was getting very minimal nutrition and her body was shutting down.

Eating the right foods for your lifestyle and body type is what you need to do.

k I didn't read the other post so sorry if this is repeat but this is what I know. To lose weight you should be eating around 1200 a day. Some people who are very active can eat a little more and still lose weight. But for normal people who don't work out very much, yes 1200 is what you should be eating. The thing is once you hit your goal weight you can stop dieting and eat more than that. So once you are at your goal weight then you can go on those calculators and type in your height & weight and it will tell you how many calories you need to eat to MAINTAIN your weight. So for example if I diet then yes I eat only 1200 calories but I am 5'3 and weight 110. So now to maintain my weight I have to stay around 1600 calories. Does that make sense? So that is why when you read that you should eat around 2000 that is for an average person to maintain their weight, but that is more for men. I think for an average size woman it is around 1800 or so. Anyways keep up the good work and don't stop until you reach your goal!!!

2000 calories a day is just an average number. We are all different! For weight loss, I would suggest 1500 to 1700. Definitely don't want to deprive yourself or do crazy diets as it never works! Eat healthy, whole foods and exercise and you will lose weight.

This is all very encouraging, I'm glad you asked this question.

I believe the 2000 calorie a day requirement comes from old outdated USDA recommendations. The current recommendation is 1200-1600 calories. You have to experement and see what's best for your body.

I didn't read other answers, but from what I understand, the 2000 calorie diet is to maintain a current weight. But to LOSE weight, you obviously eat fewer calories and increase how many calories you burn through exercise. A simple explanation that can be more complicated if you want it to be! Good luck on your weight loss!