How do people eat 1200 calories?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is basic physics...if your body is a Prius maybe 1200 works, but if you are a RAV4 you need a lot more, and if you are a Sequoia/Tundra more still. (Assumes activity levels are the same)

That's how a Prius turns into a Tundra over time. More, more, more...

True but nobody wants to be a Prius.

[Anonymous]

Drink a lot of water.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is basic physics...if your body is a Prius maybe 1200 works, but if you are a RAV4 you need a lot more, and if you are a Sequoia/Tundra more still. (Assumes activity levels are the same)

That's how a Prius turns into a Tundra over time. More, more, more...

True but nobody wants to be a Prius.

Watch it! I love my prius!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I stayed at 1,200 calories a day for a number of months about a year ago. It was the only thing that finally moved the needle, considering I’m a small person (5’3”) in my fifties. My weight had gotten up to 125 and I wanted to be back at 115, which I think is absolutely perfect for my height & frame.

FWIW, I lost the weight, and I’ve kept it off since April after returning to a normal amount of calories (~2,000/day).

Basically, I ate one meal a day, and I counted calories. I ate whatever I wanted, though. It was tough at first, but I soon became used to it. I didn’t feel hungry.

115 at 5'3 in your 50s sounds scary. I'm 5'4 at 137 and am pretty small. I'm 51. I was 115 when I was 25. I'd look like a refugee if I even weighed 120. My goal is 130 b/c I still want to look like a grown ass woman.

[Anonymous]

I don't and I hate feeling hungry. I do a mix of paleo / keto and works for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yup, when I had an eating disorder in college and lived on light beer and fat free frozen yogurt and seltzer.

Me too! Sometimes I would go all day and splurge just have a happy meal with a diet coke. But the seltzer and fat free fro yo were essential to the circa 1996 ED.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I stayed at 1,200 calories a day for a number of months about a year ago. It was the only thing that finally moved the needle, considering I’m a small person (5’3”) in my fifties. My weight had gotten up to 125 and I wanted to be back at 115, which I think is absolutely perfect for my height & frame.

FWIW, I lost the weight, and I’ve kept it off since April after returning to a normal amount of calories (~2,000/day).

Basically, I ate one meal a day, and I counted calories. I ate whatever I wanted, though. It was tough at first, but I soon became used to it. I didn’t feel hungry.

115 at 5'3 in your 50s sounds scary. I'm 5'4 at 137 and am pretty small. I'm 51. I was 115 when I was 25. I'd look like a refugee if I even weighed 120. My goal is 130 b/c I still want to look like a grown ass woman.

NP here I don't think it' terrible, I'm 5'7 and 125 but very small boned. But I'd think that in your 50s one would want to weight a little more - there's so much fillers can do for the face, natural fat looks better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I eat 1200 - 1400 most days

Breakfast is 200-250 calories:
1/4c milk in my coffee
150 calories of egg beaters or egg whites + salsa or hot sauce
OR a mini bagel with 1tbsp peanut butter
OR a whole wheat English muffin with a bit of avocado
OR 2 links of turkey or veggie sausage and 2 scrambled eggs

Lunch - 400-500 calories
Can of soup - usually lentil + an apple
OR big bowl of spring mix / spinach with a chopped apple, a bell pepper, turkey lunch meat or rotisserie chicken, 10-15g olive oil, balsamic vinegar.
OR 2 50 calories Ole Wellness wraps with chicken or Turkey, mustard, and big handfuls of spinach

Snack - if breakfast and lunch were smaller, I will have an apple or a banana. If bigger, I’ll have 1 rice cake or 1 clementine.

Dinner - broiled salmon, chicken in a low calorie marinade, or roast pork loin.
Green veggie like brussel sprouts, asparagus or steamed broccoli
Lentils, brown rice or beans.

I'd rather be fat TBH.

[Anonymous]

There is a Reddit dedicated to this specifically.

I've done it and was very successful in losing weight. I basically only ate dinner, and I pretty much allowed myself to eat what I wanted and however much during dinner time. Your stomach tends to shrink when you don't eat all day and you can fill up easily on a reasonably portioned dinner. I chose dinner because it's when my kids were watching and they never caught on to my extreme dieting. After 3 weeks or so it became easy. Until then I focused on prioritizing hydration.

[Anonymous]

Its the calorie target I need to lose weight as well. Here is a general meal plan I'd follow:

-Breakfast
Fruit & fat-free greek yogurt with some honey OR
Fruit & scrambled eggs with pico on top

-Lunch
Turkey sammie with some baby carrots on the side OR
Nice big salad with lots of veggies & rotisserie chicken topped in a homemade dressing (I really like fresh squeezed orange juice with some dijon mustard and S&P whipped together, no need for oil)

-Dinner
2 glass of red wine. There is no OR here. Ok, sometimes 3.
Whole-wheat pasta spaghetti OR
Some sort of protein with veggies and a carb side.

Dinner is our relaxing time, so I'd structure my day to make sure I was getting a reasonable amount of calories through the day but eat pretty light and then be able to enjoy dinner and also cook meals that had enough calories for my kid and husband. For example, last night I made crispy panko chicken along with roasted potatoes and a big side salad. I basically just had a smaller piece of chicken and a ton of salad, while my kid and husband loaded up on the chicken and potatoes with much less salad.

And as others said, lots of water and lots of tea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Its the calorie target I need to lose weight as well. Here is a general meal plan I'd follow:

-Breakfast
Fruit & fat-free greek yogurt with some honey OR
Fruit & scrambled eggs with pico on top

-Lunch
Turkey sammie with some baby carrots on the side OR
Nice big salad with lots of veggies & rotisserie chicken topped in a homemade dressing (I really like fresh squeezed orange juice with some dijon mustard and S&P whipped together, no need for oil)

-Dinner
2 glass of red wine. There is no OR here. Ok, sometimes 3.
Whole-wheat pasta spaghetti OR
Some sort of protein with veggies and a carb side.

Dinner is our relaxing time, so I'd structure my day to make sure I was getting a reasonable amount of calories through the day but eat pretty light and then be able to enjoy dinner and also cook meals that had enough calories for my kid and husband. For example, last night I made crispy panko chicken along with roasted potatoes and a big side salad. I basically just had a smaller piece of chicken and a ton of salad, while my kid and husband loaded up on the chicken and potatoes with much less salad.

And as others said, lots of water and lots of tea.

Oh, and olive oil spray for any of the veggies and proteins I make just for myself is critical. I use the real stuff in the evenings, but for lunches the spray does just fine.

[Anonymous]

Eat only two meals a day (perhaps a snack in between), practice intermittent fasting. The pandemic and WFH has made this easy. I have a cup of coffee and breakfast (brunch really) at 10am, dinner at 5:30pm with my young kids. I’m not hungry either. I am vegetarian and eat meals rich in vegetables, beans and lentils. I eat a hearty brunch - eggs in many forms or leftovers. If I eat a snack in between it's raw vegetables, nuts and sometimes a piece of cheese.

[Anonymous]

You can't go from whatever you are doing now to suddenly eating only 1200 calories and think it will be easy. You need to get rid of all the sugar and carb cravings first. Focus for a few days on low glycemic foods and around 1500-1600 calories. Once you have adjusted, then you can lower calories. What most people don't realize if that after a period of time when you have not been eating sugar and carbs, you stop feeling hungry because your body is not having surges of hunger hormones caused by insulin.

When I do the South Beach diet, I lose my cravings after the first week and then weight loss gets much easier. You finally will understand what real hunger feels like and only eat when hungry. After 1-2 weeks without sugar and carbs, you can go HOURS without ever feeling hungry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I stayed at 1,200 calories a day for a number of months about a year ago. It was the only thing that finally moved the needle, considering I’m a small person (5’3”) in my fifties. My weight had gotten up to 125 and I wanted to be back at 115, which I think is absolutely perfect for my height & frame.

FWIW, I lost the weight, and I’ve kept it off since April after returning to a normal amount of calories (~2,000/day).

Basically, I ate one meal a day, and I counted calories. I ate whatever I wanted, though. It was tough at first, but I soon became used to it. I didn’t feel hungry.

115 at 5'3 in your 50s sounds scary. I'm 5'4 at 137 and am pretty small. I'm 51. I was 115 when I was 25. I'd look like a refugee if I even weighed 120. My goal is 130 b/c I still want to look like a grown ass woman.

Nope. You are the sounds scary and delusional one.

[Anonymous]

It’s mental illness innit