Major Weight Loss - Am I eating too few calories?

[Redfox89]

I just joined this forum, and after doing some reading, I feel more motivated to work harder toward goals.

For the past 30 days, I have been using myfitness tracker, and have lost about 10.8 lbs. However, the app recommends that I eat about 1200 calories per day. For the first few weeks I was working out, eating 1200 calories a day, and getting a good nights sleep. body has learned to adjust to the calorie reduction ( supervisor and I are doing this together, and we were angry for a few days...).

typical day looks like this:

Morning:

Whole wheat bagel thin, 1 tsp butter with olive oil (spreadable)
A few strawberries & a few grapes
COFFEE (black)

Snack:

Clementine

Lunch:

whole wheat Sandwich thin w/ 3 slices oven roasted chicken, 2 slices provolone
1 tsp pepper artichoke spread (only 10 calories)
clementine or grapes

Snack:

Coffee

Dinner:

1 small grilled chicken breast or a few strips london broil generally
8 asparagus spears with garlic or 1 cup spaghetti squash
1/2 cup whole grain rice

I go to the gym at least every other day, and do either a 45 minute spin class, a 60 minute body combat class, saturdays i do 60 minutes of pilates and 60 minutes of zumba, and sometimes i do 30 minutes elliptical 15 minutes of arm machines.

I currently weigh 220 ( was 10.8 more lbs originally), and goal weight right now is 140.

Is 1200 calories enough?

[Boss Man]

Hi there .

In answer to your question, in a nutshell, no, 1,200 calories is insufficient for the long-term.

Your breakfast is low protein your snack is a clemntine, so no protein and coffee is a highly inadequate snack.

Females need around 1,800 calories a day when sedentary, which is 2000 less than men. Add in some exercise and you could include another 200-400 in there as well on exercise days.

There are many things you can use to make snacks or have as whole snacks.

Microwave baked beans, soup and rice dishes, nuts, peanuts, celery sticks, carrot sticks, yoghurt, avocado, boiled eggs, packet flesh like ham, turkey, chicken and beef, fruits including tomatos and cucumber, flaxseeds, sandwiches, low fat cheese, oat granolas.

If you eat 1,200 calories a day, you risk entering into a starvation mode, where the body thinks it is being starved and it hangs onto fat.

The 1,200 calories a day is possibly a reference to your BMR, (basal metabolic rate), the minimum amount of calories needed to sustain a healthy metabolism.

Your diet at present is not bad, it's just not caloric enough, so if you incorporate the snack options into your diet, by bolstering up one snack and including a proper second snack, not a cup of coffee and also add more protein to the first meal of the day, your calories could be increased enough, so as to have more long term benefit.

Another reason for this is, that 1,200 calories a day could esult in a lower than desirable intake of nutrients directly or indirectly related to skeletal health and if the bones started thinning, then they could become thin enough, so as to become intolerant to the forces placed on them by exercise and you could be increasing risk of fractures.

That's not meant to scare you, it's just an observation .

As for the exercise, don't be afraid to add weights in there, as an extra 1lb of muscle can burn an additional 45-50 calories per day and muscle on females can look healthy, attractive and normal, so forget about rubbish you might have heard about looking manly, freakish, gaining body hair, or other stupid urban myths and legends, it's all total baloney and that is the gospel truth .

[ultimatehlth]

I agree you are eating too few calories and will slow your metabolism as your body adjusts, needlessly depriving yourself. Aim for about 10 calories per pound of body weight on days you exercise and 8-9 on days you don't. Keeps carbs to about 40% of total calories. Once a week splurge a little, the additional calories will keep your metabolism from crashing.
Best,

[ontheRegimen]

1200 is probably a little low - 1500-1800 is a better range. Do you by chance know your bf%?

If so, that can help as the best way to calculate caloric maintenance is based on total lean body mass.

It sounds like you are making great progress thus far, keep it up!