1200 calories a day for 12 weeks

[Bee21]

Who is with me? I notice there are a few weight loss threads for 2017, but I think this specific challenge is worth a new thread. Who is with me?

After failing miserably to lose weight last year (i put on 7 kilos with all those good intentions), I need a hard reset. I reactivated myfitnesspal profile and started logging food and exercise last week. I did reasonably well, 5/7 days and lost 1kg, so after the successful test run, I reset the clock this week and I commit to eating 1200 cals a day for 12 weeks. If i eat more, i exercise more. I allow myself 1 cheat day to allow for socialising.

Start weight 89 kg.

[adamR18]

I did 1200 a day for quite a while and lost 35 pounds. It works.

Now I'm up to between 1500-1800 calories a day with two cheat days a week. It has been easy to maintain the weight loss at that level.

Just be careful... if you're feeling light-headed or like you don't have much energy, make sure you increase your calorie count. It is better to lose your weight slowly and feel good, than lose your weight quickly and risk your health.

[Bee21]

Well, this is my second week (i consider the test run last week week 0) and i am ok so far. I'm glad it worked for you. I knew people who lost weight with this approach, but they put it back after they stopped the cal control and tracking.

I already developed the habit of balancing meals, ie have a low cal meal after or before overeating. My problem is not really the main meals,those are ok, it is snacking. If i manage to get that under control with this approach, I will be fine and I'll consider this challange a success.

How did you figure out the calorie content of meals? I am struggling with the homemade meals, i measure the components, but i am never 100% of the accuracy of my cal calculations.i just hope that the database at fp is not totally off.

Anyway, logging food and exercise is like keeping track of spending. I have been tracking spending for a while, I might just spend an extra 5-10 mins tracking the food. I do it 2x, after lunch and after dinner. This way, i know how much I can eat for dinner and I  don't pig out.

[adamR18]

I keep track of things by keeping it incredibly simple. It's easy to weigh a chicken breast and get the calorie count... the only thing I put on it is pepper.

I find that making anything complicated makes calorie counting too difficult, and my food budget doesn't allow for much complication anyway.

[Bee21]

I read all the books and I tried fasting last year in the name of the hard reset but couldn't keep it up. I did not enough willpower to cook and plate up all the food for the family but stay out of it. I really wanted to make it work, but I just couldn't do it.I am not that strong.

But interestingly, so far I found that 1200 cals are enough, I am not hungry and I don't feel deprived. I can eat almost everything I want, as long as the portions are small and I balance them with the other meals. Just realised this morning that I lost almost 3 kg (2.7) since the 1 January. Yay. I feel great, while this time last year I was scratching walls with the fasting and hated myself.

11 more weeks to go.😊

[Bee21]

Week 2, doing ok, 88 kg, all according to plans.

This is now the danger zone for me, this is the time when i usually stumble.

[elaine amj]

@Bee21 Using MFP for homecooked food isn't too bad. I use the recipe builder and find it pretty accurate. There are a few tricks though and weighing EVERYTHING really helps with accuracy. I do use a couple of extra bowls/measuring cups/spoons but I'm OK with a little extra washing.

My technique when cooking:

- weigh each ingredient during food prep (the tare function is SUPER helpful). I scribble this down on a notepad (some ppl do it right on the app but I find this takes a touch too long for me)
- after everything is cooked, I weight the total amount of the dish. e.g. 1250g
- Then I sit down and input the recipe. Each ingredient with its weight. For serving size, I put the total weight of the dish (so instead of serves 2, I input serves 1250).
- when I serve myself, I weigh my portion, e.g. 623g. In my MFP log, I input it as RecipeA, serving size 623.

* TIP: to serve direct from pan/pot, I also weigh my pan (helpful to do this BEFORE I cook!). This way, I just weigh the whole pan after cooking and do some quick subtraction to get the total weight of my food.

Yes, its a bit of a pain - but it really does help, especially on a 1200 cal a day diet.

[Bee21]

Thanks Elaine, this was really helpful. I tried with my lentil soup before, i just couldnt find the recipe I saved with my name on that endless list. How do you save your recipes that you can actually find them? I can be such a technobimbo, it is embarrassing.

This week was a bit hard. As usual, when i see that i am losing weight i lost a bit of focus and stumbled, but i caught in on time I think. I did 30 min swimming every day, plus the 40 min walks, so that should help. Am planning 2 gym sessions this weekend, so I am happy with the exercise, i just need to work on the food, esp the lunches. I need more protein with lunches to keep the 4 pm munchies away. 

If anyone has some 300 cal lunch ideas, please share.i was eating a soup (lentils or beans) and a piece of toast, but with my lunchtime swim it is not enough.  I can't do eggs though, i would look like a pufferfish in my swimmers.

[frugalkristen]

I need to try this!  Just joined myfitnesspal.  I want to lose 10 pounds but haven;t done anything about it lately.  I start today!

[Bee21]

Welcome. It was a bit lonely here😊

[Bee21]

Week 3, still 88kg. Not surprised after the bad start last week, glad i didn't put on weight, , but I am better prepared this week, with 300 cal meals packed in those little boxes in my fridge. Also have a list of meals i am planning to cook for the freezer, so I am all set for the week.

[Bee21]

Week 4, stuck at 88kg. Dammit. My fault completely. Australia day long weekend, people. Survived it without putting on weight.yay.

February should be nice and easy, without socialising.

All in all, January wasn't a raging success, but I am  quite happy with the overall progress.i see it as an opportunity to build good habits and to work on the bad ones.

The bad
I was planning to lose 4kgs, obviously it did not happen due to all those parties.
I am still an eating monkey in social situations. Will have to work on this.
Didn't eat 1200 cals every day.
Didn't track food every day.
Wanted to do some weight training. Managed 1 session.

The good
Lost 2.5 kgs.
Am trimmer. Actually i can feel my clothes getting loose, esp swimmers.
Swam and walked every day. That was over an hour of mild exercises.
My posture improved due to all that swimming.
Main meals are under control. Decided to eat my carbs for lunch and have a v low carb dinner.
Work snacking is 90% under control. Had only 2 pretzels incidents this month.i hate pretzels😈
Got into meal prepping last week, it is great for calorie counted work lunches.
Found a solution to social drinking (spritzers!)

So, i am still doing it. 8 more weeks to go. I was contemplating of moving this thread to the journals, as i am a bit lonely here, but decided to keep it here for 8 more weeks. A challenge is a challenge.

[Bee21]

Week 5, 87 kg. Yay. Finally moving after a 2 week stall. Such a good feeling and v motivating. Just what i needed.

Added 3 sessions of circuit training to the mix. My old pt is back in town and i asked her to come up with a training i can easily do on my own 2-3 times. I'll do  weekly session with her if we can both fit it in on Sat mornings.

I think the formula which works for me is to have a normal breakfast (well, i have 1 slice of toast instead of 2 with sth on it. Like cottage cheese and berries or tomatoes). Lunch comes portioned in neat little boxes (have a 2 week supply of moroccan chickpeas/tuscan beans and rice and veg) and the dinner is a no or low carb sth. I made some freezer meals for the fam, so they can have the creamy, cheesy things and pastas for their lunches and i don't have to cook separate dinners.

So, i was within the allocated calorie limit and i tracked for 5 days.

[Dillydally]

Super interesting article about fasting:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://charleycropley.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/FASTING-ART-Harpers.pdf&ved=0ahUKEwjSjc3T0_nRAhVV7GMKHZzFBRoQFggeMAE&usg=AFQjCNHzEzboQNA85psQWoJqi01ADgbYSA&sig2=whIR5G1AFxO1pU3iJAuXYA
I did the fast last year and lost 30 pounds... I tapered from full fast for 2 weeks to restricted calories the following 4 weeks.

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[Moustachienne]

Welcome. It was a bit lonely here😊

I'm not a calorie tracker but am dropping in to cheer you on. :)
I'm doing the 10% loss by reducing portion sizes and upping activity.  Trying not to startle my body. :)
Snacks can be my big downfall so I'm watching those.

Good luck!

[Bee21]

Thanks for the support!

Glad to see others were successful at fasting. I tried last year and failed.no hard feelings though.

Currently steaming chinese veg to accompany my baked honey soy ginger chicken. Very excited about my dinner😊

[Bee21]

Still 77kg, but checked the measurements the pt took in november, and i am definitely shrinking. Especially my waist and hips. So something to celebrate.

Food was ok, 4 days out of 7 was within 1200 cals, ate a bit more on the days i was training.

All in all, am not super successful, but i am developing good eating habits and i am really happy with the exercises i am doing. 3 days cardio, 3 days weight/circuit training.

Have to do something with the dinner prep munching, that's annoying me. And the food waste. I used to eat the leftovers, but  nowadays i can't and i hate wasting all that food.

6 more weeks to go.

[Bee21]

86kg. So, i lost 5 kgs since December and 4 since i started this challenge. I am not super happy with this achievment, but i think i am on the the right track now. I am definitely shrinking, esp the waist. Food was bad for 2 days (office spread), tracked only for 1 day (tragic) but otherwise, i ate well, and exercised for 6 days in a row. The portions became automatic, and i actively balance the high calorie meals with low ones when I slip. The best thing  I did was this public tracking and the exercises. At least with the exercises I don't have to measure and deliberate and plan, I just turn up and do it.

I will prep the evening meals for the next three days, the man is away, so I can see lots of tofu and steamed salmon in my future.

[elaine amj]

Good to hear that you're still going strong. That's fantastic that you are still shrinking.

Isn't it cool how the portions become more automatic over time? I'm still going through the active hunger stage but I know this will pass.

re: leftovers - how about popping them into the fridge and then after a few days cobble them together into a buffet-style meal? A little weird - but I hear ya on hating waste.

[Bee21]

85kgs, people! Despite the chocolate binge on Thursday. Tracked food 3 days in a row. Exercised 4 days. I invested into a new yoga mat and an 8kg kettlebell to celebrate the 5 kg milestone. I feel like I deserve it, this is my most successful and consistent weight loss effort, ever (sad, I know).

I have 4 more weeks to go. If I continue losing weight at this pace, I will have lost 10% of my body weight by the end of this challenge. And then I will have another 10 kgs, to get rid off, but that's a different challenge.

Thanks Elaine for the buffet tip. Will do it eventually, though I definitely got better with meal planning, the only thing I had to toss this week was a portion of pumpkin soup I completely forgot about.

The extra challenge for next week will be to eat 4 meals a day only, I am cutting the morning snack.I just have to make sure that I am extremely busy at work and nobody pisses me off before 12. This is to help me manage emotional eating, I just have to find different strategies to deal with work stress. I go for a swim during my lunchbreaks, that definitely helps.

[elaine amj]

You got this!!! Love hearing that things are going well!


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