Consuming at least 1,200 calories per day has often been touted as the minimum for basic bodily functions and to stay out of starvation mode, but the amount is actually too low. A healthy amount of calories for adult women ranges from 1,800 to 2,400 calories per day and for men it's 2,000 to 3,200 calories per day.
The Calorie Deficit
But consuming only 1,200 calories per day is simply not enough for many adults and can lead to consequences such as a slower metabolism and nutritional deficiencies.
Whilst the 1200 calorie diet can get you fast results, extending it past 2-4 weeks can often result in more harm than good.
So, if you're eating 1,200 calories and not losing weight, it could be that your body is really struggling to function on so little fuel and your metabolism is not functioning well enough to respond to a deficit in the way you'd like.
If 1,200 calories a day is more than 500 calories lower than your weight-maintenance calories, you can expect to lose more than 1 to 2 pounds per week.
Each day comes in around 1,200 calories—a calorie level at which many people can safely lose 1 to 2 pounds per week—and includes enough protein and fiber to help you feel full and satisfied while cutting calories.
A 1,200 calorie diet, according to most nutritionists or food experts, is a restrictive, unsustainable, likely unhealthy diet for any adult woman. So if it's so bad for us, why do we keep trying it — and failing — only to blame ourselves instead of the diet itself?
“On a 1,200 calorie diet, your body has to make adjustments. You can't live optimally on that. If you are young and active, you would lose weight and fat over time, but your body would make metabolic adjustments. "You might get cold hands and feet more easily, and you would be preoccupied with food a lot of the time.
In order to lose at least a pound a week, try to do at least 30 minutes of physical activity on most days, and reduce your daily calorie intake by at least 500 calories. However, calorie intake should not fall below 1,200 a day in women or 1,500 a day in men, except under the supervision of a health professional.
For weight maintenance, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020–2025 suggest a range of 1,600–2,400 calories for women and 2,200–3,000 for men — so you could consider anything below these numbers a low-calorie diet.
If you want to use a 1200 calorie diet weight loss calculator to find out how much weight you could theoretically lose in a week while following this meal plan, then use the following formula: (Your current caloric intake – 1,200) × 7 ÷ 3,500 = number of pounds you could lose a week.
However, other studies show that while consuming 1,000 calories a day may result in significant weight loss, most people cannot sustain it and often experience significant weight regain . The reasons include regaining lost muscle mass and increased appetite. Also worth noting is that the human body can adapt.
Salty foods, processed foods, and even some medications can lead to water retention, and this can cause your weight to remain the same even if you're burning fat. Because it takes more energy to burn protein, eating a high-protein, high-fiber diet will help you burn more calories.
Although the total number of calories can vary from diet to diet, eating fewer than 1200 calories is risky. When you limit your diet and eat fewer than 1200 calories per day, you usually do not get enough nutrients. You are not getting enough carbohydrates, proteins or fats.
Consuming at least 1,200 calories per day has often been touted as the minimum for basic bodily functions and to stay out of starvation mode, but the amount is actually too low. A healthy amount of calories for adult women ranges from 1,800 to 2,400 calories per day and for men it's 2,000 to 3,200 calories per day.
Some people may choose to restrict their daily intake to 1,500 calories. While factors such as age, gender, and activity level can cause caloric needs to vary, a 1,500-calorie intake is typically less than the average person requires. As a result, this diet may help some people lose weight.
This means that a typical woman can eat between 1200 and 1500 calories a day to lose weight. A typical male body needs about 1500 to 1800 calories daily to lose weight. But if you have diabetes and are on a low-calorie diet, you should monitor your blood sugar levels to avoid any problems.
In addition, consuming as few as 800 calories daily may not give you the energy you need for daily living and regular physical activity, especially if you eat the same foods every day. Talk to your doctor or dietitian to make sure you get the nutrients you need while on a very low-calorie diet.
“And then, of course, everybody's metabolism is slightly different. But the average weight loss that most people see on the 1200 calorie diet is about one to two pounds per week.”
A prolonged 1,500 calorie-per-day diet can slow metabolism, so it is best to only do it short-term. Risks to consuming too few calories may include: Inadequate nutrition. Fatigue/tiredness.
1 pound (around 0.5 kg) is about 3500 calories (5), so if you stick to a 1000 calorie meal plan, and your normal needs are 2000-2500 calories per day, you may burn as much as 7000-10 500 calories per week, thus losing from 2 to 3 pounds (1-1.5kg) a week.