I Don't Lose Weight If I Eat 1200 Calories a Day
If you sharply curtail your food intake and subsist on 1,200 calories a day, you certainly expect to lose weight. It is discouraging to undertake a strict weight-loss diet and not see results. If this is the case, you may be underestimating your caloric intake or struggling with a metabolic problem. Getting to the bottom of the problem is crucial for weight loss success.
Underestimating Calories
Perhaps the most common reason for not losing weight on a 1,200 calorie diet is when people underestimate the number of calories they eat on a daily basis. It only takes a few miscalculations to transform a 1,200 calorie diet into a 1,800 calorie diet. To ensure that you are indeed eating 1,200 calories a day, weigh and measure your food portions. Read food labels carefully, as portions are often smaller than common sense would dictate. Keep a journal and record the calories of each morsel of food that you eat, as even a few bites between meals has the potential to sabotage your diet.
- Perhaps the most common reason for not losing weight on a 1,200 calorie diet is when people underestimate the number of calories they eat on a daily basis.
- Keep a journal and record the calories of each morsel of food that you eat, as even a few bites between meals has the potential to sabotage your diet.
Low Metabolism
How Many Calories Does a Teenage Boy Need?
Learn More
People who weigh a substantial amount to begin with often have an easier time losing weight than their slimmer peers. Men also have an advantage, as they tend to burn more calories than women. Younger people generally burn more calories than older people. Use a basal metabolic rate calculator to determine how many calories a day you will need to burn to lose weight. Your BMR can tell you how many calories you burn while at rest. For example, a 50-year-old woman who is five feet tall and weighs 120 pounds will only burn 1,224 calories a day while at rest. Such a person, when on a 1,200-calorie diet, would need to burn 500 calories a day exercising to lose a pound each week. If your BMR is low, you are likely to have difficulty losing weight without increasing your activity level. Women shouldn't eat fewer than 1,200 calories per day as it is very difficult to meet your nutrient needs with fewer calories.
- People who weigh a substantial amount to begin with often have an easier time losing weight than their slimmer peers.
- Such a person, when on a 1,200-calorie diet, would need to burn 500 calories a day exercising to lose a pound each week.
Reasons for Low Metabolism
Even a person who is young or who has a relatively high weight can have difficulty losing weight if her metabolism is slow. Thyroid disease is just one medical disorder that can cause a lower metabolism. Many medications can also lower metabolism. Drugs used to treat psychiatric disorders, diabetes and hypertension are just a few of the culprits that can inhibit weight loss. If you are certain that you are eating only 1,200 calories a day and have a BMR that indicates you should be losing weight eating that number of calories, see a doctor if you continue to have difficulty losing weight.
- Even a person who is young or who has a relatively high weight can have difficulty losing weight if her metabolism is slow.
- Drugs used to treat psychiatric disorders, diabetes and hypertension are just a few of the culprits that can inhibit weight loss.
Solutions
How Many Calories Should a Ten Year Old Female Eat a Day?
Learn More
To lose weight, the American College of Sports Medicine recommends exercising at moderate intensity for 150 to 250 minutes per week for maintaining your weight or modest weight loss, and exercising more often or at higher intensity for greater weight loss. Exercise not only burns calories during the time that you are working out, but can temporarily increase metabolism so that you burn more calories after your exercise session. Do muscle-building workouts to change your body composition so that you appear slimmer, regardless of the number on the scale. Be sure to get enough sleep, as you produced insulin-regulating growth hormone during rest, which can help your body to metabolize fat more efficiently.
- To lose weight, the American College of Sports Medicine recommends exercising at moderate intensity for 150 to 250 minutes per week for maintaining your weight or modest weight loss, and exercising more often or at higher intensity for greater weight loss.
- Exercise not only burns calories during the time that you are working out, but can temporarily increase metabolism so that you burn more calories after your exercise session.
Related Articles
References
- BMI Calculator: BMR Calculator
- Drugs of Today: Drug-induced Weight Gain
- American College of Sports Medicine: ACSM Position Stand on Physical Activity and Weight Loss Now Available
- Psychology Today: Can't Lose Weight? It's Probably Your Metabolism!
- A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals - PubMed
- Estimation of energy expenditure using prediction equations in overweight and obese adults: a systematic review - PubMed
- Validity of predictive equations to estimate RMR in females with varying BMI - PubMed
- Appendix 2. Estimated Calorie Needs per Day, by Age, Sex, and Physical Activity Level - 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines | health.gov
- Protein intake and energy balance - PubMed
- Increased Dietary Protein as a Dietary Strategy to Prevent and/or Treat Obesity
- Effect of protein overfeeding on energy expenditure measured in a metabolic chamber - PubMed
- Dietary Protein and Energy Balance in Relation to Obesity and Co-morbidities - PubMed
- Effect of protein overfeeding on energy expenditure measured in a metabolic chamber - PubMed
- Presence or absence of carbohydrates and the proportion of fat in a high-protein diet affect appetite suppression but not energy expenditure in normal-weight human subjects fed in energy balance - PubMed
- Gluconeogenesis and energy expenditure after a high-protein, carbohydrate-free diet - PubMed
- A high-protein diet for reducing body fat: mechanisms and possible caveats
- A high-protein diet induces sustained reductions in appetite, ad libitum caloric intake, and body weight despite compensatory changes in diurnal plasma leptin and ghrelin concentrations - PubMed
- The effects of consuming frequent, higher protein meals on appetite and satiety during weight loss in overweight/obese men - PubMed
- Dietary Strategies for Weight Loss Maintenance - PubMed
- Dietary protein - its role in satiety, energetics, weight loss and health - PubMed
- High Compared with Moderate Protein Intake Reduces Adaptive Thermogenesis and Induces a Negative Energy Balance during Long-term Weight-Loss Maintenance in Participants with Prediabetes in the Postobese State: A PREVIEW Study - PubMed
- Effects of food form and timing of ingestion on appetite and energy intake in lean young adults and in young adults with obesity - PubMed
- Effects of fruit and vegetable, consumed in solid vs beverage forms, on acute and chronic appetitive responses in lean and obese adults - PubMed
- Sugar-sweetened beverages and weight gain in children and adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis - PubMed
- Resolved: there is sufficient scientific evidence that decreasing sugar-sweetened beverage consumption will reduce the prevalence of obesity and obesity-related diseases - PubMed
- Adverse metabolic effects of dietary fructose: results from the recent epidemiological, clinical, and mechanistic studies - PubMed
- Water-induced thermogenesis - PubMed
- Water drinking induces thermogenesis through osmosensitive mechanisms - PubMed
- Water-induced thermogenesis and fat oxidation: a reassessment - PubMed
- Immediate pre-meal water ingestion decreases voluntary food intake in lean young males - PubMed
- Water consumption increases weight loss during a hypocaloric diet intervention in middle-aged and older adults - PubMed
- Tea catechin and caffeine activate brown adipose tissue and increase cold-induced thermogenic capacity in humans - PubMed
- Caffeine enhances activity thermogenesis and energy expenditure in rats - PubMed
- The effects of caffeine intake on weight loss: a systematic review and dos-response meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials - PubMed
- Caffeine intake is related to successful weight loss maintenance - PubMed
- Preserving Healthy Muscle during Weight Loss
- Exercise acts as a drug; the pharmacological benefits of exercise - PubMed
- The essential role of exercise in the management of type 2 diabetes - PubMed
- A Systematic Review of Exercise Systematic Reviews in the Cancer Literature (2005-2017) - PubMed
- Benefits of exercise training on cardiovascular dysfunction: molecular and integrative - PubMed
- Exercise in the treatment of clinical anxiety in general practice - a systematic review and meta-analysis - PubMed
- The effects of a low-carbohydrate diet on appetite: A randomized controlled trial - PubMed
- Effects of low-carbohydrate and low-fat diets: a randomized trial - PubMed
- Effects of low-carbohydrate and low-fat diets: a randomized trial - PubMed
- Dietary Intervention for Overweight and Obese Adults: Comparison of Low-Carbohydrate and Low-Fat Diets. A Meta-Analysis - PubMed
- The Effects of a Low-Carbohydrate Diet vs. a Low-Fat Diet on Novel Cardiovascular Risk Factors: A Randomized Controlled Trial
- The Effect of Low-Carbohydrate Diet on Glycemic Control in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus - PubMed
Writer Bio
Elise Wile has been a writer since 2003. Holding a master's degree in curriculum and Instruction, she has written training materials for three school districts. Her expertise includes mentoring, serving at-risk students and corporate training.