The 1200-calorie diet is geared toward women. Men's bodies require a higher caloric intake. 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.
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. If it's less, then you might lose fewer pounds a week.
A 1,200-calorie diet is too restrictive for lots of people, so finding a more sustainable calorie level may help you better meet your weight loss goals. Per the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, women need anywhere from 1,800 to 2,400 calories each day to maintain their weight.
As a rough guide, a woman will need a minimum of 1200-1400 calories each day, whereas a man who generally has more muscle mass will need 1400-1800 calories. To lose 0.5-1kg of body fat each week, you will need to create a calorie deficit of 200-300 calories each day.
A 1,200 calorie per day diet is considered a low-calorie diet and is generally not recommended for the long term. Low-calories diets must be carefully planned in order to ensure dieters get the necessary nutrients their bodies need.
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.
A 1200-calorie diet can help you lose weight by keeping you on a structured meal plan. This plan removes the extra calories you might get from snacks and sodas throughout the day. Yet, a diet isn't for everyone. People use this diet to eat fewer calories than they expend through exercise.
For example, to lose 1 to 2 pounds a week — a rate that experts consider safe — your food consumption should provide 500 to 1,000 calories less than your total weight-maintenance calories. If you need 2,325 calories a day to maintain your current weight, reduce your daily calories to between 1,325 and 1,825.
In a study of more than 2000 people with obesity, it was found that 1200 calories per day helped patients lose an average of 4.7% fat in 1 year. A year of dieting with 1200 - 1500 calories you can lose up to 7 kg of weight.
“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.
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?
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.
Sure, you may only consume 1,500 calories a day, but if those 1,500 calories come from chips or a burger and fries, then the scale may not show the results you want. This is mainly because processed and salty foods lead to water retention. Poor hydration: Staying hydrated is key when trying to lose weight.
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.
Experts believe that 1500-calorie diet, which is 500 calories less than 2000-calorie diet, is enough to shed 0.45 kgs in a week.
One health resource suggests aiming for a 500-calorie deficit per day for weight loss over time. This will help you lose about 0.45 kg of body weight per week. That is almost 2kgs a month and 12kgs over six months. For an average woman, some guides suggest that number is around 2,000kcal (8,400kJ) a day.
That's means if you want to lose 1kg weight a week (a healthy and sustainable amount for most, although it's not advised to shoot for more than this) you would need to create a 7,700 calorie deficit (2.2 lbs worth of fat) over the course of a week.
It's likely that this is where the general recommendation of 1200 calories came from, based on an assumption that if the average female is consuming 1500-1600 calories each day, reducing it by 400-500 calories will support weight loss while still providing enough calories to support metabolic rate.
There are a few reasons why this may happen: Lower fiber intake. Many reduced calorie diets cut back on high calorie, high volume foods in favor of lean proteins, which typically contain less fiber. Fiber is essential for promoting regularity and good bowel movements.
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.
This 1,400-calorie meal plan is specially tailored to help you feel energized and satisfied, so you can lose a healthy 1 to 2 pounds per week.
According to the 2020–2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, most adult females require between 1,600 and 2,000 calories, and adult males between 2,000 and 2,400 calories, per day. Consequently, most people will lose weight following a 1,500- to 1,800-calorie diet.
Salty food, high carbohydrate intake, lack of exercise and some medications can cause water weight gain even on a caloric deficit (10). It is possible to lose weight in a healthy way by consuming 1400 calories a day, but you should carefully design all your meals so as to not to miss out on indispensable nutrients.