Hello,
Today is my first day here. I do have questions about the whole nutrition thing. Here goes...
1200 calories seems high. Is this a weight loss amount or a maintenance amount?

If it is a weight loss amount and I'm eating less, is my body in starvation mode?

If my body is in starvation mode, Will I stop losing weight?

I've cut out caffeine - my blood sugar seemed to drop way too low when I drank a cup of coffee in the morning. I drink mildly sweetened decaf iced tea sometimes...Should I eliminate this too?

I would love to know what foods are good to eat at what meals. Are there any good books or guidelines out there that aren't fad diets? Someone told me South Beach, but I just don't want to go on yet another failed fad diet.

I think that's it for now.
Periwinklegirl

Okay, I wanted to add this...
For breakfast I usually have a yogurt smoothie which consists of
4 oz plain yogurt
1/2 cup skim milk
1 banana
1 cup frozen fruit (like blueberries, strawberries, peaches)
1 Tbsp honey
And [B]Sometimes[B] a tablespoon of peanutbutter (the protein helps maintain my blood sugar)
Is this good/bad? Any comments or concerns?

well, let me start w/ this...there is no diet that is "right" for everyone. You have to find what works best for you.

I personally have found the 1200 cal diet to work best for me. 1200 cals is a weight loss amount, not maintence. I believe I've read for my height/weight that something like 2200 is my maintence amt.

To answere some of your questions, it is not recommended that you ever go under 1200 cals, not for any length of time anyhow. It can put your body into starvation mode.

As far as starvation mode goes, I'm sure you'll plateu for a while, but then you should pull out of it and loose more weight. BUt its not healthy and you really should try to advoid it. I think you end up burning muscles instead of fat?

As far as eating suggestions, this is a typical day for me....

breakfast
either 1 or 2 toast w/ 1 or 2 eggs (depends on how hungry i am) or some cheerios or just some fruit

lunch
lean cusines (LOVE THEM), progresso soup (many are under 100 cals/serving), salad

dinner
chicken or turkey, and half a plate of veggies, maybe a fruit?

snack
sugar free pudding, jello, fruit, ww.ice cream, ect.

Hope that was some help!

1200 calories is high???? That honestly scares me a LOT. People in comas are fed that many calories. Yes, your metabolism is VERY low and you are depriving yourself of much needed nourishment for your body!

Many people try to lose weight by making drastic calorie reductions, which hurts their metabolism. They lose some weight, then reduce more, and so on. They get to the point where their body is missing out on so much. It's a viscious cycle. Unless someone has a medical problem that affects metabolism almost everyone can lose weight at a higher level. And in fact, most people will lose weight at a faster rate when they eat more because they body is properly nourished and more food equals more energy and more movement. However, once a person's metabolism has been hurt badly by low calorie dieting that it takes a long time to repair it. Low calorie dieting has so many negetive health effects for later life...

The poster above is right though that no one diet or number of calories is right for everyone. As part of my job I design full nutrition programs for people and I have people eating a huge variety of calorie levels....never 1200 or lower though!

I don't mean to be harsh with what I said. I have just had so many women come to me with weight loss trouble and developing health problems due to low calorie dieting. It's scary to me.

Sarah

I will consume under 1,000 calories once or twice a week, on a day that I am home not doing anything active. But on the day preceding or following a low cal day, I might consumer over 2,000. 1,200 a day, on average, is not high at all. I probably average well over 1,500 and am still losing weight.

If you have the money or the resources, you really should see a nutritionist. Figuring out what's best for YOUR body can be pretty difficult. You first need to know how much you are consuming while not dieting and then you need to decrease your caloric intake incrementally. NEVER go under 1200, but I think 1200 is a good number to lose weight. Don't mistake a personal trainer at a gym for a dietician unless they have a degree in it. That was the advice I got from a nutritionist. Based on my height and starting weight, which was 5'4" 185 lbs., I was supposed to eat 1800. However, that was actually more than I was consuming while not "dieting" so I started at 1500 and worked my way down by -100 every week until I got to 1200. Every now and then (say once a week) I'll have a high calorie day, but I still stay below 1500. The hardest part of this, though, is that you really need to watch how your body reacts at each increment because everyone's body will react differently. You may find that you lose more weight at 1500 versus 1200. It's a trial and error type of thing. As long as you are eating a balanced and healthy diet, you're going to have many health benefits by eating lower calories. Just look at it this way. How can choosing lean chicken over a cheese burger be bad for your health? I hope I helped!

Thats good advice. However, I don't think its going to kill someone to occasionally go under 1,200. Look at it this way: Even counting calories religiously, its very likely that most of the time you are consuming more calories than you think. To accurately measure every add on to your food, condiment, etc., is simply not possible to do.

Good advice. It is true that we all tend to have variance in our calories.
I wanted to comment on what Somesaymisty mentioned about the difference between personal trainers and nutritionists. Do investigate first. Some PTs have very little nutrition knowledge, while others have incredible kowledge on the subject. I am a PT, but mostly what I do is nutrition. All PT certs are different. Some PT certs require a LOT of nutrition info, and that info is geared toward people who workout. Also, many PTs take continuing Ed courses in nutrition. Personally, I have a Lifestyle Management Cert (which is all about helping people lose weoight through nutrition) and I've taken several nutrition courses, in addition to the Sport's Nutrition I took in getting my PT cert. Often people have come to me after seeing a nutritionist who gave them a blanket diet, which was not really catered to their unique needs, nor had they inquired about their current eating routine. In these cases often PTs who are educated in nutrition do an excellent job because they are typically so good at individualization. Long before I became a PT I had an experienced PT do nutrition for me and it got me where I wanted to be.
Please don't take this that I'm saying anything bad about nutritionist! They have great educations and help a lot of people and are very valuable! I'm simply expressing how a PT can often be very valuable in the nutrition area as well. Just investigate the trainer's knowledge first.

Sarah

another important consideration in doing low calorie dieting is what kinds of calories you are consuming. I have been trying in the past few weeks (rather unsuccesfully) to limit my fat calorie intake to around 300 calories. Eating lean meats and fruits and vegetables, rather than 1200 calories of fried items just makes a whole lot more sense!