Started a 1200 calorie diets with vitamins (one a day for weight loss programs)?

How long can you safely stay on a 1200 calorie diet, while taking a one a day vitamin for people on a weight loss programs. The program includes exercise and healthy eating. I currently way 214 and I am planning to stay on this diet until my weight drops below 200 at which time I will consume a 1500 calorie diet until i weigh under 175 pound at which time i will increase my calories to 1800 until I reach my ideal weight of 158 ponds. (I'm 5'7)and then will consume no more than 2088 calories. Thanks

Public Comments

  1. I think 1200 is too low if you have been on other diets. DIETS don't work. You should be taking in about 500 calories less a day than you need and stick with it until you get to within 10% of your goal. The slowly add back 50-100. It should take longer but will not cause your body to go into starvation mode.
  2. To be honest you are going to have a hard time sticking to that. Going to that extreme is not necessary and what you are trying to do is find a happy place to live(nutritionally speaking). THink about using these tips..... Step 1: Find out what your basal metabolic rate is. Goto http://health.discovery.com/tools/calculators/basal/basal.html This is the amount of calories you need to eat to maintain your current weight. Step 2: Do you exercise? Do you exercise right? Exercising right means that you monitor your heart rate and make sure that you reach your target heart rate and maintain it for the longest period of time while exercising. You have two targets a fat burn zone and an cardiovascular zone. The fat burn is usually 60% of your maximum an d is easier to achieve and maintain and if your goal is weight loss this is where you want to be. Just walking/excising is a good start but if you want to get the most out of your work out find out what your target range is. If you don't belong to a gym then I recommend the Polar Fitness F11 Heart Monitor Watch. Step 3: You need to decrease your caloric intake or increase the amount of calories your body uses in a day by 500 calories a day for a week to lose 1 pound. So you can decrease that basal number you got in step 1 by 500 calories and exercise very little(yes you still need to exercise). Or you can decrease it by 250 and exercise off 250 calories or any other combination. Remember that your basal number is the amount of calories you body needs to live. If your number were 2400 then your body burn 100 calories per hour. So if you walk for half an hour and burn 300, 50 of that is your basal. Step 4: Count your calories, it's not hard and you'll find out that you eat a lot of the same things on a daily basis so you won't have to research everything over and over again. Balance what you eat(equal parts carbs and protien whenever possible) . One of the best websites out there is one from the FDA. http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/ This database has almost every food on the planet counted and weighed. (Hint: they do a lot of their weights based on 100grams. If you put 0.28 in the serving size this equals 1 ounce). Get a reliable food scale, preferably digital. Weigh everything that you put in your mouth that is not prepackaged. You need to know what you’re eating and how much you’re eating. The number one mistake is "eating healthy". Everyone thinks because it's "healthy" the portion isn't that important. A handful of peanuts is "healthy" and has nearly 250 calories! Eat enough calories and it won’t matter how "healthy" it is your going to gain weight. Step 5: Adjustments and Variety. If you are doing your best and losing weight but your starving, increase the amount of calories your giving yourself by 100-200 calories a day. Losing weight and starving are not good bedfellows. If you starve eventually you will crack and lose the battle. The more types of exercises you do the more weight you will lose. You will work more muscles and keep your body guessing. Step 6(optional): If you belong to a gym or have some free weights at home. Use them! Muscle takes up less space in your body than fat (pound for pound). A pound of fat sits around and does nothing all day, while a pound of muscle, even at rest burns calories(increasing your basal metabolic rate). GL!
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