Overview of the 1200 calorie diet (1200 calorie diet)

The 1200 calorie diet plan is designed to promote fat loss and reach your goal weight as quickly as possible. Only 1200 calories per day, can you afford it?

While cutting calories is an effective way to lose weight, research shows that cutting calories too hard is not good for health or long-term weight loss.

This article looks at the 1200-calorie diet and addresses the potential benefits and drawbacks associated with low-calorie dietary patterns.

What is a 1200 calorie diet (1200 calorie diet)?

The 1,200 calorie diet is a way of eating that limits your daily calorie intake to 1,200. This diet is considered a low-calorie diet because it provides significantly fewer calories than most average adults need to maintain their weight.

Many health care providers, including doctors and nutritionists, prescribe a low-calorie diet as a weight loss strategy.

A common recommendation for weight loss is to reduce calorie intake by 500-750 calories per day. This usually means a low-calorie diet, 1200-1500 calories per day for adult women and 1500-1800 calories per day for adult men.

Note that 1200 calories is the lowest recommended for women.

Some researchers classify a low-calorie diet as a diet that provides between 800 and 1,200 calories per day, while a very low calorie diet is classified as a diet that provides fewer than 800 calories per day.

These diets are usually for short periods of weeks to months to promote rapid weight loss.

Low calorie and very low calorie diets are often used in clinical settings under medical supervision, such as weight loss centers, but they are also popular with the general public.

In fact, many weight loss experts, personal trainers, and popular diet websites offer 1200-calorie meal plans, promising that following a 1,200-calorie diet will help you “lose weight fast” quickly”.

These diets often promote the use of “low-calorie,” “fat-free” and “reduced fat” foods to help keep calories low and often include calorie counting so dieters can make sure make sure they stay below their daily limit.

While a 1200 calorie diet may be appropriate in the short term in certain circumstances, 1200 calorie is too little for most people.

Plus, while you can lose weight quickly at first with a dramatic reduction in calorie intake, studies show that low-calorie diets rarely have long-term effects.

What does science say about the weight loss effects of a 1200 calorie diet?

Creating a calorie deficit is necessary for weight loss. According to some medical experts, cutting 500-750 calories per day can lead to weight loss, at least in the short term.

Many studies have shown that following a low-calorie diet, including a 1,200-calorie diet, can promote weight loss.

For example, one study in 2,093 people with obesity demonstrated that a medically supervised 1,200-calorie diet resulted in an average of 4.7% fat loss over 12 months.

In another study, after 1 year, people who followed a 1,200-1,500-calorie-per-day diet lost an average of 6.8kg in weight.

However, a low-calorie diet induces changes in metabolism that preserve energy and prevent weight loss, including increased appetite, decreased lean body mass, and decreased number of calories burned burn, all of which make it difficult to maintain long-term weight loss.

This has led many health professionals to recommend eating patterns that use only small calorie reductions to promote weight loss while minimizing the negative metabolic adaptations associated with low-calorie diets.

The potential benefits of a 1200 calorie diet

Following a 1,200 calorie diet may offer some health benefits, but it’s important to note that these benefits relate to calorie restriction in general and not just to the 1,200 calorie plan .

Regularly consuming more calories than your body needs can lead to many health consequences, including weight gain, increased risk factors for heart disease, and diabetes. Providing the body with the right amount of calories is essential to maintaining overall health.

Many studies have shown that reducing calorie intake in general can benefit health by promoting weight loss, reducing heart disease risk factors such as LDL (bad) cholesterol, lowering blood sugar and reducing inflammation .

However, restrictive, short-term, very-low-calorie diets can lead to weight regain over time.

Therefore, while shedding excess body weight can be beneficial for your overall health, it’s important to choose healthy, sustainable weight loss methods over extreme fad diets.

Low-calorie diets have a high dropout rate due to their demanding nature. Therefore, if you want to follow a low-calorie diet to lose weight, you should seek the advice of a professional.

Potential disadvantages

Calorie needs are individual and depend on many factors, including body size, age, and activity level. The 1200 calorie diet is not suitable for most adults, including petite women. Although calorie needs vary from person to person and exact needs can only be determined using specific equipment or calculations, the average adult woman needs about 2000 calories per day to maintain her weight. own, while men need about 2,500.

These numbers are averages only and do not reflect differences in calorie needs due to factors such as age, activity level, and height. However, these average calorie needs estimates tell you that the 1,200 calorie figure is very low.

A 1200 calorie diet is too low for most people and can lead to negative side effects such as dizziness, hunger, nausea, micronutrient deficiencies, fatigue, headaches, and gallstones. .

Moreover, a 1200 calorie diet program can fail you if you want to lose weight in the long run.

Calorie restriction leads to metabolic changes in your body. These include an increase in hormones like ghrelin and cortisol, which increase feelings of hunger, as well as a decrease in resting metabolic rate (RMR) or the number of calories you burn at rest.

This leads to the risk of weight regaining over time, as well as the vicious cycle of repeated episodes of weight loss followed by weight gain again that so many dieters experience. That’s bad for mental health, and research has shown that repetitive dieting can put stress on the heart, leading to a higher risk of eating disorders and type 2 diabetes.

Better alternatives

Often, health care providers and people looking to lose weight choose diets based on how quickly they can get the results they want, without taking into account the long-term health consequences of restriction. too many calories.

Although choosing a restricted, low-calorie diet that provides less than your daily calorie needs can help with rapid weight loss, remember that part of weight loss is losing muscle mass.

A large calorie deficit not only leads to adverse changes that make it harder to maintain weight loss, but it can also have serious effects on mental health.

The majority of research shows that using healthier, less extreme weight loss methods is a better choice for supporting weight loss and maintaining weight loss over time.

Example: Instead of cutting your calorie intake to 1200 calories, try some of these science-based healthy weight loss tips:

Eat whole foods: Whole foods, including vegetables, fruits, beans, fish, nuts, seeds, and eggs, should make up the majority of your calories. Whole foods are packed with the fiber, protein, and healthy fats your body needs.

Cut out added sugars and fats: Reducing fat and added sugars is a healthy way to promote weight loss. Foods high in sugar and/or fat commonly include soft drinks, cakes, ice cream, candy, and sugary cereals.

Cooking at home: Eat less at restaurants and cook more at home. People who cook for themselves tend to gain less weight and have healthier eating habits.

Increase daily activity: One of the best ways to promote healthy, sustainable weight loss is to create a calorie deficit by increasing the number of calories you burn. Try walking daily and exercising regularly.

Work with a health professional: A knowledgeable dietitian or other trained health care provider can help you lose weight in a healthy way with no restrictions.

While weight loss using healthy, sustainable dietary methods may take longer, it reduces the adverse adaptations that occur during extreme calorie restriction and can increase long-term weight retention for you.

Epilogue

The 1,200 calorie diet involves counting calories and eating low calorie foods to promote rapid weight loss. While this diet has the potential for rapid weight loss, the metabolic adaptation that occurs during calorie restriction makes long-term weight loss extremely difficult.

Furthermore, 1200 calories is much less than the average amount that most adults, including low-weight women, need to fuel their bodies. 1200 calorie diet can be a popular tool for weight loss, but it is better to choose a diet that fuels the body in a healthy way and promotes slow but sustainable weight loss. for long-term maintenance.

Reference source

1,200-Calorierie Diet Review: Does It Work for Weight Loss? https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/1200-calorie-diet-review Accessed date: 12/30/2020