1200 calorie minimum for women

[DVONALT]

I am just under 5'0" and some days fitbit tells me my calorie goal is under 1200, today it's 1037 for example.

All my research and talking to my friend who is a licensed nutritionist explains this is NOT healthy!!! A woman needs at least 1200 calories a day for their body to properly function and not go into "starvation" mode.

I truly believe fitbit should fix their minimum intake to a 1200 calorie minimum no matter what. I want to be sure I'm getting enough nutrients to sustain what my body needs to do to function properly on a daily basis, so I eat a minimum of 1200 a day no matter what fitbit tells me for that day.

I'd love to hear others thoughts on this topic.

[AnneT]

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@DVONALT wrote:

I am just under 5'0" and some days fitbit tells me my calorie goal is under 1200, today it's 1037 for example.

All my research and talking to my friend who is a licensed nutritionist explains this is NOT healthy!!! A woman needs at least 1200 calories a day for their body to properly function and not go into "starvation" mode.

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Hi 🙂

Your nutritionist is correct.

Eating less than 1200 kcal on a daily basis is not healthy. If you are below 1200 kcal on 1 or 2 days a week, it is ok, and might give you some flexiblity in your diet plan on other days.

But, I also found a calorie-calculator (on a trustworthy danish website called slankedoktor.dk (weightloss doctor, loosely translated)). This calculation showed me that fitbit's calculation is correct, BUT the site advised to never go under 1200 kcal as an adult woman.

So, yes I agree Fitbit should tell its users to at least not starve themselves 🙂

to loose 1/2 kg (1,1 pounds) a week you need to cut your daily intake with approx. 600-650 kcal

to loose 1/4 kg (0,55 pounds) a week you need to cut your daily intake with approx. 250 kcal

depending on the source of the info of course 🙂

I find all this logging and writing and so on very boring, so I use MyFitnessPal and sync it with fitbit, though I have only been using fitbit for 3 days, I think it is working ok. The app calculates almost everything for you, AND warns you if your intake is too low.... just an idea for you 🙂

 - Anne 🙂

[1stepcloser]

I'm also just under 5 foot, but the calorie count is if you lay there and breath nothing else. Once you get up and move and add steps it will add that and you will be above the 1200.  Atleast it does this for me. There are days I eat less but if I'm not hungry I wont force myself to eat.

[Heybales · Accepted solution]

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@DVONALT wrote:

I am just under 5'0" and some days fitbit tells me my calorie goal is under 1200, today it's 1037 for example.

All my research and talking to my friend who is a licensed nutritionist explains this is NOT healthy!!! A woman needs at least 1200 calories a day for their body to properly function and not go into "starvation" mode.

I truly believe fitbit should fix their minimum intake to a 1200 calorie minimum no matter what. I want to be sure I'm getting enough nutrients to sustain what my body needs to do to function properly on a daily basis, so I eat a minimum of 1200 a day no matter what fitbit tells me for that day.

I'd love to hear others thoughts on this topic.

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That's the minimum safety level to get all your nutritional needs in with average eating for AVERAGE sedentary woman.

It's been shown with focus on total food and/or supplements (mostly in research studies), you can actually get all the required nutritional levels in on 800 calories - and that's what they'll do under strict lab watch to make a diet study go faster. But most people don't have that luxury of tests out the wazoo.

At 5 ft - you are shorter than average, pretty sure you knew that, no surprises there.

So you would have less room for non-useful food.

Also - you are aware you are in control of the amount of deficit taken off what you burn, right?

If you want to eat more - don't take as big a deficit and try to lose as fast as someone taller - your body can't support that.

It is totally unfair - easier to gain, harder to lose, less to eat in general. Very unfair.

And that's why any race I've been to there is no shortage (get it, shortage) of short woman. They run so they burn more daily so they can eat at semi-normal levels.

And your body doesn't go in to starvation mode based on level of eating, but rather level of deficit from what the body wants to what you are actually eating.

Morbidly obese people put on a 2000 cal diet when they burn 4000 at sedentary are expected to suppress their burn by about 20% because of the effects of starvation mode over many weeks. But their eating level is still so high, and rate of loss still so high, it still works to get masses of weight off quick.

But then they keep eating 2000 even though their daily burn is 20% less than it could be, but now they can move with less weight, so they burn more again. Eventually they back off the amount of deficit because 2000 becomes more and more reasonable as weight comes off.

But if you are 5 ft or shorter, and 50% fat or more, then your metabolism is just so low, and your daily burn without exerise so low, you'd have to eat lower to actually lose anything.

Female 5 ft, 55 yrs, 55% BF, and 150 lbs or 50 lbs to lose, sedentary would only burn about 1240 calories daily.

You can't lose weight on a 40 cal deficit, that's the inaccuracy in food labels for 1 meal or less.

True, you shouldn't take 2lb weekly loss obviously either, but should take 1/2 lb weekly.

Or better, get active and eat at sedentary maintenance of 1240, and let exercise create the deficit when you happen to do it.

Still slow loss, based on amount of exercise, but better eating level.

Besides, MyFitnessPal has proved that any tool with some safety measures can be used incorrectly to the detriment of the user. They stop at 1200. So guess what some people do - manually set the goal lower.

What if they prevented that - people would just stop eating at 1000, many others do that leaving the goal at 1200.

Others eat 1200 and then workout like nuts, making their deficit even bigger than probably the unreasonable one they selected.

Your suggestion while it may get Fitbit off some legal issue, wouldn't prevent stupidity or someone thinking they know it  better from getting around the system anyway and still causing themselves harm.

Besides, how in the world could Fitbit, or MFP, by setting a lower calorie limit, cause people to make sure those eaten 1200 calories are even nutritious. Plenty of people still don't do that even with lower eating levels.

Nice thought, impossible to make any real change in practice. People see 1200 spouted as eating level in any diet mag or commercials and think that's it.

[KC12]

You can change your calorie estimate. For the sedentary estimate, it comes with a warning you can start out with a very low estimate early in the day. There is also an option to set a target calorie intake, regardless of activity.

Also, 1200 calories a day is an estimate. For some people, they need more than that. To assume a 120 pound woman and a 300 pound woman have the same caloric needs makes no sense. Fitbit declaring that 1200 is a minimum would still be dangerous to some users.

[Lightsinger]

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@KC12 wrote:
You can change your calorie estimate. For the sedentary estimate, it comes with a warning you can start out with a very low estimate early in the day. There is also an option to set a target calorie intake, regardless of activity.

Also, 1200 calories a day is an estimate. For some people, they need more than that. To assume a 120 pound woman and a 300 pound woman have the same caloric needs makes no sense. Fitbit declaring that 1200 is a minimum would still be dangerous to some users.

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The minimum calorie recommendation for men is not 1200 calories.  This is the recommendation for women.  Men, I believe are recommended to eat a minimum of 1600-1800 calories a day.  So, of course they aren't assuming that the requirements for a 120 pound woman and a 300 pound man are the same. 

[joestencowwife]

I am 5"3. I would be VERY upset if Fitbit set their minimum intake to 1200 calories. It is so nice to not have to make caloric adjustments to have my tracking actually relevant to/fit me.

I have a small frame.  I have to eat a VERY low calorie diet to lose weight. For me, 1000 calories is a rough - and I do mean rough - maintenance intake... I can go between 800-1100 but if I eat much more than that I am gaining weight steadily. This is not a skeletal look/unhealthy weight for me... it's a basic, lean fit healthy look. Frankly, given my diet, sometimes 800 is a LOT of calories and leaves me VERY full.

If I weigh more than 115 ish, I start having health problems. Knee problems/pain, hip problems/pain, etc... and at one point my gyn was trying to get me to have a hysterectomy (which I refused to consider) for problems that completely disappeared once I got my excess weight off. Eating 1200+ calories a day would seriously compromise my health.

My diet involves lean meat (chicken, lean pork, lean red meat), steamed veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, green beans, asparagus, etc), occasionally nuts, dried fruit, a touch of dairy (I use a calcium supplement). If I eat lean meat and steamed veggies for two meals, and fruit for breakfast, I can EASILY have a 500-600 calorie day and feel VERY full, VERY satisfied and completely healthy with plenty of energy. Why on earth should I force an additional 600+ unnecessary and possibly unhealthy calories?

I realize that this is not necessarily the norm for everyone, but what IS the "norm" was slowly killing me. It was VERY unhealthy for me... and healthy  is the goal. 

I see your licensed nutritionist and raise you one physician husband who adores me (sweet man) and is quite vocal on what he thinks are unhealthy practices re diet, exercise, and vitamin intake. He absolutely supports the above... and no, I'm no trophy wife. We've been married 23 years and have four teen and twenties kids.

I'm sorry if I seem a bit hot over this, I'm just so frustrated by this issue. It took me YEARS to figure out why I didn't feel good, why I was hurting, why I couldn't get the weight off, etc, because of all the "norm's" out there. That isn't right. Don't even get me started on the people who are pushy about what you eat. I'm so tired of being told I don't eat enough... when I DO eat and am just not hungry and don't eat the way that person chooses to.

[centenoni]

You are correct. I use my fitness pal as well and it syncs everything, it also tells you if you ate too little and advices that it is not healthy. I think everyone should try that app together with fitbit, I beleive it will help a lot.

[Erica1979]

My brain won't let me eat less than about 1400 calories per day. I am 5 foot zero, 39 years, sedentary job, and Fitbit says I burn 1000-1200 calories per day....total. I have been gaining about 3 lbs a year since I got married ten years ago. Soo....my best guess is I need to eat a lower amount of food, but eat more nutrient dense food. My weight hasn't gone down since I got married except when I went on a 500 calorie a day diet. Lost about 10 lbs in 40 days. So short people have different rules. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. We are smaller, therefore need less of what average people....I call them Amazons.....need.

[Daveg22152]

I agree. A setting that keeps minimum calories above a certain floor, much like some music players set a max volume to prevent hearing damage, would make sense and should be easy to implement. 

[Glenda]

People who think this  is complete nonsense will not comment.  Safer.  But sorry, this is completely stupid.  The people on the 600 pound life TV show who are 5'8 or whatever are put on a diet of 1,200 calories.  If you do as suggested and put a midget on 1,200 calories they will become as fat as a house.  How silly can you get.  Someone 5 feet tall wearing a Fitbit one can push the little button on it at the end of the day and see that they probably used LESS than 1,200 calories that day.  Get real.  How long do you think it would take them to lose 5 pounds?