A ‘1200 calorie diet’ is not enough for some of us. For example, I need about 2000 a day while my wife needs 1800. But, 1200 calories per day might be OK for you. Many Americans take in 3,000 calories a day, even more. Who needs that much? Athletes?
Healthy weight loss depends upon how much you want to lose versus what you currently weigh. If you are obese (which is a medical condition requiring a doctor’s care) weight loss will probably be your number one priority.
Yet, it’s a good idea to know how much you should weigh according to the BMI chart. If you want ‘validated information’, then visit the CDC where you can do your own research into the subject of personal weight loss. Within this site, I am only telling you my own personal health and weight loss results from a plant based diet.
How many calories to lose a pound of weight? You need to burn 3,500 calories more than you take in to lose 1 pound. This is a reduction of 500 calories per day to lose 1 pound in a week. This is considered the healthiest safest rate for weight loss. I lost five pounds a month. It took me a year to lose almost fifty pounds. I had a few setbacks because I kept eating refined grain products like crackers, cold cereal, bread and tortillas.
Currently, I weigh 158 lbs. down from a ‘whopping’ 205 lbs. How I eat keeps the weight off providing me with ample energy to work out with weights and jog each day (including doing all my ‘honey do’s’ around the house!)
Here’s what a ‘1200 calorie diet’ looks like…
Breakfast
1 Banana = 80-100 calories 1 medium
2. Hash browns 1 cup is about 100 calories
Lunch
- Beans and brown rice 1 cup each = about 470 calories
- Large green salad = I use a whole 6 oz. bag. They say 2.5 cups is 10 calories. I am guessing the whole bag can’t be more than 50 calories (without the dressing. Don’t use oil as it has the most calories @ 119 a tablespoon! Oil is also not healthy, no matter who says it)
Snack
- Hummus on celery @ 27 calories per tablespoon x 4 = 108
Dinner
- Baked potato is 163 calories for a medium one
- Steamed broccoli is 54 calories per cup @ 2 cups = 108
- Mango is 98 calories
Snack
- 1 cup of mixed berries (strawberries, blueberries and blackberries) is 70 calories
total calories approximately 1259
It took me a year to lose almost fifty pounds. The slowest weight loss is the healthiest. I know there are many ‘fad’ type diets promising you that if you spend twenty dollars you will lose twenty pounds.
This is so misleading, false and such an absolute health hazard I can’t believe it’s lawful for them to say it on TV! Personally, I wouldn’t waste your money.
Most people gain all the weight they lost on these unhealthy phony diets. No one ‘sticks’ to them. Their meals are too expensive and not ‘real’ food. It’s processed and refined. The advertisers are really ‘slick’ in how they deceive you telling you what you want to hear. But, the truth is, this is not the healthiest best way to lose weight.
Furthermore, you just don’t want to lose weight. There are plenty of ‘skinny’ sick people around. You also want to become healthier, be able to keep the weight you lost off permanently, feel better, have more energy and live a lot longer. That’s why it is worthwhile considering adopting a whole food plant based diet.
It’s how I eat. I lost all the weight I wanted and my blood pressure went way down. Believe me, you don’t want to have a future heart attack, stroke, get cancer or any other disease, ailment or condition. We don’t want pain, do we?
Best practice is to eat the way that will likely prevent doctor visits and hospital stays in the first place. I call this ‘prevention’. It’s like a health insurance policy you’ll never have to use.
Note- be sure to contact your doctor before you change your diet.
