1200 calories…The ‘apparent’ magic number to lose weight…Well, I hate to disappoint you BUT I HATE this number!

I often get asked how many calories one should eat and if I feel that someone is eating too much or too little…What is super scary is that there are SO many people out there who are under-eating…I’m not saying that this is always the case but more often than not, the people that are contacting me, aren’t eating their maintenance calories, let alone their deficit calories…

The reason why I hate the number 1200 calories is because, for some or other reason, people have been made to believe that this is the magic number of calories one should consume. I’m not sure if it’s the magazines that are to blame, or the latest celeb doing a crazy diet for a movie role or because 1200 is generally the number that MyFitnessPal will spit out at you after you download the app but 1200 calories is NOT a magic number…I am actually going to be honest here as well…If I didn’t understand food and just how much we needed to ‘live our best lives’, I would think that 1200 sounded like a lot…BUT…It really isn’t! If you are prepping for a show or you need to diet down and watch the scale for some or other SHORT TERM reason, then sure…1200 calories may be what you need to consume…But on a long term basis…It really isn’t enough!

I’m going to repeat that again for emphasis…It really isn’t enough!!!

Did you know that 1200 calories is what a toddler should be consuming on a daily basis? Sure, this could be argued because little ones are growing and are always running around…BUT as adults we constantly have a million balls in the air that we need to juggle, so I don’t think it would make sense for us to be consuming less than an active toddler.

As I said earlier, sometimes 1200 calories may be warranted…If you are ending a fat loss phase for example, you may have had to drop your calories as time went by which lead you to end on a ridiculously low amount of calories in order for you to continue to lose weight…BUT if you were to start your fat loss journey and decide to start by consuming a mere 1200 calories…as time went by…where would you go? 700 calories? 600 calories? THAT JUST ISNT HEALTHY!!!

As women we have been brainwashed to believe that we constantly need to be dieting but we cant be doing that long term- Its not healthy to constantly be in a caloric deficit…Eventually you are going to need to go back up to your maintenance calories and then later on, if you so choose, go back down to your deficit calories.

What will happen if you stop essentially ‘dieting’?

Well…You will have more energy, you will see an improvement in your hormones, you will have regular periods, better sleep, a normal sex drive, increased strength in the gym, better moods, normal hunger levels and you wont find yourself thinking about food all the time. These are just a few benefits…I could honestly go on and on and on…

I used to be that girl who lived on minimal calories and honestly, I forgot what it felt like to feel ‘GREAT’…I thought I felt normal, until I started to eat more! Then I learnt what feeling great actually meant…We aren’t meant to be in a deficit for long periods of time…

If you have any questions or are currently under-eating…Please reach out and let me know xxx

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