1,200 Calories a Day Diet
Weight loss is a simple formula of diet and exercise. The 1,200 Calorie Diet is exactly as it sounds: consume only 1,200 calories a day to lose weight. Because 1,200 calories is less than the amount normally consumed by an individual, you can easily shed a few pounds if this diet is followed correctly.
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Benefits
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While weight loss is one obvious advantage, eating less food is also linked to living a longer life. CBS News reports that in a study of monkeys, those who consumed a third fewer calories as a second group lived longer. Less disease was another finding. The reason might be attributed to the amount of energy exerted by the body to digest food. Changing your metabolism might slow the effects of aging. Thus, retraining your own metabolism using this diet could cause weight loss, longevity and lower the risk of disease.
Recommended Foods
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On this diet, choose foods that have a high amount of nutrients. The key is to maximize nutritional value and minimize calorie consumption. Fruits and vegetables are high in vitamins and minerals but low in calories--these foods are great to eat if you are hungry and looking for a quick snack. If the body is well-nourished by having an ample stock of nutrients, you feel satiated longer. Whole grain bread and unprocessed foods also provide high nutritional values for a reasonable calorie trade-off. Whole grains are rich in fiber and B vitamins, which lead to feeling full for longer. Protein is essential on a limited-calorie diet: Choose meats that are lean and low-fat. Tofu and soy substitutes are good protein sources on this diet. They match the amount of protein as meat per gram but have fewer calories.
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Tips
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Keep a food log a week before starting the 1,200-calorie diet. Identify the foods that are unhealthy, and cut them first. For foods you enjoy, like lasagna, try to find a recipe to create a healthier, low-cal version. An excellent substitution for lasagna noodles is using zucchini strips instead. Small changes such as that will maintain flavor while lowering the calorie content. For the fastest reduction in calories, cut simple carbs like sugar in sweets and even processed, bleached bread. These foods are high in calories and contain energy, but without important nutrients, the body will be hungry. A last tip is to chew slowly--savoring the flavor of the food makes it less likely to want more than necessary, and thorough chewing aids digestion.
Common Pitfalls
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This diet demands dedication. Documenting all sources of caloric intake is critical for this diet to work; otherwise, a few chips could result in eating half the bag. The 80 calories documented could easily turn into 250 if food intake is not monitored closely. Another pitfall is to overeat once the diet ends. If you go on the diet for a week and cut back 400 calories a day to meet the 1,200 calorie standard, the person saves 2,800 calories in a week. One pint of ice cream after the diet ends eliminates 30 percent of the week's effort in a single sitting. The way to approach this diet is to see it as a building block toward better eating habits--not a quick-fix to abandon when the diet ends and the weight is lost.
Warning
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Eating 1,200 calories a day is on the low end of a healthy diet and should only be used for weight loss. Once the weight is lost, revert back to a healthy level of calorie consumption. Use a calorie calculator to determine how many calories you should be eating at your healthy weight (see link in Resources). Otherwise, trying to maintain this diet as a lifestyle will result in endless food logs and label-reading.
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