A 1200 Calorie Diet for Quick Weight Loss

There is a lot of talk about the amazing powers of a 1200 calorie diet and the fast weight loss many are experiencing with it. It’s certainly not something you’ll find simple to do or easy to stay on for any real length of time and that’s probably a good thing. Before you do anything drastic to lose weight quickly, make sure you’re checked out by your doctor. You’ll also want to make sure you’re doing this for the right reasons. Honestly, I can’t think of a really good reason to lose weight that quick, but you may have one. I’ll leave that up to you and explain why this is so effective.

Plan Things Out

In order to be successful at any program you need to plan things out so you know what to expect. There are a lot of people who take in over 1200 calories per meal. When you consider the fact that a "Deluxe Breakfast" at McDonalds has 1230 calories. It’s a pretty big meal, but there are a number of people who will eat this or something like it, several times per week. Take those 1200 calories and break them up into 3 medium sized meals and 2 decent snacks. That means each meal should be about 300 calories each, and make the snacks something close to 150 calories each.

Start a Food Journal

When you break your food up into smaller, but more frequent meals, you help regulate your body’s highs and lows and can put a cap on the cravings you feel. If you go more than 4 or 5 hours without eating, your body begins to think it’s in starvation mode and sets off all sorts of alarms. If you’re typically awake about 17 hours a day, you can break that up with 5 meals and never go more than 3 hours without food. Start with a healthy breakfast including a good number of carbohydrates and then a light snack about 3 hours later. Lunch should still include a good portion of carbs but up the protein a bit. Mid-afternoon is a good time for a light snack, but make sure there isn’t anything that’s going to spike your insulin levels. By dinner time, you need less energy, hence a smaller portion of carbs and more proteins.

Adjusting Your Calories

If you find you’re not making in through the day without an intense focus on food and feeling drowsy, you may want to consider boosting your calories up to 1400 or 1500 per day. Remember, not everybody is the same and some people really do need more than just 1200 calories a day. That may be your situation. Just make sure you don’t convince yourself that you need that Deluxe Breakfast each morning. Nobody needs that.