The 1200 Calorie Myth

Anybody who has ever dieted knows about the 1200 calorie myth. There are multiple variations of this myth, but here are the most common two I come across in fitness forums.

1. You must eat 1200 calories per day in order to lose weight quickly (2 lbs per week)
2. 1200 calories is the minimum caloric intake a person needs before they go into starvation mode

I've heard this myth and parroted #2 a few times myself. However, after calculating my BMR and realizing I needed 1491 calories just to exist (as in to just lay in bed all day doing nothing) I started to doubt the 1200 calorie myth.

Mmmm delicious burger...aaaaand I'm not eating again for three days.

The first thing most of these forums don't tell you is where this myth even came from. Some of them site the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM), so I started my search there. And I found nothing. Well, not nothing. I just found some super complicated formulas. No magical explanation about the 1200 calorie myth.

So I turned to Google and tried to find the 1200 myth's connection to AMSSM. What I found was a connection to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). I found one article with no citations and no author. It references the ACSM guidelines, but gives no link to them. I also couldn't find them after scouring the web. Nevertheless, I had my first source outside of public forums quoting the myth. It also added to the myth including men need to eat at least 1800 calories per day.

By the way, this is what a 1200 calorie diet looks like.

I turned to Google again to try and find the root of this myth and I finally struck gold. Here is the direct quote from the article:

So where did the 1200 and 1800 calorie floor numbers come from? Those are generalizations based on average caloric maintenance levels (TDEE), as determined by exercise physiologists. According to Victor Katch & Frank Mcardle, the average female between the ages of 23 and 50 has a maintenance level of about 2100 calories per day and the average male about 2800 calories per day.

Based on the maximum recommendation of two pounds of weight loss per week given by organizations like the American College of Sports Medicine, these "calorie floors" are based on 1000 calories below the average person's TDEE (2800 calories per day average for men, minus 1000 calories equals calorie floor of 1800 calories per day. 2100 calories per day average for women, minus 1000 calories equals a calorie floor of 1100 calories, and most health organizations round up that number to 1200 since 1000 calories under maintenance is a larger relative deficit compared to men.)

This blows the 1200 calorie myth out of the water. Very rarely have I heard an argument for a net of 1200 calories; usually I see diet plans that account for 1200 calories exactly as well as an exercise regimen. Thus, anyone who is actually working out while sticking to 1200 calories exactly is most definitely throwing themselves into starvation mode.

Not only that, but the 1200 calorie diet is meant for the average person who is purposely trying to lose the maximum safe amount of weight per week. But what exactly does average mean? I don't own the book by the physiologists cited above; however, I can guarantee you the average person is not busting their butt in the gym every day.

This is where your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) comes into play (check out my post on the Biggest Loser fiasco, I get more into how it is calculated there). I included links to a few different equations for determining daily caloric need. Using the Harris Benedict equation, my daily caloric need came out around 2300 (using all the various equations I got a range of 1900-2300).

According to the Harris Benedict formula, I am 200 calories over the suggested average. 200 calories may not seem like a lot, but after a week that is 1400 calories. Imagine how out of whack my diet and metabolism would get if I continued that deficit unknowingly.

Also, in general, leaner bodies will need more calories. For example, two women who are the same height and wear the same clothing size, but have totally different body composition will have different caloric needs.

To sum it up for those who don't like reading:

Myth 1: You must eat 1200 calories per day in order to lose weight quickly (2 lbs per week)
Reality: You need to calculate your BMR to determine your daily caloric need. Then you subtract 1000 calories from that in order to lose 2 pounds a week. You also need to take into account calories burned through exercise (ex: 1300 calories/day to lose 2 lbs + 300 calories burned through exercise = 1600 calories total for the day).

Myth 2: 1200 calories is the minimum caloric intake a person needs before they go into starvation mode
Reality: 1200 calories in the minimum caloric intake for the average woman who does not exercise. Again, you will need to calculate your BMR, daily caloric needs, as well as calories burned from exercise in order to determine what your minimum is.

About Samantha Bookwalter

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Samantha Bookwalter is currently Associate Web Content Manager for Health Supplement Wholesalers. She specializes in web editing, copyediting, SEO, HTML, CSS, and other web-related acronyms. Samantha has an affinity for health and fitness; in her free time she enjoys working out with her husband and researching recipes that are not only healthy but delicious too.