Weight loss is not only related to the number of calories we consume. However, the 1200 calorie diet promises to make us lose 10 kilos in a short time. Will be real? And healthy?
The calories you burn during exercise and everyday activities also play an important role in weight loss. However, many people choose a calorie-restricted diet to encourage that caloric deficit.
1200 calories is not enough
A 1200 calorie diet is very low, so it is recommended to increase it. On average, women should get between 1,800 and 2,400 calories per day, depending on their age and lifestyle. Men, meanwhile, should get between 2,200 and 3,000 calories per day. It is unlikely that a doctor or trainer would recommend consuming as little as 1,200 calories per day.
It is not recommended to consume less than 1200 calories a day without medical supervision, and in fact it would be dangerous for our health to go down if we do it alone. Some of the information missing from the question is eating habits (reducing calories is not the focus, but the type of calories you eat is also important), stress level (lifestyle affects metabolism), and whether we exercise A dietitian or nutritionist will ask us about it to design the best weight loss diet.
The recommended rate of weight loss is usually around 500 grams per week , bearing in mind that we will plateau before losing weight again and reaching the goal. As we already know, the real challenge once we start losing weight will be keeping the weight off. If we change the diet drastically when we are trying to lose weight, but return to old habits once we lose the desired kilos, the efforts will have been in vain.
How long does it take to lose ten kilos?
To calculate how long it will take us to lose 20 pounds, we need to know how many calories below our maintenance level we are eating. For example, if we are consistently eating 500 calories below our maintenance level, it would take months to lose 20 pounds. This data can be found by multiplying the calories of a kilo of fat (approximately 7700 calories) by the kilograms we want to lose (in this case 10). Finally divide by the caloric deficit we are creating (500 for this example).
That said, we will not consume an exact number of calories every day, so it is impossible to predict the exact time. So we can take it as a guide.
An intake of 1,000 or 1,200 calories is too low in almost all cases. You should eat more, maybe 200 or 300 more, or as much as 1500, depending on many factors. The best bet would be to calculate it on an online calculator or go to a health professional. He will be the one to calculate an approximation of the calories we need to maintain our weight, and from there we will adjust the calories to create a deficit of 500. However, we should not obsess over the exact number, since some days we could eat 1000 less, while others may not even be in deficit, it’s all a pattern.
In general, if we are consistent with that, it would take us between 4 and 6 months to lose 10 kilos of fat.
