How Does This Diet Work?

The basic concept behind the 1200 calorie diet is eat the least amount of food possible, while still maintaining a healthy diet. The least amount of calories an average person can intake and still be healthy is about 1200 calories, so this diet is recommended with caution. Men are recommended to eat a minimum of 1400-1600 calories while women can cut down to 1200 calories. Doctors and health experts all agree that if you want to lose weight, your body still needs 1200 calories to keep the body’s metabolism functioning well enough to start shedding pounds. If you eat less than 1200 calories, your body will go into starvation mode and try to hold onto as many calories as it can, making the whole process of losing weight inefficient.

Is This Diet Safe?

This diet is built around riding the fence between healthy calorie intake and the danger zone, so you will need to have an acute sense of how many calories you are eating every day. As always, go see your doctor before starting a diet and talk to him/her about whether you are able to start a diet like this.

Can I Cheat a Little With This Diet?

Since this diet relies on eating the least amount of calories possible, there’s little wiggle room, so it’s best to eat healthy, unprocessed foods and veggies, rather than relying on starchy foods and sweets. Your body will lose more weight and you’ll have much more energy by working off of a healthy diet. One of the easiest ways to succeed while on this diet is to get a calorie-counting app for your smart phone. The Calorie Counter & Diet Tracker app for the iPhone is a great way to keep track of your calorie intake throughout the day, especially if you need to grab some fast food after a long meeting that cut into your lunch break and can’t really worry too much about whether you’re making perfect diet decisions. Just plug the foods you are eating and the calorie counter will tell you how much that cheeseburger cost you in terms of calories (often times the results are alarming.)

Pros of the Diet

• Best to select wholesale foods as you will have an easier time dealing with hunger pains
• Since this diet is based upon a lower-calorie diet, the weight comes off and stays off
• You can eat whatever you want as long as you don’t eat more than 1200 calories

Cons of the Diet

• You have to keep track of calories, which can be difficult, especially if you don’t have an app for your smart phone
• You might have trouble with hunger pains and loss of energy if you can’t fit good, healthy foods into your diet
• If you are physically active, you will need to adjust your diet to intake more calories
• Some people on a bare minimum diet have reported that they are always cranky and the expectation of living a significantly longer life isn’t substantiated yet.