Exercise And Calorie Restriction
If you’re interested in using a combination of diet and exercise to support your 1,200-calorie diet’s results, you should be aware that loss of a single pound means that you have to burn about 3,500 calories. Harvard Health estimates this to be the equivalent of around 35 miles of walking at a moderate-to-brisk pace .
Based on the Dietary Guidelines standards, a moderately active person is probably burning about 140 to 280 calories each day on exercise-based activities, like walking 1.5 to 3 miles. A very active person is likely burning a minimum of 280 calories per day. This is the equivalent of walking 3 to 4 miles.
According to the USDA, many standard day-to-day activities and household chores can contribute to your activity level. For example, an hour of gardening or yard work can help you burn 330 calories, while an hour of heavier chores, like chopping wood, could allow you to burn around 440 calories.
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Sports are also a great way to burn calories. An hour of basketball can help you burn around 440 calories, while swimming can burn 510 calories. Running, jogging or cycling quickly can burn 590 calories per hour. This means that an hour or hour and a half of exercise on most days could contribute to an additional pound of weight loss per week.
Potential Benefits Of A 1200
Following a 1,200-calorie diet may provide some health benefits, but its important to note that these benefits are associated with calorie restriction, in general, and not specific to 1,200-calorie meal plans.
Regularly consuming more calories than your body needs can lead to many health consequences, including weight gain, increased heart disease risk factors, and diabetes .
Fueling your body with the right number of calories is essential for the preservation of good overall health.
Many studies have shown that calorie reduction, in general, can benefit health by promoting weight loss, reducing heart disease risk factors like LDL cholesterol, and decreasing blood sugar levels and inflammation .
Theres no question that losing excess body weight has positive effects on health and that staying within your individual calorie needs is best for your body.
However, the methods used to promote weight loss matter, and using very low calorie, restrictive dieting methods is strongly associated with increased chances of weight regain over time.
Therefore, while losing excess body weight can benefit your overall health, its important to choose healthy, sustainable weight loss methods over more extreme dietary patterns.
It should be noted that some research has shown that people with obesity or morbid obesity who follow low calorie or very low calorie diets under medical supervision lose weight and improve their blood sugar and lipid profiles, which can improve overall health .
What Is The 1200
A 1200-calorie diet is a diet focused on counting calories it is primarily for weight loss, as it is a low calorie meal plan. Losing weight this way emphasizes a calorie level, rather than types of foods or nutrients being consumed, says Daniela Novotny, registered dietitian and instructor of biomedical sciences at Missouri State University.
The good news about following a 1200-calorie diet is that you dont have to follow a strict list of foods you can and cant eat. You can choose a plant-based diet or a clean-eating approach, you can go keto, or you can eat the foods you love but pare back portion sizes. You simply need to keep track of the calories youre eating throughout the day and avoid going much higher than 1200. The best way to do that? Use one of the many calorie counting apps out there to keep track, like MyFitnessPal or Cron-o-meter.
That said, youll quickly find that your choices definitely affect your success when it comes to following a 1200-calorie diet. Ryan Maciel, RD and Head Nutrition CoachElite Athletes and Organizations for Precision Nutrition says, since it’s such a restrictive diet, you do want to focus on consuming mainly whole foods, having well-balanced meals made up of lean protein, vegetables, healthy carbohydrates and healthy fats. This is really going to help keep you full for a longer period of time and give you a better chance of success.
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How Many Weight Watchers Points Is 1200 Calories
May 6, 2020 by Wendy
The question how many Weight Watchers points is 1,200 calories? is one that is often asked. The truth is, however, that there is no clear answer.
Weight Watchers has revamped its points system several times throughout the years, and the current points system is much less equivalent to calories than it has been in the past.
Current points weigh heavily on saturated fat, sugar, and protein, in addition to just the calories of food.
The short answer:
There is no universal way to answer this question because Weight Watchers points are NOT equal to calories. However, a better understanding of how these points work can help you visualize what approximately 1,200 calories of points could potentially look like in your diet.
Heres an example of how calories could translate to points
This is just an example, but not an absolute. For anyone who wants a more in-depth explanation, I will get to it a bit later .
Calorie Diet Meal Plan: Learn The Benefits Vs Risks

When you put aside the fad diets, macronutrients and meal plans, weight loss comes down to one simple rule: Eat fewer calories than you burn. This is the main premise of the 1,200 calorie diet, an eating pattern that is designed to help boost weight loss by restricting your intake to no more than 1,200 calories per day.
Whether you accomplish this by filling up on low-calorie foods or simply scaling back your portion sizes, theres no doubt that decreasing your daily calorie consumption can help promote weight loss. However, there are also some risks and side effects to consider as well, as reducing your intake too much could tank your metabolism and increase the risk of nutritional deficiencies.
So is the 1,200 calorie diet an effective strategy for sustainable weight loss? Keep reading for everything you need to know about the plan, including a comprehensive food list and meal plan to help get you going.
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Foods To Eat On A 1200 Calorie Diet
As we age, our caloric needs change. A 1200 calorie diet may be appropriate for some seniors, depending on their activity level and weight. Here are some suggestions for foods to eat on a 1200 calorie diet:
-Fruits and vegetables. Fill up half your plate with fruits and veggies at each meal. Aim for a variety of colors and types to get the most nutrients.
-Whole grains. Choose whole grain breads, pastas, and cereals instead of refined versions.
-Protein sources. Include lean meats, poultry, fish, tofu, beans or legumes in your meals.
-Dairy products. Go for lowfat or fat free milk, yogurt ,and cheese to get calcium without too much saturated fat .
-Healthy fats . Use olive oil or other vegetable oils when cooking add nuts or avocados to snacks or salads
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If you choose to follow the 1200-calorie diet, you may find you lose more weight in the first week, simply due to the large changes youre making to your diet, especially if youre opting for healthier food than you were before beginning the diet. After that, weight loss may begin to level off a bit.
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How Ww Points Work And Why Theyre Not Equal To Calories
The Weight Watchers program doesnt believe that all calories are equal.
Yes, they understand and acknowledge that ultimately calories do matter when it comes to weight loss however, that doesnt mean they should all be treated the same.
Watchers points calculate the value of saturated fat, sugar, and protein, along with calories.
How this materializes is foods that are highly processed/packaged are usually pretty high on the points scale, while natural, unprocessed foods are either zero points or low in points.
For example, Greek yogurt with added sugar and mix-ins is around 7-8 WW points, while fat-free plain Greek yogurt is ZERO points.
And fruit cups packed with syrup have some points, while fresh fruit is all zero.
The calories arent insanely different, but the points are.
When you join Weight Watchers, youll get assigned a maximum daily point value. Youll also be allowed additional zero point food items that you do not have to track, so if you eat properly you should not go hungry.
In addition, youll get weekly points to use however you want, and Fit points for any additional exercise. You can choose to use these some weeks and not others, or not use them at all.
But you cant save them up for months and go on an all-you-can-eat splurge once the week is over, theyre gone whether you used them or not.
Why Nutrition Is Important For A 1200 Calorie Diet
A 1,200-calorie meal plan may be appropriate for you if you want to lose weight. This meal plan may help you achieve that through a combination of protein, fiber, healthy fats, and complex carbohydrates while still including fun foods as well.
You may want to think about each meal consisting of 300 to 350 calories and snacks consisting of 100 to 150 calories. Including the right combination of foods at each meal and snack will keep you fuller for longer. You may need more or less at each meal and snack depending on your hunger levels.
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Ww Gives Your The Full Picture Of Your Weight Loss And Wellness
In theory, losing weight is really simple. All you have to do is eat less and move more, right? But, as we all know, in practice its not that easy.
To get the weight loss results you want, you need to see how all aspects of your lifethe quality of the sleep youre getting, the amount of activity youre fitting in, and how you think about yourself and this journeyaffect the choices you make, including what you eat.
Our myWW+ program takes a look at your overall lifestyle and goals and builds a complete wellness plan, featuring our award-winning weight-management system. When youve got a plan in place, everything, including losing weight, is easier.
The myWW+ program matches you with the food plan thats right for you, where all foods are on the menu and you can eat what you love! Plus, youll get a list of ZeroPoint foods that you dont need to worry about weighing or tracking.
SmartPoints make healthy eating simple.SmartPoints® values are numbers we assign to foods to help make deciding what to eat simpler. You have a personalised SmartPoints budget and you get to decide how you want to spend it. Plus, each week, we have weeklies, extra SmartPoints you can spend when you want them. As long as you stay within your budget, youll be on the right track!
Make Zero Calories Count
Weight Watchers doesnt limit zero-cal drinks, but theyre not all equal. Diet soda makes me crave junk, says Ontario reader Trish Morley, 27, who was down approximately 10 pounds in just two weeks. By comparison, green tea curbs my urge to eat. Bonus: Studies show that six cups of the brew daily boosts metabolism by four percent.
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Average Calories Per Day For Weight Loss
WW encourages its members to follow a daily diet that includes lean protein, fruits and veggies, and to cut down on foods high in sugar and saturated fats. So with this eating pattern in mind, take a look at some basic math, per the Mayo Clinic, which notes that 1 pound is equal to about 3,500 calories.
To drop a pound each week, which experts agree is a safe and sustainable rate, you’ll need to cut out 500 calories each day. For example, if you normally eat 2,000 calories per day to maintain your current weight, you’ll want to cut that down to about 1,500. By the end of one week, you’ll have cut out a total of 3,500 calories.
Need some help tracking your calories? Check out LIVESTRONG’s MyPlate app.
Weight Watchers applies this same concept â identifying how many calories you need to maintain your current weight and then creating a calorie deficit to spur weight loss â to its points system. Members are assigned a specific SmartPoints number that will help them create the proper deficit needed to shed pounds at a healthy pace.
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Begin By Eating Breakfast

You have probably witnessed that eating a healthy breakfast can save you from cravings later during the day and can actually assist your effort in loosing the excess weight you have been carrying around for some time now.
But, as time has lately been considered a luxury not many people have during the day and especially during a busy weekday morning, starting the day off with eating a healthy breakfast is now a lost nutritional practice.
Between battling work problems and prepare ourselves for another demanding day, we have forgotten to pay attention to the most important meal of the day and usually try to find time to squeeze in a cup of milk or in best cases a whole bowl of cereals.
The contemporary fast-paced world has directed people to become superheroes, managing double of even triple careers, but forgetting to manage their own daily food intake.
If you think that your body is the only instrument you have to continue performing all the tasks you want, perhaps it is time to pay attention to its nutritional needs and fulfill them accordingly.
But it is more convincing to start our argument from the beginning. Millions of people who skip breakfast and have never invested time in researching the consequences of their act, usually wonder why do experts regard breakfast as the most important meal of the day and how come it is still the most important meal of the day, surpassing the nutritional value of a healthy lunch or even dinner.
more info at:
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And My Familys Ropa Vieja De Pollo Recipe
Paola de Varona
Cooking my familys ropa vieja de pollo recipe is hardly scientific.
When I first called my mom asking for the recipe, she told me Id need some chorros of olive oil, two or three packets of Sazón Goya depending on the color of the sauce, and a few peppers and onions. There were no absolutes.
So over the years, as I tried to count calories for weight loss, converting this dish into kilocalories was always confusing. One tablespoon of olive oil has 119 calories, but how much was I using? The chickens calories depended on its weight, but I didnt have a kitchen scale. Would I need to cut the plantain into perfectly sized pieces for my platanitos?
I always grew exasperated and gave upresorting to the idea that the saucy chicken had too many calories to fit into my diet anyway. So I labeled my favorite Cuban dish, and the others I grew up on, as cheat meals. They were too big and unruly to fit into the constraints of the MyFitnessPal universe.
But more and more experts are questioning whether a numbers approach is the healthiest way to develop a good relationship with food and eating.
Focusing on those numbers has only set me back on healing my relationship to eating. After years of fixating on calorie count, Im finally learning to focus on incorporating nutritious fruits and vegetables into my diet, understanding when Im full, and honoring my cultural traditions.
Weight Watchers Points Vs Calories
While you may be tempted to simply equate calories for points on the WW system, the SmartPoints values weren’t designed this way. In fact, according to WW, calories aren’t exactly equivalent to SmartPoints because these points translate complex nutritional information into a simple number. That’s why it’s just about impossible to calculate the average calories per day on Weight Watchers.
In general, calories establish the baseline point value for each food, but protein lowers the point value while sugar and saturated fat increase it.
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Ww Meal Plan For Weight Loss
Day 1
Breakfast – overnight oats
Layer 40g porridge oats, 200g 0% fat natural Greek yogurt & 150g chopped fruit of your choice. Leave overnight in the fridge or in a container for a few mins before serving chilled.
Lunch – salmon, lentil & feta salad
Combine 200g drained lentils, ¼ sliced cucumber, 2 tbsp pomegranate seeds, 2 tsp pine nuts, 20g light feta, 1 tsp dill & some rocket. Whisk 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil, 1 tbsp lemon juice & ½ tsp zaatar. Season then drizzle over the lentil salad. Toss to combine, then stir through 130g cooked salmon fillet chunks.
Dinner – steak & pepper quesadillas
Cook 175g lean thin-cut steak in a frying pan over medium-high heat to your liking using calorie controlled cooking spray. Set aside & rest for 10 mins, then cut into strips. Re-mist the pan, cook 1 red onion, 1 red & 1 yellow pepper, all sliced, for 6-8 mins. Add 1 chopped garlic clove & ½ tsp chilli flakes, cook for 1 min. Layer 50g half-fat Cheddar cheese, the steak & veg & another 50g cheese over 2 WW White Wraps & top with another 2 wraps, press down gently. Re-mist the pan, put over a medium-high heat & cook the quesadillas one at a time for 3-4 mins. Mist the top with cooking spray, then flip & cook for 3-4 mins on the other side until golden. Quarter & serve.
Snacks
3 Mikado Milk Chocolate biscuit sticks, boiled egg with spinach, fresh fruit salad
Day 2
Breakfast- avocado & bacon on toast
Lunch – Roasted veg salad with halloumi
Dinner – cod & chickpea curry
Snacks
Day 3