A 1,200 calorie diet is nutritionally adequate for most people for permanent, safe and healthy weight loss. Starving your body with fewer calories will slow down your metabolism and consequently also decrease the calorie consumption by the body. This will result in a tired and emaciated body and also the weight loss will not be as much as expected because the calories still accumulate within the body.
Following a 1,200 calorie daily diet has been shown to be rich in nutrients to maintain a healthy body and also causes the calorie deficit that eventually leads to weight loss. Of course, the actual calories that should be ingested depend on many factors such as age, gender, metabolic rate, body size, and other medical conditions, to name a few. The 1200 calorie diet plan suits most people on average, but needs to be confirmed with a doctor or dietitian before starting the diet.
How to choose the best 1200 calorie diet menu?
The diet plan should be chosen in such a way as to achieve a proper balance of the macronutrients. Macronutrients include protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Calories from macronutrients should ideally be distributed as follows: 15% of calories should come from protein, 55% of calories should come from carbohydrates, 30% of calories should come from fat and only less than 10% of the total calories should come from saturated foods.
When the diet plan is made up of healthy, nutritious, and healthy foods, you will keep your food cravings in check and you will feel full longer. Also, there will be no compromise to your health if you follow a diet that satisfies all of the above conditions. A diet is followed to make us healthy, flexible, strong and slim. Any proper diet should work to accomplish all of this. So be sure to eat nutritious foods with calories that add up to about 1,200.
Sample 1200 diet plans:
Below are two diet plans whose total caloric value is around 1200. From this, you can get an idea of how to build your diet.
Sample 1:
Breakfast
A whole wheat muffin with a tablespoon of peanut butter and half a banana.
Mid-morning snack
An apple and some almonds.
Lunch
2 slices of whole wheat bread; 2 oz. low sodium turkey breast; 1 ounce. cheese; a lettuce, an orange, a tomato and a tablespoon of mustard.
Half-late sandwich
8 oz. low fat yogurt
Dinner
3 oz. Grilled, baked or boiled skinless chicken breast.
One cup of cooked broccoli and 2/3 cup of brown rice.
Sandwich
A cup of milk and two nonfat fig crackers.
Sample 2:
Breakfast
A hard-boiled egg, 2 slices of whole wheat bread thinly buttered and a large slice of watermelon.
Lunch
100g of baked potato and baked beans and 100g of reduced-fat cottage cheese.
Sandwich
Muesli meal replacement bars.
Dinner
Pasta salad made with olive oil. Wash with canned tuna in brine.
In general, any 1,200 calorie diet plan can be divided into the following proportions: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, accounting for 300 calories out of 1,200 total calories. The mid-morning snack adds up to 100 calories, lunch 300 calories, and the afternoon snack 50 calories. Finally dinner contributes 450 calories of the total. Any nutrition-rich diet plan that follows this breakdown can achieve good results in terms of weight loss. Snacks can be taken at any time of the day when you feel the need to eat them. But time is important for breakfast. Make sure you finish your breakfast within an hour after the time you woke up. For the rest of the day, the time is up to you and you can divide the calories as you wish between meals, but make sure your total calories do not exceed 1200.
Last but not least, wash your meals with plenty of water. An adequate amount of water is absolutely essential for maintaining the metabolism and for the healthy functioning of the body. Keeping your body well hydrated is an important factor that makes up weight loss. Get into the habit of drinking at least eight glasses of water a day. It may seem difficult at first, but once you begin to make conscious efforts, it will no longer seem as difficult as it was at first.
A word of caution:
Before starting a diet, catch up with your doctor or dietitian and get expert advice on the meal plan you have formulated. This is especially important for pregnant or lactating women. You don’t want to go on a diet and weaken your body, so always ask your doctor’s opinion and then go into your diet plan.