Carbs and Calories

by Dycey

One question: How many carbs are allowed on a 1200 cal diet?

Note from Dr. Dan

First, you have to realize that there is not too much of anything allowed on a 1200 calorie diet, because 1200 calories is pretty low.

But a 1200 calorie diet is by far the most popular diet for people trying to lose weight.

The good part of a 1200 calorie diet is that you will almost certainly lose weight if you stick to it. Most people will burn 1800 calories or more per day as a baseline, so on a 1200 calorie diet you should get a 1-2 pound per week weight loss.

Now, as far as the amount of carbs? Recommendations for carbs vary widely, depending on where you look for advice, but with carbs there are basically two things for you to keep in mind:

One, if the carbs are too low you will have a harder time sticking to the diet.

Two, if you have too many bad carbs (cookies, cake, ice cream, muffins, etc.) you will tend to have cravings and your body will tend to be weak and be prone to develop disease.

So I recommend that you make carbs about 40-45 percent of your daily calorie intake. This will give you enough carbohydrate calories so you maintain your energy, and still leave room for 30 percent calories from protein sources and a reasonable amount of good fats.

You can find a protein, fat and carbohydrate calculator at this link.

Just make sure the carbs are good quality. Use whole grains and try to eat things in their most natural form. Apples are better for you than applesauce. And applesauce is better than apple juice.

And if you have a lot of fibrous carbs in your diet (green beans, asparagus, broccoli and spinach) you are much more likely to be successful losing weight.

Dr. Dan