Reviewed by Brian St. Pierre, MSc, RD, CSCS “My client says they’re eating a super low calorie diet, but they’re not getting results… What should I do?!” We see variations of the above “low-calorie-no-results” question in our Facebook coaching communities all the time. (“My client says they’re following 1200 Calorie diet, but…” or “My client’s weight hasn’t budged despite claiming to eat only 800 Calories per day…”) Usually, about half of the respondents suggest the client is simply mistaken. “Nobody who says they’re eating that little actually is,” they say. The other half center on biological problems that can slow someone’s metabolism: “You might suggest they visit their doc for…

Reviewed by Brian St. Pierre, MSc, RD, CSCS If Jerry Seinfeld were into health and fitness he’d ask, “What’s the deal with the 1200-Calorie diet?” (Thanks for the joke, Dad.) But seriously: If you look at the caloric recommendations of many popular weight loss diets, you’ll notice that 1200 Calories is often the “ideal target” for women. (For men, it’s often 1500.) The 1200-Calorie diet is also an extremely popular topic on Reddit, TikTok, and Instagram. Allegedly, even Kim Kardashian followed this prescriptive diet. There’s nothing special about 1200 Calories specifically.  However, all this hype makes a person—or a concerned coach—wonder about low-calorie diets in general. Most importantly: Is such…