'Smaller' girls and rate of weight loss/calories eaten

essjay76

I know different things work for different people, but losing a half pound is more of a realistic goal if you're already small and don't have a lot of weight to lose. If you're pretty sedentary, it's not unheard of to go below that 1200 calorie goal.

That's why petite ladies have to work much harder to lose it and keep it off - meaning, instead of a huge calorie deficit from reducing food intake, use exercise to create that deficit.
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I'm much smaller than the average "small" woman (4'10", 102 lbs) and I initially lost 9 pounds 3 years ago by eating at 1600 calories and keeping up my regular exercise. I run about 40-50 miles a week though, and can burn a huge amount (for me) on a long run (1600 calories for a 20 mile run). It worked and still worked for me, because I love to run and I love to eat and it's a lifestyle I've been able to maintain. These days I average about 2000 calories a day, and up to 2500 when I'm training for something (which is usually the case).

No need to rush the weight loss when you're already small!

arditarose

lemurcat12 wrote: »

ILiftHeavyAcrylics wrote: »

I'm about your size. 5'4" 125 lbs.

2 lbs per week is not an appropriate weight loss goal at your current height/weight. I'd aim for half a pound per week. The leaner you get the greater the risk of muscle loss from dieting, so personally I think it's better to make sure you're not losing too much. I think 1.5 lbs per week is even a bit too much.

You say you're worried about how you'll look this summer so I'll tell you a bit of a cautionary tale-- I ate at a reasonable deficit but didn't do anything else to preserve muscle. When I got to my goal weight I still felt terrible and unhappy because I had sacrificed too much muscle just to get to that "perfect number." You're not going to have your weight stamped across your forehead-- it'd be better imo to look healthy and fit at 135 lbs than it would be to look flabby at 115.

I agree with this.

I'm currently 5'3 and 127, planning on 115-20 as a goal. I had a body fat test (DXA) in late September and another one today. During the period in-between I've lost a good amount of weight (average 1.3 lbs/week, despite a stall in December, go figure), and lowered my body fat by 5 percentage points, which I'm happy about. But I've lost lean mass, which I did not have to spare, despite the fact that I've been weight training and doing lots of cardio (not that that necessarily helps) and eating on average 1600 calories. My lesson from this is that I'm going to accept a slower rate of loss.

Yes. I'm 5'4" and have to remind myself of this every day. I've been lifting heavy all along, so I'm pleased with my results. Sometimes I get blue when I see everyone else losing their 1 pound a week, or even keeping steady weight loss. It's hard for me to remember that I won't have to get too low in weight to look good sometimes.

astrose00

arditarose wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

ILiftHeavyAcrylics wrote: »

I'm about your size. 5'4" 125 lbs.

2 lbs per week is not an appropriate weight loss goal at your current height/weight. I'd aim for half a pound per week. The leaner you get the greater the risk of muscle loss from dieting, so personally I think it's better to make sure you're not losing too much. I think 1.5 lbs per week is even a bit too much.

You say you're worried about how you'll look this summer so I'll tell you a bit of a cautionary tale-- I ate at a reasonable deficit but didn't do anything else to preserve muscle. When I got to my goal weight I still felt terrible and unhappy because I had sacrificed too much muscle just to get to that "perfect number." You're not going to have your weight stamped across your forehead-- it'd be better imo to look healthy and fit at 135 lbs than it would be to look flabby at 115.

I agree with this.

I'm currently 5'3 and 127, planning on 115-20 as a goal. I had a body fat test (DXA) in late September and another one today. During the period in-between I've lost a good amount of weight (average 1.3 lbs/week, despite a stall in December, go figure), and lowered my body fat by 5 percentage points, which I'm happy about. But I've lost lean mass, which I did not have to spare, despite the fact that I've been weight training and doing lots of cardio (not that that necessarily helps) and eating on average 1600 calories. My lesson from this is that I'm going to accept a slower rate of loss.

Yes. I'm 5'4" and have to remind myself of this every day. I've been lifting heavy all along, so I'm pleased with my results. Sometimes I get blue when I see everyone else losing their 1 pound a week, or even keeping steady weight loss. It's hard for me to remember that I won't have to get too low in weight to look good sometimes.

You look great, not good!!!

ilovediatoms

from the research i've done, i don't recommend going below 1200 calories/day. i'm 5'1, 115 lbs and i lost 20 lbs/2 pant sizes in roughly 8 months. not by counting calories, mind you, it was by lifting. i strongly recommend eating enough so that you can build some strength, and that muscle will help you burn more calories while sedentary and also make you look better/fit into clothes better. i'm sure that's what you want anyway (instead of focusing solely on the number on the scale). here are some helpful links that explain the 1200 cal/day:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/310517-minimum-amount-of-calories-needed-per-day-to-survive/
http://www.popsugar.com/fitness/Why-1200-Calories-Day-Important-When-Dieting-13080864
http://www.womenshealthmag.com/weight-loss/counting-calories

this link doesn't address your question specifically, but like iliftheavyacrylics said, body fat percentage means a lot more than your actual weight. the pictures/story in this post demonstrate this concept pretty well:
http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/06/13/60-pounds-overweight-to-6-pack-abs/

best of luck!

JAT74

Essjay, you sound very similar to a friend of mine. She is taller than you but has always been fit and thin as she loves to run and has therefore always been able to eat what she wants, though she was a little heavier than she would have liked. She got pregnant, could no longer run and became meticulous with her calorie intake and actually lost weight due to this while pregnant, though she had a healthy pregnancy. Now the baby has been born, she's got really thin because she's back to running and is now eating smaller portions and healthier food so she can maintain her new thin figure. She probably now eats 1500 calories which is less than the 2000 she was eating before.

We are all different and in my case I am not only short and small boned but I am also extremely sedentary so other than workouts I don't move much most days. I work from home at a desk and sit at home on my sofa most nights so I sit down for 90% of the day. I have stairs in my house and go up and down a lot plus I have a small dog so take her for short walks but I consider that to be sedentary compared to someone who has to walk or drive/take public transport and then walk to work, go to and from their workplace at lunchtime etc. I also don't have kids so I'm not running around after them etc. Maybe some would say I'm not really sedentary but tell that to my thighs!

I manage fine in terms of energy levels on 1100 or 1200 calories per day with exercise thrown in, and make sure I eat before and after workouts so I don't lack energy at those times. If I find that halfway through my current workout I'm not happy with the results, I'd willingly consider another method such as heavy lifting again but I do get that muscle pain after training sessions so that tells me it's doing something at least.

To all those who say I should try eating more, I did that when I first joined this site and it didn't work. I took advice to eat more and I calculated my calories so I'd have a much slower weight loss and upped my calories to around 1500 and all that happened was I started to gain even more weight unfortunately. I thought that maybe if I gave it longer I would start to lose again but it just didn't happen.

JAT74

Arditarose, you do look amazing! We have different proportions, I have a really odd shape considering my body fat %. My waist is now 28 inches which is big for me, and my hips are 37, also larger than they've been when I'm thinner. I have a 36 inch bust so maybe that adds a little to my weight! but the main problem areas are my big thighs at 23.5 each and my upper arms.

If I could lose the fat I need to and gain a little muscle and end up at 130lbs and sustain that by eating a little more I'll be happy, that's why I'm looking at the low calorie intake I'm having now as a short term thing.

JAT74

psuLemon this link you posted is a great story

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

I would love to be like her (no matter what the scale said), though I noted that she lost the weight the wrong way first, and then started to build up from there. Maybe not the right way, but she was a lot thinner and maybe from that starting point it's easier to look at building muscle instead of gaining muscle when you are a high weight to start with.

If I got the weight off by lifting moderate weights and doing a little cardio (not running every day), I'd gladly look at eating more and lifting much heavier again.

sofaking6

I'm in a very similar boat to you (height/goals) but I think our personalities differ - it's much easier for me to exercise a lot, eat what I want, and lose slowly than to try and do sharp restriction. But I have a hearty appetite and I hate being hungry.
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If you're monitoring your nutrition closely and *you feel good* then I think you should feel free to try different strategies - just make sure you ARE getting all of the nutrition that you need, and listen to your body if you start feeling fatigued or run down or start having cravings. The thing that will kill the progress is over-reaching to lose too quickly, getting yourself malnourished and triggering binge eating. Just look out for that.

psuLemon

JAT74 wrote: »

To all those who say I should try eating more, I did that when I first joined this site and it didn't work. I took advice to eat more and I calculated my calories so I'd have a much slower weight loss and upped my calories to around 1500 and all that happened was I started to gain even more weight unfortunately. I thought that maybe if I gave it longer I would start to lose again but it just didn't happen.

I want to point out that it is impossible for you to gain at 1500 calories if you are losing 1.5 lbs a week at 1100 calories. Your maintenance, if you are using a food scale and logging everything every day, would be around 1850, based on your current workouts. The question would come to, did you log calories daily? Did you use a food scale? And how long did you try? I know you said you are low carb, so obviously if you increased calories, and consequently, increased carbs, you would gain additional water weight from increased glycogen storage. If you find that you do well with low carbs, you would want to increase fats and proteins, but not increase carbs.

That's the simple math... 1.5lbs = 750 calorie deficit. Intake + average loss = maintenance.


I would also like to point out, that with a large deficit, it's going to hurt your exercise as available nutrients wont' be available. This will cause you to plateau quick in strength gains. When you have a smaller deficit, you can improve your workouts and help you get even stronger. I know every time I go on maintenance, it's amazing how much stronger I get.

lemurcat12

astrose00 wrote: »

arditarose wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

ILiftHeavyAcrylics wrote: »

I'm about your size. 5'4" 125 lbs.

2 lbs per week is not an appropriate weight loss goal at your current height/weight. I'd aim for half a pound per week. The leaner you get the greater the risk of muscle loss from dieting, so personally I think it's better to make sure you're not losing too much. I think 1.5 lbs per week is even a bit too much.

You say you're worried about how you'll look this summer so I'll tell you a bit of a cautionary tale-- I ate at a reasonable deficit but didn't do anything else to preserve muscle. When I got to my goal weight I still felt terrible and unhappy because I had sacrificed too much muscle just to get to that "perfect number." You're not going to have your weight stamped across your forehead-- it'd be better imo to look healthy and fit at 135 lbs than it would be to look flabby at 115.

I agree with this.

I'm currently 5'3 and 127, planning on 115-20 as a goal. I had a body fat test (DXA) in late September and another one today. During the period in-between I've lost a good amount of weight (average 1.3 lbs/week, despite a stall in December, go figure), and lowered my body fat by 5 percentage points, which I'm happy about. But I've lost lean mass, which I did not have to spare, despite the fact that I've been weight training and doing lots of cardio (not that that necessarily helps) and eating on average 1600 calories. My lesson from this is that I'm going to accept a slower rate of loss.

Yes. I'm 5'4" and have to remind myself of this every day. I've been lifting heavy all along, so I'm pleased with my results. Sometimes I get blue when I see everyone else losing their 1 pound a week, or even keeping steady weight loss. It's hard for me to remember that I won't have to get too low in weight to look good sometimes.

You look great, not good!!!

This is true!

lasarabande

I've lost about about 25 lbs in 10 weeks twice in my life before on 1200cal/day and I can say that the rate of 1-2 lbs a week is normal at the start and there will be a time when you will plateau and hit a slow rate of even 0.1 a week. The beginning is usually the part where you see the most weight loss momentum and as you progress over time it gets really slow.

The only time at the end of 10 weeks for a biggest loser contest I lost >1-2 lbs was switching to a pure liquid diet, severely dehydrating myself, and increasing my workout to 1800 calories burned (per day) for 3 days before the final cut. I lost 6 lbs but it was extremely ...not recommended... I don't recommend doing that for a long term solution.

It's also pretty much expected that smaller girls lose weight at a way slower rate than heavier girls.

madrose0715

psulemon wrote: »

JAT74 wrote: »

To all those who say I should try eating more, I did that when I first joined this site and it didn't work. I took advice to eat more and I calculated my calories so I'd have a much slower weight loss and upped my calories to around 1500 and all that happened was I started to gain even more weight unfortunately. I thought that maybe if I gave it longer I would start to lose again but it just didn't happen.

I want to point out that it is impossible for you to gain at 1500 calories if you are losing 1.5 lbs a week at 1100 calories. Your maintenance, if you are using a food scale and logging everything every day, would be around 1850, based on your current workouts. The question would come to, did you log calories daily? Did you use a food scale? And how long did you try? I know you said you are low carb, so obviously if you increased calories, and consequently, increased carbs, you would gain additional water weight from increased glycogen storage. If you find that you do well with low carbs, you would want to increase fats and proteins, but not increase carbs.

That's the simple math... 1.5lbs = 750 calorie deficit. Intake + average loss = maintenance.


I would also like to point out, that with a large deficit, it's going to hurt your exercise as available nutrients wont' be available. This will cause you to plateau quick in strength gains. When you have a smaller deficit, you can improve your workouts and help you get even stronger. I know every time I go on maintenance, it's amazing how much stronger I get.

The OP has been told all of this and so much more on multiple occassions, in several threads. While she might find it amusing to waste the time of all these posters who are just re-iterating things that have been told her ad nauseum, there are others who find it tedious. Of course, she finds comments like this 'abusive' whereas it is simply the truth.

AliceDark

I'm 5'4" and 125. At the end of my last cut, I had to drop down to 1500 to finish losing the last few pounds, and I was on the verge of gnawing my own arm off.

I spent quite a few years eating around 1400 all the time. It effed up my body composition and my relationship with food and my own body.

I finally learned that I deserve to eat. I deserve to have a healthy relationship with food and to eat portions that are appropriate for an adult. I refuse to starve myself for any reason.

There is information available that explains why you shouldn't try to lose 2 pounds per week at your current weight. There is information available that explains what will happen as you slowly up your calories to an appropriate amount, and why. If you want to learn, there are plenty of people in this thread who can help you, but you need to be willing to listen.