How do you maintain a BMI of 18.5 or 110 lbs, if you are a 5'4" female?
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Hi shandajh, im 5'4 and weigh 115. I eat a range of foods try to choose healthy but definitely do not deny myself, I end up eating around 1200-1500 per day. I go to the gym 3-5 days a week for about 50min and do a mixture of cardio and weights. I would recommend doing weights even if you start with 20min 3 times a week. hope this helps
- perfect! Just the answer I was looking for - along with the helpful 18% body fat answer. Thank you SO much, everybody!!
oh thankyou so happy to help!
I just saw your gorgeous profile pic and you're very similar to me, except that I wish my torso was longer like yours. Anyway, so, now I see that 115 would be perfect if I could work out that much too. So excited to have a more clear-cut goal now - and even get to eat up to 1500 calories sometimes!
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18% body fat is pretty low for a woman. It's more toward the "athletic" build side, if that's what you're aiming for. If you're unhappy with the lack of firmness/tone, I'd recommend putting the time into working out rather than losing weight. Even three strength trainings session a week of 1/2 hour or so, and maybe 10-12 minutes of core work (pilates, ab exercises) could do wonders if you are already at a fairly low weight. You could also increase your protein to .8 to 1 g per lb. lean muscle. I'm 5'1.5" and try to eat around 80 grams a day (but sometimes don't make it). I weigh 120, so I'm around 22-23 BMI. You don't have to be a really low BMI to look fit; sometimes people at that weight have no muscle mass.0
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I'm not sure what body fat % snowfox1 is, but the way she looks is what I'm aiming for.0
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If you're unhappy with the lack of firmness/tone, I'd recommend putting the time into working out rather than losing weight. Even three strength trainings session a week of 1/2 hour or so, and maybe 10-12 minutes of core work (pilates, ab exercises) could do wonders if you are already at a fairly low weight. You could also increase your protein to .8 to 1 g per lb. lean muscle. I'm 5'1.5" and try to eat around 80 grams a day (but sometimes don't make it). I weigh 120, so I'm around 22-23 BMI. You don't have to be a really low BMI to look fit; sometimes people at that weight have no muscle mass.
Exactly this ^^.
If i continued to lose more weight, i'd only end up being "Skinny Fat" and lose what muscle i have.
So i'm now going to start weight training (to firm up).
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snowfox1 gave me the answer I was looking for - I guess I'm confused on what #'s will get me where, such as what 18.9 BMI will look like on me, or what a certain # of body fat percentage will look like on me or what a certain weight will look like on me. I am going for looks mainly and the way snowfox1 looks is the way I want to look, regardless of what BMI that is or body fat percentage.0
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I can't yet see other pictures because even though this is letting me post, it keeps saying the site is down for maintenance, when i try to view a picture.0
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https://fitnessfactoids.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/how-to-measure-your-body-fat-percentage-womens-body-fat-infographic11.jpg
Here's an example of the infographic for bodyfat percentage I was talking about. At 140 lbs and 5'5, I'm not at a very low BMI, but I'm at about 18% body fat (I'm about 25-26% now, and dropping), which about as lean as I'm comfortable being. There are worlds of difference in what different BMIs can look like on different bodies (at least you knew what yours used to be, but if your musculature has changed at all, your BMI could also change). You could have more muscle or less muscle now. More muscle will burn more calories and allow you to eat more per day and not gain. Less muscle will burn fewer calories and then, even if you had the same BMI as a more muscular person, your caloric load might be different.0 -
Hi @Shandajh, I'm 5"2 and weigh just under 100 lb with a BMI of 17. I don't intend of staying this way obviously and my weight sort of dropped recently due to heavy work load and stress - but my weight had been stable with a healthy BMI of 18-18.5 for the past few weeks and I try to organically/sustainably maintain it via the following:
DIET
- I eat everything in general, try to eat healthy, unprocessed foods as much as possible (which includes avoiding pre-mixes, prepackaged foods, and cooking from scratch) and do not deny myself foods strictly but I do keep a particular system of which works very well for me: work days - healthy. weekends - healthy, 1-2 cheat meals if I feel like it (its not a must and I don't actually "use up" my weekly cheat meals all the time), a sweet treat or two.
- Any processed or sweet foods if any are for weekends only and limited to a reasonably portioned amount. So if I am craving hot jam doughnuts for some reason I will buy them, but I will eat one, max two if I'm really feeling like it, then share it with a friend/hubby.
- I never ever order medium or large anything. You don't need that much food - we in the developed nations are killing ourselves with our ridiculous portion sizes - I think its really twisted and almost cruel that we have these massively inhuman portions and over-excessive approach to food with our all-you-can-eat joints and <insert junk food> eating competitions. 1/5 the world is killing themselves with too much food, the rest killing themselves from the lack of it. That aside, a small always has the best portion sizes, and the cheapest too.
- I eat 1200 cal a day but I have recently tried (its hard to change a mindset that has already been ingrained in you!) to increase it to around 1500 to bring up my weight, and use up my cheat days.
- I tend to include with every meal a big bowl of salad or a big dish of veggies before heading to the main, usually I have the main with a soup too because I love soup. I love shredded raw veggies as a side to my food (adds crunch, texture) and as a result this habit sees me always filling up so much on veggies while I enjoy the main very much I end up eating less of it and leaving lots of leftovers, so I've more than halved the portion of my mains so I won't waste it. The upside of this is that you end up with a flat stomach really quickly.
- ALWAYS eat carb. The whole no-carb thing is bs. After a while you spin out of control and start carb binging like crazy. So sure go low-carb if you like so you lose weight quicker but your carb binge days will turn into carb-binge weeks...etc, bam the weight piles on.
- I do not keep ANY fizzy drinks, sugar or diet, in my house. They foster bad drinking habits. I don't drink my cals except in coffees and the occasional Asian hot tea / coffee during cheat days. However, I don't mind occasionally drinking a diet drink when I'm eating out. I've not shunned away from one or two sips of the full sugared ones when my hubby and I go to the movies and he only drinks full-fat sodas - the sugar though, overwhelms me.
- Meal planning: My meals tend to take 2 -3 hours to make, so I tend to cook alot of everything some days, pack, refrigerate those pegged for the next few days and freeze the rest in meal time portions so I save time.
- Remember that your body is a smart cookie and will always try to 'save' its cal. 1200 cal for the long term will make your body actively conserve your energy expenditure and thats when you plateau. Change it up. Cheat meals help serve a dual purpose - you get to indulge in something you don't normally eat because its not too healthy, special occasion, etc - AND you also shock your body into a reset. So a cheat meal serves to bump up your cal for the day, for example 2000 cal, and then the next day you can do 1300, then back to 1200, as long as you don't cross over your weekly deficit too much, you will notice your body dropping pounds.
EXERCISE
- I run 4 times a week, 6-7km with HIIT intervals (usually 45-50min including warm up/cool down) at the crack of dawn as a means to maintain weight, destress, and get some sun in these bones for that free vitamin D! Its also a great way to get work outs out of the way early! I rarely do weights. I prefer lean and cardio is the best way imho to slim as weights may tighten and tone, but cardio burns.
- You can always use ellipticals if you can't run. But if possible, walk everywhere, move around more, get up and do more chores, stand around doing things more. All that incidental exercise is far more valuable than an hour of full on exercise because you do not notice the amount of calories you burn when you're preoccupied. Just walking 100-200m a stop away from your stop in public transport or example, adds up to almost 15,000km in a year you do not even notice. (Okay maybe my stats are a little loose but I read that on a newspaper article this morning and the add up was highly significant)
Anyway, sorry for the long jab and hope this helps!0 -
From the picture, she could be 18 to 20% or 21% to 24%. She's slim, but has some curves. She doesn't have that "hard" look of the 15-17% category. Typically, bodybuilders and extreme athletes are in that range.0 -
I'm 5'4" and have been maintaining around 105 to 108 lbs for the last few months. Looking back on the last few months, I've been averaging anywhere from 1330 calories a day to 1500. I've been increasing my calories very slowly because I don't want to risk going back to my old unhealthy habits.
Just in the last few weeks I've also started making more of an effort with exercise. I'm trying to do 10-15 minutes on the elliptical and then a 5 minute strength work out 3 times during the week, and then on weekends I like to go for at least one longer jog outside. If I can keep this up, I'll increase my calories to 1500-1600 average a day.
Personally I love cooking and meal planning so I find it easy to prepare food for the week. Usually on Sundays I make something that will give me dinner on Sunday night and then 3 or 4 lunches for the week. I portion them out and take everything to work at once (I use a somewhat secret kitchen at work that not many people use so there's enough room for me to put 3 or 4 days worth of food in there). I also have a bunch of things frozen so I can defrost them for dinner or lunches as needed. I've also been making a batch of egg muffins on Sundays to be my breakfast during the week. I'm a snacker so I also plan ahead for those. On Sunday I log my breakfast and my morning and afternoon snacks for Monday to Friday. I also log any lunches and dinners that I've preprepared. Obviously plans can change so I never consider my pre-logged meals set in stone. It does however make it easier to know whether or not I can add an extra snack in or have a slice of birthday cake at work 0 -
So really your goal is to lose your tummy and thighs and you are at a healthy weight. This is done through exercise and has little to do with your weight or BMI at this time. You are likely sitting more now than you were before the tummy appeared.0
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From the picture, she could be 18 to 20% or 21% to 24%. She's slim, but has some curves. She doesn't have that "hard" look of the 15-17% category. Typically, bodybuilders and extreme athletes are in that range.
You're so right. It's really hard to tell from a photograph.
Because some body builders are super dehydrated when they compete, it makes it almost impossible use body builder images to compare to someone with normal hydration levels. Somewhere I saw a set of photos of body builders with the same body fat with normal hydration levels vs their competition form--it was quite an eye-opening difference.0 -
I'm just a hair under 5'4" and weigh 116 lbs. 110 would be the absolute bottom of what I'd want to be (and I'm very small boned).
If I had to choose two of the following three (sleep, exercise, or meal planning), I would choose sleep and regular exercise. Pick an exercise that you find enjoyable and easy to motivate yourself to do. I've been doing C25k for the last nine weeks, which has been wonderful because I feel stronger, and it gets me outdoors and into nature/the parks. On non-running days, I go for a morning walk. Exercise can have great benefits for your stress levels, etc. I also have been finding that I sleep better and actually wake up sooner as I've become more active.
As for eating, I suggest that you design a simple, easily repeatable plan for two meals a day (something you can make quickly every day for breakfast and lunch), so you don't have to think about it. A few years ago, when I did need to lose a few pounds, I would have the same thing for breakfast (oatmeal with blueberries), a fruit for a morning snack, and a salad with some chicken for lunch every day. That meant I only had to work out one meal a day. My husband and I do our grocery shopping together on the weekend, then cook two or three dishes that we can have for dinner each week. It is a system that works pretty well for us, plus it helped us really cut our food budget (hubby likes to bargain shop and cook, and I do everything I can to aid in that, and we use our shopping time to go to interesting and extra-cheap ethnic marketplaces when we can, so our shopping trip becomes a leisure "activity" in addition to a chore.0 -
Watch how much sugar (all kinds especially added) and you should start losing. You are probably eating more than you think. I try to keep mine @ 45gm a day (don't always succeed), but have lost eight lbs doing it. It's not always abt calories, but the kind of calories you are eating; check your macros you may need more protein.0
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Are there any 5'4" women here, who are successfully maintaining a weight of 110? If not, are there any other females who are successfully maintaining a BMI of 18.5? If so, what are your calorie goals per day and how much weight lifting and cardio do you get in per week? I don't have time to fit in exercise WITH meal planning, or it then cuts into how much sleep I have time to get, so it's either meal planning and sleep, minus exercise, or exercise and sleep, minus meal planning. I tried the latter in the past and because I wasn't counting calories, I also did not lose. So, I have been staying in the 1200-1250 range, but am stalled out at 125 lbs after 20 days of eating like that.
Im the same height and maintain between 107 and 110pounds. I do cardio for 1hour 7 days a week and lift for 20 min 3 to 4 times a week. I eat between 1200-1500 cal a day.0 -
This sounds like an incredibly disordered and body dysmorphic goal. Only about 1% of the population are naturally this tiny, to maintain a weight below your set point (read up on set point theory) will involve obsessing about your food and body rather than using those things as tools to actually LIVE YOUR LIFE. Which is kind of the most important thing, surely? As a nearly physically recovered anorexic with a current bmi of 18, I have no intention of stopping at 18.5. Don't sacrifice your energy levels, metabolism, mental health and social life just for some arbitrary number nobody else cares about anyway.0
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is 18.5 good?0
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Here's a quick snip from the Wikipedia article on BMI - pertaining to it's usefulness as an indicator of health/body fat percentage/etc: (https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Body_mass_index)
Does not differentiate between muscle mass and fat mass
Assumptions about the distribution between muscle mass and fat mass are inexact. BMI generally overestimates adiposity on those with more lean body mass (e.g., athletes) and underestimates excess adiposity on those with less lean body mass. A study in June 2008 by Romero-Corral et al. examined 13,601 subjects from the United States' third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) and found that BMI-defined obesity (BMI > 30) was present in 21% of men and 31% of women. Using body fat percentages (BF%), however, BF%-defined obesity was found in 50% of men and 62% of women. While BMI-defined obesity showed high specificity (95% for men and 99% for women), BMI showed poor sensitivity (36% for men and 49% for women). Despite this undercounting of obesity by BMI, BMI values in the intermediate BMI range of 20–30 were found to be associated with a wide range of body fat percentages. For men with a BMI of 25, about 20% have a body fat percentage below 20% and about 10% have body fat percentage above 30%.
BMI is particularly inaccurate for people who are very fit or athletic, as their high muscle mass can classify them in the overweight category by BMI, even though their body fat percentages frequently fall in the 10–15% category, which is below that of a more sedentary person of average build who has a normal BMI number. Body composition for athletes is often better calculated using measures of body fat, as determined by such techniques as skinfold measurements or underwater weighing and the limitations of manual measurement have also led to new, alternative methods to measure obesity, such as the body volume index. However, recent studies of American football linemen who undergo intensive weight training to increase their muscle mass show that they frequently suffer many of the same problems as people ordinarily considered obese, notably sleep apnea.
So, for the OP, it may be OK, since she has described herself as having a preference for the "sedentary" lifestyle. For me, however, 18.5 would be miserable. My BMI is 25.5 today, and honestly, I don't feel all that "overweight."0 -
In my humble clinical opinion - BMI is the least accurate measure of health as the same calculation is used for someone age 18-80, man or woman. Needless to say there are a lot of variances in there.
Fat percent is the most accurate. For women a health fat percent is:
Essential fat 10-12% (must have-considered risky for health)
Athletes 14-20%
Fitness 21-24% (considered the healthiest range)
Someone who is high muscled (even with a roll of extra skin in the low abs) can have a higher BMI. Body Builders often have a BMI in the 30's - but their body fat % during competition can be as low as 4%. They don't stay there after competition - even they know it is unhealthy.
check out this link: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/body_fat_categories.htm
First and formost - protect your health; Second - if the rest of your body is in GREAT shape this may just be your body composition ....
anyway ... my 2 cents... good luck
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worldofalice wrote: »This sounds like an incredibly disordered and body dysmorphic goal. Only about 1% of the population are naturally this tiny, to maintain a weight below your set point (read up on set point theory) will involve obsessing about your food and body rather than using those things as tools to actually LIVE YOUR LIFE. Which is kind of the most important thing, surely? As a nearly physically recovered anorexic with a current bmi of 18, I have no intention of stopping at 18.5. Don't sacrifice your energy levels, metabolism, mental health and social life just for some arbitrary number nobody else cares about anyway.
If this 'set point' crap were true we'd all still be fat...so uh yeah, no.
In order to maintain 110 pounds, OP, you'd have to eat 1300-1400 calories while sedentary, 1500-1600 if exercising 3 times a week, 1800-1900 if hitting the gym every day, so on and so forth.0 -
I don't. I'm 5'5", but every time I go under 133 I get very hungry.
I am currently trying to get back to my happy maintainance weight of 118-120, (currently 127) and I find that the struggle is so real. Trying to lower my weight when my weight is already in a healthy BMI range is really difficult. I dont know what Id have to do to get to 110. (cut off a limb?)
Im 5'4 fwiw0 -
God you look fat - said no mirror ever...0
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I'm 5'4 and weigh around 113-115 range.
I eat roughly 16-1700 calories per day every day. I lift heavy weights 3 times a week (followed by 20 minutes of cardio). In addition, i bike around 20k per week.0 -
This is an older picture and I'm working to get to about this size again, and yes, I know the pants are hideous.
This is me at 5'5, 135 lbs and 40 years old, wearing a pair of jeans I bought when I was 14 years old and under 110 pounds. I was eating about 2300 calories a day, strength training 3x a week (stronglifts 5x5) and running 3x a week (usually 3-5 miles at a time).
My lean mass is about 110 pounds now. I can't get to that weight again without losing precious muscle.
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melimomTARDIS wrote: »I don't. I'm 5'5", but every time I go under 133 I get very hungry.
I am currently trying to get back to my happy maintainance weight of 118-120, (currently 127) and I find that the struggle is so real. Trying to lower my weight when my weight is already in a healthy BMI range is really difficult. I dont know what Id have to do to get to 110. (cut off a limb?)
Im 5'4 fwiw
I'm 127 pounds as well and 5'4 and have been 120 in the past, but don't wanna go there again tbh (Boobs were non existant). Lol
What's your weight in your profile photo (if you don't mind me asking)?0 -
I am 5'9" but currently at 19.5 BMI, my stomach is starting to flatten. I dont do much cardio I just walk on my breaks and lunches at work. Then I do to the gym and do weight lifting or yoga. I eat at 1200 calories, I am still trying to reduce the fat on my hips and belly.0
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