How do you maintain a BMI of 18.5 or 110 lbs, if you are a 5'4" female?
Replies
-
- because that was the weight I was when I didn't have a big handful of fat around my stomach and the saggy butt and thighs I have now.lishie_rebooted wrote: »Why do you want to maintain such a low weight/BMI?
Weightlift instead.
WAY easier to maintain a few pounds heavier with a little more muscle. 
0 -
My sister is 5 ft 3...44 YO's and maintains on about 2300 calories and is about 117 lbs...wears a size 2 and has no visible fat, very lean with muscle definition.
she runs 3x a week, does JM shed and shred and karate 2x a week (blue belt) in the winter she does the elliptical instead of running and often walks, swims etc.
She is quite active as you can see.0 -
I'm 5'4" and my weight drops to that range (110 or sometimes lower) when: 1) I'm training for an endurance race (like half marathon or greater distance) or 2) commuting by bike to work consistently (more than 25 miles per day 5 days per week). Usually I'm eating a lot of food, but I crave much healthier foods when I'm training or working out a lot. When I train hard, I also completely clear up my time to focus on training, getting lots of sleep, and staying healthy (stress and injury free). I've noticed over the years that the more free time I have, the less I weigh which seems a bit surprising.
I do not like being that slight though. 110 for me is too skinny. Because of my very small frame, I tend to lose muscle like crazy and it's super difficult to get it back. My weight seems to hover naturally closer to 120 with up to 20-25% bf. I think I looked best when I was 118-120 lbs and had 18% bf which was as much muscle as I could possibly pack on my tiny frame, but it was also really hard work to keep the muscle. My body doesn't like to carry that much muscle.0 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »I'm 5' and 108 lbs. so close to the specifics you're looking for. I eat 1,200 a day and typically do 20 minutes on the elliptical 4 days per week, with weight training on those days as well. I prep lunch (and what I can of dinner) for the next day each night before bed. I work full-time, have a photography business and am a full-time student as well. Just gotta stay dedicated! I'm trying to up my gym days to 5 days per week to gain some strength, but right now in the business of things it may not be possible. Just do what you can. Any work out is better than none, no matter how short it may be.
uhhhh...you're 4" shorter...that's huge ya know.
Like 20lbs or so worth. 0 -
maybe if I started lifting weights, then 110 would end up looking too thin for me too, so since I don't yet work out, it's just a starting point for me to work toward. If I got to 115 and looked the way I want to look, then I'd adjust my goal.0
-
ScreeField wrote: »I'm 5'4" and my weight drops to that range (110 or sometimes lower) when: 1) I'm training for an endurance race (like half marathon or greater distance) or 2) commuting by bike to work consistently (more than 25 miles per day 5 days per week). Usually I'm eating a lot of food, but I crave much healthier foods when I'm training or working out a lot. When I train hard, I also completely clear up my time to focus on training, getting lots of sleep, and staying healthy (stress and injury free). I've noticed over the years that the more free time I have, the less I weigh which seems a bit surprising.
I do not like being that slight though. 110 for me is too skinny. Because of my very small frame, I tend to lose muscle like crazy and it's super difficult to get it back. My weight seems to hover naturally closer to 120 with up to 20-25% bf. I think I looked best when I was 118-120 lbs and had 18% bf which was as much muscle as I could possibly pack on my tiny frame, but it was also really hard work to keep the muscle. My body doesn't like to carry that much muscle.
--18% bf may be a good goal for me to work toward then, because right now, my body fat scale is reading 25%. I know those things aren't accurate, but the way i do it is to weigh myself under the same conditions at the same time everyday and note the percentage here in mfp.
0 -
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 0
-
-
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!!
0 -
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! 0 -
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!
0 -
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
-
I'm not sure what body fat % snowfox1 is, but the way she looks is what I'm aiming for.0
-
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).
0 -
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
-
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
-
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
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.3K Introduce Yourself
- 43.5K Getting Started
- 259.7K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 388 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.4K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.2K MyFitnessPal Information
- 22 News and Announcements
- 910 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.2K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions