How do you maintain a BMI of 18.5 or 110 lbs, if you are a 5'4" female?

worldofalice

DeguelloTex wrote: »

worldofalice wrote: »

DeguelloTex wrote: »

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.

A year ago, I weighed 335. Now I weigh 223. What is my set point? Please advise.

Only your body can tell you that. I would say that your set point is the weight your are at when your are eating intuitively and freely, listening to your body and not having to overthink food or exercise or put excessive effort into maintaining your weight. You hormone levels will control your appetite so your weight stays at it's "happy place".

My body told me 335. I called BS on that.

It would be hard to have an "answer" more devoid of actionable content than the one you just posted.

I wouldn't imagine that your body was actually telling you to eat in the way you would have done to reach that weight, although congratulations on your achievement! I think in cases of obesity etc, it's more a case of misunderstanding your hunger signals and making poor food choices. Only in the case of extreme undernourishment would the human body crave excessive junk food etc (forgive my assumption). At the end of the day, mankind has been eating intuitively for thousands of years, with no calorie labels or macros.

4rtistry

Set point theory is...interesting. Personally, I'm more inclined to think that the body just doesn't like change rather than being wired for a certain percentage of body fat. Also, it should probably be noted that intuitive eating has its own set of problems given that we now live in a world of foods with which you can rack up a few hundred calories in just a couple of bites.

At any rate, I'm 5'5" and presently in the neighborhood of 117, wanting to get back to 111 (it's the number on my driver's license and I like the way it looks, don't judge). I don't know if that will happen for me because I've been lifting for a while and have put on some muscle since I was there last. From what I remember, I would estimate having eaten in the 900-1200 calorie range at the time. I was in college and almost always skipped breakfast because I couldn't be bothered. Most days, lunch was a bean burrito from the local taco place or buffalo chicken from the college cafeteria, and dinner was a small portion of meat and some vegetable. I'm small-framed and have always been slender, so for me, this was sustainable.

At the present, my logs tell me I'm eating about 1400 a day, but I'm not seeing much change, which I'm assuming means I need to get more stringent with my measuring of food. I work on the computer all day, so I am mostly sedentary as well. I've (very) recently taken up jogging in addition to lifting 3 times a week, so I'll see if that makes any difference.

Apologies for the novel.

DeguelloTex

worldofalice wrote: »

DeguelloTex wrote: »

worldofalice wrote: »

DeguelloTex wrote: »

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.

A year ago, I weighed 335. Now I weigh 223. What is my set point? Please advise.

Only your body can tell you that. I would say that your set point is the weight your are at when your are eating intuitively and freely, listening to your body and not having to overthink food or exercise or put excessive effort into maintaining your weight. You hormone levels will control your appetite so your weight stays at it's "happy place".

My body told me 335. I called BS on that.

It would be hard to have an "answer" more devoid of actionable content than the one you just posted.

I wouldn't imagine that your body was actually telling you to eat in the way you would have done to reach that weight, although congratulations on your achievement! I think in cases of obesity etc, it's more a case of misunderstanding your hunger signals and making poor food choices. Only in the case of extreme undernourishment would the human body crave excessive junk food etc (forgive my assumption). At the end of the day, mankind has been eating intuitively for thousands of years, with no calorie labels or macros.

How does one misunderstand intuition? That seems to undercut the concept of intuition, doesn't it? It sounds like you're doing not much more than treating "intuitive" as a synonym for "wise" or "suitable," when that's not what it means at all.

I didn't get fat on junk food, unless one considers milk, for example, junk food. I eat basically the same things now, just less of it. I don't drink 1200 calories of milk a day, that's for sure.

Mankind is hardly in the same food or exercise situation in which it largely evolved, so I'm not sure how relevant comparing hunter-gatherers to people who can drive a car to a store selling more calories than any hunter-gatherer would eat in a lifetime would be.

Unknown

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MKEgal

Noreenmarie wrote:

I maintain on 1900-2100 and do an hour on the elliptical 1-4 times a week and I am maintaining <18.5 BMI at similar height

As with the OP, why do you want to be so unhealthfully thin?
The BOTTOM end of the healthy BMI range is 18.5

.

I also don't believe these chart labels of what is "healthy" vs. "unhealthy", because 121 lbs for
a 5'10" model would be considered "unhealthy" according to the charts, but yet, that weight is
on the heavier side for a model.

Models aren't normal, nor are they healthy, nor are they people who should be emulated.
And FYI: they don't really look like they do in their pictures.
(And FYI 2, BMI is not based on age. Healthy calorie intake is, in part.)

.

My goal is to be able to one day put on a skirt or dress and have my butt
and stomach be sucked in without the use of spanx

So start doing weightlifting. That's what's going to make you look awesome, lose inches,
firm up, etc., not starving yourself to an unhealthy weight.

To get an idea of your body fat & lean body mass, put your measurements into this calculator:
http://fitness.bizcalcs.com/Calculator.asp?Calc=Body-Fat-Navy
At the bottom of the chart, on the right, is a down arrow. Click that.
It will show you the ranges for healthy people, as well as for abnormally fit / low fat people,
such as competitive body builders.

.

I'm still scratching my head at only having time for exercise OR meal planning

Yeah, how about doing your meal planning while you're running (or walking, or biking, or
on the elliptical, or whatever other mindless cardio exercise you choose to do)?
Or keep a pencil & paper by the toilet.

.

So skinny that my breast decreased in size.
You do not want to go through that.

Actually, as I've lost (almost 80 lb so far) I'm quite happy that my breasts have gotten smaller.
So much less painful & annoying! And I'm starting to be able occasionally to find bras in normal
stores, once in a while. Still a challenge, because they've maintained their too-large cup size,
(difference of band & points) but at least I don't always have to go to a specialty shop. And I
can sleep on my stomach!

MKEgal

Have a look at the links in this blog post about goal setting.

One is from the Baylor College of Medicine (bcm.edu). It takes into account your age, current weight, height,
& activity level to tell you how many calories and how many servings of the various food groups you need to eat
to maintain that weight.

Use that, and eat at the top end of the healthy range for protein. (Look further down that blog post to see the
healthy ranges, plus a link to a professional journal where I got the info.) That should help you at least maintain
the little muscle you currently have.
If you want to try to gain some muscle, eat at a slight calorie surplus (maybe 200 cal/day), still heavy on protein,
and start weightlifting. At least do body weight exercises (google & youtube will help).

arditarose

I didn't read all the responses but I just want to say....ouch. I'm 5'4" and I'm literally kind of in pain just thinking about weighing 110. Nope.

AsISmile

MKEgal wrote: »

So skinny that my breast decreased in size.
You do not want to go through that.

Actually, as I've lost (almost 80 lb so far) I'm quite happy that my breasts have gotten smaller.
So much less painful & annoying! And I'm starting to be able occasionally to find bras in normal
stores, once in a while. Still a challenge, because they've maintained their too-large cup size,
(difference of band & points) but at least I don't always have to go to a specialty shop. And I
can sleep on my stomach!

Well, good for you!
Mine are not large to begin with, so losing tissue in my breast was horrible.

faithyang

melimomTARDIS wrote: »

I think for a recovered anorexic, eating intuitively versus restricting is a great thing. However, I am a formerly obese gal with a binge eating problem.

I intuitively eat whole loaves of bread, in a sitting, slathered in margarine. Once, a whole pie. (need I go on?)I had a "set weight" of 175 for 4 years or so. If I go by what my body tells me, I can easily regain all the weight I lost, and few more pounds for good measure.

I think what the person who made the comment meant was learning the skill of how to eat mindfully and reteach your body how to be more organic in taking cues from actual hunger vs dehydration/emotional eating - that kind of 'intuitive'. I find the training of mindful eating similar to I guess, learning to go to sleep when sleepy and training your body to sleep at a consistent time naturally then using pills, or caving in to 'bad' sleep patterns such as use of electronics before bed, etc.

I completely get what you mean by binge eating by 'intuition'. Intuition can coincide with habits that haven't been unlearnt - like binge eating one's emotions and/or by habit.

I still haven't fully learnt this 'mindful' eating thing, though I do practice it and try to train myself and it has helped alot in many ways in discipline etc, but I can still eat ALOT and if I don't check myself or practice actual proper discipline and structure - I can really INHALE the food when the mood strikes.

I don't think I can finish a whole pie because my binge eating is psychological in a weird way, eating many different foods in fragments at one time to the point it amasses into a pile. Like 1/4 that pie, 1/4 to 1/2 a pint of ice cream, three big handfuls of three types of chips, 3-4 chocolate covered sandwich biscuits dipped in full fat milk, a few bites of a chocolate bar....half an hour later its time for lunch/dinner.

So yes eating intuitively is great - but not everyone (like myself) has that skill, or learnt it, and people like us have to go by discipline and structure.

faithyang

AsISmile wrote: »

MKEgal wrote: »

So skinny that my breast decreased in size.
You do not want to go through that.

Actually, as I've lost (almost 80 lb so far) I'm quite happy that my breasts have gotten smaller.
So much less painful & annoying! And I'm starting to be able occasionally to find bras in normal
stores, once in a while. Still a challenge, because they've maintained their too-large cup size,
(difference of band & points) but at least I don't always have to go to a specialty shop. And I
can sleep on my stomach!

Well, good for you!
Mine are not large to begin with, so losing tissue in my breast was horrible.

I second that. One silly thing that made me have on 'untick' from the reasons to lose weight even when I had all these pros was that my boobs would shrink and trust me where I'm from the girls are all iron-board flat because of two reasons 1. Genetics 2. Social expectations that a girl is painfully, painfully thin by virtue of not weight training/cardio but starvation.

I didn't want to lose weight made me stand out (literally) and be different...well aside from being considered massively obese in my community.