4'10" and eats 2000 calories a day?! Eeegads. :-) PICS!

essjay76

OK, I never posted a success story as I still consider myself a work in progress, but I got new workout clothes and realized I really like what I'm looking at in the mirror.

I am 4'10". I grew up a chubby girl, was about 120+ pounds and hated it. Was called "The Little Teapot" by some very mean boys in school. I ate like crap, never exercised, and put up with the mean comments and being "The Fat Girl" in the group.

Then I went off to college and actually lost the Freshman 15 and then some, through starving myself. I got down to my lowest weight ever - probably 90 pounds at the time, and I was losing my hair, stopped having my period, nails got brittle - the whole nine yards. I exercised like a mad woman and for a time didn't consume a thing except for Diet Coke for a few days. I was unhappily anorexic, and even ended up dropping out of college and going to counseling.

I gained a lot of the weight back, but picked up a new good habit: running. I found I loved to run. I didn't run that much back then, but it was enough to keep my weight down.

I've been running consistently since then. That was almost 15 years ago. My weight has always remained within 10 pounds of my ideal weight, but even a 5 pound gain on my frame would look like a lot!

I started running marathons, then in 2011 decided I want to get faster. With that, I realized I had to make changes with my body. Though I ran a lot , I also drank and ate like crap, thinking I could just run off the calories. Of course, big mistake.

So I joined MFP in late 2011 to lose a few pounds I gained during marathon training. (YES, you can gain weight training for a marathon). I lost the 9 pounds and have maintained ever since. I lost it by keeping a verrry small deficit. I told myself I NEVER wanted to be that same, anorexic girl back in college. I'm so adamant about NOT starving yourself to get results you want. I told myself I just want to live a healthy, active lifestyle, and lose weight sensibly. For me, it was about making a lifestyle change, and being able to sustain the good habits for a lifetime - not just providing a temporary fix to the underlying problem.

I live to eat, I'm a big foodie, and I still love to drink. I decided not to cut anything out, but just live by moderation. I eat clean most of the time and enjoy food and drinks as a big part of my social fabric on the weekends.

What I do works for me. It may not work for everyone, but I just can't see myself living off of less than 1200 calories a day and running the way I do. I eat anywhere from 1600 to 2500 calories a day depending on my workout. Mostly, I run (about 50 miles a week), do P90x, strength train, and mountain bike.

Just because you're petite doesn't mean you have to eat like a little person.

So here are stats and pics.

Heaviest weight was about 125+ pounds before MFP. 2011 I was around 112 pounds, then March 2012 got down to 103 pounds. I've been the same weight ever since. I don't own a scale but I weigh in about every month or so.

Right now I'm focusing on lowering my body fat even more, so I am not sure if I have a new goal weight in mind. I think my body can handle being 95 pounds or so. I wear a size 00, 0, or 2 petites in women's, and can wear a size 1 in juniors. I'm at 20% body fat and would like to get down to 16%, so I'm still a work in progress. But I LOVE how I look like right now. :-)

(As Mary J. Blige sang "I like what I see when I'm looking at me when I'm walking past the mirror!" :drinker:

At my heaviest weight, probably near 130 pounds:





And now:

Dressed up as a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader for Halloween 2012. Lots of fun. :happy:





Before I chopped off my hair:




And finally, today. This was just taken about an hour ago. I just got new running attire and shoes as a birthday gift.

essjay76

Ooops. I'm trying to post pics. Let me work this out.

jasonheyd

[ img ] <URL> [ /img ]

ETA: And congrats as well.

MexicanOsmosis

*removed*

MexicanOsmosis

And well done!!!!!

neandermagnon

{removed}

that should fix it

BTW congrats on your progress I'm 5'1" and eat loads of calories, more than 2000/day I think .... glad you're dispelling the myth that little short people have to eat tiny amounts of calories to succeed

edited tor remove where I tried to explain where to put the img tags as it didn't show up lol

maegmez

Truly inspirational!

emily406

Amazing! Great job! :')

BinaryPulsar

You look incredible! Great work!

Sandytoes71

What is the lowest NET calories u end up with daily?? Because it sounds like u burn a ton. Ans kudos to u!!!!

sterven

The Dallas Cowboys would be proud lol.

Ophidion

Wow!! Congratulations, well done!!

Ashes512864

I am glad to hear your story! I am an avid crossfitter and was trying to lose weight by going by the recommended calories on MFP. I was ending up around 1400 calories a day and doing xfit 5x per week! needless to say I didn't lose anything because I think I was actually eating too little. I recently started following a program called "eat to perform". It is mainly geared towards crossfitters because of the emphasis on muscle growth, but I thought you might find it interesting since you clearly are an athlete. It looks like you are eating pretty much exactly what they would recommend, but it gives you ideas for % protein etc to reduce body fat while maintaining muscle. Thought you might be interested since you mention this is your goal. Good luck and great job!
http://eattoperform.com/eat-to-perform-calculator/

p0kers0ph

You look great, well done!

aaasky

Look at those legs! Congrats on your success!

Keegansmum6

Super great job! Before I read the story I thought woah a dallas cheerleader uses mfp! Haha you look awesome!

Lesa_Sass

First words out of my mouth when I saw your first cheerleader pic were:

HOLY CHIT!

Yep, you are my new hero. And thank you for encouraging eating!

Brad805

Kind of a hotty Great job.

soniabogonia

Great job!

maddymartinec

Amazing! I totally understand that even a five pound gain can really make a difference on how you look; I'm 5'0'' and I know I can tell when I gain.

HRLaurie614

You look great. And, I enjoyed reading your story. It struck a cord with me.

I'm just under 5'1" and had a similar experience my freshman year in college...I left for college 1 102....I came home for winter break at 89lbs. My weight was up and down through the rest of college...after college, I gained a ton of weight...got up to 154. Then, in my late 20s, I stopped focusing on dieting (i started running...ran the NY Marathon in 1995). For most of my 30s and into my early 40s I was a decent weight. Dropped a lot (unintentionally) when going through my divorce. Then, I gained about 12 lbs in the past 2 years....I started MFP on March 3rd at 114 (a lot on my small frame). My goal was 103-104.

Stress at work led to more loss than I wanted and i'm at 99.4 now. I need to start toning, practically all of my exercise is walking (4-6 miles 6 times a week).

I turned 45 earlier in June and yesterday, I bought my first bikini since college. Kudos to you. You are an inspiration!