Hi I'm short help me with my calories please

awkwardbae

Hello! So I'm 153 cm and around 57 kg (gw: 50-53 kg). I've managed to lose about 4-5 kg this last month, the first few during an extremely stressful week when I barely ate 300 calories a day and the rest with eating 1200 calories and doing yoga, walking.

I've seen that my maintenance calories are around 1300-1400 and I start to gain (I don't know how accurate it is because I weight myself everyday, but like I'd eat around 1600 calories and I could be 0.5-1 kg up the next day, it might be water, it might be my pcos storing fat like crazy idk).

So some questions now.

1)Is it possible to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time? And if so how many calories should I eat to do that? I searched on reddit and some say you can't gain muscle in calorie deficit, some say it's possible. Any views on that?

2)If my maintenance calories are around 1300-1400 does that mean that to have the maximum potential loss per week I should go -500 calories down, making it around 900 calories? It seems really low to me, but at the same time I'm too short so I don't know for sure.

3)How can I make my maintenance calories become higher? And can I at least if 1 isn't possible not lose any muscle while losing fat in such low calories?

Thanks

Sumiblue

You don't have a lot to lose so you should set your deficit to something reasonable-like .5lb/week. Are those maintenance calories without exercise? MFP gives you pre-workout numbers and if you exercise you eat more. You do not want to underfuel your body because you will end up having to eat very little just to maintain.
Are you doing any lifting at all ? You can lose fat and retain, possibly build some muscle eating at maintenance level while doing progressive lifting regularly. StrongLifts 5x5 is a good, basic program.
You can raise your maintenance calories if you reverse diet. Good to do if you have beennundereating for some time. Slowly increase calories over time. Increasing muscle mass can help but being short is difficult. I'm 5'2 and 47 yrs old. I'm maintaining on 1800 calories, doing mostly lifting and a little cardio. Check out the Recomposition thread on the maintaining forum. Recomp is losing fat & gaining muscle.

Edit: to not lose muscle in a deficit make sure you are eating enough protein.

cerise_noir

awkwardbae wrote: »

Hello! So I'm 153 cm and around 57 kg (gw: 50-53 kg). I've managed to lose about 4-5 kg this last month, the first few during an extremely stressful week when I barely ate 300 calories a day and the rest with eating 1200 calories and doing yoga, walking.

What is your age?
What is your activity level not counting exercise?
Do you do any exercise? If yes, what?

We'll be able to help you out a bit more with the extra information.

I've seen that my maintenance calories are around 1300-1400 and I start to gain (I don't know how accurate it is because I weight myself everyday, but like I'd eat around 1600 calories and I could be 0.5-1 kg up the next day, it might be water, it might be my pcos storing fat like crazy idk).

This does not seem right unless you are completely immobile or paralyzed with some arm movement (I put in 25 years old as you didn't supply your age). At sedentary, sailrabbit puts your maintenance calories at 1573, but I chose 25 years old. For a 50 year old, your TDEE at sedentary with your stats is around 1433. If your true maintenance is indeed 1300-1400, eating 1600 cals a day means you'd gain weight, not lose it. Answer the first 3 questions above. Any weight gain in a day is typically water, not fat. To gain 1lb of fat, one must eat 500 calories above maintenance every day for a week.

1)Is it possible to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time? And if so how many calories should I eat to do that? I searched on reddit and some say you can't gain muscle in calorie deficit, some say it's possible. Any views on that?

Only newbie gains if you are quite overweight-obese and are doing progressive resistance training.

2)If my maintenance calories are around 1300-1400 does that mean that to have the maximum potential loss per week I should go -500 calories down, making it around 900 calories? It seems really low to me, but at the same time I'm too short so I don't know for sure.

Don't eat below 1100-1200 calories, ever. Answer the first 3 questions I asked above. Without those answers, it's hard to figure your TDEE out.

3)How can I make my maintenance calories become higher? And can I at least if 1 isn't possible not lose any muscle while losing fat in such low calories?

By increasing activity or adding cardio.
Muscle loss will happen regardless. It can be minimized if you do resistance training and eat adequate protein.

awkwardbae

Thanks so much for the answers. I'm 20 years old. I walk almost daily to get to my university (1hour) and around town. So on an average I walk around 2 hours straight which is not much but I have a busy schedule. I also do yoga videos at home around 4-5 times a week, 40 min videos. And some blogilates when I have extra time.

I feel like lifting weights would help but I have no idea how I'll manage to fit gym time in my schedule this semester.

About the weight gain, maybe I'm being too dramatic but having pcos I'm afraid that I'd be storing fat way easier. The scale I have today said I'm 57 kg and around 23.6% fat. It's probably not that accurate but just to give you an image of my situation.

How can I find my exact maintenance calories? It's a pain in the butt

ajwcyclist2016

What about making a diary to help manage your time to help fit in what you want to do. With collage , yoga, gym etc. You don't need to go to the gym 7 days a weeks. Two days for 1 hour for example. So not a great deal of time to fit in your week I guess