Short people get the shaft

LivingtheLeanDream

GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »

mbminx wrote: »

As a short lady, I do get annoyed at how MFP logs exercise. It tells me that 2.5 miles per hour is "slow". I have a 29" inseam - I have to move those little legs awfully fast to go 2.5 miles an hour! At 3 mph, I'm already jogging. My husband has long legs; I can match him footfall for footfall, but I'm always lagging behind because my stride is so much shorter.

I am not "slow"! I just have to take little steps :-P

I get confused by these arguments that short people can't move fast.

I'm short, have a shorter inseam than you, and can walk 4mph and start to run any faster than that. I'm confused by this assertion about short legs. You just have to take more steps than a taller person to get the same pace they do.

ETA: Trust me, I've spent 30 years keeping up with a 6'2" partner. I'm only 5'1".

Same here... ( I'm 5ft 2 and hubby is 6ft 1) shorter legs just mean more steps and I can sure stride fast comfortably 3.5 would be my usual speed and 4 mph for fast walks/ cardio.
I don't do under 3 mph in general, I'm not a strolling kind of gal.

newheavensearth

AnnPT77 wrote: »

ryenday wrote: »

GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »

mbminx wrote: »

As a short lady, I do get annoyed at how MFP logs exercise. It tells me that 2.5 miles per hour is "slow". I have a 29" inseam - I have to move those little legs awfully fast to go 2.5 miles an hour! At 3 mph, I'm already jogging. My husband has long legs; I can match him footfall for footfall, but I'm always lagging behind because my stride is so much shorter.

I am not "slow"! I just have to take little steps :-P

I get confused by these arguments that short people can't move fast.

I'm short, have a shorter inseam than you, and can walk 4mph and start to run any faster than that. I'm confused by this assertion about short legs. You just have to take more steps than a taller person to get the same pace they do.

ETA: Trust me, I've spent 30 years keeping up with a 6'2" partner. I'm only 5'1".

And I get confused by your posts. I move my little legs as fast as I can. I doubt I could talk except in huffs. It is 3 mph. ( Apple Watch). Any faster and I have moved into a jog. And I swim 3 miles or so most weeks, it is not a question of fitness.

I’m walking to work (1.5 miles) 3 or 4 days a week for 4 months now and am working it. Trust me, my legs don’t and don’t seem to be able to move 3.5 mph. Unless I’m running.

It sounds like something other than height/ leg length is involved but I can’t think of anything.

I don't know whether this generalizes or is just my weird body, but I'll throw it out here:

I found that when I started focusing on glute engagement on every step, my exercise/serious-transport walking speed picked up from around 3.6-3.7mph to around 3.9-4mph. This is average pace, measured by Garmin, over walks of a couple miles and up.

I wasn't trying at all to increase speed. I was trying to make better friends with my own glutes , and see if it would take a little stress off my bad knee (torn meniscus, a little OA) - it did. I perceive that doing this automagically increased my cadence and shortened my stride, but I have no objective measurements for that.

My inseam is around the same as yours, BTW, though I'm not super short (5'5").

Same observation. A strong push off through the heel and glutes gives me more speed. I also take shorter, faster steps while letting my hips sway naturally. Almost like the speed walker sway. My hip bursitis has improved immensely because I felt I was overstriding. So I made the above changes, added extra glute work and incline walks, and got faster over time.

Rabbit1295

I'm 4'11". I'm always hungry when I'm active. But when I'm being lazy, I'm NEVER hungry. weird, I know lol

Gallowmere1984

Rabbit1295 wrote: »

I'm 4'11". I'm always hungry when I'm active. But when I'm being lazy, I'm NEVER hungry. weird, I know lol

My girlfriend is the same way. She’s 4’10” and has stayed between 85 and 100 lbs. for her entire adult life. Some people just never lose touch with their hunger/satiety signals. Hell, I was amazed when I realized that I had regained mine, given that I was obese from childhood.

Unfortunately, this has made gaining phases a severe pain in the *kitten*.

theknitpicker

timtam163 wrote: »

Hi! I'm 5'. A few things:
(1) I think short people are conditioned to think that the portion sizes that are "normal" are normal for everyone. It's taking me a long time recalibrate my idea of what a proper portion size is. Then again, someone who was overweight and taller would probably consider my portions before pretty reasonable; but they weren't reasonable for my height.
(2) Because our caloric needs are smaller, we can eat relatively "healthy" and still gain weight; this makes it easier to be in denial. The psychological impact of just not being able to eat the same as everyone else in a culture that sort of glorifies being able to eat absurd amounts of food is significant, and takes a while to overcome.
(3) MFP doesn't adequately scale for shorter people. I think the guideline of reducing caloric intake by 20% of maintenance is useful because cutting 1 pound a week is a huge deficit for me unless I've exercised a lot, and I wish I could set my calorie goal by percentages instead of by pounds-per-week. And 2 pounds a week is absolutely impossible unless I run daily marathons.

Ultimately there are one or two more things short people have to keep in mind when using tools like MFP or trying to lose weight in general. It will suck more initially, but I think in the long run weight loss is hard for everyone of all heights. (tall people, yes we do see your struggles and they're valid af!!!)

I so related to this! Especially the first point!

When I first got married, I ended up gaining loads of weight and not understanding why. Turns out, the math (and the brain trickery) was really obvious. I went from being a collegiate rower, with practice 2x day 5 days a week + races to a desk job. So my TDEE took a massive hit. What I thought of as maintenance before just wasn't. Couple that with the fact that I have a 6' husband who liked to dish up up the same size dinners and WHAMMO. What *he* can eat and what *I* can eat are totally different.

I also think that your sense of when you're "hungry" shifts with the amount you're used to eating too! So right now I'm losing on 1182 and eating back exercise pretty successfully, and feeling satisfied. I'll be doing maintenance every time I hit a mini-milestone to see if my TDEE has shifted. But that first week or so of changing my habits? Yeah, it was hard and of course I felt deprived. I mean, it IS a diet after all. But I found that knowledge is power. Understanding the why's makes it so much easier.

Hopefully there will be a point where I can figure out maintenance, and work my TDEE back up again - I'm not there on my journey yet. But the real thing is not matter what your size is, big or little, it's a journey all the same!