Petite Female - The 1200 Calorie Limit

HealthyKatty

So, I've been searching throughout the forums and other places and I have seen some people saying they're 5ft or 5'2ft and they're petite and questioned about the 1200 calorie limit. On the other hand, I got the short end of the stick and was presented with a 4'9 body. I'm also currently 22, so I doubt I will grow anymore. I'm also currently morbidly obese and would really like to lose as much weight at the moment for the sake of my health. I have Asian friends with heights around 5'0 and they eat probably around the 1,000 calorie limit, since maintaining a small frame in Asia is very important to them.

Would eating 1,000 calories be somewhat okay to a 4'9 female?

**Edit: Your estimated BMR is: 1,556 calories/day*

Maxxitt

I would advise against such a drastic deficit unless you are under medical supervision.

viajera99

It very likely will be just fine. You should hunt around for a few BMR calculators and see what numbers you get, but given your height, a thousand calories/day is probably not an excessive deficit. You should be careful to meet your nutritional needs though; there's no wiggle room for junk food.

HealthyKatty

Maxxitt wrote: »

I would advise against such a drastic deficit unless you are under medical supervision.

I edited my post with my BMR, which is at 1,556 calories/day. That would only be a 556 calorie deficit.

Nony_Mouse

HealthyKatty wrote: »

Maxxitt wrote: »

I would advise against such a drastic deficit unless you are under medical supervision.

I edited my post with my BMR, which is at 1,556 calories/day. That would only be a 556 calorie deficit.

BMR is your basal metabolic rate, what your body burns just to keep itself alive. Your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) will be higher than that, because you burn calories on top of that 1,556 doing 'stuff'. What that stuff is varies from person to person depending how active they are and how much deliberate exercise they do. Plug your info into this calculator, see what it says for your TDEE, you should be aiming for no more than 1000 calories below that number, and as you lose weight you will need to drop that deficit amount.

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

rmgnow

People less than 100 lbs lose weight at 1200 per day

HeliumIsNoble

You're morbidly obese by your own account. That increases your calorie goal, just as surely as an extra foot in height would. That means you can lose weight eating a lot more than 1200 calories.

I don't know what your daily calorie needs will be to maintain your ideal weight, when you've got there. Maybe it will be around 1000 in the future, but right now, it's probably more like TWICE that.

You will not get to your ideal weight and stay there if you crash diet. This is the stage of weight loss where you can, if you choose, make your weight loss really easy, and lose weight without ever feeling deprived at a single meal. Don't waste it. Save your willpower and self-discipline for situations where they're the only way to achieve your goal.

timtam163

Weight loss for petite women is notoriously difficult. I'm 5' tall and I lose weight SLOW if at all (too high a deficit makes me miserable). But it's not fundamentally very different from weight loss for taller people. Try not to get frustrated. Build an exercise routine you can stick to. Re-calibrate your portion sizes, especially for pre-prepared food. The key is consistency; petite women have less wiggle room in our calorie budget so indulge mindfully.

Start slow, every step counts.

Lillymoo01

If you are morbidly obese you should be able to eat more than 1200 calories a day and still easily lose weight as your BMI would still be quite high. Once you get closer to your goal weight you may have to reduce calories to somewhere between 1000-1200 though. Put your stats in here and eat the amount MFP tells you to eat. If you exercise add those calories in and eat at least half back. Just make sure you weigh all of your solid food with digital scales though ascups and spoons are inaccurate for solids. Leave the cups andspoons for liquids only.

For the record I am 4'11 so not much taller than you. I never ate less than 1200 plus at least half of my exercise calories and still lost weight, even when I was close to my goal weight.

Cheery83

At morbidly obese you will burn more maintaining your weight than a skinny person will.
I am going to push for movment over a 1000 cal limit sure i realise moving around a mass of weight is heavy but as you shrink it will be easier to walk for half an hour than to get all you need from 1000 cal.
Start with a 5 minutt walk today do that for a week 10 minutes more next week. Talk to a doctor if you have other health issues than weight.

sijomial

HealthyKatty wrote: »

**Edit: Your estimated BMR is: 1,556 calories/day*

But what is your estimated TDEE?
That's the number you need to eat under to lose weight.

tinkerbellang83

From the BMR that you've posted and the stats that you've given, I am guessing your weight is around 205lb.

Your TDEE (estimated full day calorie burn) at sedentary is around 1900 calories, so eating at 1400 net calories should lose you around 1lb per week, if you hit the minimum recommended amount you'd still be looking at close to 1.5lb per week.

The main thing is to make whatever you're doing sustainable in the long term.

HDBKLM

What @Nony_Mouse said. Your BMR is how many calories you'd burn if you literally did nothing but lay still in bed all day and breathe. Standing up, putzing around the house, cooking, cleaning, chewing, fidgeting ... none of those daily body movements are counted in your BMR, so your starting point for measuring a calorie deficit is much higher than that even if you don't start 'working out' as such.

Even if we all agreed 1000 calories was advisable for you, and even if your BMR were the correct starting point, a 556 calorie deficit wouldn't be so bad. That would still be a pound-a-week loss. I know most people would like to lose faster than that but this weight loss/maintenance thing is a lifelong journey for most of us, so try to think in terms of the longview and what's going to be sustainable rather than aiming for a rapid weight drop.

HealthyKatty

Nony_Mouse wrote: »

HealthyKatty wrote: »

Maxxitt wrote: »

I would advise against such a drastic deficit unless you are under medical supervision.

I edited my post with my BMR, which is at 1,556 calories/day. That would only be a 556 calorie deficit.

BMR is your basal metabolic rate, what your body burns just to keep itself alive. Your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) will be higher than that, because you burn calories on top of that 1,556 doing 'stuff'. What that stuff is varies from person to person depending how active they are and how much deliberate exercise they do. Plug your info into this calculator, see what it says for your TDEE, you should be aiming for no more than 1000 calories below that number, and as you lose weight you will need to drop that deficit amount.

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

That's actually a really helpful link and you pretty much answered all the doubts I had. My TDEE actually was around 1,900. So at 1,200, it'll be good. Thanks a lot

HealthyKatty

I'm pretty much satisfied and will take into account everyone's opinions on here. I appreciate the honesty and will take it to heart. Thank you

bribucks

For petite people who are within or at the low end of the BMI chart, under 1200 may be ok. But not anyone else, and that includes you. You stated that you are obese, so eating too little will not be enough to fuel your body, not to mention a shock to your system.

You should never eat below your BMR!! This number (for you, 1556) is how much fuel your body needs just to survive, if you laid in bed all day. Eating less than that will severely deprive you and trust me, you will experience adverse side affects because you will be malnourished, especially if you eat significantly below your BMR for an extended period of time. I know you want to lose the weight fast, but you still have to do it in a manner that is healthy for your body.

You said you figured your TDEE to be around 1900. If you intake 250 cal less each day (so eating 1650) you will lose 0.5 lb per week. To lose 1 lb per week, you would have to eat 1400 - but again, this is below your BMR which I do NOT recommend. So either eat AT your BMR (1556) which would have you losing 0.68 lbs/week .... or, you need to add more exercise to burn more calories, even if it's just walking, so you can lose faster.

For reference, I am 5'3", 116 lbs, with a TDEE of 1520 and a BMR of 1270. I eat at 1300 net, so I lose about 0.5 lb/week. I also go to the gym about 3 times per week and I eat a little more on those days.

Edited to add - while eating significantly below your BMR is not generally advised, NETTING below it is perfectly fine. So, if you ate 1600 calories and burned 200 in exercise, that would be fine.

rheddmobile

My recommendation would be to log everything you eat normally for one week with all your activity, without making ANY CHANGES or trying to do anything differently. Then you will know how many calories you eat now. Start by reducing them by 500.