Recommended Calories for Short Peeps

gonzbm

I am 5 foot tall and small framed, my goal weight is 100lbs current weight is 120. When I plug my info into calculators to figure out how many calories I should eat to lose weight it often tells me around 1200 calories (or lower) or NOPE because it is not recommended to go below 1300. Honestly, in the past, I have found it difficult to eat over 1300 calories and mostly gained weight from pregnancy, birth control, and poor eating habits.
I have started a Keto diet and plan my meals the day before to meet my Macros and 1300 calorie goal, but I'm concerned this isn't enough of a deficit to lose weight. On the other hand, I don't want to drop my calories lower and become deficient in micronutrients. I also find I'm not always hungry enough to eat all the food I plan.
Should I push myself to eat 1300 calories? Or, Should I listen to my body and only eat what I am hungry enough to eat?

MegaMooseEsq

You only gain weight by eating more calories than you use - that's true even if pregnancy, birth control, or poor eating habits are involved. You don't have much to lose, so you may just be trying to lose too quickly. What does MFP recommend to lose .5 lb a week? Being short does make a difference in terms of what sort of calories you want to eat, but your current weight, gender, and activity level make much more of a difference - I'm 5'2" and have lost 37 lbs eating 2000-2200 calories a day, but I started at 208 lbs. It sounds like you don't know your maintenance calories - the best way to be sure that you're in a deficit is to log your calories and weigh yourself regularly for a while (at least a month or two). If you lose weight during that time, you're in a deficit. If you stay the same, that's your maintenance number and you'll lose weight eating less than that. The calculators are just estimates.

megs_1985

Find a BMR and TDEE calculator. At your weight it will probably come off slowly. You need 1200 to be able to get your vitamins and nutrients in. Less then that and you risk not getting those and being malnourished.

Lesscookies1

You don't have much to lose I would set the loss rate to 0.5 pounds a week, and see the calories you receive from that number. Good luck!!