Advice/guidance on losing last few pounds on small frame

jille87

Hello,

I am looking for help in losing the final four pounds to reach my goal weight. My weight loss began August 1st, 2017 where I started at 143 pounds. I have readjusted my goal three different times once each has been reached. My first weight goal was 120 pounds, then 110, now it is 100. I am currently at 104 pounds and as expected, the loss has been incredibly slow but now seems to have completely stalled. For approximately 6 months, I followed the 1200 calorie goal set by MFP which I felt was fair for my height of 5'0. I recently readjusted my goal for a .5 pound/week loss as I had fewer pounds to lose and I was beginning to feel drastically hungrier than I had earlier in my weight loss. My daily calorie intake was increased to 1310 using the MFP suggested amount. Even though the increase was small, the extra 110 calories a day has been incredible. With this calorie setting, I also work out 5-6 days a week running 3-4 miles each day and have incorporated two days of weight training to begin building/maintaining muscle.

My problem now is in my current plateau-or what I hope is just a plateau. I am embarrassed to admit that it took me longer to realize that I should be eating back some of my cardio workout calories. After looking back on the past three months, I have been only netting around 900-1000 calories each week (and on most days). I realize now that this is not healthy and obviously the reason why I have been so famished these last few months as my activity increased. I have tried recently to eat up to my 1310 allowance but have still been cautious about dipping into the workout calories at this point. Even with such a huge deficit, I have not seen much of a weight loss. Since December, my loss was around 3 pounds per month, and now in the past two weeks I have not lost even an ounce. I have a food scale and weigh absolutely everything meticulously--no measuring cups or estimations. I am worried that at this 1310 calorie level my body is no longer able to lose weight. To add to my confusion, in preparation for maintenance mode, I have looked at several calculators to predict what my maintenance calories would be and they have varied widely—some saying around 1400-1700 while some have said 1300. These same calculators also state that in order to lose weight I should be eating between 1000-1100 calories a day. While I have been under this amount, I do not believe this is healthy or sustainable, even for a smaller person such as myself. I would not be able to continue with my level of exercise if my calories were reduced further.

I have given all of this information because I am worried that I am unable to lose any more weight unless I dig a deeper deficit. I am far too hungry to stay at 1200 calories anymore. I am trying to stay patient and wait longer to see if this is just a new normal (even slower) pace, but I am also reading too much conflicting information and am working myself up.

For my height and weight, is 1310 calories too high for a weight loss even with consistent exercise?

Thank you so much in advance for sticking through this long post and for all of your help.

malibu927

Rather than focus on weight loss at this point, you may want to look into a recomp. https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat

cwolfman13

At 104 Lbs I doubt you really have any fat to burn and agree with the above that you should maybe focus on body composition rather than more weight loss. Biologically speaking, the human body doesn't want to be super lean, so you're going against human biology at this point.

af240

It might be a tough reality to face but it's probably time to reevaluate your goals. If you have completely stopped losing weight then you are eating at maintenance. You said yourself that aiming for an even lower net calorie goal would be unhealthy and unsustainable, and therefore it comes to reason that reaching and maintaining 100lbs, for your body, is also not very healthy or sustainable. Eating at maintenance and focusing on recomp may be the healthiest and more sustainable way to reach your goal with how you want to look.

I'm 5'2, currently 124 and current goal is 115 and progress is already slow coming at ~1300-1400 cals per day so I understand the struggle!

jille87

Thank you both! This is very helpful.