1500 Calorie or Less Recommended Daily Caloric Intake
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Hi, my name's Gabbi. I'm 23 years old, 5'1 and I'm a competitive triathlete. I train anywhere from 10-20 hours a week including activities such as cycling (100-200 miles a week), running, track workouts, swimming, and weights. My dietician wants me to eat 2,600 calories a day, but I feel like that's too much... I continue to eat following the MFP recommendations (it usually recommends anywhere from 1300-3000 depending on what activity I put in for exercise that day) but I almost always go under that as well (Ill usually eat around 1200-2000 on rare occasions). It's just really hard for me to eat that much... I'm just not usually hungry, sometimes I feel like I need to force myself to eat so I don't get too deficient in calories. However, my weight still continues to either stay constant or creep up. I'm at 114 now. Last year I was 108 for my racing weight, and a couple years before that I was 103. My body fat % used to be at 16% but it's at 24% now, pretty high for an athlete... Just 3 years ago I was running college cross country and track weighing in the 90lbs range. Since then, my training has increased so I'm really frustrated why my weight keeps creeping up. I have not had kids, and my diet hasn't really changed much, and I know the weight is from fat because I can see it and the body fat machine says my fat% increased. At least my performance hasn't suffered though, I continue to get faster times (faster than when I was 90something lbs) even with the added weight, but I can definitely see and feel that it's there, especially on my frame... I feel like I could be so much faster if I wasn't carrying an extra 10-15 lbs too... I'm scared if I follow the dietician's advice and try to eat more, I'll gain even more weight and make things worse, but if I further restrict my calories, I might risk sacrificing my performance. Don't know what to do, Ugh... Short athlete problems....
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Yeah I know what you mean about calories being underestimated. And that worries me sometimes honestly. Cause when 1000-1300 calories is your restriction... a few calories off can equal easy overdose of calories! That is a big no-no for me so I try to leave a 100-200 gap for the wrongly proportioned foods I eat.
Excellent strategy.0 -
Hi, my name's Gabbi. I'm 23 years old, 5'1 and I'm a competitive triathlete. I train anywhere from 10-20 hours a week including activities such as cycling (100-200 miles a week), running, track workouts, swimming, and weights. My dietician wants me to eat 2,600 calories a day, but I feel like that's too much... I continue to eat following the MFP recommendations (it usually recommends anywhere from 1300-3000 depending on what activity I put in for exercise that day) but I almost always go under that as well (Ill usually eat around 1200-2000 on rare occasions). It's just really hard for me to eat that much... I'm just not usually hungry, sometimes I feel like I need to force myself to eat so I don't get too deficient in calories. However, my weight still continues to either stay constant or creep up. I'm at 114 now. Last year I was 108 for my racing weight, and a couple years before that I was 103. My body fat % used to be at 16% but it's at 24% now, pretty high for an athlete... Just 3 years ago I was running college cross country and track weighing in the 90lbs range. Since then, my training has increased so I'm really frustrated why my weight keeps creeping up. I have not had kids, and my diet hasn't really changed much, and I know the weight is from fat because I can see it and the body fat machine says my fat% increased. At least my performance hasn't suffered though, I continue to get faster times (faster than when I was 90something lbs) even with the added weight, but I can definitely see and feel that it's there, especially on my frame... I feel like I could be so much faster if I wasn't carrying an extra 10-15 lbs too... I'm scared if I follow the dietician's advice and try to eat more, I'll gain even more weight and make things worse, but if I further restrict my calories, I might risk sacrificing my performance. Don't know what to do, Ugh... Short athlete problems....
You don't have garden-variety issues. You work out a lot and need a certain amount of calories to maintain your performance yet you want to lose fat. You should seek out dietitians or trainers who have experience with short women doing triathlete sports. You may need someone who has a solid background but is willing to help you healthily experiment.
I know I'm not being very helpful, but I think you need a specialized program tailored to your needs by a professional.0 -
Thanks. Guess, I could try what the dietician is wanting me to do... Still think it's a lot of calories though for my height...0
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Thanks. Guess, I could try what the dietician is wanting me to do... Still think it's a lot of calories though for my height...
Monitor your weight, muscle mass, energy and strength levels and decide whether it's working. Some dietitians are not up to date or not qualified to advise people with specific needs, such as training for a demanding sport.0 -
Looking for buddies... I am 37 y/o, 5.2 and 113 lb. Trying to go to 110 lb and then 101 lb. Not exercising at the moment due to work demands. I am on 1500 cal/die and losing 2 lb per month. Really difficult for me to eat less than that! Living in London so low calorie food like veggies is not very tasty here!0
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I am 5' 1/2" and am going to be 50 this summer. Gaining weight has always been easy for me to do, loosing it......not so much. People (even in my own family) just don't get how hard it is to stay slim when 5lbs means your jeans are to tight. I recently left weight watchers because I have been at my goal weight for 2 years. I was very successful on their program, I lost 40lbs and am maintaining well. I was just tired of paying a monthly membership fee so am now trying MFP. Switching to counting calories is tough. MFP has me at 1270 to maintain. I gained 4 lbs the first week. I have gotten most of that back off so I feel I am getting a grip on calories vs points.
To the triathlete - one thing to keep in mind is even though you are extremely active your body can go into starvation mode without enough calories. The thing to look at is the quality of your calories. Also, unfortunately, as we get a little older our bodies process some food differently than in the past. I used to never have to watch my starchy carbs. I now do. If I eat a lot of pasta or breads even if I stay under the calorie (or points) recommended. If my carbs come from more fruits I am fine.
Looking forward to chatting with my fellow beautiful shorties.0 -
I am 5' 1/2" and am going to be 50 this summer. Gaining weight has always been easy for me to do, loosing it......not so much. People (even in my own family) just don't get how hard it is to stay slim when 5lbs means your jeans are to tight. I recently left weight watchers because I have been at my goal weight for 2 years. I was very successful on their program, I lost 40lbs and am maintaining well. I was just tired of paying a monthly membership fee so am now trying MFP. Switching to counting calories is tough. MFP has me at 1270 to maintain. I gained 4 lbs the first week. I have gotten most of that back off so I feel I am getting a grip on calories vs points.
To the triathlete - one thing to keep in mind is even though you are extremely active your body can go into starvation mode without enough calories. The thing to look at is the quality of your calories. Also, unfortunately, as we get a little older our bodies process some food differently than in the past. I used to never have to watch my starchy carbs. I now do. If I eat a lot of pasta or breads even if I stay under the calorie (or points) recommended. If my carbs come from more fruits I am fine.
Looking forward to chatting with my fellow beautiful shorties.
If you don't want to count calories you can create a series of meals of known caloric content and eat those.
Starvation mode is an extreme effect that happens only when you are derived of food for a significant period of time. Please do not perpetuate that myth. There are plenty of threads in this forum on the topic if you choose to search them or you can Google the issue.0 -
I am in my late 40's, I am 5'2.5 and a little over 200 lbs. It had not occurred to me that because I am short I would have to eat less than the normal person. It is really hard for me to eat less than 1600 calories a day. I would be hungry all the time. I am desperate to lose weight. Is there no other way than to feel hungry all the time and drop down to 1300 calories or less? Bummer.1
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I am in my late 40's, I am 5'2.5 and a little over 200 lbs. It had not occurred to me that because I am short I would have to eat less than the normal person. It is really hard for me to eat less than 1600 calories a day. I would be hungry all the time. I am desperate to lose weight. Is there no other way than to feel hungry all the time and drop down to 1300 calories or less? Bummer.
If you eat the right food, 1200 calories can be enough to avoid hunger.0 -
I am in my late 40's, I am 5'2.5 and a little over 200 lbs. It had not occurred to me that because I am short I would have to eat less than the normal person. It is really hard for me to eat less than 1600 calories a day. I would be hungry all the time. I am desperate to lose weight. Is there no other way than to feel hungry all the time and drop down to 1300 calories or less? Bummer.
Drinking water helps with feeling hungry. The other thing I have found to work is drinking a glass of fat free milk. At our age (I am 49) we need the calcium anyway.
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Hi, I'm 5ft1 and 133, I have a heavier build so my goal is probably to lose 7 lbs-14lbs max. I've just started tracking my food, MFP gives me 1280 but then tracks iphone steps which gives me "extra" calories throughout the day. I'm unclear whether I should be considering those as additional calories or if I should stick to the 1280? I am starting to go to the gym but am not logging that. I always go over to about 1620 but then due to iphone steps (I do 13K on average) the net total is about 1450-1500. I know that's still pretty high but I'm unsure if that would allow me to lose weight in the long run or if I really need to go down to 1280 as if so my current net calories would be taken to more like 1100 from iphone steps alone. Advice would be very helpful thanks 1
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If I should not be using the iphone steps as part of my food allowance, I would guess I'm currently eating at closer to maintenance which wouldn't lead to weight loss I'm guessing. It would be good to know if I should really be going for 1280 regardless of how many steps I do. I think I would find it a bit of a shock to the system if I did though!0
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Well one thing I have learned over time (and I mean a lot of years of up and down) is that you really cannot exercise your way to healthy weight loss. I think it helps some and does increase your TDEE but mostly just moving more seems to help. Plus it makes you feel better!
I have noticed that since I stopped going to the office in Mid March where I was walking more (my watch says I sit more minutes per hr than I did before) my weight has crept up. And I have actually increased my running distance and still do all the exercise. So I think you CAN use your steps and SHOULD use your steps as some extra but I don't think it's the complete picture. Everyone of us counts differently and eats different things and works out differently so what you have to do is personalize your own program. Trend weight aps are very helpful for us shorties also. I have been in deficit for about 2 weeks now yet I gained almost 1.5 pounds the last 2 days. Most likely because it's been so hot and I drank about 2 gallons or more of water yesterday. slosh slosh slosh.// It's hard for me NOT to react to the scale doing that when I know I am in deficit but as petites we really get some pretty large variations I think so just stay the course and if you are not losing in say 4 or 5 weeks (and I am older than cycles so that could effect you also) then you know you are off either in the way it's counting exercise or the way you are eating so you need to drop more cals. sadly.1 -
I know this isn't a very active thread but I just popped in to say it's not fair being short!0
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It's definitely not fair being short! Right now I'm living with two men my age (26) who are trying to gain weight because they're so tall and it has been really hard to remind myself that I can't always have a snack when they get food out.0
