5’2” or less women, what are your maintenance calories?

shiragatama

This is a question for people at/under 5’2” that are currently maintaining, and know for sure what their tried-and-true maintenance cals are because they’ve been at it for a while; how many calories do you eat, and how active are you? Do you eat more on days you’re more active? I’d like some stats to compare to in order to see if I’m at the right cals for maintenance, or if I can go higher :-)

I’m 5’2”, 19 years old, and ~101-102 lbs give or take, although I haven’t weighed myself in a couple weeks since I don’t have a scale anymore and I haven’t bought a new one yet; Ive been seeing lots of muscle gains, so I think I might weigh a tiny bit more now.

After losing weight, I started reverse dieting quite a few months ago (adding maybe 20-50 cal a week). I stopped reverse dieting at around 1350 a day, since I wasn’t sure if I would gain above that considering my height and weight. The thing is, I want to eat more, and /some/ calculators tell me my maintenance could be 1400-1500, but I’m a little afraid of gaining if I continue my reverse diet up to those numbers.

I average maybe 7K-8K steps a day from walking around between classes on campus, and then about 5K-6K on the weekends. I do short (~30-40 min) weightlifting lessons about 2 times a week (I’d like to go more, but uni has be busy!). I have no idea if I’m sedentary or lightly active because of this, so I’m wary of the numbers that TDEE calculators give me. They usually throw numbers of around 1250-1500 at me, but 1250 seems too low and I already know I won’t gain on 1300, but while 1500 is ideal, I feel like I’d gain on that amount.

I’m quite skinnyfat, but I don’t want to do a bulk and eat in a surplus; I’d rather recomp while eating at maintenance and get a nice lean stomach by changing just my bodyfat, not really my weight so much. But I just need to know; do you guys think I can eat more? Because hell, if I can add even an extra 100 calories to my budget I will be VERY happy.

What are yall’s experiences and stats? Does anyone maintain at higher cals than I do, or lower?

TavistockToad

How much weight have you lost eating 1350?

shiragatama

TavistockToad wrote: »

How much weight have you lost eating 1350?

I haven’t really lost, and it’s a little more confusing because of some 1900+ cal cheat days to really know (sorry, should’ve mentioned that in my post!) but my body has changed a lot; I have quite a bit more muscle in my legs especially.

cwolfman13

Really, this is going to be primarily trial and error and very hard to judge relative to anyone else.

My wife is 5'2" and maintains on around 2200 calories unless she's 1/2 marathon training, then more. She runs pretty much daily or at least 5 days per week and does a pretty hard core lifting session once per week with a personal trainer.

The average female maintains on 1800-2000 calories with fairly light activity...I highly doubt your maintenance calories are less than 1500 and probably more than that...your BMR alone is probably in the neighborhood of 1400. Are you sure you're not confusing BMR with TDEE?

TavistockToad

shiragatama wrote: »

TavistockToad wrote: »

How much weight have you lost eating 1350?

I haven’t really lost, and it’s a little more confusing because of some 1900+ cal cheat days to really know (sorry, should’ve mentioned that in my post!) but my body has changed a lot; I have quite a bit more muscle in my legs especially.

So you're maintaining on 1350 plus the 1900 + days and sounds like you're recomping.

shiragatama

cwolfman13 wrote: »

Really, this is going to be primarily trial and error and very hard to judge relative to anyone else.

My wife is 5'2" and maintains on around 2200 calories unless she's 1/2 marathon training, then more. She runs pretty much daily or at least 5 days per week and does a pretty hard core lifting session once per week with a personal trainer.

The average female maintains on 1800-2000 calories with fairly light activity...I highly doubt your maintenance calories are less than 1500 and probably more than that...your BMR alone is probably in the neighborhood of 1400. Are you sure you're not confusing BMR with TDEE?

Yes, I’m sure, that’s why I’m almost certain I could be eating more than I am now; 1350 seems too low. That’s why I wanted to ask how much other people similar to me were eating (since I’m smaller and lighter than the average woman), so I had at least an idea of what’s reasonable.
I’m pretty sure I’m not losing mass (I think I’m losing bodyfat though) because I reverse-dieted very slowly to this point from my deficit, so my body is used to this amount and won’t lose on it.

LivingtheLeanDream

I'm 5ft 2, lightly active, maintain my 125lbs on 1900 cals. I'm 49. In summer when I move more my TDEE goes up a few hundred cals more.

beast_kitty89

5'2, lightly active.... trying to lose weight on 1650 calories. I do eat a bit more when I am more active.

shiragatama

LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »

I'm 5ft 2, lightly active, maintain my 125lbs on 1900 cals. I'm 49. In summer when I move more my TDEE goes up a few hundred cals more.

Thank you! What would you personally define lightly active to be?

LivingtheLeanDream

shiragatama wrote: »

LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »

I'm 5ft 2, lightly active, maintain my 125lbs on 1900 cals. I'm 49. In summer when I move more my TDEE goes up a few hundred cals more.

Thank you! What would you personally define lightly active to be?

Approx 7k steps( through normal every day activity rather than specific walking ) plus 20-30 mins cardio X 5 days/20 mins strength training X 3 days

shiragatama

LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »

Approx 7k steps( through normal every day activity rather than specific walking ) plus 20-30 mins cardio X 5 days/20 mins strength training X 3 days

That’s certainly a bit more active than I am :-) but you’re also eating a whole lot more than me; maybe if I simply incorporate some running everyday I could be eating as much as you, that would be so nice haha

LivingtheLeanDream

shiragatama wrote: »

LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »

Approx 7k steps( through normal every day activity rather than specific walking ) plus 20-30 mins cardio X 5 days/20 mins strength training X 3 days

That’s certainly a bit more active than I am :-) but you’re also eating a whole lot more than me; maybe if I simply incorporate some running everyday I could be eating as much as you, that would be so nice haha

Well I guess that's why I do my cardio so I can eat more. If I just did the 7k steps my TDEE would drop to around 1600. Anything that increases the NEAT also would help (ie taking the stairs and parking car further away etc)

swirlybee

I'm 5'2" (almost 5'3") and weigh 122 lbs. I'm 35 years old and I'm pretty much chained to my desk all day long. My workout consists of judo twice a week and riding 20-30 miles a week on my bike. I'm still trying to lose a couple of pounds but based on my rate of loss, I figure that my maintenance calories will be around 1900 calories.

deputy_randolph

I'm 5'3 135lbs (size 4ish) 38 years old. I'm maintaining around 2000-2200 calories daily. I'm pretty active during the day (work at an elementary school) and train in powerlifting 4-5 days a week.

Trina2040

My stats probably won't help since I'm 69 years old but I'll chime in anyway. 5'2.5" and maintaining at 128-131 lbs for almost 4 years, lost 50 lbs. I eat around 1750-1850ish with a few undocumented bites here and there. I hit between 20K-23K steps per day which includes walking every day and gym 3Xs per week (cardio + light weights) and Tai Chi.

middlehaitch

I’m 5’1 and just about the same weight as you, maintaining at 100-105lbs for 9yr.

NB:I don’t count calories regularly anymore, just do a recalculate (2-3 week log) every now and again.

At the moment I am maintaining at 1500-1700. This includes yoga 3x a week (4hr) and general activity.

(Ooh, I just went and looked at that Apple health app thing and it has had me at an average of 6500 steps a day for the year. In real life some days are probably a lot higher; others much, much lower, I don’t count.

In the new year when lifting x 3 and cardio x 2 are added back in I will be up by about 200 cals a day most likely 1600-1900.

It has taken me a few years of slowly pushing the envelope to get my cals to where they are now. I started with the MFP recommended 1200 plus 200 for exercise when I first entered maintenance. The difference has been small cal increases over time has subtly upped my daily activity, more energy in general, and increased my NEAT.

My advice would be to keep pushing the envelope. Just a small increase in cals can add a heck of a lot more energy. Burn that energy, and you get to up your cals again.

Cheers, h.

apullum

Are you trying to maintain your current weight? It's worth pointing out that you are on the cusp of being underweight. 101 is in the underweight range for your height; 102 is just barely in the optimal range. I would strongly recommend checking in with your doctor to make sure this is a safe weight for you.

Ssssss666666

4,11and half weigh around 102 to 104, maintenance for last year on 1200 calories, sometimes slightly above however that doesn't seem to make any difference. I have a fairly active job, I am 58 will be concentrating on more excersize this year.