Defecit or maintenance?

SSFx19

I’m 13 days into losing weight. I’m 19, 5.2ft, female currently weigh 61kg and my goal weight is 52-55kg. I want to look “toned”. I do full body weight training sessions 3 days per week. I try to lift heavy. And moderate cardio for 20 minutes for 2 days. So I workout 5 days per week. I’m not overweight or anything but I do have fat in my upper, mid back and also have belly fat. I know you can’t spot reduce so I have to lose it all over.

I was watching videos and some people were saying if you are short, it’s gonna be hard to lose weight. They were saying it’s better to just eat at maintenance and lift heavy.

Mfp gave me a daily defecit goal of 1400cals. My activity level is set to not active. I do add and eat exercise cals from my steps, lifting sessions and cardio sessions. The rate of losing is set to 0.2kg per week. Before I started so basically 13 days ago, I weigh 62.7kg and now I weigh 61kg.

Now I’m kinda confused. I don’t know if I should continue to eat 1400 cals or eat at maintenance which Mfp tells me it’s 1670 cals.

ElizabethKalmbach

If you feel good, I'd give it another week or two to settle into a broader data pattern, but you should probably switch up your base activity level from "sedentary" to the next level up. Alternatively, you can keep yourself at sedentary and do away with the deficit.

Your initial loss may have been water weight, which is why I suggest looking at a data pattern over the course of a month instead of 2 weeks. If you're losing steadily after a month, faster than you wanted, then start tweaking your activity level (and thereby your calories) to match up to your actual real-world results.

pinuplove

SSFx19 wrote: »

I’m 13 days into losing weight. I’m 19, 5.2ft, female currently weigh 61kg and my goal weight is 52-55kg. I want to look “toned”. I do full body weight training sessions 3 days per week. I try to lift heavy. And moderate cardio for 20 minutes for 2 days. So I workout 5 days per week. I’m not overweight or anything but I do have fat in my upper, mid back and also have belly fat. I know you can’t spot reduce so I have to lose it all over.

I was watching videos and some people were saying if you are short, it’s gonna be hard to lose weight. They were saying it’s better to just eat at maintenance and lift heavy.

Mfp gave me a daily defecit goal of 1400cals. My activity level is set to not active. I do add and eat exercise cals from my steps, lifting sessions and cardio sessions. The rate of losing is set to 0.2kg per week. Before I started so basically 13 days ago, I weigh 62.7kg and now I weigh 61kg.

Now I’m kinda confused. I don’t know if I should continue to eat 1400 cals or eat at maintenance which Mfp tells me it’s 1670 cals.

If the bolded were true, every short person who had ever been overweight still would be. At 5'2 and 134 pounds, your toward the upper end of normal BMI. You could stay there and focus on recomp or lose a few more pounds. It depends on your goals. Recomp is slow. Losing more weight while lifting to preserve muscle might ultimately help you achieve your desired aesthetic faster.

apullum

I’m under 5 feet and I lost 100 pounds. I’ve maintained that loss for over two years.

If you are shorter, you are going to get fewer calories than someone of the same weight and activity level who is taller. That’s just how it is. When one has a low calorie goal, it is often necessary to weigh every bite of food to avoid accidentally wiping out a small deficit with logging errors. However, that’s also true of most people as they get close to their goal weights, which you are.

Other than that, there’s nothing special about being any particular height that makes weight loss harder.

Strength training is great and everyone who is able to do it should do it. However, you’re not forced into maintenance or recomp simply by virtue of being a particular height.

My advice would be to ignore most of the random “fitness” advice out there.

kshama2001

SSFx19 wrote: »

I’m 13 days into losing weight. I’m 19, 5.2ft, female currently weigh 61kg and my goal weight is 52-55kg. I want to look “toned”. I do full body weight training sessions 3 days per week. I try to lift heavy. And moderate cardio for 20 minutes for 2 days. So I workout 5 days per week. I’m not overweight or anything but I do have fat in my upper, mid back and also have belly fat. I know you can’t spot reduce so I have to lose it all over.

I was watching videos and some people were saying if you are short, it’s gonna be hard to lose weight. They were saying it’s better to just eat at maintenance and lift heavy.

Mfp gave me a daily defecit goal of 1400cals. My activity level is set to not active. I do add and eat exercise cals from my steps, lifting sessions and cardio sessions. The rate of losing is set to 0.2kg per week. Before I started so basically 13 days ago, I weigh 62.7kg and now I weigh 61kg.

Now I’m kinda confused. I don’t know if I should continue to eat 1400 cals or eat at maintenance which Mfp tells me it’s 1670 cals.

If your workouts burn 270 calories then either method achieves the same results. I vote for using MFP as designed - log your exercise calories and eat them back.

MFP method:
Eat 1400 cals + 270 cals earned from working out - 270 cals burnt = 1400 net cals

Maintenance/workout method:
Eat 1670 cals - 270 cals burnt = 1400 net cals