Losing weight as a woman of short stature

mermaidpanic

I’m 5’0 and I’m skinny fat, need to lose extra fat but I can only eat 1200 calories a day

I do not have the time/ resources to do exercise that would actually burn calories (it’s harder because of my low-ish height and weight)

Doesn’t help that I have a slow metabolism!

I’m finding it hard to stay under/at my net calorie goal. Any tips to do this without exercising or will I just have to exercise if I want to get anywhere?

cmriverside

No you don't have to exercise.

I was able to stick to 1200 for quite a while (and I'm 5'8") but I had a lot of weight to lose and I am basically retired. If you have an active life and/or not much weight to lose then 1200 may be low for you.

Experiment with different foods. I found if I focused on getting enough protein and fat and if I aim for 500-800 grams of whole fruit and vegetables every day I am less hungry. Pay attention to how quickly after eating you are hungry again. If it's less than three hours, maybe adjust upward with your protein and fat per meal.

heybales

If you mean hard as in too easy to go over - I've seen that with shorter women.

When I first started doing running races - I was always surprised how spread out the mass start area was, until I got there and saw the spaces were short women.
Running groups always seemed to have a majority of smart women out of 8-10.
In talking to some of them - they ran to eat basically, and they enjoyed it too.
But they said it was about only way to burn enough in a day to allow them to eat "normal" sized servings with family or when they went out.

Some have gotten around that by just not eating traditional breakfast, small lunch, then normal dinner with family.
Being very smart with what you do decide to eat.

If you don't have the time available for lots of cardio, and you say skinny fat (healthy weight range, excess fat) - you really handle that by eating at maintenance anyway and doing some good strength training progressive program.
Losing more fat to lower end of healthy weight or under weight is not the solution anyway.

Now - when you log Strength Training it doesn't burn a whole lot - but you won't be in a diet anyway.

claireychn074

Can you give us your weight, your goal weight, how much you’re trying to lose per week, and why you believe you’re “skinny fat”? (Skinny fat means you look skinny but have extra fat around your organs ie you can’t see it, but it’s a health risk).

Being short means we need less calories than someone bigger it’s true, but it might be that you could eat more whilst losing at a slower rate (we won’t know until you give us your stats). Exercise will give you more calories per day to play with, but it is not necessary for weight loss.

kshama2001

While it's true that exercise is not necessary to lose weight, exercise IS necessary for good health. If you can't find 20-30 minutes per day for a brisk walk*, it's time to reevaluate your work-life balance.

* I gave "walk" as an example because the only resource needed for that are shoes. There are many other ways to get exercise without a gym membership. I haven't belonged to a gym since 2016 and my goal is to get 500 calories of exercise per day.

https://health.gov/sites/default/files/2019-09/Physical_Activity_Guidelines_2nd_edition.pdf

Key Guidelines for Adults

• Adults should move more and sit less throughout the day. Some physical activity is better than none. Adults who sit less and do any amount of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity gain some health benefits.
• For substantial health benefits, adults should do at least 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) to 300 minutes (5 hours) a week of moderate-intensity, or 75 minutes (1 hour and 15 minutes) to 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity, or an
  equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity aerobic activity. Preferably, aerobic
  activity should be spread throughout the week.
• Additional health benefits are gained by engaging in physical activity beyond the equivalent of
  300 minutes (5 hours) of moderate-intensity physical activity a week.
• Adults should also do muscle-strengthening activities of moderate or greater intensity and that
  involve all major muscle groups on 2 or more days a week, as these activities provide additional
  health benefits.

kshama2001

mermaidpanic wrote: »

I’m 5’0 and I’m skinny fat, need to lose extra fat but I can only eat 1200 calories a day

I do not have the time/ resources to do exercise that would actually burn calories (it’s harder because of my low-ish height and weight)

Doesn’t help that I have a slow metabolism!

I’m finding it hard to stay under/at my net calorie goal. Any tips to do this without exercising or will I just have to exercise if I want to get anywhere?

Another benefit to exercise is improving your metabolism.

https://www.escardio.org/The-ESC/Press-Office/Press-releases/Benefits-of-exercise-on-metabolism-more-profound-than-previously-reported

Benefits of exercise on metabolism: more profound than previously reported

02 Apr 2020

Sophia Antipolis, 2 April 2020: The effects of exercise on metabolism are even greater than scientists believed. That’s the finding of a unique study published today in Cardiovascular Research, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).1

The study is the first to examine the metabolic effects of exercise while carefully controlling for differences between participants in diet, stress, sleep patterns, and work environment.

“These results show that metabolic adaptation to exercise is far more profound than previously reported,” said senior author Dr. John F. O’Sullivan of the University of Sydney, Australia. “The results increase our knowledge of the widespread benefits of exercise on metabolism and reveal for the first time the true magnitude of these effects. This reinforces the mandate for exercise as a critical part of programmes to prevent cardiovascular disease.”

BarbaraHelen2013

heybales wrote: »

If you mean hard as in too easy to go over - I've seen that with shorter women.

When I first started doing running races - I was always surprised how spread out the mass start area was, until I got there and saw the spaces were short women.
Running groups always seemed to have a majority of smart women out of 8-10.
In talking to some of them - they ran to eat basically, and they enjoyed it too.
But they said it was about only way to burn enough in a day to allow them to eat "normal" sized servings with family or when they went out.

Some have gotten around that by just not eating traditional breakfast, small lunch, then normal dinner with family.
Being very smart with what you do decide to eat.

If you don't have the time available for lots of cardio, and you say skinny fat (healthy weight range, excess fat) - you really handle that by eating at maintenance anyway and doing some good strength training progressive program.
Losing more fat to lower end of healthy weight or under weight is not the solution anyway.

Now - when you log Strength Training it doesn't burn a whole lot - but you won't be in a diet anyway.

The bolded here is so, so true and not understood or acknowledged often enough.

I’m also 5’ and have just in the last few days reached my goal weight. I do feel I could lose a bit more because there are still squidgy bits, which is what I understand to be what’s generally meant by ‘skinny fat’. Realistically I need to try to tighten it up with exercise before losing more though. This is a weight I’ve been happy with before so it shouldn’t be too wrong now. I’m just older and less active so it looks different this time.

I do exactly what is mentioned here - no breakfast, minimal lunch and controlled portions at dinner. No snacking! I just don’t have room for snack calories!

What I figured out finally, this time, was that I need to shave a bit off a ‘standard’ portion size in order for it to be appropriate for a less than ‘standard’ size person.

For example - 5ft = 60 inches.

Taking average height to be around 5’ 5” - 5’ 6” (65-66 inches) I figured I’m roughly 10% shorter so I knock 10% off a portion size. So a standard 56g of pasta becomes 50g. Same for rice, and pretty much any grain I eat with a main meal. I do the same with everything except non starchy veg. I load up on low calorie veg so I don’t feel deprived with tiny portions of other things. The veg fill me up and I don’t have issues with hunger or cravings.

If I’m eating out (rare) I make sure to leave around 20% of the meal on the plate (extra 10% to account for inflated restaurant portions)

It’s all about being smart with what you eat when you’re short. You can’t expect to eat the same amount or even the same foods as your taller friends/family. You have to tailor the intake to suit the smaller organism!

Deviette

BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »

heybales wrote: »

If you mean hard as in too easy to go over - I've seen that with shorter women.

When I first started doing running races - I was always surprised how spread out the mass start area was, until I got there and saw the spaces were short women.
Running groups always seemed to have a majority of smart women out of 8-10.
In talking to some of them - they ran to eat basically, and they enjoyed it too.
But they said it was about only way to burn enough in a day to allow them to eat "normal" sized servings with family or when they went out.

Some have gotten around that by just not eating traditional breakfast, small lunch, then normal dinner with family.
Being very smart with what you do decide to eat.

If you don't have the time available for lots of cardio, and you say skinny fat (healthy weight range, excess fat) - you really handle that by eating at maintenance anyway and doing some good strength training progressive program.
Losing more fat to lower end of healthy weight or under weight is not the solution anyway.

Now - when you log Strength Training it doesn't burn a whole lot - but you won't be in a diet anyway.

The bolded here is so, so true and not understood or acknowledged often enough.

I’m also 5’ and have just in the last few days reached my goal weight. I do feel I could lose a bit more because there are still squidgy bits, which is what I understand to be what’s generally meant by ‘skinny fat’. Realistically I need to try to tighten it up with exercise before losing more though. This is a weight I’ve been happy with before so it shouldn’t be too wrong now. I’m just older and less active so it looks different this time.

I do exactly what is mentioned here - no breakfast, minimal lunch and controlled portions at dinner. No snacking! I just don’t have room for snack calories!

What I figured out finally, this time, was that I need to shave a bit off a ‘standard’ portion size in order for it to be appropriate for a less than ‘standard’ size person.

For example - 5ft = 60 inches.

Taking average height to be around 5’ 5” - 5’ 6” (65-66 inches) I figured I’m roughly 10% shorter so I knock 10% off a portion size. So a standard 56g of pasta becomes 50g. Same for rice, and pretty much any grain I eat with a main meal. I do the same with everything except non starchy veg. I load up on low calorie veg so I don’t feel deprived with tiny portions of other things. The veg fill me up and I don’t have issues with hunger or cravings.

If I’m eating out (rare) I make sure to leave around 20% of the meal on the plate (extra 10% to account for inflated restaurant portions)

It’s all about being smart with what you eat when you’re short. You can’t expect to eat the same amount or even the same foods as your taller friends/family. You have to tailor the intake to suit the smaller organism!

I'm here just to add a +1 to this sentiment.

I am 5ft 2", so I'm not as short, but still in the short bracket. I am eternally annoyed (only mildly mind) by people who say hand down that you shouldn't need to exercise for weight loss. I know what they mean, and for larger people it is true, however, when you are small and nearing goal weight, I HAVE to exercise, otherwise my portions are just so small that I just cannot eat like a "normal" person. I've fiddled with macros, I've tried fasting, I tried all the methods that people suggest, nothing leaves me satisfied if I don't do some level of exercise added in. And I find that I'm less hungry when I exercise too, it's a win-win situation of wanting to eat less, and having more calories in the first place.


OP:
If you're struggling to budget exercise into your time of the day maybe find methods to improve NEAT outputs:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss/p1
This is a good thread to start.

But if skinny-fat is your problem, then you're probably going to want to add some sort of resistance training into your routine to build some muscles. Building some muscles often makes people look slimmer even at the same weight, and just a little bit can make a big difference if you're already a low weight.

nooshi713

I’m short as well, 5’0”, and my maintenance calories are a bit less than average. The only way I have been able to lose in the past is by eating very low calorie, around 1200-1300. I can’t exercise too much because it increases my hunger a lot but I try to get more steps in on a day to day basis. Weight loss has been really challenging for me.