I'm 5"3 female and I weigh 120lbs but I want to be 110lbs and idk how to do it in a healthy way

alyssa1232019

the end of August 2022 I weighed 180lbs and now I am 120 and still not satisfied. I didn't know what I was doing so I lost weight by starving myself, and I now have lost a crap ton of hair, and my menstrual cycle. I have loose skin that I have no idea how to get rid of. I want to reach 110lbs but idk how to other then starving myself because that's what I'm used to and know works. I don't like it because I have low energy, sleep too much, bad mood swings, feeling like I'm gonna pass out when I stand up, always cold, and less vivid dreams. I love to run and weight lift but I find that very hard to do when I have no energy but if I eat more I'm gonna gain weight. I gained 5 pounds when I ate more, but had great athletic performance. I fell back into starving myself and crying on my bathroom floor because I had gained 5lbs and felt terrible. I really need help on how to loose weight the right way. my main and basically only target is stomach fat. someone please help me because I have no idea what I'm doing.

carolinepowell885

You need to work on self-love with a professional who has experience in these areas. Being 110lbs isn't worth it when you are having all these negative side effects. I know how it feels and I also know that once people like us reach our goal we are still not satisfied and become more unhealthy. I wish you nothing but kindness and I genuinely hope you can find the support and help you deserve 💜

tomcustombuilder

A small calorie deficit, weight train and get in enough protein.

You can’t target stomach fat or any fat. It comes off where it’s genetically programmed to come off.

After losing all that weight maybe just maintain for awhile and not try to lose for now. Let your body take a rest from that kind of stress it’s been under.

AnnPT77

The immediate "weight gain" when you start eating a reasonable amount more is not fat gain, it's extra digestive contents and a little extra water retention from the process of metabolizing more food than you'd previously eaten. If you truly need to lose more weight - which honestly I question - eat a tiny bit below your maintenance calories. That extra water/waste retention will balance out (few days to a small number of weeks), then you'd start seeing gradual weight loss again (with the usual daily ups and downs of a pound or two, but an overall downward trend from one month to the next, as is normal with the slow loss that's a healthful choice when close to a good goal weight).

At 5'3", it's very possible that 110 is too low a weight for your best health anyway. 120 is a reasonably low weight for average-height women, maybe even an unreasonably low weight for some of them, and almost certainly too low if taller than average. For 5'3", 110 is at the low end of the normal range, possibly too low unless very delicately built, and not at all muscular.

The path to most attractive appearance is always through adequate calories, good energy level, good nutrition, and a sensible, manageable exercise program (both strength and cardio). You know this. You can get there.

You mention stomach fat. Frankly, it's not unusual for women (NB I am one) to have an unrealistic view of normal abdominal shape, mostly based on fakery from fitness influencers and the like. It's normal for a woman to have a slight swell in the abdominal area, because we have uteruses, and they take up space and have a shape. You might want to read this thread for more on that:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10689837/does-this-uterus-make-my-stomach-look-fat/p1

I think it's fortunate that you're realizing your current course is not healthy and not sustainable. I agree with @carolinepowell885 up there, that the best idea would be for you to consult a professional who has experience helping people with disordered eating. Your long term health will benefit.

You can find your way through this - your realization that a different course is necessary is sign of that. I'm cheering for you to succeed!

Pdc654

I don't know how old you are, but you look fairly young in your profile picture, which means you can build muscle faster than us older women. I think you would be amazed at what you are able to accomplish with weight lifting. You have to have a good progressive lifting program, and be consistent with it. In order to reach your esthetic goals you also must eat adequate protein, and get enough calories to give you the energy to lift heavy and build muscle. At 5' 3", losing more weight might be counterproductive to your goals. Give eating at maintenance or even slightly above a try, be consistent with your weight training and see what you can accomplish. Be patient with yourself, it won't happen overnight.

PeachHibiscus

Losing 60 pounds is a great accomplishment and I would bet that everyone who sees you thinks you look amazing! But I understand all too well how you feel about yourself as this was me 20 years ago. I had lost 150 pounds, looked great, and was in great shape but still thought of myself as fat so I kept restricting food and upping the exercise. Always cold, menstrual cycle stops, you see darkness in front of your eyes when you stand up, all of that I remember. I fell down the stairs at my gym, which I blamed on my sandals rather than being dizzy.

I no longer had a social life because I always had to go work out. I would meticulously count how many baby carrots I ate. If I thought it was too many I'd add more exercise. Eventually your body can't do that anymore and your performance suffers. And for me, that's when the purging started. If I couldn't exercise the calories away, I'd get rid of them another way. It was horrible.

Every day we're presented with prettied up images of what the ideal person should look like and we read what our ideal weight should be. My body dysmorphia lead to me suffering from eating disorders for over ten years. I finally stopped purging because it physically hurt too much to do it anymore. I had electrolyte issues and was severely anemic by the time I stopped. I have Barrett's esophagus now. When I look at photos of me back then, I can see that I wasn't fat at all. If anything, I was too thin. But I had loose skin I hated and the number on the scale wasn't the number I thought it should be and the number that BMI charts said I should be for my height.

I'm far from an expert on any of this; I would just hate to see anyone else have to experience what I did. Love yourself. Be kind to yourself and your body. It's going to be with you the rest of your life. And know that you're not alone. I wish you all the best.

BeanieBean93

I'm recovering from an eating disorder and I've in and out of recovery for over 10 years. If you feel like food, body image, exercise and calories have become an obsession, I'd recommend talking to someone before it becomes deeply engrained. There's so much more to life and I've wasted a lot of mine. Sending you a hug and good wishes. You can do this.

MisterSkinnyHot

After trying every fad diet known to man with no results I was shocked to find I’ve lost 30 lbs this year doing what the scientists said - and I’ve never been hungry or felt tortured. If for no other reason, trust the science cause it’s the only one that works. 30 pounds in six months no joke

Edintokyo

First, congratulations on your drop from 180 to 120.

As I get older, especially since getting hooked up with MFP, I am starting to understand that gluttony and starvation are not our only two choices.
There is a third option called, moderation.

IMHO, I would say define your goal, let the app calculate your needs, and then simply trust the process.

Don’t be discouraged by temporary weight fluctuations along the way.

magistra1220

Hi, when I was in my early twenties, I obsessed over "getting to" 115 pounds. I am 5'3" tall, and that was the "proper" weight for my height according to whatever height/weight table was in fashion in the early 80's. I have a small waist and muscles. I was a gymnast. Whenever my weight got to around 117, I lost my period. A healthy woman in her 20s has a menstrual cycle, so I knew this was a cause for alarm. Numbers on a scale are not the measure of whether a person looks good or is healthy. How do you feel? This is more important than how you look. Do you feel strong? If you are losing hair and your period, you are not getting enough nutrition to sustain a healthy body.

So first, is your goal reasonable and healthy? You have dropped from 180, that's amazing! It takes time for your body to adjust to your new self. Your skin, too, needs time to "shrink" back. Depending on how old you are, it might not go all the way. Again, you need to be healthy for this.

Second, I bet you look great, and can find clothes you look great in. Try maintaining 120 for a few weeks, then gradually lose a few pounds. Use MFP to help you here.

And lastly, it couldn't hurt to work with professionals who specialize in this area. A doctor and therapist team that work with weight loss and self image would be helpful.

Best of luck. I've been on this merry-go-round for 45 years now. It's getting better, and thankfully I'm not as obsessed as I once was.

KetoGlenn

Go on YouTube and search for Dr. Ken Berry and start researching about the carnivore diet. It's not only about weightloss.. but it's also a lifestyle that heals.

sollyn23l2

KetoGlenn wrote: »

Go on YouTube and search for Dr. Ken Berry and start researching about the carnivore diet. It's not only about weightloss.. but it's also a lifestyle that heals.

She's not eating enough. She doesn't need a super restrictive diet.

tomcustombuilder

KetoGlenn wrote: »

Go on YouTube and search for Dr. Ken Berry and start researching about the carnivore diet. It's not only about weightloss.. but it's also a lifestyle that heals.

Diets that are that restrictive won't work long term and they especially won't heal anything. Eliminating fruits and veggies and eating pounds of meat a day may be beneficial to those writing and selling books however from a commom sensical approach, just no.

SueInAz

I'm your height and there's no way I could maintain 110 lbs without seriously undereating or overexercising. Believe me, I tried. Honestly, the weight I was happiest at was around 125-130 while I was doing strength training 3x per week and running on the days between. At that weight, I was wearing a size 2.

Strength training is probably what you need. Weight loss is to look good in your clothes, strength training is to look good without them. More muscle will not only have you looking better but it'll increase your metabolism, too, so you can maintain your ideal weight without having to starve yourself. Look into it and maybe see if you can get into a therapy program. We all need to learn to love ourselves and you deserve that for you.

kshama2001

KetoGlenn wrote: »

Go on YouTube and search for Dr. Ken Berry and start researching about the carnivore diet. It's not only about weightloss.. but it's also a lifestyle that heals.

What exactly do you think the carnivore diet will heal for the OP? She's not eating enough and has a disordered relationship with food. A super-restrictive diet would likely make matters worse.

serpentegena

alyssa1232019 wrote: »

the end of August 2022 I weighed 180lbs and now I am 120 and still not satisfied. I didn't know what I was doing so I lost weight by starving myself, and I now have lost a crap ton of hair, and my menstrual cycle. I have loose skin that I have no idea how to get rid of. I want to reach 110lbs but idk how to other then starving myself because that's what I'm used to and know works. I don't like it because I have low energy, sleep too much, bad mood swings, feeling like I'm gonna pass out when I stand up, always cold, and less vivid dreams. I love to run and weight lift but I find that very hard to do when I have no energy but if I eat more I'm gonna gain weight. I gained 5 pounds when I ate more, but had great athletic performance. I fell back into starving myself and crying on my bathroom floor because I had gained 5lbs and felt terrible. I really need help on how to loose weight the right way. my main and basically only target is stomach fat. someone please help me because I have no idea what I'm doing.

You don't want to get to 115 lb. What you want, in actuality, is control. You control your diet and your weight. People can become fixated with getting control in some areas of their life, sometimes because they feel like they have no control over other areas of their life. They may be going through life changes or hard times, or they may be suffering because of an external factor, or they may feel that some choices are being taken away from them.
What you should do, is to take a look at all areas of your life and find where exactly you have an issue where you feel like you have no control. Then you can begin to work on it. You need to set your food and your weight apart from that issue. You need to understand that forcing control of your nutrition will not solve the other issues in your life, and is not the right thing to do for yourself, in the long term.

Your life goals should not include "getting to 115 lb". They should include being safe, healthy, fit, energetic, thriving, mindful, whole of body and mind, at peace with yourself and the world. All the best to you!