how many calories are smaller women having?

beccamccall

I'm 5'1 and 188lb and just completed my first week with Myfitnesspal. i was wondering what steps smaller women are taking in order to lose weight? As a smaller person i have restricted myself to 1200 calories and 45 minutes of exercise daily. Is this sufficient to lose weight? any other advice?

wdwmindy

Are you eating your exercise calories back?

I am also 5'1" and MyFitnessPal has me at 1,200 calories with no exercise (I was sedentary when I started this adventure). I walk every day, my goal is 45 minutes. I eat back the calories I earn from exercise. On an average day I burn 2,000 calories and eat 1,500. I started at 160 and have lost 21.6 pounds in about 3 1/2 months.

birdiecs

5'2.5 131lbs and my NET can be anywhere from 1300 to 1600 depending on what I'm doing that day. 1300 is really only on Sunday when I'm sitting on my butt all day. I'm not big on cardio, it makes me skinny fat, so that is limited to 30min 3x a week. I do love lifting and that is what I do on Mon Wed Fri for 1hr. That's about it.

beccamccall

im not eating back my exercise calories. im strict in what i eat and stick to 1200 calories. brilliant success you have had! i read a few posts saying 1200 was too low, but as a small person, i think i need to consume less calories in general anyway. im hopeful this journey will be as successful as yours!

beccamccall

5'2.5 131lbs and my NET can be anywhere from 1300 to 1600 depending on what I'm doing that day. 1300 is really only on Sunday when I'm sitting on my butt all day. I'm not big on cardio, it makes me skinny fat, so that is limited to 30min 3x a week. I do love lifting and that is what I do on Mon Wed Fri for 1hr. That's about it.

have you lost weight from that? or is that maintainance weight routine? i suppose for me it is a method of trial and error. im so impatient! ha

healthygreek

I eat 1200 plus 1/2 to all of my exercise calories back and I'm almost at my goal.

birdiecs

5'2.5 131lbs and my NET can be anywhere from 1300 to 1600 depending on what I'm doing that day. 1300 is really only on Sunday when I'm sitting on my butt all day. I'm not big on cardio, it makes me skinny fat, so that is limited to 30min 3x a week. I do love lifting and that is what I do on Mon Wed Fri for 1hr. That's about it.

have you lost weight from that? or is that maintainance weight routine? i suppose for me it is a method of trial and error. im so impatient! ha

Oh no I'm not on maintenance by far. I'm still losing, my weigh in is tomorrow and my loss for this past month will be 5lbs. I've got a tentative goal of 120lbs. Just from experience not NETTING at least 1200 is going to make it hard to sustain over a long period of time. I'm not a happy woman when I'm hungry lol

SLLRunner

im not eating back my exercise calories. im strict in what i eat and stick to 1200 calories. brilliant success you have had! i read a few posts saying 1200 was too low, but as a small person, i think i need to consume less calories in general anyway. im hopeful this journey will be as successful as yours!

Is 5 ft 4 considered small? :bigsmile:

I'm at maintenance now, but when i was eating at a deficit, I ate 1640 plus my exercise calories. I lost weight just fine.

Becca, it's important that you eat at least a portion of your exercise calorie back because your deficit to lose weight is already built into the 1,200 calories MFP gives you. You are supposed to NET 1,200 calories each day, but when you don't eat exercise calories back you are under your net.

For example, say your exercise that day burns 250 calories. 1,200 minus 250 leaves you a net of 950 to survive on, which is way below the usual basic metabolic rate. I was at 1,200 when I started on this journey and didn't eat my exercise calories back and got run down pretty quickly. When I started eating some back, I began to feel a whole lot better.

beccamccall

I will take on that advice. I am fairly overweight for my size but I'm being very sensible about what I'm taking in and not starving myself. What I eat is 350 for breakfast 400 for lunch and 450 for dinner and it makes me feel full and gives me energy.

tegalicious

To lose weight, 1400+exercise calories. To maintain, 1700+exercise calories. I lost 40 pounds this way and didn't get skinny fat.

ajcmoran2005

I'm a little under 5'5" and I'm losing eating at least 1800 calories a day. Now keep in mind that I run for about 45 minutes everyday but even if I'm taking a day off I still lose eating 1400 calories. I did lose a ton of weight eating only 1200 calories a day but I stalled at about 130. Once I raised my caloric intake the weight started coming off again. In my opinion, 1200 calories is not a sustainable goal.

Meikmeika

I always wonder what us shorties are eating calorie wise. I do 1400 regardless if I exercise. I was thinking it would be more rewarding if I went down to 1200 and ate my exercise calls back. I'm a mess right now and can't seem to stay on track....

Serah87

I'm 5'2 and eat around 1900 calories!!!! :bigsmile:

See ticker below.

44 yrs old

ETA: That's 1200 calorie net.

NaomiJFoster

I'm almost 5'2"
I started out at 187 pounds and started on here at 1500 calories with a balance of 40%carb, 30%fat, 30%protein. As I've lost, I've dropped the calories a bit.

At around 170-175 pounds, I had my goal set at 1470 per day.

Now I weigh 163 and have a goal of 1450 calories a day. I'm not really losing anything right now though, things have drastically slowed down. I'm not gaining! But I'm not losing. So I might rethink my numbers in a while.

The first 20 pounds melted away much faster than I'd expected. But now I'm having to work for it.


ETA: Yeah, that's Net. I do let the exercise calories factor back in to my total goal for each day. So on days that I work out, I'll usually eat around 1700-1800 calories.

ETA (again): I'm 45 and my body has most certainly changed. It's frustrating, but I'm learning that it's not insurmountable. I'm also a preschool teacher and spend about 9 hours, 5 days a week being very active. I'm a sloth on the weekends.

Lleldiranne

I'm 5'0" and 127 lbs. I haven't been really tracking lately (I'm basically in maintenance) but when I was last tracking I was at about 1800 daily and losing probably on average 1/2 pound per week (wouldn't want to lose more quickly because of current goals). I'm going to start tracking again, mostly to make sure I'm getting 100g of protein, and I'll have it set at 1600 since I don't measure very accurately (to account for the chance I'm eating more than that, lol)

It should be noted that I lift heavy weights 2-3 times per week and am not sedentary - I have a 2 year old as well as older kids, so I'm often up playing with them, dancing for him, being bouncy and goofy, etc.

ETA: I'm 36 … sometimes age can make a difference.

ggxx100

5'1 and eating around 1900-2000 calories! Mind you, this is in conjunction with heavy lifting. I started my weight loss eating 1300 calories and doing only cardio...wasn't losing and felt faint all the time, so had to bump it up to 1600-1700, switched over to lifting and lost the rest of the weight that way. Everyone is different but it's important to fuel properly and exercise to maximize your results. I honestly am eating similar caloric amounts now at 98-100 lbs as I was at 140 lbs...the difference is my exercise routine and the metabolic boost it gave me.

neandermagnon

I'm 5'1" and lose on 1800 cals/day, maintenance around 2100 cals/day. I have a large frame and high lean body mass for my height, so have a slightly higher basal metabolic rate than average for my height, but by my calculations that only adds a hundred or so calories. most short women can actually lose on more calories than you think, and MFP tends to underestimate calories. Short =/= having to restrict yourself to only 1200 cals/day. BTW I don't do any cardio pretty much, apart from having to go up and down stairs at my job and to my apartment (no lift). I lift heavy weights though :drinker:

davert123

Just let MFP set your macros :-) And eat back your exercise. It doesn't matter how big you are because MFP will take this into account :-)

Good luck and I hope you settle in here and hit your goals.

FlaxMilk

Your weight is more important than your height. The reason many smaller women have to restrict calories is because "light" weights may not be as light for a petite woman. The two get linked together because of that.

What does MFP give you for weight loss? Try it on both .5 lbs a week and 2 lbs a week. Then you can eat anywhere in that range from day to day.

tashaa1992

I'm 4ft 10in and weigh 101.2lbs, my maintenance is 2500-2800 calories. I workout anywhere from 8-10 hours a week, weight training, running, HIIT, circuit training and kickboxing.

Still trying to work out a sensible cut as I don't have that much left to lose, my advice to anyone is never net any lower than your bmr.

harleyjax

I'm 5'5, 127 pounds and just raised my calories today. I was at 1200 for a long time, lost weight slowly and got to where I actually started gaining some back. Was hungry all the time and I've read a lot of statements on how people started losing weight when they finally raised their calories. If you don't eat enough your body goes to starvation mode. I may not eat the 1600 it's telling me to eat, but I'm not going to fret being over 1200 especially since I live a pretty active life.