short ladies - 1200 cal/day?

LessthanKris

5'1 and have been set at 1200 for almost a year and a half now. Down over 40 lbs and working on the last 10. I do eat back exercise calories. I work out six days a week. There are times I go over, especially on my rest days and on vacations. When I stick to netting 1200, it does work. I have accepted my loss may be slower due to vacations and everything but I decided a long time ago as long as the trend is down I am going to enjoy myself when it is time to and work my butt of the rest of time.

ETA: I do try to save calories from cardio days to eat back on rest days or strength training days. I burn estimate I burn 125 on my three strength training days and up to 400 on my three cardio days.

trina1049

5'2.5" and have lost 43 out of 50lbs over the last year and a half with MFP set at sedentary for 1200 - 1275 (current setting) calories. I'm 65 years old and went from 179lbs to currently 134lbs; US size 16 to 6/8 Petite, and now, finally, a normal BMI.

I eat back most of my exercise calories burning sometimes as little as 100 to as much as 600 exercise calories taking Body Pump (resistance training) 3 to 4xs per week plus 30 minutes of cardio (elliptical machine) after two or three of the classes.

Total exercise time is about 4 to 5 1/2 hours plus 8 to 12 miles of slow walking over each week. I use a heart rate monitor at the gym and a pedometer for walking to guesstimate my calorie burn. On gym days I eat all but 150 to 200 calories; on rest days I eat as close to 1275 as I can get, but never under 1200.

I've set my macros at 35% protein, 35% fat, and 30% carbs eating every 3 to 4 hours which keeps me from feeling hungry. I also limit my sodium intake to 1500mg per day for health reasons (doctor's orders) so hardly ever eat restaurant food. I weigh and measure as accurately as possible.

MFP has worked really well for me with these settings and exercise levels; I've always had a downward trend even though there's been weight fluctuations.

So MFP forever!

DeadsAndDoritos

I'm 5'2" and my goal is 1460 to lose 0.5 lbs per week. I eat back all of my exercise calories, measured by HRM. I aim to meet my goal averaged out over the week, so I can go over on Friday/Saturday as long as I was under on Tues/Wed for example. This works well for me as long as I stick to it.

PeachyPocket

Im 5ft 5 and weigh around 10 stone (140 pounds). My calorie intake is 1200 a day but sometimes I struggle to stick with that. Not because I eat over, but I eat under. Bran flakes or apple for breakfast, Caesar salad or porridge oats for lunch and then a normal meal in the evening. If you find you're usually hungry, try eating slower. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it takes some time for the signals in your stomach to tell your brain that you're full and you're usually left with that "Holy Cow, I have a food baby" feeling. Take a bite of your food, put your cutlery down and wait until your mouth is empty before you take grab your knife and fork again. Look at Paul McKenna - I can make you thin

It does work, I used to be 14 stone and a size 14 and now I'm a size 10 (UK)

charliehefferon

5'1" & 114lb.
Was eating 1900 - 2100 calories and maintaining weight.
I train 4 times a week for 45 mins - 1 hour (only weights, no cardio as such).

Currently on around 1700 to lose 0.5lb a week.

1200 is too few calories for anybody in my opinion...! I'd up your calories for a couple of weeks and see what difference it made (you'd probably find that you had more energy, so actually burned more cals anyways...)

bunbunzee44

stick to 1200, definitely don't go under it. It is slow on us shorties, especially if there isn't much to lose. I'm 5'3'' and 1470 cals seems to work for me the best. I eat some exercise calories back but usually not all.

blktngldhrt

I'm 26, 5'3", 155lbs and eat about 1280 calories a day, on average, when I don't exercise. When I do exercise, I eat at least 1200 plus half of my exercise calories. I have MFP set to 1480 but usually don't end up eating that much.

dutchandkiwi

We all are different but I do reconize the guilt if you are slightly over your goal. And the problem for me is that guilt is one of the stress factors that can make me grab lots of junk food, so needs to be avoided. So I ened up using MFP calories a little differently. But it works for me

I am 1.58m which is about 5 2 or 3
What I have done is set my target on maintenance at my goal weight (net 1750) and then eat less than that. As you loose weight your maintenance level slowly decreases as wel hence I know that this target is lower than my current maintenance leve. My own (not in MFP) goal is between 1000-1500 (net) per day That way I have a range in which I feel OK and which I know I will loose weight on.
It is not the fast method and based on losing xkg per week but to keep myself sane.
Most days my net will be around the 1200 mark with this.
Also I am in it for a long period (been logging over 400 days now) and hope that this way I can get into a soft landing when I do reach my maintenace goal. The best part is that I do not feel guilty on the days that I go over 1200 as long as the 1750 is not exceeded.

sarahrbraun

Serah87 wrote: »

44 years old and 5'2, I eat between 1800-2000 calories.


Just cause your short doesn't mean you need to do 1200 calories!! :grumble:

40 years old, 5'1"...I am currently losing on 2000 calories a day. I was maintaining on about 2400 a day. I am at the gym 60-90 minutes, 5x a week.

hh07

I'm 5 foot 1 inch and on a 1200 cal plan since Jan. I am exercising 5-6 times a week with a minimum burn of around 350 cal per session (sometimes more). I don't aim to eat back my exercise cals necessarily, but I don't stress if I am around 100 cals over my 1200 goal.

Going pretty well so far, lost 23.5lbs since 5 January this year.

My diary is open to friends, so feel free to add me if you want ideas of what 1200 looks like. One warning, I live in the UK and a fair bit of the pre-prepared food might not be available elsewhere.

dbmata

1200 calories, I just read that the government says that is an appropriate level of intake for a bed ridden 4-8 year old.

I found it to be surprising.