Rate of Weight Loss for Short People with less to lose?

fairfieldbeach

Hi MFP friends. Do you eat back most of your exercise calories? I do, and when I calculate my projected weight loss pursuant to the site, it estimates I will only lose 3.3 pounds in 5 weeks, or about .6 pounds each week. Anyway, I'm wondering if I should lower my calories, not eat back my exercise calories or give up on trying to lose 2 pounds a week because maybe that's unrealistic for me at 5'2" and 129 pounds or so. What do all of you think? Is a 2 pounds a week rate of weight loss unrealistic for short people who have 10-15 pounds to lose?

sleepytexan

yes. I always eat them back. the closer you are to goal, the slower it will be, my friend. Many people find they must change the weekly loss goal to 1/2 lb. or even to maintenance to drop the last 5 or so.

I've got 2 to go and it's slow, but I'm thrilled that I learned to eat more. I starved on 1200 cals for 15 mos and all that did was make me GAIN 15 lbs. crazy. Now I eat 1530-2800 depending on the amount of exercise, and I dropped 13 lbs. in 2 mos.

good luck.

blessings.

sleepytexan

check out this great thread from today:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/302589-eat-more-to-lose-more-explained

omid990

i would say its a lot harder to lose two pounds of weight since you have so little to lose.

the less you have to lose, the closer you should be to maintenance calories intake.

skyls

I know everyone says eat your exercise calories, but that did not work for me. I followed that for nearly 3 months and lost 0 lbs. Now I eat back only half of my exercise cals, putting me at around 1400 when I exercise and burn around 500. I have lost 1 lb a week since switching to this 3 weeks ago.

I think you should just play with it, and see what works for you. Maybe eat them all for 1 month and see how that works,then the next only eat half or whatever you want to try.

I am 5'2 and 147 right now. My goal is to be about 110 as my ultimate goal.

AI1108

I'm 5'3ish at about 133 lbs. I started at 1200 cals, and super excited to lose the extra lbs but my body was just like noo gooo.. I went up to 137 and then shot back down to 133 and ended up right where I started. I upped my cals to 1400 (1/2 lb a week) and have been seeing A LOT more difference.. not just in my body but also the way I feel. I have a lot more energy this way too which is great for working out (I do running & strength training) and adding more activity into my day. :-)

kimmerroze

Its unrealistic to have your goals set at 2 pounds per week when you have that little to lose... the .6 that you are losing is perfect. keep it up!

fairfieldbeach

Thanks, everyone! Your input really helps and is what makes this site great!