For people under 5'4"

fysty75

i ran across this on the weekend and found it quite enlightening as I am only 5'1"

For petites to lose weight, Karas recommends

- reduce calories to 1,100 a day for two days; on the third day, calories increase to 1,600. This is “calorie cycling,” as he calls it. “I’ve found that giving women the opportunity of a little treat along the way made their adherence to the regular days so much better.”

- Karas’s program calls for exercise, but only a bit more than 90 minutes a week,

- skip the cardio. “I’ve been the anti-cardio man for almost five years now. Totally and unequivocally, cardio just makes you hungry, and if you are a petite woman and you start eating like bigger women after you’ve done cardio, there is no place your weight is going to go but up.”

- Strength training is the way to go. And don’t forget to stand up and move around as much as possible. “Don’t think of this specifically as ‘exercise,’ but rather as daily movement that comes from cleaning the house, gardening, walking to the bus, shopping, cooking or standing while talking on the phone.”

- three grams of a fibre supplement 15 minutes before dinner each night.

- eat your biggest meal of the day at breakfast, or “front loading,” as he calls it, is another must. The 1,100-calorie-a-day allocation breaks down to a meagre 400 calories for breakfast, 300 calories for lunch and 300 calories for dinner (and a 100-calorie snack).

http://m.publishing.rogers.com/macleans/share/2011-51/12g_bak_petite.html

KayteeBear

Hah, I actual read that in Macleans recently. It said if petite women eat just 28 extra calories a day we'd gain so much in a decade or something.

fysty75

I just read that too! AMAZING!!!

WishfulShrinking331

Wow thats crazy!!

Lanna74

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing. I'm going to have to read it again for it to sink in.

Nic0522

Thanks for sharing! I am 5'1" and have had that experience with cardio - being unbelievably hungry and not losing weight.
Good info on the calorie cycling too. I'm going to try it.

Nicole

jennyjo79

Wow ... that's really interesting! I find the whole bit about the cardio especially interesting. Definitely something to keep in mind; thanks for sharing.

busterbluth

Somebody posted something similar the other day, and I call b.s. Me and every other female marathon runner under 5'4" who are low weight are living proof that cardio is just fine for the shorties (and necessary for heart health).

lilworros

Thank you for posting this. I'm going to go research this book now.

astroub

Yes thank you for sharing! At 5'2" I would definitely like to try some of the recommendations!

rjbrowne

Hmm, that is interesting. Might give it a try. I'm 5'1", 100lbs. I've lost all the weight I want, but I'm finding that pretty much any kind of cardio is making my legs bulk up. This is really not what I'm going for. I like the long/lean, but feel lazy just doing pilates all the time!

Jorra

If you eat less than your body burns, you will lose weight. If you do cardio exercises, your body is burning more than usual and therefore requires more food to fuel it. It's true that shorter women need less fuel, but not necessarily as low as 1100.

The size and frequency of meals also has no effect on weight loss. This has been proven multiple times. You can skip breakfast and eat a huge dinner right before bed and still lose weight. I wouldn't do it, but it's possible.

ajourney2far

That would explain why I went to a gym and did both weights and cardio 3-5 times a week for over a year and only lost 17 inches overall - NO weight! And I didn't eat excessively - just ate a little more than usual because I was hungrier. This was 30 lbs ago unfortunately.

vim_n_vigor

I am 5'4 and eat almost 1500 calories before exercise and lose about a pound a week if I stick to it. At 1200 calories I didn't lose at all.

SixCatFaerie

If you eat less than your body burns, you will lose weight. If you do cardio exercises, your body is burning more than usual and therefore requires more food to fuel it. It's true that shorter women need less fuel, but not necessarily as low as 1100.

The size and frequency of meals also has no effect on weight loss. This has been proven multiple times. You can skip breakfast and eat a huge dinner right before bed and still lose weight. I wouldn't do it, but it's possible.

^^^ This!

yogibella

I read this in The Post last week...very interesting indeed, although I wonder how much is proven?

He has a whole book on the subject:



The Petite Advantage: Achieve That Long, Lean Look -- and Eat the Right Foods to Feel Full Fast -- with the Specialized Diet for Women 5'4" and Under -- by Jim Karas
http://tinyurl.com/6vf2ygh

I wonder if it's worth a read? If anyone gets a hold of the book, let us know!

nikki91950

bump

SarahAbear

I'm 5'4 and I 'd go mad before I stick to a 1,100 calorie diet. 1,200 felt like starvation and I had no energy to work out. (I've since bumped up my calories)

Barneystinson

Having a combined barbell lift of over 450 pounds makes me hungry. The cardio, not so much unless we're talking an 8+ mile run, in which case I need to supplement with quick-digesting carbs.

For reference, I'm 5'0" and 8 lbs away from my ideal body weight. As I near that weight and increase my strength or increase my running levels, I need to eat MORE to lose and eat more to keep up with my training.

1100 calories...really? Yikes. I eat 1500-1600/day.

niicolemariies

this is really interesting. i'm 5'2 and lost 50lbs in 5 months doing 1200 cals a day. but i've been stuck in a rut since november. i've gained a couple pounds back but have gotten much more toned and a tiny bit smaller. i'm still looking to lose another 25-30lbs and many people have been telling me to cut the cardio and do more weight training, but increase my calories. i'll give this a shot though. anything to get me out of this stupid rut! haha

LolaGotThin

I'm five feet on the nose and I do cardio and am constantly hungry also (I try to fill up on little snacks like tomatoes and cheese)...but I'm steadily losing weight. Between 2 to 3 pounds week. OF COURSE...I am just starting. Another factor though is my body type. I have a muscular build underneath. My trainer constantly comments on how strong I am and how she can tell I have a lot of muscle beneath everything. I have powerful legs, I must be a long lost Kardashian because I have a huge butt (and it's not going anywhere), I USED to have a tiny little waist (it's coming back), and I'm a DD cup. Honestly...I have no idea what I'm supposed to weigh or how that affects the way I need to lose weight, especially when I read stuff like that!! It's interesting though...I might try it when I plateau.

olympicathlete

Don't agree with this. While shorter people don't have the advantage of eating as much as someone who is six foot, there is still no need to eat such silly low numbers of calories. I'm 5'3", eat 1400-2100 a day, dependant on exercise, and I'm losing weight just fine. Also, cardio makes you hungry because you're supposed to be eating back what you've burnt to minimise lean tissue loss! Maybe if all you want to lose is mass, but I want to lose pretty much only fat as far as possible. As long as you eat below your maintenance, you'll lose weight. It's pretty simple.

Yori1

Bump for later.

sawells94

totally worth the read.. I read the whole thing in just two days. It's totally interesting.

RedHeadDevotchka

Interestig take, but I find strength training is what makes me ravenous. At 5'3 1/2 I barely fit into this group though

christenafreda

Bump

jillathena

I'm 5'3 1/4" and am trying to find that magic number of calories that will keep my metabolism going and help me lose weight. I tend to eat less than my 1200 a day and have been at a standstill for about 2 weeks. I wonder if I'm not eating enough...

skylark94

5'4" here. No way in hell I could ever survive on 1,100 calories per day, even if I sat on my *kitten* all day.

What got me to where I am was 1800-2400 calorie per day and P90X (mix of lifts and cardio). What's keeping me here is 1600 on rest days and up to 2200 on active days. I do some bodyweight to maintain mass, but my primary form of exercise is hiking (cardio).

Too many people trying to get fancy in order to sell books. It's not nearly as complicated as they would like us to believe.

FitCurves444

ALL of this makes sense to me, but it makes me a little sad because I LOVE to speed walk/run. Although, I have noticed that the harder I workout, the more difficult it is to lose weight. In fact, I have gained weight during months that I have been most active running 100 to 120 miles that month.

Oh well... good to know. I will do something with this info. Thanks for sharing )

Joebob8

All deficits = weight loss. The issue is really with regard to what plan works best for a particular individual.

Nothing kills my appetite like cardio. A good run at the end of the day and I forget to eat dinner (almost, ha ha).

Strength training on the other hand makes me voracious!!!!! I do serious lifting three days a week and have to exercise quite a bit of self control on those days.

My sweet spot for fat loss is 1300-1500 daily (and I do mean fat loss---I gained 1/2 pound of muscle this month while eating at this deficit). I pretend I eat 1200 calories a day but I don't count things like oil, I don't have a food scale etc. so this helps give me some wiggle room. I'm right at the very end so I'm trying to be extra vigilant.

If I could just do a little bit of strength training and have the self control to eat 1,100 calories, and then go sit and watch tv instead of killing it on the treadmill that would be so cool....sigh