Regimen for shorties w/less to lose?

jtandy6

Hi everyone,
I just started on MFP at the beginning of the month and I'm enjoying counting the calories and using the great community here. I'm really hoping to get advice from others who are in a similar place so I can learn what I'm doing right or wrong.

I'm female, 24 yrs old, about 5'1", and started at 135 lbs. My goal is to be back down to my old high school weight around 105-110.

I have been eating around 900 calories (my diary is public) and not feeling terribly hungry, but I know that you're not really supposed to go below 1200. I'm thinking about upping to around 1100, but I wanted to see what others are doing who have similar numbers and amount to lose. Also, am I kidding myself to think I can lose without lots of cardio and weights?


Thanks for your help and any critiques!!

Saffyra

I'm in the same spot you are. I've been reading all sorts of things about how hard it is to lose the vanity pounds.

I have 13 pounds left to lose. I'm 5'1".

When I started I found it was hard to eat more than 900 calories but I did manage to increase them by eating avocados, hummus, nuts and other calorie dense good foods. It took me nearly a month to get to 1200 calories. And I still lost plenty of weight. Now its a lot easier to get to 1200 because I make real food instead of depending on things like 100 calorie packs and masses of veggies to hit my numbers.
I *needed* to increase my calories because I was working out so much.

I think at the point you are at (down to the vanity pounds) you should add in some cardio and weights.

Here's what Jillian Michaels says about the last ten pounds:

1.Cut your sodium to 1,000 mg a day.
2.Drink at least 80 ounces of water daily.
3.Cut out processed foods.
4.Abstain from alcohol.
5.Train at 85 percent of your MHR (maximum heart rate) for 1 hour 5 times a week.

Heres a post I copied made by someone I respect:

Metabolically, at the stage you describe, you have to be careful. On one hand, you can't create as big a deficit. However, as your body fat drops so does the production of the hormone leptin which normally promotes high metabolic rate. The reduction in leptin creates a metabolic drag. Thus, if you create too big of a deficit (for example, by eating very little) you can stall further loss by further lowering your metabolism.

The best universal advice is to max your rate of loss out at 0.5 lbs. a week. This allows you to eat a few more calories (thus mitigating the metabolic drag from excessively low calories) while still maintaining a deficit. Loss will be slower but it will still proceed. If you eat at or above your BMR (it is universally a health risk to gross fewer calories a day than BMR at a normal weight...there are no real exceptions to this) you will still run a deficit with moderate exercise.

Keep in mind a lot of the calories used are for central nervous system function, and you don't want to starve the CNS. Allow 100 - 200 extra calories on days where you exercise vigorously (greater than 550 calories burned in a day from exercise) to keep your metabolism fueled. And if you find yourself chronically experiencing fatigue, headaches, or other neurological issues then you would definitely need to eat more...these are never good signs as they indicate an under-fueled CNS.

I did what this post said and I switched to .5lb loss a week. I also workout quite a bit-- at least 1700 calories of exercise a week.

Our situations are different in that I have rarely been under 128 in my adult life. And I have never been the weight I am trying to reach--114. Except, obviously, as I passed it growing up :P So I may have a rougher time than you getting there.

I hope something I said/posted might help you and I hope that we both get to where we want to be as soon as healthily possible!

jtandy6

Thanks, Saffyra! That is really really helpful to read and just hearing that you're in the same place is a boost.
Also, I guess I just need to suck it up and start hitting the gym.

Good luck!

tiedye

I eat under 1200 most days too, I am 5''1 and 99 lbs today (I'm maintaining). I swim for about an hour 4 days a week and I'm on my feet the other 3 days a week for 12 hours those days. I found the best things are cutting sodium, drinking tons of fluids, and frequently changing your workout routine.

Something interesting is also that I stopped eating breakfast, and instead I have an earlier lunch, dinner, then bedtime snacks with the calorie equivalent of a meal. Usually in the late evening I eat fruit, yogurt, hot vegetables (like frozen broccoli heated in the microwave with garlic and red pepper flakes), diet hot cocoa, popcorn 100 cal bags, etc, until I feel full. Changing my mealtimes helped me tone up and feel more energized if that makes any sense.

jtandy6

hi tiedye, that's really interesting about your meals. it sounds a lot like having your breakfast-type meal at night - something i actually did all the time before i got to college. any other tips about favorite foods or meals that you repeat a lot? also, since you suggested changing up workouts, what else did you try besides swimming?

thanks!

tiedye

Well I mostly swim...but I change up my pool workouts to sets of different strokes, sometimes I race the clock in shorter distances and other times I do more of a stamina/long distance workout. I wear my swimsuit under my workout clothes and do 15 minutes on the elliptical before my swim if I'm in the mood or want to have an indulgent meal later. I also do the "8 minute abs" video on youtube a few times a week but I don't like working out alone at home. At work I spend 12 hours walking on my feet so I don't workout those days but consider my job a bit of a workout.

My favorite food is beans and rice. It is easy and super cheap, and I get good recipes for both on allrecipes.com. I have a crock pot and make a lot of large quantities of stuff in that and then freeze serving sizes. It would have been great in college too but my roommates would have probably eaten a lot it haha. One of my most repeated meals is curry lentils that I make in the crock pot. It's sooooo low in calories and so I can eat cups of it and be full for a long time.

Here's the recipe: http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/slow-cooker-curried-lentil-soup/a218fb69-3128-425e-9d1e-817aefd96cf8

In terms of your workout plan, you'd definitely need to up your calories if you plan work workout. Even if it's only by a little bit. A cup of greek yogurt has a lot of protein for after a workout. If I'm not hungry after a workout I try to at least drink a cup of milk with carnation breakfast essentials sugar free powder.

Are you still in college or are you working now? I found that I was actually less sedentary after college, and had less temptation for salty sweet foods.

jtandy6

Thanks for the recipe! I'll definitely give it a try.
I graduated from college in 2009, so I have been in the work world for a while now. I think I may have been more active in college (so much walking everywhere!) but I lost a good amount of weight after I graduated. I recently put about 10 lbs on going through a stressful, busy 6 months though and now I'm trying to be more focused about losing those 10 lbs and a little more, too.