Am I doing this right?

glowish

I'm about 5'1" and petite in size. In my teen years I was a size 0-2 and at 22 I'm almost a size 6. I'm very new to this. I acknowledge that I'm not tremendously overweight and that I'm relatively healthy. I just want to shed a bit to fit my clothes again.

I weigh about 130 and MFP is saying my goal is 1200. I've been doing this for a couple weeks and I don't feel like I'm starving. I exercise a couple times a week and go over my calorie goal once a week or so.

I'm just wondering for my weight and height, is 1200 too little or just right?

(I rhymed.)

CDeguc

You are actually pretty close to what your body adequately needs:0) It really depends on what you're doing as a workout whether you need more or less, but I definitely wouldn't go any less than that. The easiest way to figure out calorie intake I learned from one of my workouts and you just take your "Weight X 10". So, if you upped your calories another 100 I would say you're perfectly fine! If you're looking to lose that last little amount, then nutrition is absolutely important, so just make sure that you're making your calories count!

glowish

Thanks so much! That was very helpful. :-)

cydonian

Oh my gosh, another tiny person! *high five*

I'm the same height and about 5 lbs. heavier than you and am also on 1,200. Some days, if I'm more active, I eat more like 1350 just to make sure I don't 'starve' my body as 1200 is the minimum for an average woman. I would say that 1,200 is okay if you are sedentary like I am (office job, sitting all day) but if you plan on working out, then definitely up it to 1350 or 1400 even. I will be increasing mine when I get back into my workout schedule. (Also, always eat back your exercise calories when staying at 1200... log everything you do physically as potential exercise.)

Out of curiosity, how much are you trying to lose?

glowish

Thank you for the advice. It's good to know I'm doing it right.

I have my goal at 10-15 pounds but I'm really just eyeing it. When I was 15 pounds lighter, I was too skinny. So I'm just going to wait until my clothes fit and I start to love my shape. Heck, I might shed 15 pounds and be more toned than I was to begin with.
I collect weight in my midsection and as long as that goes down, I'm happy.

cydonian

At 130 and 5'1, I would really urge you to do a body fat % test and consider your weight loss accordingly. 115-120 is quite thin, even for someone of our height. I aimed for that when I wanted to lose weight a while back, and couldn't get myself below 130. I did some body fat % calcs and found out that I'm at about 24% body fat, which is considered quite healthy for a curvier girl. Bringing myself down to 115 would have gotten me at well under the underweight limit, which is why I was struggling so hard to get under 130. 127-130 is actually an ideal weight for someone our height to have a healthy body fat %. Hope that helps (I say this because my sister in law is 125ish, and 5'3, and insisted that she lose 10-15 lbs. I told her she was crazy and would be underweight, she never believed me until a personal trainer told her that her body fat % was well over 30% and she needed to get THAT down, not her weight.)