Devil's advocate: 1200 calories for petite/short women?

NZhellkat

It's interesting to hear this on countless "1200 calories" vs. "eat more to lose weight" discussions... people often say, "unless you're a dwarf" or "unless you're 4'8" " you really need at least 1200 calories a day. Well guess what? I happen to know that there are quite a few "dwarfs" :-) and petite women posting on MFP, me being one of them! (No offense taken to the "dwarf" comment, we're all just fun sized!) :-)

This isn't really a question for calorie advice for me personally, but for all smaller ladies out there. Do smaller women really need more than 1200 calories? Surely if you're less than 5' and pretty sedentary, you won't need as much as a 5'7" woman, right?



******FYI, I'm 4'10" 105 lbs. and my mantra is that women in general should eat more and be more active. I personally can not live off of 1200 calories a day. I am waaaay too active (am a long distance runner) and love food and exercise way too much, but I realize not all women are training for marathons like I am.

Thus, I welcome the different opinions, what do y'all think??

I hear what you're saying and I agree. Now lets throw something else into the mix. I'm half Polynesian so I have heavier bones and a lot of twitch muscle. So I know that I need to consume more calories than the average 5'3" woman. MFP just dropped my daily calories from 1330 to 1230 due to weight loss. The only time I am near that is when I'm sick otherwise I eat around 2000 - 2200 depending on how much training I'm doing.

love4fitnesslove4food_wechange

It's interesting to hear this on countless "1200 calories" vs. "eat more to lose weight" discussions... people often say, "unless you're a dwarf" or "unless you're 4'8" " you really need at least 1200 calories a day. Well guess what? I happen to know that there are quite a few "dwarfs" :-) and petite women posting on MFP, me being one of them! (No offense taken to the "dwarf" comment, we're all just fun sized!) :-)

This isn't really a question for calorie advice for me personally, but for all smaller ladies out there. Do smaller women really need more than 1200 calories? Surely if you're less than 5' and pretty sedentary, you won't need as much as a 5'7" woman, right?



******FYI, I'm 4'10" 105 lbs. and my mantra is that women in general should eat more and be more active. I personally can not live off of 1200 calories a day. I am waaaay too active (am a long distance runner) and love food and exercise way too much, but I realize not all women are training for marathons like I am.

Thus, I welcome the different opinions, what do y'all think??

I hear what you're saying and I agree. Now lets throw something else into the mix. I'm half Polynesian so I have heavier bones and a lot of twitch muscle. So I know that I need to consume more calories than the average 5'3" woman. MFP just dropped my daily calories from 1330 to 1230 due to weight loss. The only time I am near that is when I'm sick otherwise I eat around 2000 - 2200 depending on how much training I'm doing.

I have a similar thing--my curly hair actually attracts more water I think. also it's really long so the effect is magnified--i have to eat Way more calories than someone my height.

alexis831

I am 5'1 and 108 pounds today. I tried the whole eat more thing for a bit and if I eat around 1000-1200 calories a day with an off day on Sunday I have the best results. Just works better for me.

small_ninja

.

stylishgirl

I'm now really confused. I'm not petite at all, nor average weight. I'm 5'8" and weigh 249 pounds, but have a sedentary home-based job (so no commute). according to MFP, my daily goal is 1290 calories. so not quite the 1200 the OP mentioned but pretty close, except i weigh a over 100 pounds more. Am I calculating something wrong?

jodileerunning

I weigh 105. I'd be happy w 100, so I don't have much to lose. I'm not in a big rush to lose it; I'd just like to think it will eventually start to come off (like before marathon training in October). And honeslty, though I know you're probably right, I'd rather carry the weight than lose the cheat day :-(

coliema

I'm 5'2'' and I'm surviving off 1200 calories, it's working for me!

juicy_cat

Hi - I'm 5 foot 1 and weigh 153 - hoping to get to 136 (which is still too high but I feel great at that weight)

1200 is a struggle for me so I am having to do some excercise everyday in order to have some treats at weekend...it's going ok so far but it's a struggle....

x

mollyvon

bump

mockchoc

Bumping to join in later.

goodisnotgoodenough

I didn't read through the posts so who know if someone already recommended this, but at Barnes and Noble I saw a books that was titled something like "The Petite Diet" all for shorter women

Whitezombiegirl

I have that book- its good. I don't like the 'diet' bit as its not to my taste but its really interesting. I followed the calculations and based on my height etc it seems that 1500 would be maintenence cals for me- 1000 cals or lower is what shifts the weight for me- if I eat much more I won't lose. i don't have a problem with that level- I don't eat too many calorie dense foods anyway

FlaxMilk

I'm now really confused. I'm not petite at all, nor average weight. I'm 5'8" and weigh 249 pounds, but have a sedentary home-based job (so no commute). according to MFP, my daily goal is 1290 calories. so not quite the 1200 the OP mentioned but pretty close, except i weigh a over 100 pounds more. Am I calculating something wrong?

What is your goal set to--1 lb or 2 lbs? They are going to calculate around a 500 calorie deficit from what they calculate your TDEE to be, and a 1000 calorie deficit for 2 lbs.

stylishgirl

my goal is set to 2 pounds a week since i have so much to lose. what boggles my mind is that it would calculate very close to the same calories for someone half my size.

part of my problem is that i have a hard time staying under 1300 calories and feeling full. when i workout and am then allowed more calories its better, but when you work 10 hour days (as i do most days) its hard to do that. (I know that's not a good excuse.)

pukekolive

To Greeneyes191, eating a good choice of snack (nuts, lean meat such as chicken, protein snack or shake) between meals so that you never go more than 3 hours during the day without eating, seems to work for me.

This seems to be generally advised for weight loss, particularly if the person is working out a lot as well.

BSchoberg

I'm 5'4" & 47... and I've discovered something a little crazy about myself. I am way less hungry on heavy workout days - and have sometimes had trouble eating back my exercise calories to hit a net of 1200. On "rest" days, I'm starving. All day. I know I need the rest - my body tells me I do - so I've stopped worrying about daily totals and have started looking more at a weekly average.

Seems to be working all right - I'm down 14 lbs in about 2 months and I've actually seen the pace of weight loss increase when I don't worry about eating "too much" on my rest days. Feel better too! A LOT more energy, better mood, better sleep.

MB_Positif

I am 5'2 and lost most of my weight eating 1400 to 1500 calories per day plus any additional exercise calories. I tried 1200 for a month or so (plus exercise cals) and I felt cranky, stupid and hungry all of the time. Those couple of extra snacks or slightly larger meals made the difference for me!

butterfli7o

I'm 5'3 and 1,200 cals just doesn't cut it for me. Sure, I'll "survive" but I don't want to just survive, I want to be happy and not deprived. I want something I can stay with in the long run. So for now I'm trying 1,600 cals, and I don't eat exercise cals back. Going to see how this works for a month.

Silverkittycat

It's interesting to hear this on countless "1200 calories" vs. "eat more to lose weight" discussions... people often say, "unless you're a dwarf" or "unless you're 4'8" " you really need at least 1200 calories a day. Well guess what? I happen to know that there are quite a few "dwarfs" :-) and petite women posting on MFP, me being one of them! (No offense taken to the "dwarf" comment, we're all just fun sized!) :-)

This isn't really a question for calorie advice for me personally, but for all smaller ladies out there. Do smaller women really need more than 1200 calories? Surely if you're less than 5' and pretty sedentary, you won't need as much as a 5'7" woman, right?



******FYI, I'm 4'10" 105 lbs. and my mantra is that women in general should eat more and be more active. I personally can not live off of 1200 calories a day. I am waaaay too active (am a long distance runner) and love food and exercise way too much, but I realize not all women are training for marathons like I am.

Thus, I welcome the different opinions, what do y'all think??

opinion on what? Do smaller women need more than 1200 calories to be healthy? Barely 5'2" and I need more, I can't get the nutrition I need or want at that amount. I'm not here to lose weight but yes, I need more. If I micromanage my diet I still can't go under 1600 calories or so.

drzawada

Bump for later