5'3 and 125lb ladies. Any advice??

goodeater24

I'm 5'3' and lost 75 pounds, got down to 125 and kept it off for over 7 years - now I'm at 135. (I'm going on nine years without sugar or flour.) I look okay, but would like to get back to 125.
I did it by eating 3 meals a day, weighed everything I ate - and I still do. No snacks. No sugar or flour - ever. And, no days off. Ever. I never cheated. It wasn't difficult after I got the hang of it. I was a member of a 12 step support program and it really worked well. But alas, at year seven I started to get restless and felt a little deprived. I've loosened up a bit with the food, but some weight has crept up on me. That's why I'm here. I'm trying not to be so strict but I have to admit, because I am a binge eater, I do better when I follow a restrictive plan that limits my choices. By, the way, I rarely exercised during that seven years. Not that I recommend that.

alltacht

Im 5'3 but small framed I started at 146 and my goal is around 110. Im at 118lbs now after about 9 months. I didnt bother with the eating a minumum plus my excercise cals. I generally just walk about 5km per day fairly briskly and am also on my feet then for the day. I try new sports or group classes sometimes. I go for around a 5km jog once a week or every other week and I do planks when the ad breaks come on tv So i ate 1500 -1600cals per day as thats above my bmr and under my tdee. It was slow but its really off for good. I know now I could splurge and I wouldnt put a load back on because it was proper fat loss. I find it interesting how girls at 5'3 can have such a wide goal range. I was 110 before and that was perfect for me, fairly slim but not skinny.
Edit to say ditto on the protein, generally go for 100g a day and also high fibre stops me snacking on junk

LadyL2012

Bump. I am 5ft4 (just!) and would LOVE to be 125lbs.

I have lost 11lbs (161 - 150 in 9 weeks) by eating (I am ashamed to say) approx. 1050 a day and exercising 4 times a week out of naivety rather than intentionally eating so little. But surprise surprise i have stalled and am now upping my cals to net around 1200 - 1300 a day as I see people are still getting great results on this.

You are all such an inspiration and i learnt so much from being here.

mrsdarty

Bump

shmunster

I'm 5"3 and 127, started at 197. Been maintaining for 5 months

I netted between 1000-1400 most of the way through and generally always splurged at least one day on the weekend. I walked every weeknight and did the jillian michaels dvd's for a few months as well

My biggest advice is to log EVERYTHING, even if its embarrassing, and if you have a bad day pick up again the next day, dont think oh well Ive stuffed it now theres no point

fizzletto

I'm 5'3" and 129lbs, still losing so I'll be 125 soon hopefully. I'm determined to get down to 118-120. Started at 151.

I expect people are going to say I'm unhealthy for doing it etc etc, but I just netted 1,200 calories a day (sometimes slightly over, sometimes slightly under), every day. I know people say it's too low blah blah blah, but.. I mean... it's working for me!

WhitneyAnnabelle

I'm about 5'2'', and I'm around 104 pounds (I know that sounds really, really thin, but I'm really not--and yes, I do have muscle). I lost most of my weight along the way through TONS of cardio and a moderate amount of scatterbrained lifting. Now that I'm thinner, I concentrate more on resistance exercises (plus I'm an archaeologist so I do a lot of manual-type labor). When I'm in the field, I try to net at least 1500 calories. When I'm not, it's more like 1200-1300. A lot of people think that's too low, I'm sure, but when you're short and have a small frame, you don't necessarily need a tremendous amount of calories--especially for me right now, since I'm not doing a whole lot for activity due to health issues. If I were more active like I used to be, I'd be taking in a lot more.

SueGlazier

I am 5'3". I was 140lb around 4 weeks ago. I am currently at 133 and aiming for around 125 myself (but would not complain if it was a little less like 119 which would be my minimum). When I started on MFP I did not eat back my exercise calories as I did not realise I was supposed to. The Weight was very very slow to move at that time. Then after reading many many posts in this forum I realised that in order to lose I HAD to eat that back otherwise I was netting only around 600-700 cals on a very busy work day (I am a private houese cleaner cleaning 2 houses some days). Obviously this caused my body to go into whats called "starvation mode" where it stores everything it can as it feels like its not getting fed enough. Thats why the weight was not going. Now I might eat around 1600-1800 calories per day but on busy work days I am burning 400-600 of those back off so am trying to keep it around net 1200 cals per day and it seams to be dropping nice a steady now (about 2lb week). I think its just as important not to undereat as it is to not overeat. Just do what seems to work for you. It may take a few days or a week or so for you to notice what calorific intake is getting the best results for you. It took me two and a half to 3 weeks to get mine right.

jamifaith

ladies, I am 5'3 and even though I've been lighter in the past I'm currently ridiculously stalled at about 139lbs. After doing a bunch of digging on MFP today I decided to up my calories to 1500 (I was eating between 1200-1300) and see if that helps, but i noticed that a lot of you ladies mentioned that you were eating a lot of protein. 100g of protein seems like a lot to me, did you get all this protein from food or did you drink protein shakes?
And if it all came from food, are there some key protein foods that im missing, other than nuts. ill eat it in butter form (peanut butter, almond butter, etc) but I detest handfuls of peanuts, almonds, cashews...bleh! :P

BluthLover

Thank you so much!!!

BluthLover

i'm 5'2 110, started at 5'2 135, I lost the first 10 pounds by going vegan, another 5 pounds by walking daily and the last 10 by counting calories and going to the gym. at first i wasnt counting calories at all but i was eating small snacks constantly (grapes, nuts, carrots, cherry tomatoes etc) with 3 decent sized meals spaced out. when the weight loss started to stop. i started eating 1350 (my BMR) or 1500 on workout days, getting in atleast 20 minutes of cardio 3 times a week

hope this helps ! add me if youre looking for friendly support

Is this net or total calories?

uwdawg07

Everyone is so different, so you have to play around and find what works for you.

I'm 5'3 and 121 pounds right now. I started at 213. My goal is 110-115 pounds.

Currently I eat around 1200-1300 calories a day. When I started losing weight I ate around 1700 calories a day, and just decreased it as I went down in weight. If I felt like I was starving, I'd up it a bit. I think I stayed around 1400-1500 for most of the weight loss.

Throughout all the weight loss I exercised 6 days a week, starting with 30 minutes, going to 45 and now I'm at 2 hours.

Find what works for you. Good luck!!

BluthLover

Everyone is so different, so you have to play around and find what works for you.

I'm 5'3 and 121 pounds right now. I started at 213. My goal is 110-115 pounds.

Currently I eat around 1200-1300 calories a day. When I started losing weight I ate around 1700 calories a day, and just decreased it as I went down in weight. If I felt like I was starving, I'd up it a bit. I think I stayed around 1400-1500 for most of the weight loss.

Throughout all the weight loss I exercised 6 days a week, starting with 30 minutes, going to 45 and now I'm at 2 hours.

Find what works for you. Good luck!!

Is that your net or total calories? Thanks so much!!

BluthLover

ladies, I am 5'3 and even though I've been lighter in the past I'm currently ridiculously stalled at about 139lbs. After doing a bunch of digging on MFP today I decided to up my calories to 1500 (I was eating between 1200-1300) and see if that helps, but i noticed that a lot of you ladies mentioned that you were eating a lot of protein. 100g of protein seems like a lot to me, did you get all this protein from food or did you drink protein shakes?
And if it all came from food, are there some key protein foods that im missing, other than nuts. ill eat it in butter form (peanut butter, almond butter, etc) but I detest handfuls of peanuts, almonds, cashews...bleh! :P

I'm in the exact same boat. Stalled around 135. I upped my calories and have gained but am sticking with it for now.

opuntia

My stats aren't exactly the same as yours, but I've gone from 140 lb to 120 lb in the past few months. I wasn't even really initially trying to lose weight - I knew I wasn't at the weight where I feel my best and healthiest, but my weight wasn't a big priority for me. However, I really wanted to become stronger, as my job is quite a physical one, and I was getting tired. So I started doing strength exercises. Nothing big - just kettlebell swings, squats, planks, half push ups, but I did them regularly every day. And I found in a week or two, I was starting to feel different - stronger, more aware of my body. And my arms and legs and tummy became more toned. It's weird - I'd always walked several miles a day, and gone swimming three times a week, but it hadn't had this effect. And feeling stronger made me want to work out more, so I started going to the gym (again, I didn't do big workouts - about ten to twenty minutes - but it made a difference). And somehow feeling strong and feeling more aware of my body made me more aware of what I was eating - I stopped mindless eating, and was more aware of when I'd eaten enough and stopping at that point. And in the past couple of weeks I've been doing the 30-day shred, and that has also contributed to the weight loss.

To me, though, it's not so much about the number on the scale but about how I feel. I believe that if I listen to my body and look after it and maintain a healthy, active lifestyle, my body will adjust to its optimum weight. I have no idea what that weight is - I may stay at this weight, I may lose a little bit more, or I may gain as I do more strength exercises - and I'm happy for any of those to happen if it puts me at my optimum health and wellbeing. It's a bit of a journey into the unknown, where I learn as I go along.

uwdawg07

Everyone is so different, so you have to play around and find what works for you.

I'm 5'3 and 121 pounds right now. I started at 213. My goal is 110-115 pounds.

Currently I eat around 1200-1300 calories a day. When I started losing weight I ate around 1700 calories a day, and just decreased it as I went down in weight. If I felt like I was starving, I'd up it a bit. I think I stayed around 1400-1500 for most of the weight loss.

Throughout all the weight loss I exercised 6 days a week, starting with 30 minutes, going to 45 and now I'm at 2 hours.

Find what works for you. Good luck!!

Is that your net or total calories? Thanks so much!!

Total calories. I'm in the 1200 club...I've noticed a lot of people around here are against that, but it's been working for me. I am in a bit of a plateau right now, but I think it's just because I'm at a healthy weight and it gets harder to lose when you are at a good weight and you cannot create as much of a calorie deficit with food.

Oh, and I do take one cheat day a week to go out to a restaurant and indulge. I do eat light in calories before heading out to dinner so I can eat a lot


And I should say, I was losing 2 pounds a week up until I hit about 125 pounds.

BluthLover

Everyone is so different, so you have to play around and find what works for you.

I'm 5'3 and 121 pounds right now. I started at 213. My goal is 110-115 pounds.

Currently I eat around 1200-1300 calories a day. When I started losing weight I ate around 1700 calories a day, and just decreased it as I went down in weight. If I felt like I was starving, I'd up it a bit. I think I stayed around 1400-1500 for most of the weight loss.

Throughout all the weight loss I exercised 6 days a week, starting with 30 minutes, going to 45 and now I'm at 2 hours.

Find what works for you. Good luck!!

Is that your net or total calories? Thanks so much!!

Total calories. I'm in the 1200 club...I've noticed a lot of people around here are against that, but it's been working for me. I am in a bit of a plateau right now, but I think it's just because I'm at a healthy weight and it gets harder to lose when you are at a good weight and you cannot create as much of a calorie deficit with food.

Oh, and I do take one cheat day a week to go out to a restaurant and indulge. I do eat light in calories before heading out to dinner so I can eat a lot


And I should say, I was losing 2 pounds a week up until I hit about 125 pounds.

I think everyones body is different and you should do whatever works for you!! Thanks for all your input. I def don't think one way is "right" and another way is "wrong". So i appreciate any advice.

BluthLover

My stats aren't exactly the same as yours, but I've gone from 140 lb to 120 lb in the past few months. I wasn't even really initially trying to lose weight - I knew I wasn't at the weight where I feel my best and healthiest, but my weight wasn't a big priority for me. However, I really wanted to become stronger, as my job is quite a physical one, and I was getting tired. So I started doing strength exercises. Nothing big - just kettlebell swings, squats, planks, half push ups, but I did them regularly every day. And I found in a week or two, I was starting to feel different - stronger, more aware of my body. And my arms and legs and tummy became more toned. It's weird - I'd always walked several miles a day, and gone swimming three times a week, but it hadn't had this effect. And feeling stronger made me want to work out more, so I started going to the gym (again, I didn't do big workouts - about ten to twenty minutes - but it made a difference). And somehow feeling strong and feeling more aware of my body made me more aware of what I was eating - I stopped mindless eating, and was more aware of when I'd eaten enough and stopping at that point. And in the past couple of weeks I've been doing the 30-day shred, and that has also contributed to the weight loss.

To me, though, it's not so much about the number on the scale but about how I feel. I believe that if I listen to my body and look after it and maintain a healthy, active lifestyle, my body will adjust to its optimum weight. I have no idea what that weight is - I may stay at this weight, I may lose a little bit more, or I may gain as I do more strength exercises - and I'm happy for any of those to happen if it puts me at my optimum health and wellbeing. It's a bit of a journey into the unknown, where I learn as I go along.

Do you track calories?

SweetiePieHolly

saving for later...

opuntia

My stats aren't exactly the same as yours, but I've gone from 140 lb to 120 lb in the past few months. I wasn't even really initially trying to lose weight - I knew I wasn't at the weight where I feel my best and healthiest, but my weight wasn't a big priority for me. However, I really wanted to become stronger, as my job is quite a physical one, and I was getting tired. So I started doing strength exercises. Nothing big - just kettlebell swings, squats, planks, half push ups, but I did them regularly every day. And I found in a week or two, I was starting to feel different - stronger, more aware of my body. And my arms and legs and tummy became more toned. It's weird - I'd always walked several miles a day, and gone swimming three times a week, but it hadn't had this effect. And feeling stronger made me want to work out more, so I started going to the gym (again, I didn't do big workouts - about ten to twenty minutes - but it made a difference). And somehow feeling strong and feeling more aware of my body made me more aware of what I was eating - I stopped mindless eating, and was more aware of when I'd eaten enough and stopping at that point. And in the past couple of weeks I've been doing the 30-day shred, and that has also contributed to the weight loss.

To me, though, it's not so much about the number on the scale but about how I feel. I believe that if I listen to my body and look after it and maintain a healthy, active lifestyle, my body will adjust to its optimum weight. I have no idea what that weight is - I may stay at this weight, I may lose a little bit more, or I may gain as I do more strength exercises - and I'm happy for any of those to happen if it puts me at my optimum health and wellbeing. It's a bit of a journey into the unknown, where I learn as I go along.

Do you track calories?

Not really. I have started using the food diary here and it informs me of my calories, but I don't plan how many calories to eat, and I am not thinking about calories or counting when I'm making meals and eating. And I am not bothered if I go under or over the calorie goal MFP has assigned to me. Some days I feel like eating more and other days I feel like eating less, and I've learnt it's better to listen to what my body wants. I find it quite annoying to be either given a red minus number or to be warned that I'm in danger of starvation mode! But I find the food diary useful as a way of keeping a record of what I've eaten. I probably won't keep it up though - I find it much more helpful to keep records by taking photos of all my meals and posting them on a Tumblr blog. That is a lot more meaningful to me than numbers, and it makes me a lot more mindful of the type of food I'm eating. My mind just doesn't associate food with numbers - it feels very unnatural to me. I love eating - it's a rich, sensory experience for me. I also love numbers - I take maths courses for fun. But eating and numbers just don't go together for me.