I'm 5'0" and eat 1500 calories. My story of weight loss.

llkilgore

Great post, but it sadly doesn't work for everyone... Fortunately, I'm in the maintenance stage, and am able to eat up to 1500 calories.

Chances are you'd lose just fine on 1500 calories if you were hauling around an extra 50 or 100 pounds, assuming you hadn't already compromised your metabolic rate by cannibalizing your muscle mass on too large a deficit. An overweight or obese individual can lose on a budget that will only allow them to maintain once they've slimmed down. That's one of the better arguments I know for NOT limiting yourself to 1200 calories when you're heavy enough for MFP and all the TDEE calculators to recommend much more. You'll have to recondition yourself to "eat normal" in a sustainable way sooner or later if you want to have any chance of keeping the weight off. The best time to do it is early in the process when both your calorie budget for weight loss and your level of enthusiasm are high.

quiltingmamma

I found your post very very interesting. I started this past Thursday and am finding that I am under calorie required but way over in the protein. I drink an Advocare shake for breakfast as I hate breakfast and by the time I eat a meat for lunch or supper I am over the protein they are allowing me. I can't eat any snacks that have protein as I would go way over in the area. I usually eat some nuts, cheese, cottage cheese. You said something about adjusting yours how do you do that? Thanks for any information you can give me.

Sharon (quiltingmamma)

Ely82010

I found your post very very interesting. I started this past Thursday and am finding that I am under calorie required but way over in the protein. I drink an Advocare shake for breakfast as I hate breakfast and by the time I eat a meat for lunch or supper I am over the protein they are allowing me. I can't eat any snacks that have protein as I would go way over in the area. I usually eat some nuts, cheese, cottage cheese. You said something about adjusting yours how do you do that? Thanks for any information you can give me.

Sharon (quiltingmamma)

No worries Sharon, going over the protein is a good thing since MFP sets the value very low. Protein helps you to feel fuller and also feeds your muscle; something that we lose when we get older.

You can manually change your macros to fit your needs. Good luck!

quiltingmamma

Thanks for the info...where do I go to reset my macros? I always thought for me protein was what I needed and needed to cut carbs. :flowerforyou:

Sul3i

Thanks for sharing!

Ely82010

Thanks for the info...where do I go to reset my macros? I always thought for me protein was what I needed and needed to cut carbs. :flowerforyou:

I am sending you a PM because I don't want to derail the original posting.

kaiti_t

This is such a great post - thank you! I'm 5'1 and work out about 6 days a week, a combo of cardio and weights. I only want to lose a few more pounds and MFP put me on 1200 calories which has me starving !
I only recently started to go 'over' my limit almost every day and have noticed how much better I felt. It's mentally hard to do I agree, but this post gave me the extra push to do it!

How does one bookmark a post?? I'm new here!

kaiti_t

Thanks for the info...where do I go to reset my macros? I always thought for me protein was what I needed and needed to cut carbs. :flowerforyou:

I am sending you a PM because I don't want to derail the original posting.

I don't know how to do this either:huh:

paulahunter3

I am 5"1 and when I started 15 days ago I was on 1200 calories but after working out the rate my body should be in 1400 I upped my calorie intake on myfitness pal to 1354 (Was the closest I could get it to)

So last week was my full week of eating the slightly higher calories and this week I have put a pound back on.

I stayed within my range and on Friday had a takeaway as in the past I have found that without having a treat I would never loose, so only had 1 treat in the week.

As this was only on Friday though and my weigh in was this morning I am going to weigh in tomorrow morning to see if it was maybe to soon after having this.

jlapey

I found your post very very interesting. I started this past Thursday and am finding that I am under calorie required but way over in the protein. I drink an Advocare shake for breakfast as I hate breakfast and by the time I eat a meat for lunch or supper I am over the protein they are allowing me. I can't eat any snacks that have protein as I would go way over in the area. I usually eat some nuts, cheese, cottage cheese. You said something about adjusting yours how do you do that? Thanks for any information you can give me.

Sharon (quiltingmamma)

This is a great group to join for more accurate information. But even if you don't join the group, EVERYONE should read the thread with the red pins. Very informative.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/forums/show/10067-eat-train-progress-

CLD79

bump

nfgchick79

Hi fellow MFP'ers,

Upon the new year I have noticed a lot of new people with a lot of questions. There's been a lot of the whole 1200 calorie argument thing. This post isn't a dig at anyone who eats a particular amount of calories. So with that being stated, try not to fight too much. I just wanted to share my experience briefly. I hope someone might benefit from it. But first my stats:

Stats:
Age: 33
Height: 5'0"
SW: 134
CW: 106
GW: I'm fine where I am. Pounds don't matter at this stage for me. Up 1 down 2 whatever. My clothes fit and I feel good.
Calorie intake: 1500 a day give or take, my diary is open (some weekends I skip logging, I skipped the holidays and I skipped when I had surgery in December).
Workouts: 3-5 days a week, cardio, yoga, and strength

I wanted to tell you what I did because as a very petite woman I've seen time and time again that short ladies should eat 1200 calories or even go lower than that, just because we are short. It's lately been kind of annoying me. Just to clarify, I did start at 1200 like most people did on here, blindly following MFP's numbers they gave me. I was also working out at least 7 hours a week. I started with not eating back exercise calories. I realized wow, I'm starving. So I started eating them back. Then my weight loss plateaued. I started doing "doubles" at the gym (i.e. back to back classes for hours, just killing myself). I didn't know what to do as I couldn't possibly eat less nor could I work out any more hours or I would most definitely hurt myself. I did a lot of research at this point. I looked into BMR, TDEE, Eat More to Weigh Less, etc. So I upped my calories. Slowly. I have to admit I was terrified to eat more. This is when I began to realize that maybe I was being too obsessive with my calorie counting. I let go of the reigns and eventually settled on 1500 calories a day (gross, not net).

And guess what? I lost more weight! I eased back on my crazy amounts of cardio/gym classes and started eating more food (whole foods, lots of protein) and adjusted my macros. It took me a year to end up here and I feel amazing. Some weeks I go without logging. I cut myself a break. I have a glass of wine. I want people to read this at the BEGINNING of their journeys so that maybe it will save someone the 6 months that I tortured myself. I was so hungry and so tired. Now I feel human and normal.

And if 1200 works for you then it works for you. I'm not judging or telling anyone what to do. I just really want people to know (and especially short people like myself) that you can eat food and to be gentle with yourself. It's not a race and this is a lifestyle, something sustainable for the long haul.

Good luck! (and be kind to each other and yourself)

Congratulations, you look great.

Since your diary is open I look at it and I noticed that you do eat around 1500 calories; however, your net most of the time is 1200 or below, since you don't always eat your exercise calories, unless you don’t log all your food all the time. That is the problem with many people: not clarifying if they eat certain amount of calories as net or as total.

I am also short (not even 5 feet), but I am small boned and being 14 lbs overweight (my max), was like carrying twice that weight. I am glad that eating more worked for you, but it is not the same for everybody. Some of us need to keep calories and macros under control. I actually got to my goal by eating around 1200 net and sometimes slightly below, which by the way is about the same amount that I am eating right now on maintenance. The only difference is that I don't worry if I go over my calories over the weekend when I don't work out.

We are all different and we just need to figure out what works best for each of us. Keep up the good work!

You're kind of right. Since I am maintaining and have a pretty good grasp as to what is in the food I eat, I do skip logging some days. For example this weekend, I had takeout on Friday and knew I went over. I try to average that in to what I log during the week. I'm more strict during my work week. Also my heart rate monitor is busted so my calories might be overestimated. I try to take that into account as well. Prior to doing what I was doing I was on 1200 a day and not eating back, or only eating back some and I was netting quite low amounts especially when I was doing 2 hours at the gym (many days a week). I actually tried eating around 1600-1800 based on the New Rules of Lifting for Women but it didn't work. I may bump up again at some point. I also scaled back because I had surgery and wasn't working out at all for about a month.

Edit: I wanted to add. When you do static calories, so 1500 every day think about that I am eating 1500 no matter what activity I do. So 1500 on days I do ZERO workouts. When you do that method you're not really supposed to eat back your exercise calories. Brain is foggy, it's Monday. When you only do 1200 a day, at least when I was, I felt starving on days I didn't work out. This way I get to eat the same amount every day and don't adjust for "workout" calories.

Ely82010

Thanks for the info...where do I go to reset my macros? I always thought for me protein was what I needed and needed to cut carbs. :flowerforyou:

I am sending you a PM because I don't want to derail the original posting.

I don't know how to do this either:huh:

I sent you a PM too; check your mail in box.:happy:

snowfox1

bump

Stacy121

Bump for later

zontuin

Thanks for your post! Awesome. Double bump

mil63

Well I am so glad to read this because I am very discouraged.I am 5 ft tall and (gulp) weight 167 lbs . I am 49 so I know my metabolism is slow. But only lost 1 pound and have been following for 3 weeks. I exercise 3 times week. I feel like it wont work for me!

JudyAngelman

Great post and great job losing weight.

Deekay8008

I'm 5 foot 2 and 199 pounds, I want to lose at least 50. I've lost 8 pounds in the last 4 weeks started off at 1200 then did a bit of reading and realised that the settings on MFP for 2 pounds a week loss we're sending me in the wrong direction with the 1200 limit. I spoke to the personal trainer i started seeing and he told me to change my percentages to 50 % carbs 25% fat and 25% protein.

I then started looking at TDEE (totally daily energy expended) and BMR (Metabolism rate) My calculations tell me (roughly) that I expend 2290 cals a day (that seems massive) and that's NOT on gym days. (I am weight training at least twice a week) I've read it's safe to cut that by 30% for those with a lot of weight to lose so that takes me to - 1603 cals. My BMR is 1665 and everything I have read suggests this is the amount I should make sure I eat on non gym days. So I've taken the plunge and gone from 1200 to 1400, as at least a step in the right direction, although I know it should be higher, I can't make that jump up just yet, it kinds scares me, ha ha!

So I'm going to try that for a bit and eat at least 1700 on gym days. (I usually burn at least 300 per workout. Hopefully I will still lose weight but at a slower and sustainable rate without starving myself. (1200 was hard!) Plus I want to keep all the muscle I am working on building with the weight lifting. I've spent so many years thinking that losing weight was about eating so very little. The last 2 weeks have truly been a lesson, and rather than obtaining a lot of conflicting information, I've actually found all the information is telling me the same thing - eat more calories. Obviously as I lose weight my TDEE and BMR will change too, so I'll probably review and adapt on a monthly basis. Learning all this stuff has nearly driven me mad, sitting here with my calculator, LOL!

At least I know that if the weight isn't coming off, it means I should try upping my calories as opposed to depriving myself further. I just wish everyone knew this before starting, I had no idea!!

coderedjulia

I'm 5'0 too and 156 lbs, I used to be 180! That was very scary for me, so I am working on getting to 110, but 105 also sounds good too.

MomiTia

Bump

AhlaWahda

While I think TDEE/BMR/etc. strategies are certainly valid, I think MFP unfairly gets a bad rap for the "low" calorie settings. If you are walking that much a day, I think MFP intends for you to either 1) not classify yourself as sedentary or 2) log that as exercise done for the day, for which you will "earn" more calories.

This x 1000.

2km walking in a day is nothing? I wouldn't consider anything less than 5km a walk. I walk probably at least 2km most days but I still count myself as sedentary. I don't live in the U.S though but I hear you drive your car a lot..

AhlaWahda

Thank you for posting your success story! I'm so happy I found all this information. I've already lost a huge amount of weight and now only have about 13 lbs I want to lose. Two weeks ago I started working out at least 5 days a week for 1 hour, a mix of cardio and strength training. I don't count calories but estimate I eat between 1100-1300 on most days. I'm 5'6" by the way so I couldn't really be classified as "petite". Anyways, nothing has happened in kgs or in cms so I felt really down and thought that maybe I didn't do enough. Like I should eat less or workout more. Now I do think I need to eat more. My BMR is 1440 and I would think I eat below that minus all the calories I burn throughout the day. Plus I walk everywhere which summons up to many kms a week.
Now I will eat a minimum of my BMR but try to aim for 1500kcal/day and see if this will kick-start my fatburning process. Still I'm deathly afraid to eat more and keep thinking I will immediately gain weight. I wonder where this fear comes from because I know it's not logical. I'll update on my progress. :-)

miracle4me

a lot of good advice thanks :flowerforyou:

lh1626

Bump

dee1923

Thank-you for your post!!

I'm 5'2 and 27 yrs old and started on the 1200 that lasted all of 3 days. I was starving, tired and cranky. I've lost weight in the past without tracking calories but this time its a bigger amount I need to lose as my lifestyle has changed (now have a desk job, last job I was on my feet most of the day).

I've gained 20 pounds in a year!! Doctor said I need to drop those now (who is more overweight than I am and told me to eat a soup or salad for dinner... that's a whole other topic...), especially since we are plannining on getting pregnant in the next year. Better get healthy now. In the past year I've really let me eating habits slide along with my exercise. My previous job was active, now I'm chained to my desk (in a job I love but is very mentally demanding) for 8ish hours a day.

I've upped it to 1500 but most days with my exercise I'm below 1500 when I realized I wasn't doing myself any favours by eating so low. My only problem is weight isn't coming off as fast as I would like (4 lbs in 5 weeks) and only a few inches over all, anyone else experience this? I'm working out 5-6 days a week for 45 to 60 mins (Jillian Michael's 30 day shred work out plus additional cardio and weight training). Doing JM's 30DS in the past would have me losing weight (2lbs a week or so) and inches were dropping fast. Work days I'm still hungry so cutting more calories isn't an option. Maybe I need eat more/ eat back my calories? I'm fine with even less calories on weekends and I usually work out more on weekends.

Wanting2BSkinny

Love this thread.....At 4'11" I realize that every extra pound shows.

nashsheri33

bump

mhixxie

I started off two days ago and I've been trying to find a suitable number of calories to eat. But I settled at 1500 my BMR is 1466 and tdee is about 1900. I hope 1500 is good for me.I am 5ft 5.thanks

Nicoladavo07

bump!