Weight loss for petite women! Need some tips, please help!

Track your calories. Make sure you're eating in your range. Being 5'2" makes it really easy to over consume.

Exercise. Wear a HRM. Track your burn. Running 2-3 miles every other day doesn't seem like it would add up to much, maybe 15-25 minutes or 150-275 calories/day. Most people I've gotten advice from say to really lose weight, you need to exercise for 60 minutes a day. 30 minutes is recommended for maintaining a healthy life style. If you burn 500 calories a day (60 minutes moderate exercise) in one week you'd lose 1lb, which is 4.3 lbs/month which is a good, steady, safe, satisfying pace.

I'm 5'1", 105 lbs (give or take a couple pounds), just over 21% body fat. I am a very, very healthy eater, consuming roughly 2000 calories on most days (due to my activity level), and my regular exercise consists of: 30 minutes of morning yoga, runs (varying times and intensities, 3 days), and pilates and more yoga for cross-training. Last year I fell ill for several months unexpectedly, causing me to lose significant muscle mass and gain about 15-20 pounds of body fat from the medication. It was horrible, but I managed to lose most of the fat and am slowly regaining the muscle.

Being petite, you really, really need to mind what you eat. Everything seems to count that much more since you take in relatively fewer calories and burner relatively fewer as well. So diet is key. Pay attention to the pie chart breakdown that My Fitness Pal gives you on their mobile app, because you want to make sure you're also eating the proper ratio of fat-carbs-protein. Assuming you're very accurate with the calories in and calories out, just focus on drinking enough water, eating enough fiber and the right proportions of food, and aim for a daily caloric deficit of 500-1000, which would give you the desired 1-2 lbs/week weight loss.

And yes, it's VERY important to eat enough calories. I'm definitely not a proponent of eating 1200 calories, even for short periods, as I think it's vital to properly fuel the body to at least a minimum level; just be diligent, and the weight will eventually come off (albeit slightly slower than with a 1200-calorie starvation diet). When cutting, I suggest aiming for that desired 500-1000 calories/day (3500-7000/week), but ALWAYS staying at least 100 calories above the BMR calculators online. It's my personal belief that if your body would need X calories in a coma (i.e., BMR), it's a good idea to at least fuel it to that level! The weight loss might be slower, but it'll definitely be healthier! Final piece of advice: also pay attention to when you eat. Eat more, earlier in the day, and you will see how much more energy you have when you need it during the day versus uselessly at night when you would prefer to let your brain and body shut down for some rest anyway.

As for what exercise to do, anything that you enjoy? Morning yoga sets your metabolism on fire, but there's a world of options for cardio and strength training. Good luck!

HTH!