Shorties, help me understand

tat89iana
tat89iana Posts: 17 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Is being short a disadvantage to losing weight? Does it make it harder? I though it was hard for the majority of people, but what is it that makes shorter people different? What's your advise to me so that way I could be doing something better? I'm 5"1', my shape is inverted triangle, and high impact exercise causes pain in my hips and knees. I wear a body media fit band that shows me how many calories I burn a day. Also I do my best with my diet and take a medicine that helps with my compulsive ways and has helped me with my eating. On average I have been losing about a pound a week. Is it fat? I hope so! I'm not complaining. I just want to know more.

Replies

  • JSN66614
    JSN66614 Posts: 66
    If you really have lost 32lbs then YES IT'S FAT lol we can't have 32lbs of water just shedding. Otherwise I'm in the same position, loosing very slowly and very hard but it is working. I don't think necessarily it's just our height though, being women we have hormones that just love to screw up! When something ain't working right even for a day or week or month.........it just makes everything harder including loosing.

    Keep doing what you're doing and YOU WILL GET THERE!
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    It's not harder it's just that our BMR's are lower so you can eat less. It gets depressing seeing people eating 2000 calories when your BMR is 1100!
  • BarackMeLikeAHurricane
    BarackMeLikeAHurricane Posts: 3,400 Member
    It makes it difficult to lose the same number of pounds simply because you're smaller. One pound on someone that's 5' is going to show more than on someone that's 6'.
  • quirkytizzy
    quirkytizzy Posts: 4,052 Member
    As a shortie myself, (5'1" - barely), pounds are more noticeable on us. We simply have less of a frame for it to settle over, so it looks heavier on us than it might on other women. I don't know if it makes it harder, but in general, we do have smaller calorie needs - blessing and bane.

    Try low impact exercises - I do POP Pilates from Youtube. I do run some, but my body doesn't like that as much as it does the lower impact stuff.
  • ChristinaR720
    ChristinaR720 Posts: 1,186
    The disadvantage to being short is that every extra pound shows. Other than that, your weight loss efforts should include exercise and changing your eating habits, just like everyone else.
  • pineygirl
    pineygirl Posts: 322 Member
    I'd love to be able to lose 1 lb a week. I don't even think I can lose 0.5 lb a week.

    I'm 4'11.5" tall. It could be harder for petite women to lose weight, since our RMR's tend to be lower, so we burn less calories at rest than larger folks do. I find that dieting alone makes it very hard for me to lose weight, since even eating 1200 calories a day would only put me at about a 250 calorie/day deficit (0.5lb/week), and even then I wouldn't lose at that rate....probably slower if at all.

    But whatever you are doing it seems to be working. 1 lb a week is a healthy rate of weight loss. As you get closer to your goal it will probably slow down to about 0.5 lb/week. I started out only 11lbs from my goal, so it's going to take me about 6 months or more to get there.
  • zhvah18
    zhvah18 Posts: 158 Member
    I wouldn't say it's harder, but being short means having a lower BMR. I'm always running the numbers thinking someday it will miraculously jump from 1330 to 1530 :laugh:
  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
    I think it all depends on your activity - I'm 4ft 11, and I lost my first 25lbs eating 1600 calories.
  • zhvah18
    zhvah18 Posts: 158 Member
    I think it all depends on your activity - I'm 4ft 11, and I lost my first 25lbs eating 1600 calories.

    yes, but that would be including your exercise no?
    I have kept a spreadsheet for the past 13 months averaging out my daily/monthly calories and i average 1660 calories. BUT if a short person were able to have a higher BMR then after activity, they would be able to eat even more then say 1600.
  • jess6741
    jess6741 Posts: 107 Member
    I agree with the posters above. I'm 5'1 and every pound shows. I think the hard part is not being able to eat as much because our BMRs are lower. So if you're eating lunch with a taller friend you have to eat significantly less. My BMR is only 1280 so it's really hard to create a substantial deficit.
  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
    I think it all depends on your activity - I'm 4ft 11, and I lost my first 25lbs eating 1600 calories.

    yes, but that would be including your exercise no?
    I have kept a spreadsheet for the past 13 months averaging out my daily/monthly calories and i average 1660 calories. BUT if a short person were able to have a higher BMR then after activity, they would be able to eat even more then say 1600.

    Yes, that was based on Maintenance (TDEE) of 2000 less 20%
  • Sincere24
    Sincere24 Posts: 126 Member
    I agree with everyone, you've done a fantastic job so far. So it seems like you're doing everything right. But losing weight when smaller is a bit harder especially when we all have an appetite like those taller than us. But with hard work and a bit of persistence we can all attain our individual goals
  • tat89iana
    tat89iana Posts: 17 Member
    Thank you guys! All that makes total sense. So because I'm "smaller" I have eat according to how much my body really needs. I was thinking it had to do more with shorter muscles that were going to be different to train or something.
  • tat89iana
    tat89iana Posts: 17 Member
    If you really have lost 32lbs then YES IT'S FAT lol we can't have 32lbs of water just shedding. Otherwise I'm in the same position, loosing very slowly and very hard but it is working. I don't think necessarily it's just our height though, being women we have hormones that just love to screw up! When something ain't working right even for a day or week or month.........it just makes everything harder including loosing.

    Keep doing what you're doing and YOU WILL GET THERE!

    Aw, I wish! I've lost 18 pounds and have 32 more to go :) thank you for your encouragement though.
  • FlaxMilk
    FlaxMilk Posts: 3,452 Member
    I think it all depends on your activity - I'm 4ft 11, and I lost my first 25lbs eating 1600 calories.

    It definitely depends on activity, and it also depends on starting weight. You burn fewer calories at rest and with activity the lighter you get. If you took two people of the same height and activity levels, the person who weighs 200 lbs can eat more than the person who weighs 120 lbs.

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