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

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..

But sedentary means you do nothing but sit at a desk all day. If you're doing that much walking you're lightly active at least. I'm lightly active and I'm a housewife. All I do is housework and painting (I'm an artist). When I figured up my true TDEE based on 10 weeks of logging it came out to a little higher than lightly active. Your TDEE might be higher than you think.

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)

You can eat 1200 calories and be hungry or eat 1200 calories and be satisfied throughout the day, the same goes for 1300 or 1500 calories or whatever. It has to do more with what you are eating.