Ladies 5'3 or under! How much do you eat???

I'm 5'2", 27, and currently 148ish pounds. I currently am eating 1600 net, and I'm only doing extra exercise about every second day. I'm moderately active (I work in childcare, and I'm a bus/walk person). Eating 1200, 1300 (and less when I was suffering with an ED) my weight stays the same. Changing it up to 1600 (roughly my TDEE-20%) has actually led to me loosing 5lbs rather quickly (I expect it to level off), whereas I haven't managed to loose anything in the past year and actually just gained.

I have been looking into this with my wife who is 5' tall, when we tried to use national averages which equated to 1200 calories it did not work to any real extent. We then calculated calories, protein requirements and mildly adjusted the MFP target and to no surprise to us she has lost 9 lb in the last 3 weeks.
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I really hope you ladies can help me because I can't get any help on the board. I am a little over 5'4" and I am 130 pounds. I lost about five pounds using TDEE -20% and got down to 128. My TDEE is 1675 and I lost the weight eating about 1600 calories. The past three weeks though I have gained two pounds eating the same amount and running the same amount and it's been really upsetting. My clothes are even slightly tighter . It's not my TOM and I truly am being very honest with logging. I am extremely OCD so I record everything! I have kept my sodium down and I drink about 100 ounces of water a day so it shouldn't be water retention. I started eating better several months ago when I was 143 (that was eating 1200 calories a day but I stalled at 135) so it shouldn't be anything medical. I'm just getting really frustrated at doing everything right and gaining. I'm so tempted to net my BMR everyday but I know that's probably not too smart. I honestly want to cry because my clothes were fitting better and now they aren't. I would love to get some advice. I raised my calories two days ago to 1700 to make it TDEE -15% and I gained 1/2 a pound. Grrrr! I really would love to get some opinions about this. Thank you so much!

It definitely depends on a lot of other things than size.

I lift heavy 6 days a week (my goal is muscle growth) with a 5km walk everyday. Plus one or two intense cardio sessions a week.
I weigh 110lbs (50kg) and I'm 5'2. I eat around 1800 calories a day.

I'm 5'2 and I have found that eating between 1000 to 1200 cals a day really works for me. But I have found that the fat intake affects me more than the calories. I think that it really depends on the person. Just experiment with it and use the calorie counter here and track your intake and see where you lose. That's what I do.

Well, I'm 5'2", but being short(er) doesn't mean you're small. I weigh 202lbs. I eat 2100 a day, that's with a 20% deficit. It works for me.

I am 5.2' and was eating 1200 (eating back exercise calories) for a while, and lost 12 pounds. Needless to say I gained them all back.

Now, I eat 1900 for maintenance, and I eat 1600-1800 for weight loss. I exercise 3 times/week for about 45 min, but I have a job that allows me to easily make 10000 steps/day.

With your height and built and activity level I would recommend do eat more, just so that you learn how to avoid putting all the weight back once you stop "dieting". That was my mistake.

Have any of you smaller women lost weight eating over 1200 calories a day, I keep reading everywhere that if you are smaller its harder to lose weight and I'm getting nervous eating at 1300 won't get me where I want to be by November. I am 5'2 and I want to be 110, I am 122 right now.

You look great at 122. How much of that is muscle?
You need to eat a minimum of 1200 unless you have done one of those tests that say your BMR is like 1,000.
It is a slow loss unless you exercise a lot. I was eating beck around half of my exercise calories when i was eating 1200 a day.
I'm eating at maintnance now. I don't want to lose too much more.

Bump

4'11"

my TDEE is 1750 calories and I cut about 2000 calories a week

I'm almost 5'3, 149lbs, and breastfeeding. I can only lose with 1500-2000 cal, depending on activity level that day and how often my son nurses. I plateaued for a season when I was sticking to my MFP number, but when I started looking at it as a minimum, my weight started going down again. That and making sure I was only eating whole foods and eating plenty of protein and meeting my nutritional needs (taking vitamins). I don't log my foods here anymore now that I've figured out what works for me (I'm a student with 4 kids, no time).

I'm not a huge fan of weight loss for birthdays or weddings. I'm more of a fan of learning how to live and eat healthy. Birthday diets aren't going to stick and are usually fueled by vanity.

Hi :-)

I am 5' 3" and current at 128. I started out at 1,200 calories like many others too...but as I started to exercise more and build more muscle I needed more fuel. I have my goal set for 1,500 - but some days I do go over that. I try to come in at 300- 500 calorie deficit daily...so it all depends on activity. On days I run 5 miles and lift I of course eat more than on days I sit around the house and do nothing. Find a balance - but don't look at 1,200 calories like a magic number. It is different for everyone.
Good Luck!

bump

This is all very interesting to me to see how different everyone is. I'm 5'2 and started at 153. I got down to 135 on 1400 calories but then hit a plateau. I took a few months and now trying to back on it. I'm at 139 now on 1400 calories. Hopefully I can lose some weight. I would like to be at 130 by the end of the year. My next goal would be 120 by summertime.
Any feedback is appreciated! Thanks!

I'm 5'2" n i weigh 143lbs. And as of now i just have 1200 calories or less sumtyms because i dont exercise much. Once i increase the workout time i will increase the calories too