1 year on MFP 2 pounds lost!

I'm 5'2", started at 140 lbs, I'm at 115 now for over 2 years. I got here by eating 1200, not eating back exercise and doing a lot of cardio. Nothing else worked. I made sure those were 1200 calories of nutrition, not carbs and sugar.

work harder

I'm also (almost) 5'2" and lost quickly by eating at BMR plus exercise. That's not a lot of food unless you do cardio. Weight lifting is also important so you get some muscles under the fat, or else you'll end up skinny-fat like I did.

1. Calculate your TDEE using one of the many online calculators (I used iifym.com)
2. Take TDEE - 10-20%
3. Eat that many calories
4. Do not back eat exercise calories using this method (weekly activity is already taken into consideration)

Maybe 1200 was too little calories for you, and maybe 1500 is too many with your activity level. Or maybe you actually need to eat more! I started at the MFP recommended 1200 but was really miserable, so I switched to the TDEE method - I've been eating between 1400 and 1700 cals/day with workouts at least 3 times a week since I switched to the TDEE method in early August, and I'm almost at my goal.

Also, focusing on inches rather than pounds may be a better method. Have you measured yourself at all?

Crossfit !!! :bigsmile:

I'm 5'2", started at 140 lbs, I'm at 115 now for over 2 years. I got here by eating 1200, not eating back exercise and doing a lot of cardio. Nothing else worked. I made sure those were 1200 calories of nutrition, not carbs and sugar.

Yes!!! I'm 5'1" and got down to 108 eating...ahem...a little less than that. Yes to lots of cardio, some weights, yoga, and healthy food choices! (I gained some back being lazy and apathetic, but I'm working on it...)

work harder

AMEN!!!

Just looking through your diary and there are a few issues.

1) Way too much sodium - lots of crackers.

2) Where are the fruit and vegetables? - I would feel awful if I ate as little as you do.

3) A can of pepsi is not a meal and what nutritional benefits doe sit give you.

4) You can still have things such as bacon but why fry it - less fat and calories if you grill it.

I dont think your issues are with the calories but how you are using them.

Could you possibly be any more unhelpful? Honestly. The answer to something like this is most likely a hell of a lot more complex than simply "work harder."

I would love some pointers from successful people on here! I am 5'2" currently 138. I have been on here logging for about a year with no success to speak of. I started out with the 1200 that MFP suggested and felt sluggish. I read all the posts "eat more to lose" and quickly upped my calories to 1500 and ate back exercise calories. Still no success. Did this for a few months. Thought maybe my exercise calories are overestimated and stopped eating them back. For the past couple of weeks I've been trying to stick to 1500. Still doing my normal exercises (light aerobics with small hand weights 50 minutes each morning and walking a mile every day abut 3.5 mph). I log everything during the week and measure my food. I skip weekends but I don't overdo it at all. I am getting married soon Would love to drop a few by then!!!!! Especially since I have been trying so hard for so long. I am frustrated!!!

You're skipping logging on weekends, which tells me you are probably skipping counting calories on weekends. My guess is you are eating more than you think you are, at least so close to maintenance that you have only lost 2 pounds during the year.

You need to start logging both exercise and food every single day no matter what. Make sure you are eating a balanced diet and at a calorie deficit. If you go over once in awhile, it's no big deal. The problem comes when you go over every two days out of the week. Believe me, those calories add up.

Edited to add: I didn't realize your diary was open. I just looked at it. You are going over just about every week day, therefore you are most likely going over every weekend day. Besides this, your nutrition is horrible. You have a lot of sodium, and what's with drinking pepsi for breakfast and all those snack foods. Yep, better your nutrition and eat at a calorie deficit.

Stop skipping weekends. I recently went to Olive Garden for a night out and soon realized that if I hadn't been consistent and looked up calories beforehand, I would've had close to 2,000 calories for just that meal. That would've taken my entire calorie deficit for 4 days! It's so easy to blow it.

My view on this is not that popular here on MFP, but here's what I think:

Food matters. The number of calories does matter, but all the other aspects do as well. It's a little silly to think your body is going to be just as well off with 1200 calories of chemicals and sugar, as it would be on 1200 calories of whole foods, vitamins, protein, and healthy fat. I mean, it's just logical! Your car might get 30 mpg, but would it get equally good mileage if you gave it cruddy gas vs if you gave it high quality gas? Our bodies are designed to function best with the food that's naturally on this earth. Some say evolution, I say God is a brilliant designer, but whatever the case it we just do better with natural food.

That said, if your diet is full of processed foods, too many carbs, and sugar, then you'd have to work REALLY hard to increase your health. If your diet is full of healthy natural food that's right for YOUR body (may vary by person!), then health is going to come naturally. That includes muscle gain and fat loss, but it also includes possibly improving any other health problems you might have.


MFP tends to focus mostly on the calories. Personally I focus much more on whether I'm putting good food into my body, regardless of quantity.

Yeah, not sure how much weight your body is going to be willing to let go of at that height/current weight combo. I had done MFP by itself for a while and got really frustrated before though. I found weight training while I was loosing was making the weight not budge, or would go up.

My breakthrough is when I recived a FitBit last Christmas. I linked up MFP and FitBit so they share information with eachother. It took me aobut 10 months to loose 41 lbs. The nice thing is, it adjusts the calories that way. I have been using that consistantly, eating to the calories it gives me, not from MFP. You can adjust for how much you want to loose each week, but I always loose a little less than it suggests I will.

It tracks my walking, and if I do extra cardio (like stationary bike) I log that. I do not log weights in it. I track my food intake here on MFP (and use the moral support), but I only eat to the calories that fitbit says I get that day. So, if there is a day I am naturally less active, I get less food. I get off my bum, I get more food.

Again, with the small frames (I am between 5' and 5' 2" dependent on weight) and at the 130 mark I am struggling to loose 0.2 lb a week - but it still comes off (adjusting my fitness level in both programs woudl probably change that up too - but I am looking more at maintenance now).

130 was my "goal weight" and now I am on to the weight training "phase". I do expect to gain some back as I build up some lean muscle mass and drop more of hte fat. Diet with cardio to drop does kind of leave you with the "fat/skinny" issue, but sometimes we need to take it in steps. Overall health is the ultimate goal of course, but you have to determine what means more to you right now - looking tone and awsome, or being lighter in a small size.

Hope this helps a little as I remember being in the same boat.

I went back a week in your diary and only saw one piece of fruit and no veg. And lots of pepsi every day. Nuff said.