Short girls 1200 calories just not enough?

Select to lose one or half a pound a week. I am 4'11" 118 pounds and I eat an average of 1500 calories a day, maintain at 1750. You might also have to try intermittent fasting or something like that. That way I can have 1000 calories for diner and go to bed full. You just have to experiment to know what work for you.

I am not allowed to have anymore then 1200 calories a day! It flippen sucks.

I doubt this will help but the reason you need so few calories is because with your size you NEED so few calories. I'm the same way (though not as tiny), but I try to remind myself that me limiting myself to 1200 is like someone who burns 2400/day limiting themself to 2000. And there are advantages to needing less food, really. It's cheaper and easier, for one thing.

But if you feel deprived on 1200, maybe it really isn't enough for you. Only you can tell for sure. The online calculators are just estimates based on population averages. Try more and see what happens, if you want.

Could you do 16:8 or something like that? I'm 5'4" so not as short as you, but I have a bit to lose so MFP has given me 1350 a day. I'm trying to eat all my calories between 2pm and 10pm and that way I find it much, much easier to stay at or just under my goal.

Sometimes I get to 10pm and find I'm WAY under because I just wasn't that hungry through the day, then I'll extend it to midnight and have some fruit on fruit toast or something. So on those days I'm doing more like 14:10, they're not hard and fast rules, but it helps me not to go over.

Having said that, I'm one of these people who hates to eat breakfast and doesn't get hungry until around 2, so there's that. YMMV.

2 questions:

are you eating back your exercise calories?
why are you trying to stay UNDER 1200?

Good questions! If you are running long distance a few days a week plus shorter walks a couple of days a week even being short you should be eating more than under 1200. I'm 157cm and with only walking around 5 days a week I can lose on 1700.

I am not allowed to have anymore then 1200 calories a day! It flippen sucks.

I doubt this will help but the reason you need so few calories is because with your size you NEED so few calories. I'm the same way (though not as tiny), but I try to remind myself that me limiting myself to 1200 is like someone who burns 2400/day limiting themself to 2000. And there are advantages to needing less food, really. It's cheaper and easier, for one thing.

But if you feel deprived on 1200, maybe it really isn't enough for you. Only you can tell for sure. The online calculators are just estimates based on population averages. Try more and see what happens, if you want.

I do not agree. I am tiny and could not eat just 1200 a day, day in day out......and I lost the weight going on 3 years now.

That's great that there are so many small women here who can lose weight on higher calorie amounts. My point was just that the reason the calorie goal generators come up with 1200 is because the average woman 5' tall, etc., who wants to lose x/week, has to go that low. If you're not average, that's terrific.

Did you tell MFP that you're sedentary or just very lightly active? I'm currently 5'0 and 121 and MFP was telling me the same thing, 1200 calories, and I was eating much more than that because I'm a human with needs, haha ;-) I got a fitbit though and linked the accounts-- ever since MFP has been upping my daily allotment and I've been eating an average of about 1400 to 1500 calories/day and losing about 1lb/week. Obviously you don't need to get a fitbit or anything (although I really love mine and think it's a great idea for anyone who wants to spend the money) but if you just spend a few average days logging ALL your daily activities (i.e., "preparing food/cooking," "walking around the house," "light housework," "carring things upstairs," etc) on MFP you'll be able to get an idea of about how many calories you're actually burning per day and then work from there.

I am an even 5ft and (currently) 156 lbs. I have been doing well with a 1320 calorie plan. I have been losing and most day's I don't go over my calories nor am I hungry, but some days I am ravenous, so I listen to my body and eat when I'm hungry, I just try to make it a healthier choice.

Everyone is different and no two people are going to require the same caloric requirements, even if they are otherwise identical in size, shape, activity or whatever - and the suggestions from the website are just a guideline. You need to tweak your calories and find your happy place it sounds like to me. I would maybe start by increasing your calories by 100-200 and see if that works out better for you. Good luck!

I am 5 4' & 184lbs. I have been on 1200 since I started on Oct 7. On the days I exercise, I sometimes eat more calories but 1200 ish is working for me, albeit slowly.

I am 5.4 ft tall, started on 1700 cal 10 months ago, lost 120 lbs so far

weight loss by AnnaNat, on Flickr

I'm 5'2" and maintenance for me is approximately 1300. At 1200, any loss is not noticeable on the scale. I have to exercise, then eat back only half just to cause a deficit. Weight loss this way has been super slow, (20lb in 3 years, ugh) but every time I take the MFP forums advice and up my calories by a few hundred, I end up putting on weight rapidly (once gained 10lb in 1 month of eating 1500 net. **** you, MFP forums! It took me 9 months to re-lose that 10lb! *joking, but not really joking*)

To lose weight, as a short person, I've learned success is in LOTS of exercise, and learning to just eat less than you are socially conditioned to by years of eating the same quantities that "normal sized" people do. It doesn't take much to fuel a petite body healthily.

Building muscle to up BMR is my goal.

I'm 154cm and weigh 48.5kg and I'm losing currently on 2150 calories per day! I am super active and lifting, though trying not to lose weight.

How many calories you need to 'break even' is dependant on so many things, height - yes, but also weight, age, sex, activity levels and the amount of lean body mass you have. I would recommend spending 30 minutes plugging it all into one of the TDEE calculators and working out how many calories you would need with your activity levels to maintain your goal weight, then eat at or slightly under that number until your there. If that's less than 1600 calories per day then I'd say you need to get moving more and/or work on increasing your lean body mass with some sort of strength or weight training.

I'd punch a baby before I ate that low. I'm 5'3 and lose at 1800 calories a day (usually more; sometimes 1800 is just not enough) with little to no cardio and 2-3 hours of lifting a week.

That's just my experience though.

That's great that there are so many small women here who can lose weight on higher calorie amounts. My point was just that the reason the calorie goal generators come up with 1200 is because the average woman 5' tall, etc., who wants to lose x/week, has to go that low. If you're not average, that's terrific.

I don't think that number is for average women of 5'0" either. Or that frame size (the only thing that makes me non-average) makes that much of a difference.

My BMR estimate from the Katch-McArdle calculator = 1428 cals/day

BMR for someone same height, same body fat percentage, who weighs 20lb less (i.e. smaller frame) = 1277 cals/day

note that the above is BMR, not TDEE, this would be calories burned keeping the body alive, exercise and activity calories would be additional to these. There's only 150 or so calories difference. So my non-average frame size/lean body mass for height only gives me an extra 150 or so calories.

Even for the data for the hypothetical smaller framed woman (same height and body fat percentage as me, but weighs 20lb less), 1200 cals/day would be too little for her, as this is below her BMR. When you add in activity and exercise calories, she too can probably lose on 1500-1700 cals/day.

Lastly, no matter what your height, frame size and BMR is, even if you have such a tiny frame size that your BMR is below 1200 cals/day, you can still eat more by being more active. If the BMR is that low, then *netting* 1200 cals/day would be reasonable, but with exercising and eating back exercise calories the total calories eaten could still be as high as 1600-1800 cals/day.

4ft 11