What is a 5"4, large frame girls' ideal weight?

ppena5792
ppena5792 Posts: 3
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi, my name is Paula :)

I currently weigh 140lbs, and my goal weight is to be between 128-130lbs and maintain it. My overall goal is to never be over 140lbs again unless I get pregnant!
I used to weigh 165lbs back in October, but as of November, I became a Pescetarian and I successfully lost 25lbs.
I have gotten rid of wheat and sugary contents, but I do have cheat days once in awhile (that usually means peanut butter)
I'm on a VERY strict diet, and planning to stick to it until I reach 130lbs. I eat 1,000-1,400 calories daily.

Can someone please tell me if what I am doing is healthy? Is it too drastic? or I'm on the right track? - because it seems that I am losing the weight quite quickly.

Please and thanks! :flowerforyou:

Replies

  • kelly_e_montana
    kelly_e_montana Posts: 1,999 Member
    I don't know. I'm not a huge believer in using the scale as the measure of my ideal weight. I am more of a body fat percentage person. I get my BF tested regularly, and when I am at my personal ideal body fat of 20%, I will be 155 @ 5'5'. That will still be overweight according to BMI charts.

    I guess I would just say be careful not to lose muscle with fat by losing too quickly or you will hit the weight you want but might not have the definition (aka "tone") you desire. If you go as low as 1000 calories per day for an extended period of time, you can expect some muscle loss. If you just care about fitting into jeans but don't care too much about how you look in a swimming suit, it's probably not a big deal. However, if you want to hang onto your muscle so that your metabolism stays higher, re-consider. If you lose muscle, it's harder to maintain your weight because the more muscle you have, the more your body burns calories even at rest.
  • mercurywinks
    mercurywinks Posts: 104 Member
    HI! According to the us military the Ideal weight for a 5'4" female is 150 pounds. However, this range can be change by up to 10 pound difference based on the size of your over all frame, which is figured by measuring the wrist of your dominant hand while your fingers are spread. I'm not sure how they figure that exactly, but yeah, 150-140 is the ideal healthy weight for a 5'4" female. Now, I will tell you a LOT of sources say consuming UNDER 1200 calories a day will put your body in starvation mode and cause you to retain all carbs and calories you consume because your body literally thinks you're starving. However, if your diet is healthy, you're eating correctly, and you feel healthy then I don't see a problem. Honestly, in the end your healthy weight should be between you and your doctor. The doctor will know exactly what's best for your individual situation.
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
    I'm a 5'1" large framed female and my ideal weight seems to be around 140lb.... I was 125lb and losing strength rapidly, as in I went from being able to do 10 full push-ups easily to barely being able to do three and the amount of weight I could lift on various exercises was going down. At 130lb I was a lot stronger, but then I decided to do a bulk up to 140lb while doing stronglifts and got much stronger. I fit into the same clothes at 140lb as I did at 125lb, body fat percentage somewhere between 20 and 25% (I don't want to go lower than that because I like how I am around 23% body fat).

    BTW the wrist test for frame size is only a rough guide, there are other ways you can tell, mostly the extra weight comes from having wider shoulders, pelvis and rib cage, and the muscles that attach to them and a bigger torso generally. You need to look at more than just the wrists, and measuring your body fat percentage is good too. If you have a large frame then your lean mass for your height will be higher than average, and the healthy body fat percentage range is the same for everyone regardless of height or frame size... it differs by gender. The healthy range for women is 18-28%.

    Why did you choose this number of 130lb? If you don't know your body fat percentage, then you could be setting yourself up to lose lean mass to get to that number. I lost lean mass going from 130lb to 125lb, even though I was doing everything right in terms of small deficit, strength training, plenty of protein, slow and steady fat loss. My lean mass was always over 100lb but below 130lb it dropped below 100lb and my strength along with it. After bulking to 140lb it's more like 107lb, and I'm not planning on losing any of that. I'm just not built to be that light. 130lb may be the right number for you, it depends on how big your frame is, because humans don't fall into 3 neat categories; it's a continuum from very large framed to very small framed. IMO your body fat percentage is probably the best indicator. while taking your frame size into account when using BMI charts does give you a better estimate than BMI alone, body fat percentage can give you an even better idea of where your weight should be.
  • terbusha
    terbusha Posts: 1,483 Member
    Weight is not the best measure of fitness. I would prefer you to set a body fat % goal. You can be the same body fat % at very different weights. The difference is how much muscle you have. A very fit body fat % for a woman is 15-20%. Also, I would not eat as few as 1000 calories/day. Try to stick closer to the 1400 cal/day goal. The more calories you can eat while still losing body fat, the better off you are. When you eat the maximum you can, you'll have a lot more room to make adjustments down the road if you end up hitting a plateau.

    Oh, and congrats on the weight loss!

    Allan
  • caramammal
    caramammal Posts: 147 Member
    I'm 5.4 also, and currently weigh 132lbs, my goal is to get to around 122lbs so that when i maintain i have a few lbs either side as a buffer. I have a sedentary job, which results in a low BMR so to lose weight i do one of these (currently doing the 'lose 2lb a week' option as i want to lose the 10lbs faster)
    eat 1200 calories NET to lose 1lb per week (this is a combination of reducing calories plus exercise).
    eat 1200 in total and exercise off 400-500 per day, which gives me a NET of about 700-800, which equals weight loss of 2lbs per week.
    eat around 1700 calories to maintain.

    It's simple math for me and actually i find that having a desk job makes it even easier for me to track activity expenditure

    I'm also vegan, and ensure i eat all of my calories as whole unprocessed food (i also track vitamins and minerals to ensure i'm getting enough, which i am, easy).

    Good luck to you, feed free to 'friend' me as we have pretty similar goals/routines
  • healthygreek
    healthygreek Posts: 2,137 Member
    I saw from your diary that most days you are eating under 1200!
    You are not getting all the nutrients your body requires to be and stay healthy.
    Please eat at least 1200 calories a day and if you exercise, eat back at least half of the calories you expend.
    MFP already has a built in deficit so it is expected that you eat back calories.
    If you eat too little, the minute you go off your "very strict diet", (and you will because what you doing now is unsustainable), you will rapidly regain the weight you lost.
    Please rethink your strategy!
  • Carrie210
    Carrie210 Posts: 16 Member
    I'm 5'4" and my Doc wants me at 140 :)
  • nespinosa3
    nespinosa3 Posts: 116
    I'm 5'5 and medium framed (but very curvy/voluptuous), currently at 155 and my goal weight is 145. My lowest ever has been 130 pounds and I looked ill XD it depends a lot on the body type I think

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