Anyone at 150lbs trying to get to 120lbs?

I'm 5'2". Currently about 145lbs, my goal weight is 117lbs.

The past week I have been very active from showing my stepson around town. It helped me drop a couple pounds, but I sure do need the motivation once he goes back home!

Same goals here, 5'2". Started at 153 with a goal of 120. Down to 142 after 2 months. I didn't think there were many others with a similar goal, but it's great to see there are others in my position too!

heathergraham13 wrote: »

faithyang wrote: »

At my heaviest I was 150lb and I am 5"2. I've reached my goal weight, so feel free to ask me anything, I'm happy to help you out and provide some support! Its hard to find fellow petite people as most are pretty tall and at 120-150lb they still look great!

What foods did u eat or what are some tips please its almost impossible

Hi @heathergraham13 and OP,

I think the key is to just keep trying. Don't keep following the exact thing over and over, instead have a general main idea and work around evolving elements around it, even if you fail, even if you don't lose weight or seem to be plateauing, just stick to the main idea, but swap around the elements...like a Jenga game or a lego set with interchangeable piece.

So for example my general main idea since I first started losing weight at my heaviest was first and foremost to eat less. Firstly, exercise only compliments a good diet, health and fitness aka losing weight is 80% diet, 30% exercise. For example, you can exercise an hour of cardio and 1/2 hour of weights a day and one full fat coffee or just one "healthy" salad you eat outside can undo every single calorie you burnt. We also subconsciously eat more after exercise so most important is that you need to change your diet to see results.

This was also the simplest, because I was eating ALOT then due to my significant other having a high metabolism and liking rich, fatty foods at every meal. I would eat alongside him, but my appetite is actually bigger than his and you can imagine how my weight skyrocketed eating rich naans, curries, etc and thick fluffy turkish breads with oily and fatty dips with rich marinated grilled meats at EVERY MEAL sometimes 3 times a day.

I dropped the fatty meals to once a day, and tried to swap simple things which wouldn't be too much of a 'sacrifice' like swapping to non-fat milk in my caffe latte and drinking only one or two a day MAX (I was drinking up to 4 full fat cafe lattes a day, usually with a pastry). I stopped drinking sugary drinks like iced tea, sodas, etc - and just drank diet sodas. Occasionally I would have a sweet milk tea when eating out.

I also moved around alot more, like walking doing things I enjoyed doing rather than exercise because my fitness was just garbage. I couldn't jog more than 2 minutes without collapsing. I went window-shopping alot more, I tried to take the stairs more, I just got into the habit of moving more.

My weight loss was slow at first and I didn't weigh myself either, but it was noticeable.

Phase 2 wasn't planned but I just ended up moving on to waking up and exercising in the mornings by walking/brisk walk around the park. The hardest was the walking up, not so much the walking/brisk walk. Keep at it, even if you keep failing, even if you keep falling off the bandwagon. Slowly I started enjoying waking up in the mornings and turned it into a habit like how you wake up and brush your teeth. You just get up, do it, don't think it through - the more you think, the less you do. I then moved to walk/jog, then jog/run. I used the app C25K on my iPhone, but I didn't force myself to follow the instructions precisely. If I wanted to repeat a day of 10min walk, 2 min jog, I would do it.

To help with my exercise routine I allow myself 4 days a week rather than 5 or 7 days. That way I have one day to play around with and swap around. It gives you a sense of achievement when you complete it, and you don't feel like your whole week is a failure if you miss one. Trust me when your fitness becomes a habit you become very obsessed with it to the point that you will feel very badly if you miss even one workout - so it has a dual purpose for beginners, and for when you've become seasoned.

Food-wise, I started to realise that the more I didn't have a structure of eating the more I would "think" and torture myself over whether I should have some fattening food or eat some calorific dish instead of something health, so I thought - if we have work days, why not have healthy days? I mean, do you go on a drink binge bender during your work day? 99% of the time, you won't because you have work the next morning and you won't be able to function professionally at work high/hungover. Same with health, if you can eat well and just not have the option of fattening foods during certain days like weekdays - its easier for you to not fall over the bandwagon.

Try to swap fattening things for healthy things most of the time. Scrambled? Change to poached. Fried? Changed to grilled. Breads? No problem, just have one slice, or a piece of bread rather than 5. Try to load up on veggies, and salad in the beginning. Ask for your dressing on the side, or your hash/carbs on the side. Share with friends, family. If you want to try many things like I always do, go with a friend or loved ones, order 5-6 dishes, share them. If you can't control yourself, don't keep snacks in your house. If you have a family and NEED to keep snacks, keep them in opaque containers in the pantry rather than sitting around on the counter. Out of sight, out of mind.

Just like how you look forward to the weekend after a week of work, you look forward to cheat meals during the weekend. I give myself 2 cheat meals during weekends where I can eat anything I want provided its not a massive food binge - but a meal. So not like 10 tbsp of peanut butter, 2 tubs of B&J ice cream, 2 tubs of KFC in between two main meals - but a meal of my choice. I can have 2 cheat meals in a day or divide it to Sat and Sun.

I eat fruit every single day, and not one fruit, but many fruits cut into pieces - like 1/4 apple, 1/4 pear, 1/2 cup cantaloupe - this way you feel like you're eating many types of fruit in large portions. Try to aim for watery fruit rather than dense ones like bananas unless you have just done a work out.

For breakfast, try to stick to non-processed foods. Try to stick to proteins - eggs are great. If you MUST have carb, have egg with a piece of wholegrain toast, and 1/4 an avocado for the good fats.

I personally love soups and stews and try to have these in the evenings with a large salad, and if I've had carb earlier in the day, I have them with protein. If I haven't really had any carb earlier in the day I'll have a 1/2 cup rice, or some other carb with the soup/stew, a large salad and protein. Remember that you can't fool yourself by having smaller plates and then getting 3 extra servings on that small plate. So for example if eating Japanese curry for dinner, I just load up a small-ish plate with 1/2 rice and a heap of shredded cabbage (its a traditional condiment with Japanese curry) and the plate portion looks massive.

An example - but on a smaller plate...it will look massive!!


After a couple of months, including finding out that a week of not exercising and just eating a little more than usual, before going back to my normal routine resets your metabolism and body, my weight started dropping, like really dropping. But you have to keep at it.

Good luck and don't give up!

Sorry for the long post, lol.

I am 5'2, started at 150, hit my original goal weight of 125 after about a year on MFP, maintained that for about 6 months then at the beginning of this year decided to lose about 5 more so I'm currently at 121 and holding pretty steady, I think my maintenance range is something like 123 plus or minus 3.

My diary is open, but in a nutshell since some asked how others did it:

I don't eat "clean" but I do eat a variety of foods, some more nutrient dense than others. I drink wine and eat something sweet (gelato, a square of dark chocolate) pretty much every day. I lost the first 15 lbs with a goal of about 1500 net cals, then I raised it to 1650 net cals to lose about a half pound per week. I eat back all my exercise calories. When I started I quickly figured out if I exercised I would get to eat more so I started making a point to walk more, I got a FitBit about 6 months into things and that made me even more active. Now I do strength training 3 days a week and average 14,000 steps, and I'm maintaining eating about 1900-2000 cals a day.

For me the keys were: consistency (I have about an 850 day logging streak going), logging everything, even if I go over, not depriving myself of anything, and moving more.

One disclaimer: I don't weigh my food, but I am a huge proponent of it especially for those who are struggling to lose. I told myself I would get a food scale if I ever felt like my weight loss had stalled out but I never really got to that point. I think I could have lost the weight more quickly if I had been weighing all along and so I highly recommend it for those starting out.

I'm 5"3 135 trying to get to 120lbs, so same goal weight with a little less to go

faithyang wrote: »

By the way, this is not like the gospel of weight loss - this was what worked for me. So I hope anyone who reads the above do not think its the only way to lose weight, its one of many ways that exist out there. But general rule of thumb is = smaller portions, less processed food, move around more (not necessarily "exercise" at the gym) and keep positive and consistent.

I don't think that second point is a rule of thumb, but congrats on finding something that worked for you.

I'm 5'4'' at 135 now, trying to get in the 120-125 range. Since having babies, I've been able to reach 127 but haven't been able to maintain it. It's so hard!

faithyang wrote: »

heathergraham13 wrote: »

faithyang wrote: »

At my heaviest I was 150lb and I am 5"2. I've reached my goal weight, so feel free to ask me anything, I'm happy to help you out and provide some support! Its hard to find fellow petite people as most are pretty tall and at 120-150lb they still look great!

What foods did u eat or what are some tips please its almost impossible

Hi @heathergraham13 and OP,

I think the key is to just keep trying. Don't keep following the exact thing over and over, instead have a general main idea and work around evolving elements around it, even if you fail, even if you don't lose weight or seem to be plateauing, just stick to the main idea, but swap around the elements...like a Jenga game or a lego set with interchangeable piece.

So for example my general main idea since I first started losing weight at my heaviest was first and foremost to eat less. Firstly, exercise only compliments a good diet, health and fitness aka losing weight is 80% diet, 30% exercise. For example, you can exercise an hour of cardio and 1/2 hour of weights a day and one full fat coffee or just one "healthy" salad you eat outside can undo every single calorie you burnt. We also subconsciously eat more after exercise so most important is that you need to change your diet to see results.

This was also the simplest, because I was eating ALOT then due to my significant other having a high metabolism and liking rich, fatty foods at every meal. I would eat alongside him, but my appetite is actually bigger than his and you can imagine how my weight skyrocketed eating rich naans, curries, etc and thick fluffy turkish breads with oily and fatty dips with rich marinated grilled meats at EVERY MEAL sometimes 3 times a day.

I dropped the fatty meals to once a day, and tried to swap simple things which wouldn't be too much of a 'sacrifice' like swapping to non-fat milk in my caffe latte and drinking only one or two a day MAX (I was drinking up to 4 full fat cafe lattes a day, usually with a pastry). I stopped drinking sugary drinks like iced tea, sodas, etc - and just drank diet sodas. Occasionally I would have a sweet milk tea when eating out.

I also moved around alot more, like walking doing things I enjoyed doing rather than exercise because my fitness was just garbage. I couldn't jog more than 2 minutes without collapsing. I went window-shopping alot more, I tried to take the stairs more, I just got into the habit of moving more.

My weight loss was slow at first and I didn't weigh myself either, but it was noticeable.

Phase 2 wasn't planned but I just ended up moving on to waking up and exercising in the mornings by walking/brisk walk around the park. The hardest was the walking up, not so much the walking/brisk walk. Keep at it, even if you keep failing, even if you keep falling off the bandwagon. Slowly I started enjoying waking up in the mornings and turned it into a habit like how you wake up and brush your teeth. You just get up, do it, don't think it through - the more you think, the less you do. I then moved to walk/jog, then jog/run. I used the app C25K on my iPhone, but I didn't force myself to follow the instructions precisely. If I wanted to repeat a day of 10min walk, 2 min jog, I would do it.

To help with my exercise routine I allow myself 4 days a week rather than 5 or 7 days. That way I have one day to play around with and swap around. It gives you a sense of achievement when you complete it, and you don't feel like your whole week is a failure if you miss one. Trust me when your fitness becomes a habit you become very obsessed with it to the point that you will feel very badly if you miss even one workout - so it has a dual purpose for beginners, and for when you've become seasoned.

Food-wise, I started to realise that the more I didn't have a structure of eating the more I would "think" and torture myself over whether I should have some fattening food or eat some calorific dish instead of something health, so I thought - if we have work days, why not have healthy days? I mean, do you go on a drink binge bender during your work day? 99% of the time, you won't because you have work the next morning and you won't be able to function professionally at work high/hungover. Same with health, if you can eat well and just not have the option of fattening foods during certain days like weekdays - its easier for you to not fall over the bandwagon.

Try to swap fattening things for healthy things most of the time. Scrambled? Change to poached. Fried? Changed to grilled. Breads? No problem, just have one slice, or a piece of bread rather than 5. Try to load up on veggies, and salad in the beginning. Ask for your dressing on the side, or your hash/carbs on the side. Share with friends, family. If you want to try many things like I always do, go with a friend or loved ones, order 5-6 dishes, share them. If you can't control yourself, don't keep snacks in your house. If you have a family and NEED to keep snacks, keep them in opaque containers in the pantry rather than sitting around on the counter. Out of sight, out of mind.

Just like how you look forward to the weekend after a week of work, you look forward to cheat meals during the weekend. I give myself 2 cheat meals during weekends where I can eat anything I want provided its not a massive food binge - but a meal. So not like 10 tbsp of peanut butter, 2 tubs of B&J ice cream, 2 tubs of KFC in between two main meals - but a meal of my choice. I can have 2 cheat meals in a day or divide it to Sat and Sun.

I eat fruit every single day, and not one fruit, but many fruits cut into pieces - like 1/4 apple, 1/4 pear, 1/2 cup cantaloupe - this way you feel like you're eating many types of fruit in large portions. Try to aim for watery fruit rather than dense ones like bananas unless you have just done a work out.

For breakfast, try to stick to non-processed foods. Try to stick to proteins - eggs are great. If you MUST have carb, have egg with a piece of wholegrain toast, and 1/4 an avocado for the good fats.

I personally love soups and stews and try to have these in the evenings with a large salad, and if I've had carb earlier in the day, I have them with protein. If I haven't really had any carb earlier in the day I'll have a 1/2 cup rice, or some other carb with the soup/stew, a large salad and protein. Remember that you can't fool yourself by having smaller plates and then getting 3 extra servings on that small plate. So for example if eating Japanese curry for dinner, I just load up a small-ish plate with 1/2 rice and a heap of shredded cabbage (its a traditional condiment with Japanese curry) and the plate portion looks massive.

An example - but on a smaller plate...it will look massive!!


After a couple of months, including finding out that a week of not exercising and just eating a little more than usual, before going back to my normal routine resets your metabolism and body, my weight started dropping, like really dropping. But you have to keep at it.

Good luck and don't give up!

Sorry for the long post, lol.

I'm 5'3. Just beginning my weight loss journey. On my 5th week. Starting weight was 170 and now I'm 164. I don't have any friends on here and still struggling with foods and caffeine withdrawals. I am currently not reaching my calorie intake @1200 and I have started walking and doing some dance/aerobics. I feel alone and depressed most of the time. Was thinking about buying Nutri-System to see if that would help me lose more weight and continue walking. I try to keep my carbs low everyday. My body is going through a lot of changes and so are my moods. Highs and lows all day and night too. Right now I'm buying low fat meals that I can microwave. I don't cook much at all. I love fruit and most veggies and I'm eating lots of salads.
My goal is to lose 20-25 lbs by October. Any encouragement would be very much appreciated.

Really enjoyed reading all you wrote. It's frustrating for me to weigh and not see a bigger weight loss after 5 weeks.

Anniebannanie710 wrote: »

I am new to the MFP community. I am 5' 3" and 150lbs my goal weight is around 120lbs. Anyone out there with similar goals?

Yes! I am 5'3" and I weigh 144lbs but am looking to get as close as I can to 120!!

I'm 5'4", started at 149lbs mid last year - lost some of the weight but fell off track, so back on it in the last couple of months and currently down to 129lbs with a goal weight of 119. I found 1200 difficult at first thevolp, but did get used to it - I just had to be strict with myself for a while. Pre-logging really does help. That way you have a day planned out within your calories and you know what you're supposed to be eating, so on the day all you need do is tweak the weights of things for accuracy. I still slip occasionally but it still seems to work out and on most days, 1200 is plenty enough.

hi I've been lurking on these boards for a while...I have just turned 40, am 5ft 3 and weigh 142lbs with a goal weight of 125lbs...would really appreciate some 'friends' too help me reach my goal. thanks

I'm 5' 1". Started at 180, currently 145, GW 125. I have to admit the weight loss has slowed to a crawl after losing 35 pounds. Most of that is do to me not buckling down more. I'll get there though! Just going to take a little more time than I thought it would.

This content has been removed.