5'2" female

I would be glad to try and help you. I am 4'11". My metabolism had hit a wall and I was unable to loose weight no matter what I tried. You can research a an online calculator to figure your macro goals. Right now I am spending a little time in ketosis and the weight is melting off. Ill try this for a month or so and then go back to eating a little higher carb count and lower my fat some. I have lost about 8 or 9 pounds in about 8 weeks. This was not all done in ketosis. I have only done this for about 2 weeks. I believe I am set at 65 fat, 20 protein and 10 carb% 1100 calories. I give my self some room in calories while im in ketosis and don't worry if I go over a hundred or even two.
Never eat carbs alone. Always have them with protein.

I'm 5'1 and I'm 31. I'm eating at a deficit at 1500 calories. I don't know much about "slowing metabolism" or when and where to eat or whether to wash my food to make it clean lol
What I do know is that when I weigh my food on a food scale and log every single thing that goes in my mouth, I lose weight. As soon as I get lazy with my logging, the weight loss stalls.

If your still eating the same amount of food as a year ago your metabolism hasn't slowed you just use less energy as your body is now lighter.

MFP has given me the consistent goal of 1200 calories, while before that was predicted to give me a 1kg weight loss per week, now the same calories will only give me 0.7kg of weight loss per week.


BTW I am 5'4 and 33. For my height 60kg or 132pounds is middle of the BMI range.

We petite gals have less wiggle room, unless we're pretty much running marathons or whatever. But I've managed to find the zone here for losing. I can't share because the crowd goes wild. lol* But I can tell you that I've lost 2 lbs a week until this last month. Now it's down to 1.5 per week overall, and that's fine. It took me time to find the right amount of calories for myself for real. The idea is simple. You need to eat 500 calories less than your basal metabolic rate. That rate is set by selecting how active you are, your height, weight, and age. It's still a rough estimate, though. Obviously, no formula knows your biology exactly. Being short and having fewer calories to work with means........we have to be extra careful.

You can accomplish that by being super-rigorous about weighing everything or by reducing calorie goal. Either way, it doesn't matter. The bottom line is still going to be.......did you burn more calories than you ate? If so, you will lose. If not, you won't.

I added in a fun class of Zumba Gold twice a week and my job keeps me mildly moving.......at least I walk a bit each day. But the majority of the diet focus really is on food and calories. I simply had to find low-calorie food I liked well enough to actually eat. Lots of vegetables for me to fill me up, for exampe, is one thing that's changed.

It's actually been fun to do this. Not only is it fun to watch the weight come off......which really is the point......but it's been fun to change enough so that I enjoy my meals again, and now I know for sure that I'm not eating like a lumberjack. I was always one who could eat whatever I wanted. Then I wasn't one of those bodies, but I still ate whatever I wanted. lol*

This way of eating even feels more sensible to me. One thing I definitely found right off the bat was that I needed to increase my protein to stay full. Good luck!

MarcyKirkton wrote: »

We petite gals have less wiggle room, unless we're pretty much running marathons or whatever. But I've managed to find the zone here for losing. I can't share because the crowd goes wild. lol* But I can tell you that I've lost 2 lbs a week until this last month. Now it's down to 1.5 per week overall, and that's fine. It took me time to find the right amount of calories for myself for real. The idea is simple. You need to eat 500 calories less than your basal metabolic rate. That rate is set by selecting how active you are, your height, weight, and age. It's still a rough estimate, though. Obviously, no formula knows your biology exactly. Being short and having fewer calories to work with means........we have to be extra careful.

You can accomplish that by being super-rigorous about weighing everything or by reducing calorie goal. Either way, it doesn't matter. The bottom line is still going to be.......did you burn more calories than you ate? If so, you will lose. If not, you won't.

I added in a fun class of Zumba Gold twice a week and my job keeps me mildly moving.......at least I walk a bit each day. But the majority of the diet focus really is on food and calories. I simply had to find low-calorie food I liked well enough to actually eat. Lots of vegetables for me to fill me up, for exampe, is one thing that's changed.

It's actually been fun to do this. Not only is it fun to watch the weight come off......which really is the point......but it's been fun to change enough so that I enjoy my meals again, and now I know for sure that I'm not eating like a lumberjack. I was always one who could eat whatever I wanted. Then I wasn't one of those bodies, but I still ate whatever I wanted. lol*

This way of eating even feels more sensible to me. One thing I definitely found right off the bat was that I needed to increase my protein to stay full. Good luck!

You're confusing BMR with TDEE.

BMR= Calories you burn by being alive, laying in bed, not moving.

TDEE= BMR+Daily activity. MFP uses this number, minus 500 to lose a pound a week (500cal*7 days= 3500cal/lb).

Verdenal wrote: »

5'2", older, sedentary, injuries. My weight is at a near all-time high at 109 pounds, and my body fat percentage is at an historic high (almost 30%, per my scale). I do not look good at this weight. I have to be well under 1,000 to lose weight.

You weigh 109lbs and you think you need to lose weight?

I'm 5'2" and weigh around 105, and my maintenance calories are right at 2,000 per day. I have a desk job but am also a mom to a nearly five year old (in other words, I do not sit still at home). I also do an hour of cardio just about every day. I should probably pay closer attention to macros, right now I just try to ensure I meet the protein, fiber, and fat goals set by MFP.

Verdenal wrote: »

5'2", older, sedentary, injuries. My weight is at a near all-time high at 109 pounds, and my body fat percentage is at an historic high (almost 30%, per my scale). I do not look good at this weight. I have to be well under 1,000 to lose weight.

It sounds like you may want to focus on recomp and not necessarily on weight loss. I agree you can probably go a little bit lower without it being a problem. And I don't know the extent of your injuries or how much they limit your ability to exercise.

But it sounds like your biggest concern is your BF% and not the number on the scale, in which case I'd say try to find some weight or bodyweight exercises that you can realistically do, and focus on those.

ASKyle wrote: »

MarcyKirkton wrote: »

We petite gals have less wiggle room, unless we're pretty much running marathons or whatever. But I've managed to find the zone here for losing. I can't share because the crowd goes wild. lol* But I can tell you that I've lost 2 lbs a week until this last month. Now it's down to 1.5 per week overall, and that's fine. It took me time to find the right amount of calories for myself for real. The idea is simple. You need to eat 500 calories less than your basal metabolic rate. That rate is set by selecting how active you are, your height, weight, and age. It's still a rough estimate, though. Obviously, no formula knows your biology exactly. Being short and having fewer calories to work with means........we have to be extra careful.

You can accomplish that by being super-rigorous about weighing everything or by reducing calorie goal. Either way, it doesn't matter. The bottom line is still going to be.......did you burn more calories than you ate? If so, you will lose. If not, you won't.

I added in a fun class of Zumba Gold twice a week and my job keeps me mildly moving.......at least I walk a bit each day. But the majority of the diet focus really is on food and calories. I simply had to find low-calorie food I liked well enough to actually eat. Lots of vegetables for me to fill me up, for exampe, is one thing that's changed.

It's actually been fun to do this. Not only is it fun to watch the weight come off......which really is the point......but it's been fun to change enough so that I enjoy my meals again, and now I know for sure that I'm not eating like a lumberjack. I was always one who could eat whatever I wanted. Then I wasn't one of those bodies, but I still ate whatever I wanted. lol*

This way of eating even feels more sensible to me. One thing I definitely found right off the bat was that I needed to increase my protein to stay full. Good luck!

You're confusing BMR with TDEE.

BMR= Calories you burn by being alive, laying in bed, not moving.

TDEE= BMR+Daily activity. MFP uses this number, minus 500 to lose a pound a week (500cal*7 days= 3500cal/lb).

To correct a correction.

BMR= Basic Metabolic Rate. The calories needed to survive without expending any energy beyond what the needs to live.

TDEE = Total Daily Energy Expendature.
TDEE = BMR + daily activities + exercise.
MFP does not use this formula.

This is what MFP uses.
NEAT= Non Exercise Activity Thermogenisis
NEAT= BMR+ daily activity. Exercise is added to this number, not included in it as per TDEE.

Cheers, h.

jenathp wrote: »

Are you trying to lose or maintain? Right now I'm 5'3" and 224 ... not nearly as thin as the other girls posting here. LOL. I eat at 1200 calories and I'm trying to get in 30 minutes of exercise.

1200 calories is WAY too low for you at your stats.

When I stop exercising my BMR drops down and then I stagnate.

No. Your BMR is the same regardless of how much you exercise. You have to do exercise in order to increase your TDEE, not your BMR.

BMR is really an irrelevant number for weight loss anyway. Pretend it doesn't exist. It causes a lot of confusion. Your body doesn't differentiate calories burned from just breathing and calories burned from walking or exercising. They're just calories. As long as you burn more than you consume, you'll lose weight.

If, as you say, you want to get serious about weight loss, then pick a calorie goal that's more appropriate and prepare to stick with it for the long term.