5ft - 5ft3 ladies?! Anyone else eating 1200

DeficitDuchess wrote: »

aliem wrote: »

DeficitDuchess wrote: »

aliem wrote: »

Me! I am not quite 5'2'', if I calculate out my maintenance at a sedentary activity level (I have a desk job), I am around 1500. Based on non-exercise days, this seems about right. I usually eat about 1200 a day. Sometimes a bit lower. Generally not lower than 1100. I do sometimes consume more (usually on special occasions or there are days that I just need to eat more!). I try to keep that below maintenance and not too often. I find that it really is not too hard, but you have to get used to eating a lot of veggies if you want your plate to look full. Good thing I love veggies!

A lot of people seem to think that anything below 1200 will suddenly put you in this starvation mode where you can no longer lose weight and are ruining your metabolism. Which may be true over time for the average person that has maintenance between 2000-2500. For me, 1200 is only a 300 calorie deficit and working out would increase that to more. That is not even a pound a week and by no means unsafe. If I were to start eating around 1500 a day, it would take weeks to lose one pound. To tell someone that they need to eat at their maintenance level because an amount slightly below that will put them in a phantom "starvation mode" is silly. If you were to tell someone with an average height and average activity to eat 2000 a day to lose weight, they would laugh at you. To lose weight, you need a deficit. If you are small, you are probably going to fall into a territory that would would be unsafe for average people. It takes less to feed someone that is 5'2'' than someone that is 5'7''. To have one flat number that is considered starving yourself for everyone, just doesn't make sense. Also, comparing the calorie needs of a toddler to a women who is done growing and less active is silly. They have much different needs.

1st lower metabolism & starvation mode're 2 completely separate things because 1 of them's a myth (starvation mode) 2nd 1,200 calories're typically fine without exercise, not so with exercising! The problem is that if 1 unnecessarily lowers their metabolism, they also lower; how much they're able to consume. If you'd like to consume as much as possible & without having to exercise, solely to compensate a lower metabolism; then why not consume as much as possible & still be in an appropriate deficit, to lose or level, to maintain?

The problem with that is that the 1200 number came from subtracting 1000 calories from the average TDEE. The 1000 calorie floor comes from various studies about how much is a safe amount to lose. The 1200 net is for an average person. It may work for you, but it certainly would be painstakingly slow for me. Saying that a 5' woman has the same floor as a 6' woman is silly.

That 1,200 calorie minimum, also includes various weight & activity levels, that aren't additional exercise! Height's only 1/3rd, of the equation!

RoteBook wrote: »

I'm 5'3" and have lost about 30 pounds so far eating around 1,750/day. I don't do much deliberate exercise (yet), but I do consider myself lightly active. I spend my days chasing a 4 year old and working at his preschool (so chasing lots of 4 year olds).

I am happily losing about .5 pound per week. Every time I restricted more I found myself thinking about food constantly, and I was miserable. I always fell off the wagon, binged, hated myself for failing, said *kitten* it, and stopped logging for months. This time I've stuck with it as well as I've wanted to, and lost more than I ever did when I restricted more.