Lose weight without eating (small body frame)

slemon16
slemon16 Posts: 10 Member
edited November 2016 in Health and Weight Loss
Hello I am 5'1 and have a small body frame and small bone structure.
I'm 116 pounds now and my goal is 100 pounds.

I would like to lose about a pound a week. I'm confused as to how much I should eat/exercise.

I have tried eating only 1200 calories/week but I don't lose any weight at this amount.
I am willing to exercise if it will help. I can go to the gym and run an hour, 5 miles, losing about 500 calories. Then the net will be 700 calories/day, is this okay or is it too low? I am worried this is enough calories, but I'm not losing weight when I only eat 1200 calories/day. Is it better to exercise more and eat more, or exercise less and eat less? I have an office job and am otherwise sedentary, I only exercise if it will help me lose weight.

I'd like to know how many calories/day I should aim for, to lose 1 pound/week. I am willing to jog miles to help with the weight loss only if necessary (i.e., if I can lose weight by eating less without exercise, I woudl prefer that)

Thanks!

Replies

  • marm1962
    marm1962 Posts: 950 Member
    edited November 2016
    http://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/

    with so little to lose you should probably aim for 1/2 lb a week
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    How are you measuring your calorie burn? I am taller and heavier than you and I don't burn 500 cals running 5 miles
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,282 Member
    title still confusing - everybody has to eat - lose weight without eating??? :*
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    title still confusing - everybody has to eat - lose weight without eating??? :*

    Yeah, I don't get what the title means either....
  • slemon16
    slemon16 Posts: 10 Member
    How are you assessing your caloric intake? I'm the same height and weight as you. Unfortunately, weight loss does not happen quickly when there is so little to lose.

    You can expect to lose .25 - .5 pounds a week, and that's a good, healthy rate of loss.


    I'm sorry, but I find it hard to believe you are not losing weight on 1200 accurately tracked calories. According to the TDEE calculator marm1962 posted, your sedentary TDEE is 1439-1571. That's enough for you to be creating a deficit without exercise if you're tracking accurately.

    Are you using a food scale? Verifying your data base entries?

    I'm 24 years older than you and lose .25 pounds a week averaging 1500 calories a day. That's with exercise.

    What do you mean by 1500 calories a day with exercise.
    Do you mean you eat 1500 calories a day, and you exercise some of that off, so the net is less than 1500? Or you mean you have eaten more than 1500 calories, and with the exercise the net was 1500? If I eat 1500 I will gain weight :(



  • slemon16
    slemon16 Posts: 10 Member
    How are you measuring your calorie burn? I am taller and heavier than you and I don't burn 500 cals running 5 miles

    On the treadmill when I enter 110 pounds it comes out to about 90 calories/mile. So I guess it's more like 450 calories, but possibly less, maybe between 400-450. I just rounded it up to 500 as the day's exercise total, maybe including some other steps I take during the day (walking to car, errands at the store, etc.), so that's about a pound a week.

    Sorry if the title is confusing, I wasn't sure of the best title.

    Oops, I meant lose weight without exercising, not eating, sorry!



  • slemon16
    slemon16 Posts: 10 Member
    marm1962 wrote: »
    http://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/

    with so little to lose you should probably aim for 1/2 lb a week

    It's still at least 15 pounds. And it's very visible on my body (fat hanging out of my belly, can't zip up dresses, fat under my neck, etc.)

    I put in .15 pounds/day (1 pound/week), selected sedentary, sedentary and it says caloric intake target is 880!
    With .08 pounds/day (.5pound/week), sedentary, it says target is 1140.

    If I select lightly active (i.e., go to the gym 3-4 times a week, and maybe jog at the park once a week)
    The target is 1161 and I can lose 1 pound/week. I'm willing to exercise more and eat a bit more. Maybe the best option is to eat about 1200 calories/day and work out about 5 times a week, to lose about a pound a week?


    Does it matter if you eat more and exercise more or eat less and not exercise when the net amount is the same?
    I.e., is there any difference between eating 1300 calories a day, working out 400 calories of that off (net: 900)
    or just eating 900 calories and not exercising (net: 900)?
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,282 Member
    Ah ok - title is meant to be Lose weight without exercising.

    Yes you can.

    Plug your stats into MFP, put your activity level as sedentary or lightly active if you move around as part of your day but dont do specific exercise - and just eat that.

    If you do any specific exercise log it and eat the extra calories back ( or some people say eat only a portion, say 50 - 75%)

    This is how MFP is designed to work.

    But you are doing treadmill so you arent trying to do this without any excercise.

    just make sure you calculate your excercise burn accurately and eat some of it back.
  • slemon16
    slemon16 Posts: 10 Member
    Ah ok - title is meant to be Lose weight without exercising.

    Yes you can.

    Plug your stats into MFP, put your activity level as sedentary or lightly active if you move around as part of your day but dont do specific exercise - and just eat that.

    If you do any specific exercise log it and eat the extra calories back ( or some people say eat only a portion, say 50 - 75%)

    This is how MFP is designed to work.

    But you are doing treadmill so you arent trying to do this without any excercise.

    just make sure you calculate your excercise burn accurately and eat some of it back.

    I was doing the treadmill because I thought you had to eat 1200 calories no matter what, then if you want to lose weight you have to exercise that off. But if it's ok to eat less than 1200 calories and not exercise so the net is the same, I would prefer this.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    slemon16 wrote: »
    Ah ok - title is meant to be Lose weight without exercising.

    Yes you can.

    Plug your stats into MFP, put your activity level as sedentary or lightly active if you move around as part of your day but dont do specific exercise - and just eat that.

    If you do any specific exercise log it and eat the extra calories back ( or some people say eat only a portion, say 50 - 75%)

    This is how MFP is designed to work.

    But you are doing treadmill so you arent trying to do this without any excercise.

    just make sure you calculate your excercise burn accurately and eat some of it back.

    I was doing the treadmill because I thought you had to eat 1200 calories no matter what, then if you want to lose weight you have to exercise that off. But if it's ok to eat less than 1200 calories and not exercise so the net is the same, I would prefer this.

    No, you should be eating a minimum of 1200 cals. Eating below that risks not getting adequate nutrition as well as other adverse effects like loss of lean body mass, hair loss, brittle nails, etc. I know you are petite but you should be able to lose weight at 1200 cals (without exercise) or netting 1200 cals with exercise. You mentioned getting your exercise burn estimates from a treadmill and then rounding up? Exercise equipment is notorious for overestimating calorie burns. And how are you measuring your calories in? Are you using a food scale to weigh your solid foods? That's really the best way to ensure accuracy in tracking your calories in.

  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,282 Member
    slemon16 wrote: »
    Ah ok - title is meant to be Lose weight without exercising.

    Yes you can.

    Plug your stats into MFP, put your activity level as sedentary or lightly active if you move around as part of your day but dont do specific exercise - and just eat that.

    If you do any specific exercise log it and eat the extra calories back ( or some people say eat only a portion, say 50 - 75%)

    This is how MFP is designed to work.

    But you are doing treadmill so you arent trying to do this without any excercise.

    just make sure you calculate your excercise burn accurately and eat some of it back.

    I was doing the treadmill because I thought you had to eat 1200 calories no matter what, then if you want to lose weight you have to exercise that off. But if it's ok to eat less than 1200 calories and not exercise so the net is the same, I would prefer this.

    No, that is not what I said at all.

    The idea is you eat whatever amount MFP tells you for your stats and then eat back extra calories on top of that from your excercise burns.

    Making sure that your logging of both the calories in and calories out is accurate enough.



  • slemon16
    slemon16 Posts: 10 Member
    I usually buy packaged food that has calories on the label, or if it's from a restaurant google it, otherwise I estimate it. E.g., for breakfast, if I eat a cup of cereal and half a cup of milk I'll put that as 150 calories + 50 calories (for example).


  • slemon16
    slemon16 Posts: 10 Member
    Ok so my goal should be to net 1200? And no less than this? And if I go over this, then exercise it off until it gets to 1200 but not below?

    So if I eat 1200 calories and work out so the net is below 1200, that is bad? (even though the calculators are saying that I should eat about 1200-1240 if I workout 3-4 times a week) ?
  • slemon16
    slemon16 Posts: 10 Member
    slemon16 wrote: »
    How are you assessing your caloric intake? I'm the same height and weight as you. Unfortunately, weight loss does not happen quickly when there is so little to lose.

    You can expect to lose .25 - .5 pounds a week, and that's a good, healthy rate of loss.


    I'm sorry, but I find it hard to believe you are not losing weight on 1200 accurately tracked calories. According to the TDEE calculator marm1962 posted, your sedentary TDEE is 1439-1571. That's enough for you to be creating a deficit without exercise if you're tracking accurately.

    Are you using a food scale? Verifying your data base entries?

    I'm 24 years older than you and lose .25 pounds a week averaging 1500 calories a day. That's with exercise.

    What do you mean by 1500 calories a day with exercise.
    Do you mean you eat 1500 calories a day, and you exercise some of that off, so the net is less than 1500? Or you mean you have eaten more than 1500 calories, and with the exercise the net was 1500? If I eat 1500 I will gain weight :(



    Nevermind me, the point is you.

    You say you don't want to exercise, but here's the thing... those jiggly bits you're not happy with? They'll still be jiggly.

    Women have a certain percentage of body fat and if you're hell bent on eating a very low amount of calories and dieting without exercise, please remember that you lose muscle as well as fat when you diet. That layer of fat will still cover what little muscle you have remaining.

    If you want a trim look as you thin down, you really should exercise, preferably both some cardio and some resistance training.

    And you never answered any questions about how you're tracking your calories. I don't think you're accurately tracking your calories at all.




    Ok, so there is a difference between eating more + exercising and only dieting even if you net the same amount. That's what I was wondering about.


    I figured 450 calories for 5 miles on the treadmill is about right? Also for me I'm not a good runner so for me the 5 miles at 1 hour I'd say is like an effort of 6-7 on a 10 scale (whereas for some people they would consider that really easy).

  • slemon16
    slemon16 Posts: 10 Member
    Ok I will try to more carefully measure out the portion sizes.
    I tried to use a measuring cup for a cup of cereal to see where in the bowl that goes up to for it to be one cup, I did not do that every time, then after that I estimated it.

    For lunch I usually ate burritos or a packaged salad from Trader Joe's and it says the calories on the package, or something pre-packaged. The restaurants and the eating at parties was less frequent, but I get the piont that I should measure it more carefully.

    Thanks!
  • Ploofs
    Ploofs Posts: 59 Member
    edited November 2016
    I'm currently 118 lbs, 5'0" and am still losing at 1,200 calories (with no exercising) at a rate of approximately 0.75 lbs a week. I measure my foods with a food scale. I measure pre-packaged food as well as they are not always as the package says they are. We have little room for error at this point so please try not to "guess" what your intake is or use measuring cups (they're not accurate for solids)... try to be as accurate as possible!
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
    slemon16 wrote: »
    Ok I will try to more carefully measure out the portion sizes.
    I tried to use a measuring cup for a cup of cereal to see where in the bowl that goes up to for it to be one cup, I did not do that every time, then after that I estimated it.

    For lunch I usually ate burritos or a packaged salad from Trader Joe's and it says the calories on the package, or something pre-packaged. The restaurants and the eating at parties was less frequent, but I get the piont that I should measure it more carefully.

    Thanks!

    As small as you are, with so little to lose, literally every single calorie is going to count. I'm not a food scale fanatic, but in this case I think it's going to be necessary. Once you get one, you will be shocked at how far off your 1/2 cup, 1 cup, whatever measurements are from the actual serving size in grams. For the longest time, I measured out my dry oatmeal in a cup, and when I got a food scale discovered the 1/2 cup serving size was 50g, not the 40g serving size designated on the package. It adds up, and you have no room for error.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,989 Member
    slemon16 wrote: »
    I usually buy packaged food that has calories on the label, or if it's from a restaurant google it, otherwise I estimate it. E.g., for breakfast, if I eat a cup of cereal and half a cup of milk I'll put that as 150 calories + 50 calories (for example).

    If you aren't losing weight, it's usually because of inaccurate counting of calories. Get a scale and weight your foods. You'll be shocked at the discrepancies.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png

  • slemon16
    slemon16 Posts: 10 Member
    Wow that video comparing the food on the table is amazing
    They look almost the same and a huge difference in calories, 1700 vs 2900
    Probably small amounts here are there are adding up and I'm not realizing it

    I was still feeling hungry though so I thought I wasn't eating enough.

    So what if I am still hungry at eating 1200 calories/day is taht ok?
  • sugaraddict4321
    sugaraddict4321 Posts: 15,884 MFP Moderator
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