Is 1000 calories a day okay as a temporary goal for someone really short (5'0")?
Shortieweightloss
Posts: 29 Member
I'm 5'0" and about 147 lbs. I am being a bridesmaid in a sibling's wedding in 10 weeks and would really like to lose at least 15 lbs by then (20 would make me really happy, but I'm trying not to set myself up for too much disappointment). After then, I'm fine with taking things a bit more slowly to reach my ultimate goal of 105 to 110 lbs. I just don't want there to be a permanent record of me being huge in family photo albums.
I've been eating about 1000 calories a day, sometimes a little less, sometimes a little more. Before, I was having issues keeping below even 1400, so I decided to try having a small breakfast at about 200 calories or skipping it all together, which is working nicely for the most part but now my calories seem to wind up being a little "too" low. I haven't found the happy medium yet, though I honestly don't feel like I'm starving myself or anything at all.
Today, I had a Luna bar (190 calories) for breakfast, some coffee with sugar-free creamer (25 calories) a little later, then a 290-calorie frozen burrito for lunch. For dinner, I'm planning on having a 100-gram piece of chicken breast (165 calories) with a serving of zucchini pasta (160 calories). Since that puts me at 830 calories, I figure I'll have some oatmeal or fruit as a snack before bed. Is it safe to keep up this caloric intake for another 10 weeks given my height?
I'm not really exercising right now besides some light arm exercises because I work so much, but I'm going to see if I can start getting up earlier to fit in an hour-ish walk each morning. If I do that, I imagine I'll have to add another 150 or so calories to my breakfast so I won't feel lightheaded while walking in the heat.
I've been eating about 1000 calories a day, sometimes a little less, sometimes a little more. Before, I was having issues keeping below even 1400, so I decided to try having a small breakfast at about 200 calories or skipping it all together, which is working nicely for the most part but now my calories seem to wind up being a little "too" low. I haven't found the happy medium yet, though I honestly don't feel like I'm starving myself or anything at all.
Today, I had a Luna bar (190 calories) for breakfast, some coffee with sugar-free creamer (25 calories) a little later, then a 290-calorie frozen burrito for lunch. For dinner, I'm planning on having a 100-gram piece of chicken breast (165 calories) with a serving of zucchini pasta (160 calories). Since that puts me at 830 calories, I figure I'll have some oatmeal or fruit as a snack before bed. Is it safe to keep up this caloric intake for another 10 weeks given my height?
I'm not really exercising right now besides some light arm exercises because I work so much, but I'm going to see if I can start getting up earlier to fit in an hour-ish walk each morning. If I do that, I imagine I'll have to add another 150 or so calories to my breakfast so I won't feel lightheaded while walking in the heat.
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Alright. So, I'd suggest you stay at around 1200 at least - really, as a minimum. Try to stuff yourself with leafy greens. About 100 grams of steamed broccoli will be about 25 kcal. Eat 400 grams. It's 100 kcal. I'm not kidding - yeah, you might feel a bit gassy.... but trust me, you'll be full all the time. Eat plenty of chicken or turkey. I simply boil chicken breast (109 kcal per 100 gr), about 300 gr (330 kcal). Pull it apart after 40 minutes of cooking in a 7 kcal broth cube. Put it together with the broccoli and have some sweet potato (<100 kcal per 100 gr) - about 100 gr. Just grill it in a pan with tiny bit of oil, add some salt, pepper and paprika powder. You'll have a 430-450 (with some hot sauce) kcal dinner, which is about 800 grams of food - almost 2 lbs of food. Figure out your diet like this and eat 3 of these big *kitten* meals a day. Get yourself up to 1200 at least to provide your body with the nutrients it needs. And trust me, you won't be starving at all like this. Truth be told, exercise is a catalyst for weight loss, so a diet will help, but combining it with some heavy exercise (particularly lifting weights) will really get you started. If it's around that time of the month or so, don't be discouraged. Hormones and water retention can truly mess with a woman's head as the weight can easily go up and down 2-3 lbs a day. Ultimately it's about how you feel. It's good to have a goal, but don't starve yourself. If you find your diet and lifestyle with fitness to be satiating, it's so much easier to stick with than when you try and go on a crash diet for extreme weight loss.5
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Alright. So, I'd suggest you stay at around 1200 at least - really, as a minimum. Try to stuff yourself with leafy greens. About 100 grams of steamed broccoli will be about 25 kcal. Eat 400 grams. It's 100 kcal. I'm not kidding - yeah, you might feel a bit gassy.... but trust me, you'll be full all the time. Eat plenty of chicken or turkey. I simply boil chicken breast (109 kcal per 100 gr), about 300 gr (330 kcal). Pull it apart after 40 minutes of cooking in a 7 kcal broth cube. Put it together with the broccoli and have some sweet potato (<100 kcal per 100 gr) - about 100 gr. Just grill it in a pan with tiny bit of oil, add some salt, pepper and paprika powder. You'll have a 430-450 (with some hot sauce) kcal dinner, which is about 800 grams of food - almost 2 lbs of food. Figure out your diet like this and eat 3 of these big *kitten* meals a day. Get yourself up to 1200 at least to provide your body with the nutrients it needs. And trust me, you won't be starving at all like this. Truth be told, exercise is a catalyst for weight loss, so a diet will help, but combining it with some heavy exercise (particularly lifting weights) will really get you started. If it's around that time of the month or so, don't be discouraged. Hormones and water retention can truly mess with a woman's head as the weight can easily go up and down 2-3 lbs a day. Ultimately it's about how you feel. It's good to have a goal, but don't starve yourself. If you find your diet and lifestyle with fitness to be satiating, it's so much easier to stick with than when you try and go on a crash diet for extreme weight loss.
weight is lost in a deficit. exercise is not needed but its good for the body.and weight can fluctuate more than 2-3lbs in a day.what makes one full will not make another full.same with number of meals some do 3 a day.some will do 1, its all personal preference.lifting heavy weights and getting enough protein is needed to prevent lean mass loss
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At your height/weight, 1000 calories per day is unlikely to be a huge deficit or much below your BMR, particularly as you state you're not active (when I checked quickly it looked like you'd be losing about 1.5 lbs a week max, which is aggressive at your current size but not extremely so). It should be perfectly fine as a short-term solution as long as you pay careful attention to your nutrition (get adequate protein and some fat and lots of vegetables etc for the micronutrients) and try not to waste your limited calories on stuff that's not very nutrient-dense, and provided you're otherwise healthy.
You do need to be aware that this isn't ideal long-term because it is extremely difficult to get adequate nutrition on so few calories and also hard from a willpower perspective of course, but as long as you realize that you need to switch to a slower rate of loss following your event and don't get frustrated, it's not likely to do any harm for a few weeks.13 -
the less you have to lose the slower its going to be as well.it sucks but thats how it is. 1.5-2 lbs a week may be too aggressive for you. try .5-1 lb a week and go from there.3
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Thanks, all. I'm gonna keep doing what I'm doing for another few weeks and then see how I feel. I'll add in a multivitamin to make sure I'm not missing any vital nutrition.3
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I dunno if it's ok, but that's what I'm doing too. 5', started at 145 (lost 9 pounds so far in 4 weeks), eating 1000 - 1200 depending on how much walking I can get in, targeting 1.5lbs / week. My timeline is 10 weeks as well (I have some other life stuff I need to focus on after), so I figure my metabolism won't be affected too much in such a short period of time. I'll be going to maintenance after. Even just the 9 pounds I've lost so far has made so much impact on my appearance!3
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I am 5 feet tall. This would not be OK for me. I would be cranky, tired, and thinking about food the entire day. The only time I would eat such a little amount is if I had continuous projectile vomit.
You are most likely missing vital nutrients if you eat such a low amount of calories. In the long term you can damage your body. The less serious damage would be hair loss, brittle nails, feeling cold, loss of period, loss of bone density.1 -
Are you able to fit at least 60 grams of fat and 90 grams of protein into your 1000 calories? If not, it's too low.
Grams of fat calculated by her weight * 0.4 g/pound. Grams of protein calculated by her weight * 0.6 g/pound. Both should be treated as minimum targets.4 -
I dunno if it's ok, but that's what I'm doing too. 5', started at 145 (lost 9 pounds so far in 4 weeks), eating 1000 - 1200 depending on how much walking I can get in, targeting 1.5lbs / week. My timeline is 10 weeks as well (I have some other life stuff I need to focus on after), so I figure my metabolism won't be affected too much in such a short period of time. I'll be going to maintenance after. Even just the 9 pounds I've lost so far has made so much impact on my appearance!
Well, good that it's working for you.
I think we as a species collectively have to start understanding our diet and the acvitity levels of our lifestyle a bit better, in order to pretty much make these kinds of forums obsolete. It's kind of crazy that some of us are so confined in their sedentary lifestyle because of work &c. that they can't even have a steady 2000 kcal a day because there's not enough movement.
About your metabolism: if you stay in a deficit for long enough, it'll slow down a bit, as it always does with weight loss. But it won't truly damage your metabolism. Long term studies of people on 1500 kcal each day (measured out by scientists, not the people themselves...) came to the conclusion that all these folks lost massive amounts of body fat in 6 months time, some (men) going from 20 to around 5% body fat. Yet, despite their metabolism slowing down a bit, it wasn't in any way damaged.2 -
Alright. So, I'd suggest you stay at around 1200 at least - really, as a minimum. Try to stuff yourself with leafy greens. About 100 grams of steamed broccoli will be about 25 kcal. Eat 400 grams. It's 100 kcal. I'm not kidding - yeah, you might feel a bit gassy.... but trust me, you'll be full all the time. Eat plenty of chicken or turkey. I simply boil chicken breast (109 kcal per 100 gr), about 300 gr (330 kcal). Pull it apart after 40 minutes of cooking in a 7 kcal broth cube. Put it together with the broccoli and have some sweet potato (<100 kcal per 100 gr) - about 100 gr. Just grill it in a pan with tiny bit of oil, add some salt, pepper and paprika powder. You'll have a 430-450 (with some hot sauce) kcal dinner, which is about 800 grams of food - almost 2 lbs of food. Figure out your diet like this and eat 3 of these big *kitten* meals a day. Get yourself up to 1200 at least to provide your body with the nutrients it needs. And trust me, you won't be starving at all like this. Truth be told, exercise is a catalyst for weight loss, so a diet will help, but combining it with some heavy exercise (particularly lifting weights) will really get you started. If it's around that time of the month or so, don't be discouraged. Hormones and water retention can truly mess with a woman's head as the weight can easily go up and down 2-3 lbs a day. Ultimately it's about how you feel. It's good to have a goal, but don't starve yourself. If you find your diet and lifestyle with fitness to be satiating, it's so much easier to stick with than when you try and go on a crash diet for extreme weight loss.
I'd be starving on that little fat, not to mention bored.0 -
Short bouts of slightly faster weight loss for a short period of time (10 weeks in this case) are okay, but you need to ask yourself, are the extra 3-5 pounds worth it? Do you believe that's going to make a big difference? I wouldn't go for it myself because if you aren't already lean 3-5 pounds make little visual difference and are not worth the extra hunger. You may feel differently though, and in this case make sure to pay extra attention to the quality of your food and may even want to supplement with a multivitamin. The last thing you want is to look ill (or worse, be ill) on your sibling's wedding.3
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RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »Alright. So, I'd suggest you stay at around 1200 at least - really, as a minimum. Try to stuff yourself with leafy greens. About 100 grams of steamed broccoli will be about 25 kcal. Eat 400 grams. It's 100 kcal. I'm not kidding - yeah, you might feel a bit gassy.... but trust me, you'll be full all the time. Eat plenty of chicken or turkey. I simply boil chicken breast (109 kcal per 100 gr), about 300 gr (330 kcal). Pull it apart after 40 minutes of cooking in a 7 kcal broth cube. Put it together with the broccoli and have some sweet potato (<100 kcal per 100 gr) - about 100 gr. Just grill it in a pan with tiny bit of oil, add some salt, pepper and paprika powder. You'll have a 430-450 (with some hot sauce) kcal dinner, which is about 800 grams of food - almost 2 lbs of food. Figure out your diet like this and eat 3 of these big *kitten* meals a day. Get yourself up to 1200 at least to provide your body with the nutrients it needs. And trust me, you won't be starving at all like this. Truth be told, exercise is a catalyst for weight loss, so a diet will help, but combining it with some heavy exercise (particularly lifting weights) will really get you started. If it's around that time of the month or so, don't be discouraged. Hormones and water retention can truly mess with a woman's head as the weight can easily go up and down 2-3 lbs a day. Ultimately it's about how you feel. It's good to have a goal, but don't starve yourself. If you find your diet and lifestyle with fitness to be satiating, it's so much easier to stick with than when you try and go on a crash diet for extreme weight loss.
I'd be starving on that little fat, not to mention bored.
I personally balance out fat by having a big bowl of Greek yogurt in the morning (with oatmeal, protein powder and blueberries). And when I'm done with work, I usually have some icecream or chocolate as a snack.0 -
weight loss is also not linear so some weeks you may lose and others you may not, or the scale may go up for many reasons. point is to lose weight in a safe manner. if you dont lose 15 lbs what then? just lose what you can safely and go from there. there is always shapewear4
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You'll be fine. Eat healthy and take supplements to make sure you're getting adequate nutrition. Don't do too much exercise, and if you do, eat a bit more. I'm much taller than you and ate 1,000 calories a day for months. I lost weight fast. I was fine. Health went up in every way. Don't listen to people on here who don't know *kitten* and think you'll LITERALLY DIEEE if you eat 1 single calorie below 1200.2
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You'll be fine. Eat healthy and take supplements to make sure you're getting adequate nutrition. Don't do too much exercise, and if you do, eat a bit more. I'm much taller than you and ate 1,000 calories a day for months. I lost weight fast. I was fine. Health went up in every way. Don't listen to people on here who don't know *kitten* and think you'll LITERALLY DIEEE if you eat 1 single calorie below 1200.
a day here and there is fine but not all the time. health issues can crop up over time eating like this,nobody said you would die but you can suffer malnutrition and other health issues. just because you didnt doesnt mean its not possible for others. and fat weight loss can lead to gall stones,hair loss,and other issues.4 -
1000 calories a day are fine especially because you are 5 feet . I'm 5 feet and 5 inches and once had to go on a 1000 calories a day because otherwise my weight would decrease anymore because I was very close to my ideal weight0
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I'm 5'1" and 120 lbs. I've been eating around 1100 cal in order to lose weight. My maintenance is around 1300. I'm just learning that I eat to not be hungry instead of eating to get full and it's not too bad. That said, if it's bedtime and I'm so hungry I think it'll interfere with sleep, I'll eat even if it brings me up to 1200. Weights been coming off pretty fast
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That said, I ate sub 900 cal for a few years and it badly damaged my health. Better to lift heavy and eat more than restrict too much too long.0
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Thanks, all. I'm gonna keep doing what I'm doing for another few weeks and then see how I feel. I'll add in a multivitamin to make sure I'm not missing any vital nutrition.
Vitamins are micronutrients. Protein, fat & carbs are macronutrients........both are vital nutrition.
Focus on proteins & fats, at least. Large deficits make it harder for your body to support existing lean muscle mass. So fast weight loss (anything above 1 pound a week would be fast for your size) doesn't reduce body fat % as effectively. Google skinny-fat.
@CharlieBeansmomTracey is correct, it takes awhile for the side effects from under eating to show up, and lean muscle loss is something many don't think about. A higher body fat % shows up as "gee, I thought I would really good at weight xxx, but I guess I need to lose (even) more."
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Update again. I finally braved the scale, which I had been avoiding, and I'm actually 4.6 lbs lighter than I thought, which makes a huge difference when you're really short! I know that once I get into the low 130s, while not thrilled with how I look, I'm content enough that I don't feel like I have to hide from cameras or anything. So since I only absolutely need to lose about another 10 lbs, I'm going to allow myself another 150 or so calories per day. Just gotta figure out where to fit them in.2
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Remember the same volume of muscle weighs more than fat but takes up less space. That's why you can actually GAIN weight while exercising but look slimmer. Balance your macros, protein, carbs and fats and find the time to walk or other exercise. That will make you FEEL and LOOK better0
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Remember the same volume of muscle weighs more than fat but takes up less space. That's why you can actually GAIN weight while exercising but look slimmer. Balance your macros, protein, carbs and fats and find the time to walk or other exercise. That will make you FEEL and LOOK better
you arent going to gain muscle eating that low of calories.2 -
You can't gain weight, muscle or fat, without a surplus of calories. Like building a house, if you don't have extra bricks you can't add on another room.
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I would be very careful with eating less than 1200 calories. If you are able to start exercises then that will let you get your calorie deficit you need in a healthier way. Also I would highly recommend trying to increase your protein intake. When trying to lose weight the key to losing fat and not muscle is to consume 1g of protein per current body weight, this will help you lose the fat but keep muscle definition. Then if you only lose 10 pounds you'll still look alot better than if you lost 15 but most of it was muscle loss.
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What's the point? Any weight loss you do is just going to come back on and than some. I've read countless posts on this site where people mention trying to lose x amount of weight within x amount of time and gaining it all back.
You're better off trying to lose 0.5 pounds a week or even 1 pound a week and eating the calories provided by MyFitnessPal it will most likely be 1200 calories.
Good luck! I would recommend even doing some walking 30 minutes and eating back half of the calories and finding some weights.
I'm 5'3 started at 188 pounds and I'm now 150 pounds. I'm losing weight in a healthy way I consume about 1600 calories though eating 1,000 calories sounds crazy!!
Why try to lose weight temporary when you can do this long term and it stay off?3 -
Don't get too hung up on the actual number on the scale, because while you can certainly lose weight in 10 weeks, you may not quite hit 15 pounds. Figure out the drop-dead date for you to get your dress altered (if necessary), and do your best to lose weight until then. You'd certainly look better in the pictures if you're 5 pounds heavier but happy and in a dress that fits you vs. 5 pounds lighter but exhausted and in a dress that doesn't fit.2
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xo0candypops0ox wrote: »I'm 5ft 1 and I rarely go over 1000 calories and I go to the gym 5 times a week and burn an extra 300 each time. I feel fine. A bit tired and always cold, but still fine. I lose 1.5 lbs a week. You'll be okay it's different when you're short, we don't need as much.
just because you dont have issues now doesnt mean you wont. and 1000 calories may work for someone very short,elderly or sedentary or a combo of the 3.but if a person has an active job and active other ways they need more calories.so if you are eating 1000 and burning 300 you are eating 700 calories? not healthy at all. Im sure thats less than your BMR4 -
xchocolategirl wrote: »What's the point? Any weight loss you do is just going to come back on and than some. I've read countless posts on this site where people mention trying to lose x amount of weight within x amount of time and gaining it all back.
You're better off trying to lose 0.5 pounds a week or even 1 pound a week and eating the calories provided by MyFitnessPal it will most likely be 1200 calories.
Good luck! I would recommend even doing some walking 30 minutes and eating back half of the calories and finding some weights.
I'm 5'3 started at 188 pounds and I'm now 150 pounds. I'm losing weight in a healthy way I consume about 1600 calories though eating 1,000 calories sounds crazy!!
Why try to lose weight temporary when you can do this long term and it stay off?
I'm not trying to lose it temporarily. I'm going to continue eating 1200 to 1300 a day after the wedding and then go up to about 1400 once I hit my goal weight.0 -
xo0candypops0ox wrote: »I'm 5ft 1 and I rarely go over 1000 calories and I go to the gym 5 times a week and burn an extra 300 each time. I feel fine. A bit tired and always cold, but still fine. I lose 1.5 lbs a week. You'll be okay it's different when you're short, we don't need as much.
If you continue on this path things will go down hill for you. The symptoms you are feeling are just the start...
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/eating-disorders/index.shtml#part_145414
Thinning of the bones (osteopenia or osteoporosis)
Mild anemia and muscle wasting and weakness
Brittle hair and nails
Dry and yellowish skin
Growth of fine hair all over the body (lanugo)
Severe constipation
Low blood pressure, slowed breathing and pulse
Damage to the structure and function of the heart
Brain damage
Multiorgan failure
Drop in internal body temperature, causing a person to feel cold all the time
Lethargy, sluggishness, or feeling tired all the time
Infertility4 -
That's amazing that your sibling planned a whole wedding in just 10 weeks! It stinks though that now you are trying to meet an unrealistic goal in that time period since that's all the time he or she gave you to prepare.
My advice? Spanx. A reasonable calorie deficit (hint, 1000 or so is not reasonable). Weight training. Drink lots of water and maybe low carb the week of the wedding. Have fun and remember that this isn't your day and no one is going to be looking at you that day, or in the pictures. Certainly not in the context of what you weigh or how you look in your dress.
Also for what it's worth, I'm 5'2 and started at 153 lbs. I've lost 35 lbs eating b/w 1600-1900 calories and now maintain eating 2200 calories. You are petite, but you are not elderly or extremely sedentary, and so eating 1000 calories in order to lose weight is neither healthy nor necessary for you.
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