Question for Shorties 5'1 and under

Hey welcome! I'm 5' tall and I started at 139.5 almost 10 years ago (currently 119). My progress was halting and cyclical and slow; the first few pounds would be super easy, but then every time I'd start cutting weight I'd get too gung-ho and binge/burn out. I've gained and lost the same weight multiple times, so in an effort to never have to yo-yo again I'm aiming for really modest goals this time: a 100-200 calorie deficit (more on active days). My maintenance is 1490, plus 300-500 in exercise calories.

Of course you will be able to lose weight no matter what your TDEE is; for those of us on the smaller end, the margins of error are just a bit smaller. So:

• Track as accurately as possible.
• Be patient, be consistent.
• Maintain a deficit small enough that you're not tempted to binge.
• Round out your workout routine; if you're only doing cardio, try adding in some weight/interval training. Try different types of cardio too.

Most of these tips are general, and I can't claim to have everything figured out, but these are just some things that I find help me stick to CICO on a tight calorie budget. Hope that helps!

I'm 5'2" and I'm 51 years old. I currently weigh 118. I'm on 1200 calories a day. I workout 6 days a week, 90 plus minutes a session. I eat back about half of my calories.

I work out for an hour 4 days a week before work- 10 miles on a stationary bike for 35 min, 10 min rowing, then push-ups, crunches and hand weights. I do the cardio pretty intensively (drenched in sweat). I give myself 185 calories for that but it's closer to 275. I'm adding in a spinning class a couple of evenings a week and heavy weights this week. I'm trying to get from 128 to 121 before Christmas.

It doesn't seem like my metabolism has slowed much but I've slowed a little.

I am 5'1'' and I've lost more or less 100 pounds. I was eating 1700 calories and burnt around the same at the gym. Later on I was eating 1200-1500 calories and the last 40 pounds I lost without counting calories so I don't really know how many of those I was eating but I guess around 1400-1800 calories a day.

Since you workout I'd say if you feel too weak and tired with 1200 calories, add a 200 calorie snack and you'll be fine.

middlehaitch wrote: »

I very early on found that trying to cut way back on eating my exercise calories was counter productive- I would work out, then barely move the rest of the day so burnt even less calories.

so much this.

! dropped from 147lb to 128 fairly smoothly just by taking up running. But then as my running intensity increased I realised I needed to eat to fuel it, and am now struggling to lose more. It probably doesn't help that I'm not so consistent with logging and can end up blowing my lovely nice daily average at the weekend putting me at maintenance.

1200 plus some of your exercise calories seems a good fit for many. My BMR is about 1285 so in theory I should lose on anything under 1500 calories.

@TorStar80 for me, part of my focus (actually probably MORE of my focus) is on getting fitter. Gradual increases in fitness make me naturally eat a healthier diet, and in fact a bit less (it's hard to move when stuffed with pizza....). The fitter I am the happier I am, so I'm not interested in being sedentary. Sedentary won't get me the body I want (nice shapely curves without wobbly bits). Sedentary won't help my heart and the rest of my organs process my living needs properly. I'd far rather be active than sedentary. I don't think of 'exercise' as being hours and hours in the gym, but just being more ACTIVE. Getting out and going for walks, runs, cycles etc. Walking rather than using the car etc.