5’2 females, how are you maintaining?
Replies
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@RunRutheeRun Thanks so much for the postive feedback. Having this broken foot, really has had me down in the dumps. I am studying to be a Personal Trainer, and this injury has got me feeling less than happy & positive.
You mentioned "calorie dense" foods. What examples do you have?
I pack crudite salad boxes, for my husband & I, each lunch, but they get boring, so it may be time to add in a hummus or something.
I normally walk a minimum of 10k steps a day, and hopefully I will get back to this, as I become more mobile again.
Pintrest is a super idea, I must get back into that :-)
Thank you again.
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when I mean calorie dense I'm thinking cake/chocolate/bread..not that there's anything wrong with them but they use up too many of our precious calories. If we want to feel satiated we eat filling foods, a mix of protein/fibre/fat and carbs.
You're doing great if you are prepping your lunches in advance
thats a great habit. Yes hummus is yummy, also I like some sweet or hot chilli sauce with veggies. Anything that makes our food tastes awesome instead of bland eh
While you are off your feet you just need to keep an eye more on your intake, but losing weight will still happen if you are eating at calorie deficit.
You will soon recover, this is only temporary so don't be too hard on yourself ok.
I'm happy to help
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also @tamarawilmot for some more ideas for you...
I have a few go to lunches that I prepare ahead:
tuna pasta salad with either chilli sauce or tomato/pepper relish - yum and really filling for 350-400 cals
Egg mayo salad wholewheat sandwich - 380 cals
Chicken and egg salad with wheaten bread. around 400 cals Plenty of colourful salad veg, add a few nuts and you've got a filling and very tasty meal. Balsamic dressing is yum and is low cal.
Dinners are inclined to be mostly home made curries / pastas / casseroles/ soups/ salads - I like to cook . If we get adequte protein, fats and fibre we wont feel hungry.
My meal ratio is breakfast 300/ lunch 350-450 and dinner 500-600 plus snacks 300 for maintenance. When I was in losing phase I kept my snacks to 150 and shaved 100 cals off my dinner - and bam! 0.5lb lost per week on average
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As @RunRutheeRun stated, motivation really does come and go. If I only went to the gym when I was motivated, I would seldom be there. I have to get up very early, make time for my workouts before going to work and do it all over again the next day. It is all about building a habit, for we are creatures of habit. Slowly, after exercising for a while, it’ll be second nature and your body will even crave it. When I first started it was incredibly hard, I couldn’t run more than half a second, I was in pain, I was frustrated and I was mad at myself for getting to that point. I didn’t give up though, I started being more patient and not try to sprint because my body was only able to WALK. Now, I run 12-15lbs a week, 51lbs loss and I am on maintenance and it feels damn good. Yes it takes a lot of work and dedication, but it is so worth it.
When it comes to emotional eating, I know nothing about because I can’t stand the thought of food when I’m down, but that is not to say I can’t give you some pointers: go for a walk, paint something, take a bubble bath, paint your nails, listen to upbeat music, create a gratitude journal, go outside and meditate, make yourself some tea or coffee (use Stevia and single serve creamer 10c), watch a comedy and allow yourself 1 bag of Skinnypop popcorn
I hope this help! None of us are experts by any means, it is all trial and error to find out what truly works for us.3 -
5'2", petite frame and 90lbs, maintaining at about 1700 per day. I walk 3-4 miles a day, plus 45 minutes on my stair stepper machine (due to the short days and colder weather, otherwise I normally walk 5 or 6 miles a day). I lift weights 3x per week, just a short 15 minutes or so each time and it keeps my muscles nicely toned. Stretch throughout the day. 58yo.2
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I’m 5’2ish maintainence for me is 2300-2400 calories weighing 109lbs, 5 lifts and 3-4 post 20 mins cardio, but right now I’m cutting2
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I'm 5'2" and 100ish. I don't track rigidly, but I'd guess most days between 1500-2200? Maybe average of about 1700/1800.
I try to be active in some form every day-even if it's just walking outside for 30 minutes.
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I am between 5'2" and 5'3" and maintain around 105 (give or take a pound or two) on about 1400 calories. I play tennis a few times a week, plus yoga/pilates/barre classes, and a couple of "bootcamp" or HIIT-style classes. I try to get in some kind of workout most every day.
But for the two weeks of my recent vacation, I didn't exercise at all and ate every carb in the NYC metro area (as it is hard to find good bagels and pizza where I live now.) Normally I walk a ton (like 10 miles a day) when I am in the City, so I don't stress out about skipping the gym...but this trip it was freezing...so we took Ubers everywhere. So now I'm working to shed the few pounds I gained over the holidays.0 -
Congratulations!!! It is great to finally get to the maintenance phase. If you change your weight loss goal to "Maintaining my current weight", that should be a good start. If your goal had been to lose a pound a week, they would have given you a deficit of 500 calories per day, as long as it didn't take you below 1200/day. You might have to enter your exercise at the beginning of each day and plan to eat those calories if you continue to lose more than you want to.2
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I'm 5'2, 43, maintenance range 118 +/- 2 lbs.
I have a desk job and average 10-12K steps/day in winter. Do circuit training 2-3 times/week.
Maintenance cals for me per my FitBit and actual results are around 2000-2200. Cold weather and busy times at work means I'm less active now than normally, in spring/summer/fall I average about 15k steps and can eat 2200-2300. I've been maintaining for about 3 years now.
OP I recommend slowly adding cals in from your deficit, maybe 100 cals/week, till you stop losing and find your maintenance sweet spot.3 -
I'm 5'2", 49, and have been maintaining at about 120 for about a year and a half.
I do a mix of cardio and strength training about 4-5 times a week, and although I haven't tracked in a bit, have maintained on about 1800-2000 cal/day.1 -
5'1", 111-113 pounds. I'm 34 but it seems like my maintenance is low--1350 is my best guess. I workout 6 times a week (PiYO and You Are Your Own Gym). I guess everyone's different.2
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I am between 5'2" and 5'3" and maintain around 105 (give or take a pound or two) on about 1400 calories. I play tennis a few times a week, plus yoga/pilates/barre classes, and a couple of "bootcamp" or HIIT-style classes. I try to get in some kind of workout most every day.
But for the two weeks of my recent vacation, I didn't exercise at all and ate every carb in the NYC metro area (as it is hard to find good bagels and pizza where I live now.) Normally I walk a ton (like 10 miles a day) when I am in the City, so I don't stress out about skipping the gym...but this trip it was freezing...so we took Ubers everywhere. So now I'm working to shed the few pounds I gained over the holidays.
1400 calories for maintenance?! That seems way too low. I am similar size and maintain on way more calories. I lost all my weight on 1500-1600.3 -
Congratulations on ur weight loss! And good luck with long term maintenance! Obviously it can, and has been done! I’m 5’3”. Maintaining 115 lbs for 14 months and counting after losing 30 lbs in 4 months. Working out 6 days/week. 5 of those days are 60 mins lifting, 15 mins elliptical. 6th day is 60 mins elliptical only. 1800-2000 calories/ day. Lean protein, healthy fats, and complex carbs. Macro goals 30% protein, 30% healthy fat, 40% complex carbs! Working great for me. No setbacks yet! Be proud of yourself, keep it up and good luck!3
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For the women in here maintaining at 1500 or below - is that before exercise? Because many of you seem pretty active and that seems kind of low. How accurate is your logging? Have you tried reverse dieting to slowly add calories to see if maintenance is actually a little higher? Most people that assume because they are petite they must eat low cals to lose and then maintain are often surprised to find that if they increase 50-100 cals at a time slowly, that their maintenance number is higher than they would have previously thought, and for those who are active, that's certainly the case, and even without strenuous exercise, just having a higher NEAT from walking and ancillary movement can have an impact on how much you can eat.9
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WinoGelato wrote: »For the women in here maintaining at 1500 or below - is that before exercise? Because many of you seem pretty active and that seems kind of low. How accurate is your logging? Have you tried reverse dieting to slowly add calories to see if maintenance is actually a little higher? Most people that assume because they are petite they must eat low cals to lose and then maintain are often surprised to find that if they increase 50-100 cals at a time slowly, that their maintenance number is higher than they would have previously thought, and for those who are active, that's certainly the case, and even without strenuous exercise, just having a higher NEAT from walking and ancillary movement can have an impact on how much you can eat.
This was true for me. I maintained at around 1700 for a year with exercise but then slowly added and found I could maintain at 2100-2600. Been maintaining same weight for 2 years now.7 -
hey Guys, so inspiring to see a post just for us shorties at 5'2" ! I get teased all the time
I'm 35 female, at 140 lbs and I work out 5 times a week (2 classes of spinning and 3 HIIT boocamps). I am trying to get to 120 lbs and keep my total calories deficit at 1200. I'm a vegetarian so it's hard to get my proteins but I aim for 30 protein, 30 fat and 40 carbs. I seem to have hit a plateau and the pounds are very slow to come off. Any ideas on where I can improve ? Sorry for the long post !1 -
WinoGelato wrote: »For the women in here maintaining at 1500 or below - is that before exercise? Because many of you seem pretty active and that seems kind of low. How accurate is your logging? Have you tried reverse dieting to slowly add calories to see if maintenance is actually a little higher? Most people that assume because they are petite they must eat low cals to lose and then maintain are often surprised to find that if they increase 50-100 cals at a time slowly, that their maintenance number is higher than they would have previously thought, and for those who are active, that's certainly the case, and even without strenuous exercise, just having a higher NEAT from walking and ancillary movement can have an impact on how much you can eat.
that's a VERY interesting statement. I am only in maintenance now for a few months but I think that it IS true somewhat. I was surprised I was continuing to lose at 1850 a day when my TDEE calculator put me at that amount. The happy scale ap is also helpful to monitor so daily fluctuations do not appear so critical. In maintenance my daily fluctuations (I weight the same time) are actually a lot more than during loss. And not to say CICO is not the end game, but I notice that eating "clean" for me seems like I can eat MORE than if I eat junk. Calorie wise AND volume wise of course. I know we say a calorie is a calorie but some of the junk I think my fat cells like to grab on to. (just musing not starting an argument). 5'1.75" maintain at around 99-100 , 59 years old. Not really all that active although I do try to run daily.2 -
5'-2.25" almost at my maintenance goal, just a couple of pounds to go. I currently am at 129 and would like to maintain between 125 - 128. I am looking a head now to prepare for maintaining my goal once I meet it.0
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A bit over 5’3 here and my data from 2017 puts me at about 1250 to maintain. My 5-10 miles walking a week + 2 to 3 miles swimming a week, + 2 strength training, +3 HIIT sessions + some misc. will increase that but not by much, the numbers suggest maybe 2-300 extra a day. (Apple Watch numbers (swimming discounted by 1/3 as I know the Watch is overestimating my swims) maybe 450 to 900 cals for weekly walking, 800-1200 for weekly swim and negligible for the rest, maybe 300 or so).
I hope I’m wrong, but that is what 2017 data says. I’m trying to start maintenance this month with 1450 calories. I guess I’ll see.
Since I can not be happy on 1450 a day I’ll be continuing to count calories weekly and do 5:2 fasting. So that will work out to two 500-600 calorie days and five days at 1800.2 -
So update for me is that I am now down to 116, so 4 lbs down since I stopped being on a deficit at 120. I do have to admit that I don’t hit my daily 1720 calorie allowance everyday, nor do I eat my exercise calories (yet I should say). Stress and what not has decreased my appetite and sometimes I find myself eating at the same level as when I was on a deficit hence my continue loss. Bright side is that I can now have a range 116-120, that is if I don’t keep losing!2
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I'm 21, dropped about 37lbs now weigh 122lbs I workout 5x a week, rest on weekends. Doing mostly cardio vids on the youtube, recently started walking and working a bit with weights. My calorie maintence intake is at 1,610. Would like to stay between the 120-125 range. 2
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So the conclusion is, if you're a 5'2" female, you have to count calories and eat tiny amounts for the rest of your life, if you want to maintain low weight. For those of you on higher maintenance numbers, 2300 kcal's, you can't even eat one pizza, that's one meal!3
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purpleannex wrote: »So the conclusion is, if you're a 5'2" female, you have to count calories and eat tiny amounts for the rest of your life, if you want to maintain low weight. For those of you on higher maintenance numbers, 2300 kcal's, you can't even eat one pizza, that's one meal!
Thanks! although I don't think that any of us would want to spend 2300 calories on one meal anyway - I definately would want more than one or two slices of pizza anyway at a time (I'd be stuffed after 2). When you're smaller it takes less to fill you. If we want to stay at our goal weight range then yes we do have to be vigilent but then so does anyone regardless of their height - they just get a few hundred more calories a day.
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RunRutheeRun wrote: »purpleannex wrote: »So the conclusion is, if you're a 5'2" female, you have to count calories and eat tiny amounts for the rest of your life, if you want to maintain low weight. For those of you on higher maintenance numbers, 2300 kcal's, you can't even eat one pizza, that's one meal!
Thanks! although I don't think that any of us would want to spend 2300 calories on one meal anyway - I definately would want more than one or two slices of pizza anyway at a time (I'd be stuffed after 2). When you're smaller it takes less to fill you. If we want to stay at our goal weight range then yes we do have to be vigilent but then so does anyone regardless of their height - they just get a few hundred more calories a day.
Yes, it's very depressing isn't it! I'm a 5'10" man, and one 14" deep pan pizza isn't enough to fill me, I can convince myself that it's enough and I'm not hungry, but not full.
Edit: like you say, the same applies to me, I can't eat 3 pizzas a day like I'd like to, washed down with 2litres of ice cream and 8 cans cider, so the reality is, if I don't want to be overweight, I have to psychologically starve myself (not medical starvation).3 -
@purpleannex well I think we all can eat far more than we need, because something tastes really good etc. If you have a lot of salad on the side a few slices of pizza is completely filling and adequate. For you as a guy ok you can have a few slices more but it should still fill you up. I've got used to eating less. It is what it is.4
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RunRutheeRun wrote: »@purpleannex well I think we all can eat far more than we need, because something tastes really good etc. If you have a lot of salad on the side a few slices of pizza is completely filling and adequate. For you as a guy ok you can have a few slices more but it should still fill you up. I've got used to eating less. It is what it is.
It's depressing, that's what it is!8 -
I don't see it that way @purpleannex which is just as well 2
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purpleannex wrote: »So the conclusion is, if you're a 5'2" female, you have to count calories and eat tiny amounts for the rest of your life, if you want to maintain low weight. For those of you on higher maintenance numbers, 2300 kcal's, you can't even eat one pizza, that's one meal!
That's exactly the opposite of what I've been saying in this thread and what I try to stress in every thread where someone says "I'm short so I have to eat 1200 if I want to lose". There are dozens of examples in this thread where petite women are maintaining at >1800 calories, and the ones who believe their maintenance cals are <1500, I think many would find they could push that up if they carefully tested it with moderate activity.
I maintain around 2200 and have no problem fitting in pizza on a very regular basis - in fact tonight is pizza night! Spinach salad, a couple of pieces of pizza and wine. Why would I be disappointed in that?11 -
@WinoGelato I'm convinced that purpleannex is trying to wind us petites up.5
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