Short people get the shaft
Replies
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I'm 5' 3" and female, age 23. I recently compared BMRs with two friends who are much taller than I am (one is male, one female), and they were shocked at how low mine was compared to theirs, given that I'm a good 10+ years younger. Of course BMR is not TDEE, but it's a starting point, especially since we all have sedentary jobs. They both had the experience of being able to eat "whatever they wanted" at my age, so they assumed it was the same for me. Since my body needs fewer calories, I suppose it should also demand fewer calories, but the real challenges in weight management for me are not about hunger but about lifestyle and choices.2
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The one major downside is that, at least in America, society is made with taller people in mind.
Many restaurant meal portions can reasonably fit in a taller person's daily caloric allowance, but usually they'll only fit in mine if it's the only meal I eat that day... 2 -
As a short lady, I do get annoyed at how MFP logs exercise. It tells me that 2.5 miles per hour is "slow". I have a 29" inseam - I have to move those little legs awfully fast to go 2.5 miles an hour! At 3 mph, I'm already jogging. My husband has long legs; I can match him footfall for footfall, but I'm always lagging behind because my stride is so much shorter.
I am not "slow"! I just have to take little steps :-P3 -
As a short lady, I do get annoyed at how MFP logs exercise. It tells me that 2.5 miles per hour is "slow". I have a 29" inseam - I have to move those little legs awfully fast to go 2.5 miles an hour! At 3 mph, I'm already jogging. My husband has long legs; I can match him footfall for footfall, but I'm always lagging behind because my stride is so much shorter.
I am not "slow"! I just have to take little steps :-P
I also have a 29" inseam (short man) and 2.5 mph feels slow to me. I don't switch from walking to jogging until >4mph. So we may be all different.1 -
Good heavens I would love an extra 2" on my inseam. Mine is 27"
My average walking pace is 3mph, race walking just over 4, and window shopping, snail pace.
My SO has a 34" inseam so he can really cover the ground with far fewer steps.
I have been with him a long time so he knows to slow down.
Cheers, h.0 -
Hmmm...I’m over 6 foot tall and my calories are under 1500 a day.0
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TheMothership71 wrote: »Hmmm...I’m over 6 foot tall and my calories are under 1500 a day.
How much weight are you trying to lose?
What rate of loss did you select?4 -
TheMothership71 wrote: »Hmmm...I’m over 6 foot tall and my calories are under 1500 a day.
Hmm, I'm 5'5", age 62, and can maintain a weight in the 120s on well over 2000.
What do either of these things have to do with short people?
@WinoGelato is trying to helpful, to her credit . . . I'm just confused.3 -
As a short lady, I do get annoyed at how MFP logs exercise. It tells me that 2.5 miles per hour is "slow". I have a 29" inseam - I have to move those little legs awfully fast to go 2.5 miles an hour! At 3 mph, I'm already jogging. My husband has long legs; I can match him footfall for footfall, but I'm always lagging behind because my stride is so much shorter.
I am not "slow"! I just have to take little steps :-P
I wish that I could wear 29" leg jeans without folding the ankle over several times. I have serious short legs, but still manage to walk at well >5km/hr (3.1mph) as my everyday pace and don't start jogging until 6.8km/hr (4.25mph) as measured on a dreadmill. No idea what speed I start running at outside, but I'm guessing it's around 8km/hr from my strava stats and faster if I'm running short distance (5km or less). And I do count myself as slow, I'm a long distance plodder at heart.1 -
TheMothership71 wrote: »Hmmm...I’m over 6 foot tall and my calories are under 1500 a day.
Hmm, I'm 5'5", age 62, and can maintain a weight in the 120s on well over 2000.
What do either of these things have to do with short people?
@WinoGelato is trying to helpful, to her credit . . . I'm just confused.
I assumed poster was trying to say that even as a tall woman she also feels calorie deprived but i suspect as is so common, that too aggressive of a goal was chosen for the amount of weight she has to lose.
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WinoGelato wrote: »TheMothership71 wrote: »Hmmm...I’m over 6 foot tall and my calories are under 1500 a day.
Hmm, I'm 5'5", age 62, and can maintain a weight in the 120s on well over 2000.
What do either of these things have to do with short people?
@WinoGelato is trying to helpful, to her credit . . . I'm just confused.
I assumed poster was trying to say that even as a tall woman she also feels calorie deprived but i suspect as is so common, that too aggressive of a goal was chosen for the amount of weight she has to lose.
Perhaps, but people seem to make the same assumption about my low calorie levels based on my gender. It seems like some people can't believe that a man could have anything less than 3K as an RMR (maybe a slight exaggeration in some cases, but there are others who really think it should be 3K because of gender alone). My RMR tested in a lab was 1,500. I have a desk job so if I don't intentionally exercise, my TDEE estimate is around 1,800.
For me to lose weight at a noticeable rate means either exercising or eating very little or both. I have an incredible appetite (especially with carbs), and that is why I recently gained about 19 lbs. of fat during a 3 week unrestricted diet break... plus 13 lbs. of water weight, which mostly came off in the first week returning to carb restriction.0 -
43 year old 5'8" midget currently bulking on 2200 cals a day!1
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I don't feel very hungry unless I have a busy day and skip meals (I can't eat OMAD, I get too ill), but it is kinda sucky, cause to lose weight right now, I actually have to eat less than 1k calories, so logging here is a pain (besides the excessive lag).
Short people also tend to be disproportionate, meaning their clothing size tends to be bigger than it should with their weight.
An example, at 130lb, I'm wearing the same size that 150lb people wear o.o
But I don't mind being short most of the time. We fit in small spaces, and have a smaller food budget.1 -
Shorter muscles build faster, you don't bump your head on things, they made 3 sports just for you. Crossfit, Broken Skull Ranch, Obstacle course racing and American Ninja....oops thats 4. Only draw back is you feel slighted and end up with weeman syndrome. You can always grow a manbun to make you taller.5
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Shorter muscles build faster, you don't bump your head on things, they made 3 sports just for you. Crossfit, Broken Skull Ranch, Obstacle course racing and American Ninja....oops thats 4. Only draw back is you feel slighted and end up with weeman syndrome. You can always grow a manbun to make you taller.
is that why the man bun is so popular
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LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »Shorter muscles build faster, you don't bump your head on things, they made 3 sports just for you. Crossfit, Broken Skull Ranch, Obstacle course racing and American Ninja....oops thats 4. Only draw back is you feel slighted and end up with weeman syndrome. You can always grow a manbun to make you taller.
is that why the man bun is so popular
I'm not sure. Saw the mantail the other day,lol.0 -
As a short lady, I do get annoyed at how MFP logs exercise. It tells me that 2.5 miles per hour is "slow". I have a 29" inseam - I have to move those little legs awfully fast to go 2.5 miles an hour! At 3 mph, I'm already jogging. My husband has long legs; I can match him footfall for footfall, but I'm always lagging behind because my stride is so much shorter.
I am not "slow"! I just have to take little steps :-P
I get confused by these arguments that short people can't move fast.
I'm short, have a shorter inseam than you, and can walk 4mph and start to run any faster than that. I'm confused by this assertion about short legs. You just have to take more steps than a taller person to get the same pace they do.
ETA: Trust me, I've spent 30 years keeping up with a 6'2" partner. I'm only 5'1".1 -
The one major downside is that, at least in America, society is made with taller people in mind. Many restaurant meal portions can reasonably fit in a taller person's daily caloric allowance, but usually they'll only fit in mine if it's the only meal I eat that day...
Restaurant portions are massively out of whack in North America (especially the USA), tall or short.2 -
Doesn't matter how tall you are, portions in America are ridiculous.0
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