Help for confused, 5 foot tall woman?

maura5880 · March 2020

Hi! I've been on and off the weight loss journey for years now. I was at my lowest (116) about 4 years ago. I stopped restricting calories and slowly the weight crept back on. In January I hit 168 and knew I had to turn things around. I've been dieting/exercising consistently since 1/6/20 and I've lost about 13.5lbs.

Since I'm so short, I've been eating around 1,050 a day. I know that's low, but it's hard to get a deficit at my height. I eat pretty clean: lots of eggs, chicken, yogurt, turkey. Just getting discouraged that I haven't lost more.

Any tips? Eating 1,050 a day I'm just surprised I have not lost more weight.

Thanks for any help!

2horsestoride · March 2020

13.5 lbs in 8 weeks is awesome progress! I'll let the experts give you tips, just wanted to say don't get discouraged. You're doing great!

nooshi713 · March 2020

I feel you. I’m also 5’0” and after years of data, I have learned that I maintain at 1700 with 10,000 steps per day. I have a good amount to lose. On sedentary days, I maintain as low as 1400. It sucks being small. You just have to be as accurate as possible.

maura5880 · March 2020

@nooshi713 you can lose on 1400? I'm wondering if I am maybe eating too little? But if it is really calories in vs calories out I don't see how I haven't been losing a little bit more?

nooshi713 · March 2020

maura5880 wrote: »

@nooshi713 you can lose on 1400? I'm wondering if I am maybe eating too little? But if it is really calories in vs calories out I don't see how I haven't been losing a little bit more?

Yes but only if I’m really active. When I’m sedentary, I find it hard to lose at all because I have to go below 1200-1300 which isn’t easy to stick to.

bex1086 · March 2020

I'm a similar height and my data suggests that I can lose 1lb a week on 1730. I was tracking my calories over a period of 5 weeks and lost 5lbs from start to finish. I didn't weigh myself daily but every now and again and over time it went steadily down.

I don't know how accurate it is though so I'm giving it another shot for a few weeks and making sure I weigh myself daily this time to really see a pattern. Planning on giving it a bit longer too, I fell off the wagon during half term with the kids being at home so I went a bit mad and put on a few pounds. Was back to the pre half term weight within a week though.

For reference I'm 5'1, weighing on average 110lbs and I never stop. I'm at the gym for at least an hour 6 days a week which includes 3 days of weight lifting. I try and walk 4 miles a day to take my kids to school and back and 3-4 nights a week I work as a waitress where I'm on my feet walking backwards and forwards for at least 5 hours. I also have a 2 year old at home everyday so I'm up and down sorting stuff out for him. My average steps excluding exercise come in at 15,000, would be higher but other than work and the short walk to the gym I'm fairly inactive at the weekend.

I can't mentally survive on 1200 calories less alone less even when I wasn't as active. Not eating makes me grumpy and I like to be able to have room to fit wine in at the weekends and cheese in daily. Life is not worth living without cheese and wine!

yirara · March 2020

Hun, you're expecting too much! You've lost 13.8lbs in 8 weeks? That's a daily calorie deficit of 843 calories! Provided you weigh everything correctly then your maintenance calories are at around 1900 calories per day. That's not little. You could easily eat 1400 calories per day and still lose at a good pace. Or even more.

Sophi_allheart · March 2020

You can try a calculator to see approximately how many calories you need. Try this one. I found it useful. https://tdeecalculator.net

As you lose weight, you may have to adjust how many calories you eat as well. Anyways, good luck!

slbbw · March 2020

If you are finding 10,50 hard to stick to you may want to pay attention to how lethargic you feel. When your calorie level is low often times the body will compensate by lowering your NEAT (non exercise activity thermogenesis), or rather the amount of calories you burn throughout your normal daily activity. This can be a bit insidious as it often looks like a bit less fidgeting and a greater desire to sit as opposed to walking around etc. There can be a sweet spot for some where you can increase your calories a bit and stay at the same deficit by increasing your NEAT. Again often times this happens naturally. Generally the recommendation around here is no less than 1200 calories for women. Based on your data that should still give you greater than 1lb per week loss.

There is a thread on NEAT improvement strategies you may find useful. For example I took the stairs 12 flights today which burns ~25 calories. Not a ton, but if I do that twice and add a few laps of my office floor when I take a restroom break I should be able to get an extra 100 calories burned for the day which would be a 10% bump. Also you did not mention excercise. If you are exercising on top of that you should be eating a portion of your calories back, or at least using them to calculate what your baseline expenditure is. Good luck. Changes that are sustainable are always going to be more successful long term than changes that are not.

nfgchick1979 · March 2020

I'm 5'0" and you'll never catch me eating that low of calories (I'd be so hangry, lol). I eat between 1500-1700 calories a day depending on how active I am that day. Currently I am between 128-132 lbs depending on the day. I've lost 20 lbs eating this way. You've lost a considerable amount such a short time which is awesome! But, I'm just saying this to let you know that you can probably comfortably eat more food

PAV8888 · March 2020

An aggressive deficit goal suitable for an obese individual is a 25% deficit off TDEE.

An aggressive deficit goal for an overweight or normal weight individual is a 20% deficit off TDEE.

You're saying you lost 13.5 in 8 weeks, so you're stating an 840 Cal deficit.

Either your tdee is over 3200, in which you would be able to even lose weight eating more than 3000 Cal a day.... OR your deficit is well above aggressive.

Eat an appreciable bit more calories than your 1050

Want and expect your weight loss to slow down and approach something more sustainable and suitable for your daily expenditure, or end up having to cope with unwanted side effects.

maura5880 · March 2020

Thanks for all the insight! I do feel like for the past week or so, my weight loss has stalled. So I'm wondering if I'm eating too few calories, causing my body to hold onto every bit of fat?

Avidkeo · March 2020

maura5880 wrote: »

Thanks for all the insight! I do feel like for the past week or so, my weight loss has stalled. So I'm wondering if I'm eating too few calories, causing my body to hold onto every bit of fat?

This is normal. Weight fluxuations are a pain in the butt but to be expected.

Double check you are logging everything accurately, that you are weighing everything, and I would strongly suggest you trust the process. It will take time but it took time to put it on.

maura5880 · March 2020

@Avidkeo Thanks! I'm going to try eating a bit more because I think 1,050 is just too low for my activity level!

sophia162 · March 2020

nfgchick1979 wrote: »

I'm 5'0" and you'll never catch me eating that low of calories (I'd be so hangry, lol). I eat between 1500-1700 calories a day depending on how active I am that day. Currently I am between 128-132 lbs depending on the day. I've lost 20 lbs eating this way. You've lost a considerable amount such a short time which is awesome! But, I'm just saying this to let you know that you can probably comfortably eat more food

Excuse me for butting in, fellow shortie here, struggling like heck to stay in her set deficit.

Do you eat 1500 - 1700 calories while continuing to lose weight? Or do you eat that amount to stay at 128-132 lbs (like, maintenance calories)?

I didn't quite understand and it interests me so. If you can clear that up for me, please.

Help for confused, 5 foot tall woman?

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