Help this shortie/petite girl w/ calorie goal

Hi. I'm 5'0" also. I like to round up...LOL
Yes, if I were you I would start at 1200 and see how that feels. Don't go under. just stick to 1200-1300 as the range. Then weigh yourself maybe ? weekly? and see if you're losing weight at 1200. Try not to lose more than 1-2# a week.

Are you exercising besides walking? I do a LOT of activity and now burn around 2000 calories a day. Feels super amazing. I started at 1200 and stayed there for almost a year before slowly increasing.

1200-1400 perhaps: having a range makes life so much easier.

Your BMR is approximately 1400, so if sedentary/not much daily activity in your job/hobbies you probably burn daily 1650-1750. Plus a little extra for the intentional exercise.

Eating 1400 daily should lead to a rate of roughly 3 pounds per month, ignoring exercise. More if your lifestyle (not counting exercise) is more active. Such as if you're on your feet mostly for work, chasing toddlers all day, etc.

WIth being petite, there are (I think) 2 things to keep in mind.

1. Accuracy is important. As you lose weight, your daily total burn will go down and so will your deficit. So you need to try to be as accurate as possible. Use a food scale for solid food, keep the # of meals that require estimation to a minimum, use accurate diary entries, etc. If you're making your food: you can be reasonably sure of calorie content. If you're eating food made by friends & family, unless you're in the kitchen with them, you have to guess. So keep that in mind.

2. Once you reach goal weight, you won't be able to go by the 2000/2500 daily recommended calories that get mentioned on food labels and such. If sedentary, at your goal weight your daily total burn may be only in the 1500-1600 range. Of course if you can build more 'active' things into your lifestyle, this # goes up.

If you’re sedentary, you will need to eat around 1200 to lose. I’m the same height and age as you and I maintain at 1450 when sedentary, 1700 when active with 10,000 steps. Try to get more activity if you can so you can eat a bit more. Weight loss is slow when you’re short.

RNmama24 wrote: »

Thank you everyone! You are all so helpful and appreciate your advice! I have a food scale and will start weighing my food.
My goal is to do 1200-1300 calories mon-fri, and sat/sun allow 1400.
Is the consensus that I should eat back my walking calories? I rarely burn more than 150-200 calories per my Apple Watch.
I have a desk job, so no activity at work.
I hope all of you have an amazing day today

Use your discretion on that. It is easy to overestimate the # burned, and you don't want to eat an extra 300 (thinking you burned 300) when in reality you may have burned less. So judge by how you feel. And when you choose to eat them, be careful to use a conservative #.

Beyond that, it never hurts to look for little ways to get more movement into your life. Park further away. Take the stairs instead of elevator, etc. Those little things can add up.

I’m 5”3’ trying to loose the last stubborn pounds; CW 115; I’m going to try the Whole 30 to combat my sweet addiction. please friend me!

I’m 45 years old. Recent picture.

I'm the same from age to weight. I've been shooting for 1200 but haven't been following the plan well at all. I need to refocus, work out, and eat better. If you'd like to have an online accountability partner, let me know!