5’3 gals, let’s be friends.

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I am 5’3 and trying to lose weight. I would love to see what other women who are similar to my height that are losing weight or have lost weight eat.
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  • Coral_Leigh
    Coral_Leigh Posts: 14 Member
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    I’m a bit shorter at 5’0” and on the same journey. I used a calorie calculator & have set my calories to 1,350 per day. According to the calculator it will take me 1.19 years to reach my goal weight on this amount (a loss of 19kg to reach my goal weight of 50kg).

    Are you planning on calorie counting, or going to use another method for weight loss?
  • westrich20940
    westrich20940 Posts: 889 Member
    edited January 2023
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    5'3" here --- started at 150, now been consistently 123-133ish for like 2 years maybe. Have a sedentary job. Only intentional activity I do is hiking, walking, and running (which I'm getting back to after ~2months off due to an injury, then sickness, then Holidays), and maybe 2 days a week in the gym, mainly to support my running --- I should do more in that department so I'm working on that.

    I used a TDEE calculator (bc I have a desk job, and when at home and not doing an intentional exercise, I'm on the couch lol). I used 'sedentary' as my activity level bc I wanted to be able to use MFP to log both my food and my cardio since it's all in 1 place and I felt that'd be simpler for me.

    So, once I got the estimate of my maintenance via my TDEE (which was ~1600 at that time)....my BMR was ~1300 so I just manually set my calorie goal in MFP to 1450-1500 based on how hungry I was. I logged my workout calories as accurately as I could and at back 80-100% of those. So my deficit was like 100-150 cals/day.

    I probably weighed myself every 2 weeks or so and paid attention to my clothes --- and I lost fairly consistently over the course of that year (2020)... and then I've been more intuitive eating ever since. I don't log anymore except maybe a day here and there just out of curiosity of what I'm eating, but after logging stuff for like a year, I'm pretty familiar with ~how many calories I consume and burn.

    I didn't change really much about how I ate other than concentrating on trying to get more protein and fruits/veggies. I didn't restrict any kind of food. I cook at home much more though. I personally find that eating 2 meals per day works for me so that's usually what I do -- but those meals are likely somewhere between 750-900 calories, or even more depending on my activity for the day.

    Note: I don't have any medical/health issues that make the calories in/calories out method any more complicated for me.
  • sbelletti
    sbelletti Posts: 213 Member
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    I'm 5'5" and at my goal weight (122-127) after losing 40+ lbs. You asked what we eat so...

    I'm vegetarian, and I eat a lot of hummus, falafel, pita or wraps, raw or roasted vegetables, fruit in moderation, loads of salads, beans of all kinds, soups, oatmeal, protein shakes, etc.

    Summer is lots of salads and falafel wraps. Winter is usually minestrone, pinto beans and 3-bean chili. I will eat pasta, bread and rice but try to limit those. I also adore cheese but have to be careful with it or I'll eat the entire block or bag. I seem to be OK with feta and string cheese. No sweets in the house at all or I will eat them in one sitting. I also eat at home most of the time and try to avoid packaged meals.

    I have Nespresso with raw sugar and half and half every morning. I rarely drink sodas... Maybe sugar free ginger ale once or twice a year. I mostly drink water and unsweet iced tea, green tea or other teas with little to no sugar. Very rarely drink alcohol at all anymore, and if I do it's wine and not liquor.

    Unfortunately at my age and size, I have to stay pretty mindful of what I eat. I try to get some form of exercise in a few days a week, but I don't rely on that to fix a bad week in the kitchen. I do splurge occasionally, but I don't let it turn into a week or month long binge. I usually try to hit my calorie goal as an average for the week vs day.

    Hope that helps!
  • PCOS_Cyster
    PCOS_Cyster Posts: 18 Member
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    Thanks for all your insights! It’s really helpful :)
  • pridesabtch
    pridesabtch Posts: 2,395 Member
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    I’m 5’1” and nearly 50. I’m working on getting back to cycling and running, but those activities are much easier for me at <120. Right now I’m at 155. My exercise right now in indoor cycling.

    I eat a fair about of grilled lean meat, a couple servings of veggies and stay on the lower side of carbs. I don’t see anything wrong with carbs, but they tend to make me crave more carbs. It can be an ugly cycle.

  • zebasschick
    zebasschick Posts: 1,061 Member
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    i'm 5' 3" or 5' 4", depending on who's measuring me. at my heaviest, i was 242, but after substituting foods, i lost about 50 pounds, then started walking and working out. i'm currently 159.

    i've had some injuries i have to be careful of, but i've been doing indoor cycling several times a week, resistance training and also arm cycling. i'm getting good results, and the exercise bike is better on my legs and knees than fast walking or slow jogging was.

    i'm a vegetarian who eats egg whites, extra firm high protein tofu, greek yogurt, protein powder, quest bars and sometimes cheese for protein. i love cold sparkling water!
  • denny441
    denny441 Posts: 1 Member
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    I'm 5'4 and currently weigh 136 pounds. I would like to trim a few pounds off to get to my target weight of 126 pounds. As I am getting older, I'm finding it increasingly difficult ( I'm 51). I work full-time as a teaching assistant at a primary school, attend boot camp twice weekly, have a pony whom I ride 3-5 times a week and also run 5K's regularly. Help,I'm stuck in a rut!!!. I calorie count on this site and try and keep my calories intake to below 1100 per day. The extra pounds are not moving. Short of amputating a limb, I'm stuck as what to do to get those pesky pounds to go. Amazing though I'm already feeling a little bit better by typing this out, so thankyou :)
  • DebbsSeattle
    DebbsSeattle Posts: 125 Member
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    5’4”…began at 231 October 27, ‘22. Now at 202.8 this morning, Jan 14, ‘23.
    We eat balanced, best described as Mediterranean diet & clean eating if it needs a label. We try to only eat whole food, organic when possible, we don’t eat out. Try to keep our sodium equal to our calories each day since his open heart surgery. Some new favorites and old stand bys…

    Sardines on Wasa crackers, poached fish, baked salmon, fresh veg by the pound of everything available in all the colors and affordable, fruit each day ( whatever is best priced), nonfat and lowfat cottage cheese and Greek yogurt with high protein, any kind of dried bean, lentils, quinoa, brown rice, sweet potatoes, nuts, wheat germ, flax seed, red wine (4 ounces max per meal every couple weeks), tons of chicken, Turkey, eggs, egg whites, tofu and good oils like olive, avocado, walnut, flax seed, coconut, grape seed, cod liver oil. We use dairy milk sparingly and incorporate alternative milks to smoothies. I make my own veggie scrap broth to boost nutrition and up flavor in grains while cooking. I make bone broth from bones and carcasses. We only make bread every couple weeks for Sunday supper when the kids come. We had Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and one non-holiday that were off program days.

    We are now dabbling in fasting. We’ve been doing a 18:6 almost every day and are now on day two of an extended fast. I also did a three day protein sparing modified fast to nudge off a plateau. I have my food diary open if you want to peek. I like structure but find that I’m needing to mix it up now to keep it moving downwards at the scale.

    We drink a lot of water with lemon and or apple cider vinegar, clear tea, coffee with cream and protein collagen in am, sometimes tea,cream,sugar in afternoon, and we try very hard to limit alcohol but Diet Gin and tonics are a fave.

    I am finding that my body likes low fat <50, low carb <50, high protein >\= 100 the best based on how I feel. And I have the best weigh ins when I drink lots of water, skip alcohol, eat supper 6 hours before bedtime and eat protein and veg only for evening meal. We also sleep about 12 hours because we can. I also see best results when I eat as much raw as I can.
  • kmcintosh1988
    kmcintosh1988 Posts: 35 Member
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    Good Morning! I’m 5’3” and weight 171. My goal weight it 150. I maintain a weight loss for over 10 years. But after the hubby retired we begin enjoying the good life and the weight slowly creeped back on. I was a WW leader for a few years and my LT goal was 140. I’ll never weigh 140 again at 61. I have severe RA. Which is a auto immune disease. I’m in constant pain and the fatigue is ridiculous! I was diagnosed three years ago in fact.
    I’m not using my RA as excuse for the weight gain. That I did myself. But trying to get weight off when you really have limited abilities is hard. But I’m here holding myself accountable and determined to do it. I’ve done it before many times. I can do it again.
  • kmcintosh1988
    kmcintosh1988 Posts: 35 Member
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    P.S. I’ve read every post. Thanks to all for sharing.
  • NinzyStarDust
    NinzyStarDust Posts: 9 Member
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    Hello, I’m between 5’2” and 5’3”. I’m 49. I started out at 160 pounds (72.5 kg) around October 2022, today I’m 146 pounds (66 kg). My breakfast is normally a slice of toasted brown bread with a slight spray of no-calorie oil spray, 2 hard-boiled eggs, one with yolk and one without, and a cup of coffee with a few ounces of unsweetened soy milk. Then I go work out (strength training twice a week) or play Tennis or walk the dog. Sometimes I jog or fast walk on the treadmill at the gym for 30 mins. Mid-morning I have a chocolate protein shake which includes half a banana, non-fat greek yogurt, coffee, and a tablespoon of peanut butter powder and protein powder. For lunch, it’s typically a couple of slices of salmon or chicken or turkey with 0.25 cup of cottage cheese and sliced tomatoes and cucumbers (sometimes quarter or half an avocado) or a chicken Caesar salad with a small bread roll and a side of fruit. Mid-afternoon I have a protein bar with a cup of coffee. In the evening I normally make something like pumpkin turkey chili, chicken curry, and rice, a healthy quiche (one slice) with salad or some veggies, baked chicken with veggies or tofu, and vegetable stir-fry. For dessert, it depends on how many calories I have left. This can be some yogurt with a teaspoon of sugar-free jam/jelly or frozen yogurt or some fruit. Ideally, I try to drink lots of water throughout the day. I don’t drink much alcohol, maybe once a week, or once a fortnight.
  • 70sthin
    70sthin Posts: 29 Member
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    Hi, I'm 5'1 and just turned 40. I've been between 100-110 lbs for the past year. I've had the same body type for most of my life, but felt my best at 90-95lbs when I was exercising and eating 3 nutrient dense meals a day. These days I'm lazy and don't exercise. I eat a lot of plant based foods and occasionally crave roast beef deli meat. I skip meals but average about 1400cals a day. Again, I am VERY inactive, so I can get away with not eating as much as I use to when I exercised.
  • ladybug4233
    ladybug4233 Posts: 217 Member
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    denny441 wrote: »
    I'm 5'4 and currently weigh 136 pounds. I would like to trim a few pounds off to get to my target weight of 126 pounds. As I am getting older, I'm finding it increasingly difficult ( I'm 51). I work full-time as a teaching assistant at a primary school, attend boot camp twice weekly, have a pony whom I ride 3-5 times a week and also run 5K's regularly. Help,I'm stuck in a rut!!!. I calorie count on this site and try and keep my calories intake to below 1100 per day. The extra pounds are not moving. Short of amputating a limb, I'm stuck as what to do to get those pesky pounds to go. Amazing though I'm already feeling a little bit better by typing this out, so thankyou :)

    I'm definitely no expert but I think you are not eating enough and your body is in starvation mode.
  • westrich20940
    westrich20940 Posts: 889 Member
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    Disclaimer....I do not currently log my food or exercise - but I did for ~1year (but I don't know if you can go back that far to look at entries...?)

    I am 5'3" - started at 150lbs. I calculated my TDEE (using 'sedentary' as my activity level --- bc I knew I'd be using MFP to log my cardio calorie burn). Which turned out at that time to be ~1650ish....my BMR was ~1300 at that time. So, I manually set my MFP daily calorie goal to 1450/1500....logged my food (as accurately as I could) and logged my runs (as accurately as I could --- my RunKeeper app gives an estimate of calorie burn, and I was using a Polar HRM - with a chest strap which also gives an 'estimate' of calorie burn...that's in quotes bc HRMs aren't really *that accurate for calories burned). I manually put in a calorie burn amount that was somewhere in between what my RunKeeper app said and what my Polar said (I found that if the intensity of my run --- i.e. higher heart rate --- was higher, the calorie burn on my HRM would be ~100 calories more than my running app).

    Seemed to work out fine. I lost ~.6lbs per week over the course of time from January to about October/September. That was in 2020. I have stayed consistently between 120-128lbs (on the higher end usually through Thanksgiving/Xmas time lol) since then without logging food or workouts.

    I'd say with my activity level -- I typically eat ~1700-2200 calories per day (the higher end on days I do a long run which would be like 8-9 miles). On a day I don't do a significant run or long hike I'd say I'm eating ~1700 calories. My hunger cues are accurate now and I trust them, so if I'm hungry I eat --- and I am a person who typically eats the same types of foods if I'm cooking at home so I have a good idea of the ballpark amount of calories I'm eating in those meals. I typically eat two larger meals per day.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,872 Member
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    I'm 5'5", 131.4 pounds this morning, age 67. SW 183 (class 1 obese) in April 2015, hit 120s in early 2016, have been maintaining since then. I go up and down a few pounds, usually gradually (in trend terms), but it's all been in a healthy weight range, and same jeans size since then. (I hate to clothes shop, that's a motivator. :D ) I'm up a bit post-holidays and from Winter doldrums, working at creeping down hyper slowly, as often happens this time of year.

    I lost most of the initial weight on 1400-1600 plus all carefully estimated exercise calories, now maintain around 2000 or so plus exercise. Exercise is usually 250-500 calories x 6 days (varies seasonally and randomly), mostly rowing and cycling, boats and bike in summer, rowing machine and stationary bike in winter. I usually add some lifting in winter, focused on upper body push to balance all that rowing, but I'm off lifting right now with a nagging rotator cuff irritation for which I'm doing physical therapy.

    I have various nagging physical things: Osteoarthritis in various spots, torn meniscus (deferring surgery as long as practical); am a stage III breast cancer survivor, have chest/underarm scar tissue from treatment (bilateral mastectomies, lymph nodes removed on left, radiation on left chest, back, neck); am severely hypothyroid (properly medicated), of course menopausal (chemo put me in menopause at age 45), osteoporotic; have early stage COPD (mostly asymptomatic so far, thankfully). With time, I figured out what kinds of exercise I can do without making any of that worse, mostly.

    Getting lighter reduced arthritis and other joint pain by a lot (both severity and frequency). Getting stronger and fitter (which I started long before weight loss, right after cancer treatment) also reduced pain and increased body functionality.

    I've been ovo-lacto vegetarian for 48+ years, thin to fat to obese and back to thin.

    These days, breakfast is usually oatmeal with lots of add-ins or Ezekiel pita with peanut butter plus kefir on the side. How many other meals I eat varies from 1 to 2 more, usually plus some random snacks, details vary lots. Much of what I eat is so-called "whole foods" but I'm not religious about avoiding processed things that seem to help me get good overall nutrition. I eat no meat/fish of course, not a lot of eggs, but do eat quite a lot of dairy, which my Northern European genes seem to accommodate just fine. I also get a lot of protein from things like tofu, tempeh, occasionally seitan, legumes, legume pastas, and of course some veggies.

    Overall nutrition matters to me: I shoot for minimum 100g protein daily, 50g fats (some MUFAs and PUFAs always in the mix), don't care how many carbs I eat (usually ends up being 225g or so), strive for 800g of varied/colorful fruits and veggies daily and usually get them (that usually takes care of micros and fiber without explicit attention to those). I usually have some small treats daily now in maintenance (chocolate, frozen Yasso Greek Yogurt bars, etc.), drink alcohol occasionally. Once in a while, I'll have a meal or day off that pattern, but don't stress about it as long as the majority of days are solid . . . I figure the majority of days create the majority of my outcomes.

    I still log most days but will skip if it gets complicated or I'm especially busy, just watch the scale and clothes fit for backup. I'm fairly undisciplined and a hedonist, so continuing to count helps me maximize current enjoyment while still creating a path for my future self to be healthy and happy, too.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 13,615 Member
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    denny441 wrote: »
    I'm 5'4 and currently weigh 136 pounds. I would like to trim a few pounds off to get to my target weight of 126 pounds. As I am getting older, I'm finding it increasingly difficult ( I'm 51). I work full-time as a teaching assistant at a primary school, attend boot camp twice weekly, have a pony whom I ride 3-5 times a week and also run 5K's regularly. Help,I'm stuck in a rut!!!. I calorie count on this site and try and keep my calories intake to below 1100 per day. The extra pounds are not moving. Short of amputating a limb, I'm stuck as what to do to get those pesky pounds to go. Amazing though I'm already feeling a little bit better by typing this out, so thankyou :)

    I'm definitely no expert but I think you are not eating enough and your body is in starvation mode.

    Starvation mode as most people describe it is not a thing. More likely is that @denny441 may not be measuring food intake accurately. Logging and logging accurately aren't always the same thing. A food scale is a big help, and logging consistently, completely, and honestly are the only way to be sure.
  • sheahughes
    sheahughes Posts: 133 Member
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    I'm 160cms/5'3" and currently 80kg/178.3lbs after increasing from maintaining between 65kg/143.3lbs and 70kg/154.3lbs between July 2021 and June 2023.
    So I thought my BC didn't affect me and that my weight gain was due to a different medication but... I had my implant replaced in May 22 because I kept thinking it had only been in for a year or two... 5 years I had it
    Any way I got the 5 year old one replaced in May 22 and my appetite was suddenly ravenous. Like eat a kilo of grapes or nectarines, even an entire head of iceberg lettuce! Needless to say, the implant will be getting removed next week. I put 7 or so kilos on in the last 3 months and whilst it is totally because I was eating waaaaaaay more than I should have been I do really think it workstation have happened without the implant.
    In the meantime, I'm watching my calories but not necessarily logging.

    My eventual goal might be 60kg/132.2lb, but if I might decide to just go back to the 65-70kg range again.