5'0 Ladies- How much are you netting?

Unfortunately, lower is probably the answer, rather than higher. Given the inherent inaccuracies in food reporting and that you are already small, your caloric needs really aren't high. Using a random calculator I found, your net for maintenance should be 1559. I used my age, because I don't know yours, so it would be lower if you are older than 24. I also said it was for someone with a desk job because I don't know how active you are.

In summary, maintenance for me if I were your height and weight would be 1559. To lose 0.5 pounds a week, subtract 250. Since it's a small deficit, might want to subtract another hundred or so for reporting inaccuracies. To make it even, we'll pick 109. so 1559-109-250 = 1200.

I should've included this information:

I'm 19 years old. I work out 6-7 days a week, and burn around 300-600 calories per workout. I also do an hour session of strength training other than that- yes I am quite sedentary because I am a student and sitting and studying is what I do most of the day.

However- I'm scared to eat less than 1300 with all the talk of starvation mode and especially since my workouts can be quite intense and since I burn a lot of calories. Initially, I did eat 1200 calories net and lost my first 5 pounds fast- and as I kept working out, I found myself getting tired and not losing weight at all.

I'm not suggesting you eat 1200, net it though. So eating would be 1500-1800. Some literature I've read says that strength training only burns like 150 cal/hour, but the afterburn raises your metabolic rate as your body repairs the muscle fibers. I'm too nervous to count the afterburn though, so I normally log it as something in the 100-200 range.

In any case, you have to trust your body, so if you didn't feel strong and healthy on 1200, that's too low, try 1300. 1400 is really close to maintenance, so you can really only expect to lose a pound a MONTH. Using your age, you should burn 1534 if you do nothing. So netting 1534 will be maintenance.

Starvation mode is over-hyped around here. When you are small, you have to eat less. However, if you feel weak or tired, eat more and go for slower progress. But you have to manage your expectations. Right now, you are literally netting 134 calories under maintenance. 134 calories/day * 7 days/week * 4 weeks per month = 3864 calories below maintenance per month. There are about 3,500 calories per lb, so it should take a month to lose a pound.

One option is to get a more accurate expenditure and then just do the math yourself. My bf got me a bodybugg for Christmas, and it tells me how much I burn each day, then I eat 500 less than that. I think this system might work better for small people because there is so much less wiggle room. You can't run a large deficit or you will crash and you can't accidentally under-log by 100 calories or half your deficit is gone.

I am 32 going on 33 next week , 5ft and I have been on here since the beginning of Jan. I started at 139 and the last time I logged my weight it was at 134. I was eating about 1200 calories a day and exercising 6 days a week for 30 min. I was losing very slowly, until I met someone on here who helped me figure out my numbers and now I am eating 1500-1700 a day and I have seen a significant change in just two weeks! Upping my calories was the trick! I would be happy with 125 but if I keep at it, I would be thrilled to be like 115-120. I dont even think I was that thin in highschool! Good luck to all my shorty peeps out there! It seems our bodies are much more complicated