5'2" ladies needing to lose a few pounds-what is your trick?

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I'm 26, 5'2", wanting to lose 10-15lbs and I've been at it for about a month now but the scale refuses to move one way or the other! I have a few questions for those who were able to or are succeeding in losing the last few lbs:

What is your BMR?
What was your daily caloric intake set at (before exercise)?
How much do you work out (hrs/week)?
What sorts of exercises do you do and what is your usual calorie burn during your exercises?
How much is too much exercise? and how much is too little (aside from none)?
Do you have any tips/tricks/tools that you use?

I'm motivated (for now) and therefore willing to do anything to drop these stubborn few pounds. Please help!!

Replies

  • lin7604
    lin7604 Posts: 3,019 Member
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    well i'm 5 ft 2 inches as well but i'm 35. i also wanted to loose 15 lbs. I have had a very slow and hard time loosing the weight. I started in nov on mfp and was at 1200 cals a day and lost a average of 2.5 lbs a month, i was happy but thought it would be more. I then learned about my bmr so in the new year i adjusted things and of course my loss slowed down even more. I have now lost 10lbs but took 6 months to do so. I do 30ds / ripped in 30 and some cardio. in the beginning i was doing 60 min a day. 30 of dvd's and 30 of cardio. then in the new year i just did occasional cardio and a dvd daily. Since the weather is nicer now i am trying to get my cardio by bike rides or walks outside. not planning cardio scheduled in daily but i am doing my dvd's still... so 30 min 5 days a week is planned exercise. My bmr on mfp is 1248 on fat2fit 1350, i NET 1300 cals a day min ( inbetween both the bmr's i got)... not sure which one is accurate? My usual calorie burn doing my dvd's is anywhere from 160-230... depending on which level i am on, etc. I am about to change things up as my loss is super slow now...i lost nothing last month and the month before was 0.4 so i am goign to start 3 days aof 30 min cardio and 30 min strength training ( we got a home gym handed down to us) not sure what kind of exercises i will get from that yet but i will give it a try... i like the strenght exercises i do with the dvd's...
  • Anyaaaa11
    Anyaaaa11 Posts: 242 Member
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    My BMR is 1212.
    I'm set at 1550 net cals & I eat all my exercise cals back so 1700-1800 total
    I work out 5x a week anywhere between 30-60+ mins depending on what I'm doing
    I'm always doing different things: lifting, running (1-3 miles),dancing,yoga, yard work, basketball, walking
    Usually a 150-200cal burn.
    How much is too much? Idk I went like 2 weeks exercising everyday and I didn't lose anything so I'm guessing that was too much
    exercise for me, then I had a week where I only exercised 3x a week and I was fine.

    I feel pretty fortunate considering the fact that i only had around 10-15 lbs to lose and I've been consistently losing a pound a week(with a couple weeks I didn't lose anything because of experiments with nets and exercise).

    So I guess it's all about finding your "sweet spot".. Before I thought I had to eat less than 1200 to lose but I've learned that at a healthy weight, I really don't have to starve myself to lose! &its all about how your going to maintain your weight loss. Dont even try to lose if you don't have a plan to maintain. Anyway, just experiment with cals & don't be tempted to lower your cals for a quick fix, you will not enjoy it!
  • HMVOL7409
    HMVOL7409 Posts: 1,588 Member
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    Well I'm 32 and was always fit until I got married and tried to get pregnant. Due to fertility drugs/stress/anger blah blah I gained 15 lbs over a year. At the start of the year my husband decided to lose 20 lbs so I decided to stop being upset about my weight too and we changed our lifestyle. We try to eat as natural and organic as possible, only 100% wheat products and no processed foods or added sugars. We cut out fast food, sweets etc except for occasional cheat days. I dropped 10 lbs pretty quickly with these changes and at the time was at 1200 cals.

    Now I'm back into working out like I use to. I lift 4 days a week, pretty heavy. 2 upper body sessions and 2 leg days for approximately 30 mins. 3 of those days I do 30 mins of HIIT cardio and 3 other days I train for my 1/2 marathon in October. I take every Monday off completely. My calories are now at my TDEE of about 1600-1800 (2000 minus 15%) bc I have a little more BF% I want to lose. With this formula I don't eat exercise cals back. I also do 1 low carb day a week on Mondays. I hit a stall with the scale until I upped my calories bc I was doing too much and not eating enough. Even though the scale still hasn't really moved, my BF% is down and my measurements decrease too. Not to mention alot happier and have more energy with the needed fuel.

    How much is too much? Who knows. I listen to my body. I had to take a week off from running bc my endurance was slacking and I was run down. Took the week off, changed my eating and now my runs have improved drastically. It's different for everyone; I've always been into some type of fitness so my body gets use to this schedule.
  • Desmonema
    Desmonema Posts: 175 Member
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    Hey!
    I'm exactly the same, just want to loose a bit and am focussing more on bodyfat and bodycomposition. Hard to loose though. I am 5'4'' and at the moment waiting for first results after upping my calories a bit. I'd like to add you as friend, would be nice to see and compare our diaries. Maybe we could support each other quite a bit!!!
  • KMPOWELL79
    KMPOWELL79 Posts: 14 Member
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    im same stats

    What was your daily caloric intake set at (before exercise)? 1200

    How much do you work out (hrs/week)? 2-3 per days wk- 30-60mins and burn burn burn work hard

    What sorts of exercises do you do and what is your usual calorie burn during your exercises? x fit, netball, swimming, running continuous and intervals. Calories vary between 150-950 depending on day walk or car train orno train. On my training days i usually eat half of my exercsie calories back.

    How much is too much exercise? and how much is too little (aside from none)? If your hungry and tired all the time you neeed to change something

    Do you have any tips/tricks/tools that you use? no tricks just be consistent, keep your training times the same if you can, when you work out you should feel energised but also a little sore the nest day. Try Strength training at home in the garage. A good app is www.skimble.com workout trainer. It has intense workouts and new ideas.

    Hope that helps, friend me if you want more motivation. keep going xx

    Its always difficult when you get down to the smaller numbers, measure yourself and stay postitve...but consistency is key :0p
  • dalqueen1
    dalqueen1 Posts: 1
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    5'2 and ive had to go down to 1100 cals a day and a 5 mile run every day to loose anything at all ps still need to lose 200 lbs
  • sun_ny
    sun_ny Posts: 35
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    Hi, I am 27 and also 5'2. I started on MFP in January eating at 1200 calories a day and fitting in lots of exercise. I lost steadily. Then I got really tired and felt burnt out so increased my calories and relaxed my exercise and lost again. I think an hour a day most days is too much exercise, at least it was for me and I was concentrating on cardio too much.

    I now generally eat between 1200 - 1450 during weeks days and on weekends I increase it to around 1800, sometimes above. On a very sedentary day for me Fitbit records my calories burned at around 1400. I try to do a lot of walking and make 10,000 steps a day most of the time and I try to exercise 4 times a week for 30 mins to an hour depending on my mood. I do a mix of the gym, strength training and the elliptical/ ea sports active 2 for the wii. Calorie burns can be anything from between 100 - 500.

    I've 2.5kg to go before hitting my goal and i am finding it so much harder to drop the pounds now and my weight seems to stall for 2-3 weeks at a time then finally goes down. I think the key is to just keep at it but it is frustrating when it takes longer! I take omega 3 6 and 9 and multi vitamins and when i take them regularly i seem to notice a difference with my weight.

    Feel free to add me, its nice having friends who are the same height and similar goals :)
  • cmeade20
    cmeade20 Posts: 1,238 Member
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    I'm 5'2, 25, around 125ish pounds and wear a 4-6 depending on the brand/cut

    I work out for 30-60 minutes at a time 5-7 days a week

    My calories are set to 1470 before working out. I eat all my exercise calories.

    I run 2-3 days a week. Weights 4 days a week

    I try to eat as much fresh and whole food as possible but I don't drive myself insane over it (IE I'm not spending 5.99 on organic clean ketchup, I have the regular kind. If I'm craving ice cream I allow myself a reasonable serving of it. ect)

    Most importantly I seldom weigh myself. Why? because when I started I was around 145 ish....got all the way down to 115....I'm back up to somewhere between 125 and 130 but I look better now than when I obsessed over my weight and got down to 115.
  • HMVOL7409
    HMVOL7409 Posts: 1,588 Member
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    A year old thread revisited. :) Nice to see I cut out a ton of useless cardio I was doing a year ago!