Too short to lose 1 pound a week?

unicornknee
unicornknee Posts: 1 Member
edited December 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all, new here! I am coming over from the Lose It! app. In order for me to lose 2 lbs a week based on my height, age, current weight and whatever else they base it on on ''Lose It', I am supposed to only eat 546 calories a day! Being 5 feet tall, I guess you are not supposed to lose 2 lbs a week!! I started at 107.8 and just wanted to get to 102. Now, I know 546 calories a day is not healthy, so I chose to lose 1 lb a week and that still is only 1,046 calories a day on Lose It!. I believe this is unhealthy, but maybe not for my height?

I pretty much go over and under that because I have just been recording what I normally eat and being more conscious of what I eat, not super strict since I already am a vegan and gluten free (docs orders) and low grain. I have lost 3.8 pounds in about 3 and a half weeks. The scale varies wildly though so tomorrow it may say I haven't actually lost that much.

Anyway, on MFP it won't let me eat less than 1200 and won't allow me to lose a pound a week. After adding in the info about my height, weight, age and goals, it only allows me to eat 1200 a day and says I will reach my goal of losing 2 pounds in August!

Is this just the way it is when you are short and near your goal? Basically, I did not realize it was unhealthy for a short person to lose 1 pound a week! But I guess it is! Am I assuming correctly? Although I do wonder if the 1200 calories a day thing should possibly vary from person to person based on height and other factors. What is the thought on this? I am no expert and new to reading about weight loss.

Replies

  • megleo818
    megleo818 Posts: 595 Member
    Curious about this, too, since I'm in the same boat (not as close to goal, but still). Anyone?
  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
    Hi all, new here! I am coming over from the Lose It! app. In order for me to lose 2 lbs a week based on my height, age, current weight and whatever else they base it on on ''Lose It', I am supposed to only eat 546 calories a day! Being 5 feet tall, I guess you are not supposed to lose 2 lbs a week!! I started at 107.8 and just wanted to get to 102. Now, I know 546 calories a day is not healthy, so I chose to lose 1 lb a week and that still is only 1,046 calories a day on Lose It!. I believe this is unhealthy, but maybe not for my height?

    I pretty much go over and under that because I have just been recording what I normally eat and being more conscious of what I eat, not super strict since I already am a vegan and gluten free (docs orders) and low grain. I have lost 3.8 pounds in about 3 and a half weeks. The scale varies wildly though so tomorrow it may say I haven't actually lost that much.

    Anyway, on MFP it won't let me eat less than 1200 and won't allow me to lose a pound a week. After adding in the info about my height, weight, age and goals, it only allows me to eat 1200 a day and says I will reach my goal of losing 2 pounds in August!

    Is this just the way it is when you are short and near your goal? Basically, I did not realize it was unhealthy for a short person to lose 1 pound a week! But I guess it is! Am I assuming correctly? Although I do wonder if the 1200 calories a day thing should possibly vary from person to person based on height and other factors. What is the thought on this? I am no expert and new to reading about weight loss.

    How much do you weigh?

    I'm 4ft 11 and for 5 months lost more than 1lb per week on 1600 calories, but I started on 189lbs.

    MFP's calories are quite low as they do not include your exercise calorie burn when establishing your defict.

    What does this site give you for a TDEE? Put your current weight in as your goal weight to see your current TDEE.

    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,432 MFP Moderator
    ^ What lady said but also to expand, as a person 5 lbs from your goal, you can't aim for more than 1/2 lb per week as your won't have enough fat stores to provide your body nutrition. Also, losing five lbs, might not provide you the body you want and shooting for an erroneous number will just leave you defeated. On the other hand, if you aim to lose body fat, then you will see better results which means taking the link lady provided to figure out your TDEE and cut 20% and then start heavy weight training.
  • clotho
    clotho Posts: 29 Member
    So you are 5 feet tall and weigh 107 and want to weigh 102? I think you need to realize that 107 is a healthy weight and you will see a lot more change in the look of your body with weight training than losing weight. If you decide to lose those lbs than take your time and shoot for maybe 1/2 lb a week. What is you body fat percentage? I would shoot to lower that (if it is high) and build muscle. You could actually gain weight if it is muscle and look great and be healthy. You should eat at least 1200 calories a day so your body does not just use up your muscle to survive.
  • Tourney3p0
    Tourney3p0 Posts: 290 Member
    Your BMR is around 1150 (Tools tab, top). Should be safe to stop eating at 1150 calories, assuming zero exercise.

    Your BMI is currently 20.9. At 102 lbs, your BMI will be 19.9. Underweight is < 18.5 and normal weight is 18.5-24.9. So you're still in the healthy range, but very close to underweight. Because of this, the deficit required to lose a pound a week will be too much to be healthy. You should stick to less than half a pound a week. Ideally, stick to 1150 calories.
  • rose313
    rose313 Posts: 1,146 Member
    When you get to that point it's best to focus on toning up and losing fat, not weight. It's near impossible to lose a pound a week in a healthy way when you're already small and only have 5 pounds to lose.
  • CoderGal
    CoderGal Posts: 6,800 Member
    The way this site works is they assume that 3500 calories taken out of your diet will be 3500 calories taken out in fat, which just isn't how the body works, especially when the metabolism is at play. This site wanted me to eat 1200 calories a day and I managed to NET 1650 with MFP over estimates on calorie burns and lose a pound a week. Plus I was pretty slim in the first place (it's easier to lose weight when you're larger compared to when you start losing). I'm 5'7 and got down to 120 doing this. Don't believe everything the internet tells you, even if it does take 3500 calories to burn a pound of fat. There are to many other variables at play. Bodies are learning machines :D

    There was a scientific paper published based on the quantification of the effect of energy imbalance on bodyweight. The authors of this study made this addorable little calculator that lets you play with all the numbers mentioned above. They take the changes in the human metabolism into account, looking at the fact that a 3500 calorie deficit equaling 1 lb of weight loss isn't that percise.

    Study: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(11)60812-X/fulltext
    Calc: http://bwsimulator.niddk.nih.gov/
  • stargazer008
    stargazer008 Posts: 531
    Exercise more then to create a deficient. I did a calculation on your stats and assuming that you are sedentary, you will need 1463 calories for maintenance. You can cut 250 calories from your maintenance cals and then burn an additional 250 cals from exercise. I know how it sucks that short and thin people lose weight at a much slower rate!

    Here is the calculator I used:
    http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm
    I used the Harris Benedict formula to calculate stuff. To change the formula, go under adv. options

    Good luck!
  • kayleesays
    kayleesays Posts: 564 Member
    Listen to the advice about BMR. And people, the girl only wants to lose five pounds, stop telling her she's "fine the way she is," because while I'm sure she looks amazing, would you like it if everybody told you that all the time?
  • marcia724
    marcia724 Posts: 180 Member
    I'm confused. I thought MFP wouldn't give you below 1200 calories? I'm 105lbs and 5'0"... It never put me below that no matter how much I said I wanted to lose per week.
  • Bakerchk
    Bakerchk Posts: 424 Member
    I'm not reading what other people are saying because frankly, I don't have the time. But PLEASE eat more. Even 1200cals is SUPER low. This scares me. :(
  • Christine1110
    Christine1110 Posts: 1,786 Member
    Maybe you need to use a computer & then use the phone after it is set up right....You should never eat that low
  • qtiekiki
    qtiekiki Posts: 1,490 Member
    ^ What lady said but also to expand, as a person 5 lbs from your goal, you can't aim for more than 1/2 lb per week as your won't have enough fat stores to provide your body nutrition. Also, losing five lbs, might not provide you the body you want and shooting for an erroneous number will just leave you defeated. On the other hand, if you aim to lose body fat, then you will see better results which means taking the link lady provided to figure out your TDEE and cut 20% and then start heavy weight training.

    ^This. When there is not much to lose, the issue is usually the body composition instead of the weight. I weigh the same as I did when I started exercising and I actually haven't lost a lot of inches (maybe just 1 - 2 inches overall, at least at the locations that I measured), but I look different. You can see the before and after comparison in my profile.
  • Tourney3p0
    Tourney3p0 Posts: 290 Member
    The way this site works is they assume that 3500 calories taken out of your diet will be 3500 calories taken out in fat

    Unless I'm missing something (which is possible), that's not how the site works.

    The site assumes that 3500 calories taken out of your diet will be 1 pound lost, regardless of whether it is fat or muscle. It's up to the user to educate themselves on the best way to maximize fat loss, if indeed that is their goal.

    The 3500 cals ~= 1 lb rule of thumb is correct. Assuming "energy in" is properly calculated and logged (which is reasonable, because doing so is trivial), the only other unknown variable is "energy out". Any numbers you see on here are going to be approximations. Perhaps that 3500 calories is actually only 3150, or even 4210. Regardless of the approximations, when the real world "energy out" number hits about 3500 calories, you'll notice about a pound gone.
  • skinnynerd
    skinnynerd Posts: 110
    MFP won't let any woman go below 1200 calories a day. You don't have to eat that many calories. Also, MFP isn't completely accurate on the calories count. As you lose weight, the amount of calories you need each day should go down. MFP still hasn't made this adjustment for me so I calculate it on my own.
  • brittnicoledav
    brittnicoledav Posts: 113
    yes, sometimes being a shorty is sucky. eating 1200 calories a day has me at a .8 pound a week loss, but eating less than that is said to be unhealthy.. so im just trying to be patient but it really doesnt seem fair :(
  • mcarter99
    mcarter99 Posts: 1,666 Member
    It's my personal opinion that the OP could (not going to weigh in on the "should", but that BMI is pretty dang low) safely eat 1000-1200 calories per day and use activity to increase her deficit. Not 1000 calorie Zumba marathons. But I don't think eating 1200 and walking a couple miles is getting into any danger zones, at her size, just for the time it takes to lose 2 lbs.
  • LadyL2012
    LadyL2012 Posts: 127 Member
    You seem a pretty healthy weight as it is. I guess as you get closer to your goal, the parameters to lose the required weight get bigger if that makes sense?

    Currently my BMR is 1450. I want to lose 20lbs by the beginnig of September, in order to do that I need to lose 2lbs a week, which puts me at 1025kcals per day. However MFP won't let me do that so like you it put me at 1200. I worked out that I need approx 1900 kcals a day to sustain my weight, 1800 to have fat loss and 1500 for extreme fat loss. But if my BMR is 1450, how come 1500 gives me extreme fat loss? If I am on no more than 1200 per day, how am I not shrinking faster. I have currently lost 4lbs in 2 weeks.

    So I am as confused as you.
  • giggitygoo
    giggitygoo Posts: 1,978 Member
    I'm short, close to my goal, and lose about 1 pound a month.


    That sounds pretty depressing until you realize that in the past year, while I have only lost about 15 pounds, I dropped 6 entire pant sizes.

    You'll see the most visual change from clean eating and strength training. 1200 is a healthy amount for a small woman, but you need to be diligent getting in proper nutrition.

    We're very close to the same height and weight. BTW
  • raemadeline
    raemadeline Posts: 4 Member
    Also there's a group for petite girls! Im 5'3" and a lot of the women in the group have similar weight goals as I do (and judging from your posts what yall do to)

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/6506-petite-girls-unite
  • bikinisuited
    bikinisuited Posts: 881 Member
    bump
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