Petite Girl, Too Low Calories???

T

tinkkiou

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I'm 5'0" and 115 pounds. My ideal weight is 100 or 95. It doesn't sound like much but I assure you that's a healthy weight for my small frame. I even have size C boobs at that size! Anyway, MyPyramid tells me I need about 1550 calories a day without exercise added in. I need just that much to be alive and shower, think, move a little bit, eat, etc. (BMR + some light activity)

So, if I wanted to lose weight, I would need to either eat 1550 and work off 500 calories a day, or eat a bit less and work off 400 calories a day or something. Any combination that results in an energy deficit of -500 calories a day. Right?

Now this feels like an insane amount of calories for me. Whenever I eat that many in a day consistently, I feel lethargic and heavy. And I don't seem to lose weight doing that, or it goes very very slowly. What gives?! Sometimes I don't trust these calculations...

Is there something more to it? Do I require a lower amount because of my small frame? But you're not supposed to go under 1200/day. Does that not apply to me because I'm small? Or, because I'm small, I do have to eat that much but exercise much harder to lose weight? ARGHHH!!!! Thanks guys :)

P.S. I'm 25 years old, so yes I'm fully grown :)
 
Yea, I've heard that 1200 is the minimum for females. So you could probably at least go that low considering you have a small frame. I'm not expert so I'm not going to suggest anything lower...but then again since you are so petite it might be possible.
 
SarahKJ7 said:
Is there something more to it? Do I require a lower amount because of my small frame? But you're not supposed to go under 1200/day. Does that not apply to me because I'm small? Or, because I'm small, I do have to eat that much but exercise much harder to lose weight? ARGHHH!!!! Thanks guys :)

P.S. I'm 25 years old, so yes I'm fully grown :)
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According to it's 1430 calories per day to maintain your weight on a sedentary lifestyle.

I would eat 1200 calories and burn 300 calories a day by doing something like running for a pound a week loss. Also, make sure to do resistance exercises to make that loss be fat and not muscle. Lean people such as yourself have to be especially concerned about losing muscle and other lean mass like organs since you don't have much fat to lose to begin with.


But if you say that eating 1200 calories a day makes you feel too full, you can probably eat less. The recommended numbers are just averages. If you're only 5'0" and have a small frame you may well be able to eat less. It's more about the percent reduction from your maintenance than absolute reduction. I would make sure you're counting right though, 1200 calories is not that much. A 1200 - ish calorie a day diet looks something like this:

Breakfast: 2 eggs 150 calories, a toast (plain dark bread) 120 calories, coffee with milk and sugar 50 calories = 330 calories.

Lunch: Salad of veggies with olive oil ~ 100 calories, chicken breast 200 calories = 300 calories

Dinner: chicken breast/fish = 250 calories, a large serving of non-starchy veggies = 100 calories, fruit (size of 1.5 apples) = 100 calories, a small serving of whole grains (half a cup) 180 calories = 630 calories total

This already is 1260 calories. It doesn't sound like too much to me, but then I'm much bigger than you.


I definitely wouldn't force myself to eat.
 
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I think 1000-1200 calories a day would be perfect for you. I also wouldn't go by what any of those calculators tell you. When I was 115 I could eat over 2300 calories and maintain my weight, not 1400.
 
Thanks for the replies guys! Very helpful :)

I also mistrust the calculators... ha. It's just so difficult and doesn't always feel right. I think I'm going to stop counting and just work on portion control and healthy choices, and then exercise. I feel like I'm pretty good at listening to my body, i.e. some days I'll eat more than others if I'm doing a lot of activity, and keeping track in the back of my head if I've had a high calorie food that day and shouldn't have another etc. I hope it works, BLEH! Counting sucks and doesn't seem to work :(
 
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