[LAKERSKB24]

I'm 5'0 and now a maintainer at 110 pounds, i work out at the very least 4 times a week of one hour cardio sessions and then a couple other days of strentght and dvds. I'm just very curious as to how many calories other short people and featherweights eat to maintain or lose weight?

I'm eating about 1600 but would love to be able to eat a littttle more to maintain, so if i hear other's with the same stats, i may just give it a try!

Thanks for reading! It would be great if you posted how much exercise you do and if you're a maintainer vs, loser.

Thank you!

[jynx]

Hi there.

I was diagnosed with ED-NOS in September and so have been going through a recovery programme which included a big chunk of nutritional education from trained professionals.

One of the big take-home messages here was that our bodies do need around 2000 calories in order to get all our nutrition and to function properly, therefore, you should be maintaining at at least that if you're living an active lifestyle.

I know it's really hard to listen to this advice, I'm still finding it hard to trust them as I have been obsessed for the past 9 or so years on trying to live off 1000 calories a day!

I suggest slowly upping your calories to 2000, perhaps adding 100 calories every 2 weeks or something?

Obviously, everyone is different so see what feels right for your body, but I honestly think you could get away with maintaining at 2000 calories as long as you're eating the right stuff! xx

Good luck! x

[bargoo]

If I ate 2000 calories a day I would baloon up to my prediet weight. At 5' even I maintain on 1400-1500 calories a day. We shorties just do not require the calories of a much taller person.

[LAKERSKB24]

Thanks for your reply jynx, really appreciate the input! I feel like bargoo right now, i've tried eating a little more in the past and my jeans started to get tighter immediatelt. It IS a bit discouraging to have my maintenance at no more than 1600 ish calories though.

[jynx]

Bargoo, that was exactly my response when I got told that's how much I have to eat. I'm still not convinced. I was told to expect a little weight gain and then for my body to level itself out when it realised it's not going to starve.

I'll have just stick it out I guess and see what happens, it's the only way, apparently.

[bargoo]

Originally Posted by LAKERSKB24

Thanks for your reply jynx, really appreciate the input! I feel like bargoo right now, i've tried eating a little more in the past and my jeans started to get tighter immediatelt. It IS a bit discouraging to have my maintenance at no more than 1600 ish calories though.

If it is any comfort to you, I find that I just can't eat a lot of calories, now that I am in maintenance. When I go to a restaurant I always go home woth a doggie bag, I just do not wanr to eat those enormous, calorie laden meals anymore. I get stuffed and can hardly move with all that unneccessary food.

[leblebi]

Hi -- I am 5'4" and currently of unknown weight...not getting on the scale because I will get depressed over it, i know. i suspect i am at 125 or so at the moment, which is 5 lbs more than my usual weight (a series of epic binges over the past few months led to weight gain, it crept up on me.) so right now, i am averaging between 1200 to 1300/day and i seem to be losing some weight. i am one of those people who looks at food and gains weight so since i got down to my "happy weight" and went through a somewhat serious disease, i have been watching what i eat closely and maintain on about 1600 i think, give or take. my exercise regimen is a mix of cardio & weights five times a week, give or take. i quite like it so it's not a nuisance. lately i have upped intensity because of the aforementioned weight gain.

by the way, jynx, i had no idea what an ed-nos was so i read up on it. i definitely have a somewhat unhealthy relationship with food and suspect i would likely be diagnosed if i were evaluated by a professional, although i don't know why i would do so. if you don't mind me asking, and please ignore if it's too personal, how did your diagnosis come about? did you seek help, or was it friends and family?

xoxo to all.

[bananapancakes]

I'm barely 5'3 and to loose I eat around 1200.

[JenMusic]

I'm 5'1.5" and am losing right now on around 1350-1400 a day (cycled over the course of a week).

I'm moderately active in daily acitvities (I'm a teacher, so I'm on my feet a lot and walk around campus to get to classes) and also do cardio 3-5x a week plus strength 2x a week.

[parafilm]

I'm 5'4" and maintaining 125-130. I'm active (exercise 3-5x/wk) and I live in a big city, walk at least 40mins a day.

I maintain about 128 by eating around 1600, but can get away with a few higher calorie days here and there. To lose I aim for 1300-1400.

[jynx]

Hi Leblebi,

I'm pretty happy to talk about it with people who understand difficult relationships with food. I've had increasing problems around food, manifesting in various behaviours over the years since I was about 11. In the last 4-5 years or so it developed into an extended binge-starve cycle. The psychologist basically said I have some kind of "extended bulimia" but I'm just outside of the clinical Bulimic diagnosis.

After becoming increasingly upset about binging and it leading to periods of depression my mum suggested I had a talk to the nurse at my doctors just to see if there were any councellers or anyone who could help. At this point I was literally exhausted by it all and I had to come to terms with the fact that things wouldn't get better on their own. I didn't go for ages because I felt like they wouldn't take me seriously (doctors tend to be a bit clueless about mental health issues) but I went to the nurse for something unrelated, I felt I could talk to her because I'd seen her a few times before and I just started to mention it and kinda broke down. She then referred me to an eating disorder service. I then had several assessment meetings and they put me in a "Psycho-Education" group to learn about nutrition and eating disorders in general. In May I will be starting a therapy group designed to give support and eventually get you out of the trap of an eating disorder. Apparently they have an 80% success rate so I'm hopeful.

Sorry this response is so long, there is a lot to go into if you feel you have issues around food like that.

If you want to talk to me about it further, I'll be happy to answer any questions or anything, just PM me, ok?

Jo xx

[LindseyLou]

To lose I eat 1200-1400. I've noticed to maintain I can eat about 1600-1800. I workout 5 times per week, roughly 30 minutes each workout.

[mlk58]

I'm eating about 1400 calories per day and exercising (one hour, hard!) 5 days a week, and I'm losing about a pound a MONTH at this point. I'm 5'2", 122 lbs, and 52 years old.

[ktgk]

I'm 5'4" and although I'm not maintaining (yet!) I can't even eat 2000 cals a day while breastfeeding! And as a pretty active mother of 3 (who exercises), I'm not inactive. I'm not counting calories at the moment, but I guestimate that I'm taking in between 1500 and 1800 calories a day (yep, I'm breastfeeding) and losing a little less than 2 lbs a week.

People are individual in the way their bodies work. 2000 calories will affect one person differently than the next. I think that it's pretty misleading of the medical community to blanketly say that 2000 is what EVERYBODY should be taking in. I can't say that the entire medical industry advocates the 2000 calories a day diet for women, though, because I remember reading that the CDC advised that the average woman needs approximately 1600 calories a day for a moderately active lifestyle?????

[Lisa1971]

I am 4'11 and to lose I eat 800 - 1200 a day. Most days are around 1,000. I am active but not doing any exercise program. I am 40 years old. At my age and height, eating even 1600 would be a luxury. I currently weigh 115 and would like to go down to 110 then maintain. But, I have no idea how many calories to eat to maintain since I have been eating this way since January!