Shorties
 

Hey there, short chicks! Probably there is a thread somewhere about the difficulties of losing weight being short, but I never saw it this year. I am 5'2, and in order to lose or maintain I have to eat little... and even go hungry sometimes. I jog and keep myself busy, eat around 1200-1300 cals and barely maintain, but sometimes I envy those tall chicks who can lose weight on 1600 cals!
It is also difficult to find clothes that will fit, because in shorties fat is sort of more "concentrated" and our shape ends up being different than that of taller overweight chicks. Anyone with the same issues?

Yep!! I remember years ago there was an article in NY Magazine about people who did calorie restriction as a lifestyle. Their daily intake made me laugh.

I have often lamented being a shortie and that it impacted how much food I could eat in comparison to my taller friends.
A plus to being short and small comes with age however. As women age, the short ones look like cute and perky older women while tall women sometimes look awkward (unless they carry themselves with a great deal of grace).
Often people think I am much younger than I am and I am sure it is because I am small. I hated that in my 20's but it is sort of nice now: )

Lift heavy weights! :)

You'll probably be able to eat more and lose/maintain your weight, plus you'll look awesome ;)

To put it into perspective, at this weight I will still LOSE if I go below 2000cals for too long. I actually got too thin at one point but I was still eating quite a bit of food!

You know I'll always be jumping in to second you on this Sontaikle! I lift heavy and intensely, and though I'm not large, my muscle ratio is pretty high comparatively... I'm currently 5'4, 114-ish pounds at 10.5% bodyfat (I pretty much maintain between 10-12% year round).

This week I bumped UP my calories and accidentally lost another 1.6 pounds... I was trying to maintain!

Lifting weights is KEY for us tiny gals who want to eat more and look fit as opposed to just petite.

I don't lift weights, but I do maintain my weight and body fat at around 1800-2000 cals/day. I am 30 and 5'2".

I went above 1300 and started gaining, so I am back at 1200 till I lose again. May be being perimenopausal is making it harder for me... It is true that we look younger, though. I did lift weights some years ago, but gained weight, so I dropped it. Now I run every other day and I am thinking of swimming, but --pardon my vanity-- I am afraid my hair may get ruined (LOL). Thanks for your replies!

Yes! Although all of you are tall to me... I have many of those issues! I'm only
4' 9". Some of the calorie calculators are so wonky with my height :( One of them says I will only lose .6 lbs a week even when I tell it I want to lose 2lbs per week.

The less we weigh the less we lose, because we lose a percentage of our weight. It is safe to lose around 4 % of our weight per month, so go figure!

I am 4'11" and 110 lbs, which is healthy for my height. I had to eat between 1400-1700/day to lose weight, however, and I am maintaining by eating 1800-2,000 calories/day. I am 25 years old. I am sure that I will not be able to eat 1800-2,000 cals per day to maintain in 10 years or more...

I do strength training 2 xs/week, and cardio 2 xs/week.

Maybe age and height both have a lot do do with it. At almost 40, 5'2" and fairly active, I'm finding that my maintenance level is around 1600 calories on average. In practice, this means that I end up eating my weight loss level of 1200-1300 calories all except 1-2 days per week where I eat more like 2000-2500. I have stayed in the same 2lb weight range in the mornings for the last month.

I am both annoyed and amazed at how few calories I need to eat to stay my current weight. I mean, I knew I needed to eat less than my dh, but I didn't realize that I needed to eat LESS THAN HALF of what he does to maintain his 6' 190lbs. My 50lb 8yo out eats me most days.

I find that I can't eat that much. Probably due to my height, I always end up getting full very quickly.
It's annoying because people seem to think I'm not eating enough, they don't seem to remember that I'm so much littler than the rest of them.

Though definitely exercise of any kind will help you be able to eat more. And eating lots of vegetables if you're feeling hungry because they really fill you up but have few calories.

Since I recently discovered I'm an inch shorter than I thought, this is the place for me. :P

I started on 1,200 calories and just found it too difficult. I would find myself very hungry just a couple of hours after dinner. And would be awful to sleep. I don't count my calories anymore, it was too discouraging for me but I have a fair idea of the foods I should and shouldn't be eating. For something I don't know the calories of, I will log it into MFP and have a look.

I'd say I eat around 1,400 calories, exercise 6 days a week and for the last couple of weeks have been losing a pound a week. The inches are also coming off. I do official measurements once a month and while I'm not due to do a set until 02/08, I did have a look and since my last set on 03/07, I have lost 6 inches in total. So, I must be doing something right!

This so much. My fiance is a foot taller than me and I always need to remind him of this.

That and he usually only eats once or twice a day (so one or two GIANT meals), while I prefer smaller meals throughout the day.

I have to confess, though, that before this, I WAS often eating as much as everyone else. Like guy friends who weigh 180.

I know this thread hasn't been posted in for over 5 months, but I've been looking for something for short girls. I'm 5ft tall and have always had a hard time accepting the amount of calories I need to eat to lose weight. I'm using LoseIt! right now and eat around 1300/day.

My most successful weight loss was doing WW and I was eating around 900 calories a day. It worked, but it sucked and was not sustainable. I'm really trying to change up what I eat so I feel more satisfied while staying around 1300 calories or so.

Anyway, perhaps someone else who is short and new like me will benefit from this thread!

I am 5' 0" tall and on maintenance. You think your calories are low to diet......wait until you get to maintenance ! To maintain my weight I get to eat a whopping 1400 calories a day. It is reasonable, though my 6'2" son must have more than 1400 calories a day . There is a poster on here who is 6'9" he and I certainly don't have the same calorie requirements.The lower your goal weight the lower your calorie allowance will be.

LOL! Yes, I found out the hard way that eating 900 calories a day really does make the pounds fall off but it's not a way to live. I never want to see a 1 WW Point turkey hot dog again.

My problem in the past, and why I think I have never successfully maintained, is that my diet was too carb heavy. I'm trying to focus on cutting back carbs and sticking with snacks I know will fill me up. In the past I've gotten stuck snacking on things like low fat low calorie baked snacks. I'm stocked up on cottage cheese, celery & PB, nuts, etc. right now. If I can stay full (not full to the point of bursting, but jut on the other side of hungry) I'm hoping I'll stop thinking about food all the time.

I've seen quite a bit in this thread about heavy weight lifting. Can someone tell me exactly what that means? Apologies if that's a dumb question. I've always been more of a jogger/walker.

Lifting heavy weights is exactly that--lifting heaving things! It's incredibly powerful exercise that builds muscle which in turn makes it so that you need more calories to be alive.

The weight training forum here has a lot of tips, and there is a feathers weightlifting thread (although it's a bit inactive at the moment). Check both out and DO NOT be afraid to lift heavy. You won't get bulky, you'll get lean and toned.

I'm really convinced weight training is the reason I need to eat over 2000 cals to maintain and why I can lose weight in the 1600-1800 cal range despite the fact that I'm 5'3" and 112lbs.

Thank you! I'll check out that thread.

I'm 4'9" and struggle with this myself. When I cut out the carbs and lift weights I can lose. My problem is sticking with something.