For all those short females out there, do you ever feel like you are at a disadvantage with regard to weight loss/maintenance? I know that since taller people are bigger they are hungrier but, all of us enjoy eating. I feel like it is unfair that other people get to eat so much more just because they are taller or because they are male. I am 5' 1 and weigh about 100 pounds. If I am sedentary, I can eat about 1500 calories per day to maintain my weight. But, a 130 pound 5' 9 sedentary male who would have the same bmi as me at that weight can eat 2000 calories per day to maintain his weight. I feel like taller people have an easier time because they have more calories to work with.

Definitely!! My 6'2" hubby eats all the time. I am so jealous.

Julie- a 100 pound 6 foot person can eat only 50 calories more than an 100 pound 5 foot person.

If you were 6 foot and the same BMI (you would weigh 140 pounds), you would be able to eat a little over 100 calories more per day. So an extremely tall person with the same BMI as you can't get away with eating whatever they want- they actually only are able to have one extra banana a day!

I think the reason you have to eat so little to lose weight is not so much because of your height but because you're very, very close (2 pounds) to being underweight. If you weighed your "ideal weight" (usually estimated for 5'1" as 118lbs) you would be able to eat a bit more everyday. Your feelings of frustration (and hunger?) might be your body trying to tell you where it wants to be.

I don't know if it is harder, but I do know for me 5 pounds looks like 10-20 on some people. It's not fair necessarily, but nothing in life is 100% fair. I remember when my husband was younger and wanted to drop a few pounds, so he'd eat saw ONE less cookie a day. I had to eat 500 less calories or something, testosterone advantage for sure, but it's the breaks.

Where weight loss is concerned, I think we're taught to believe that everyone has it easier than we do.

Men may feel that women have it easier, because the weight loss support groups are filled with women, and men may feel out of place.

Women may feel that men have it easier, because they tend to lose faster.

Almost-thin folks may feel that extremely obese people have it easier because they get to see bigger losses, and they may not have to exercise at all to lose rapidly.

Extremely obese folks may feel that less overweight folk have it easier because they can exercise with less pain, discomfort, or embarassment.

Older people may think younger people have it easier, because their metabolisms are faster.

Younger people may think older people have it easier (especially if they're retired) because they have "more time" for weight loss.

The list can go on and on and on... It turns out that almost everyone thinks that almost everyone else has it easier (and we all can't be right).

Frustration is the enemy of weight loss, and yet we encourage it, rather than discourage it. We AGREE that weight loss is unfair and that the unfairness is discouraging.

I've learned to see weight loss as entirely fair, if only in it's unfairness. No one who struggles has it easy, and concentrating on the folks who seem to have it easier than you, is one of the fastest tracks to failure. Besides which, you NEVER know how much someone else is struggling, because 90% of the struggle is invisible to everyone else.

As for shortness, I don't know. My mother and sisters are 6 to 7 inches shorter than I am, and right now, they're succeeding at weight loss and weight maintenance much more rapidly than I am. It's possible that they're just "luckier," and it's also possible that they're working harder, or that my medications are interfering.

Regardless, when I start feeling frustrated that someone else seems to be having an easier time than I am, it usually means I'm losing focus on my own weight loss.... I'm wanting to feel envy rather than motivation. I'm looking for a reason to give up.

I'm not saying that's what you're doing, only that for most people I really believe that the envy and frustration are motivation-killers. They always were for me, and for many people I've known.

My doctor helped me see it when I was complaining about only losing 1 lb a month at nearly 400 lbs, and he reminded me that "normal" for people of all sizes was to lose nothing, or to lose a little and then gain even more... Just stiicking with it, puts the slowest losers among us, in the lead.

Weight loss is like a huge-city marathon. When we see 5,000 runners ahead of us. We envy them and assume we're trailing far behind in last place, only because we don't see the 20,000 runners behind us, envying our success.

Since I gave up thinking about all the folks doing better than I am, the better and more successful I feel (and the more I accomplish).

What's unfortunate is that I feel more successful now (though it's taken me seven years to lose 105 lbs and I have almost 150 left to go) than I did in the past when my weight loss would slow from 5 lbs a week to "only 2."

My current success is slower and more difficult than my previous "failures." By my old definitions (losing AT LEAST 2 lbs every week), I've "failed off" 105 lbs.

If I spent much time thinking about all the people who have it easier (including my former self), I wouldn't have the time and energy to do what I needed to do.

Well something that really stinks about being tall, is you carry weight differently. Which can be good, but for example, I have lost almost 20 pounds, and not even ONE pants size. My cousin is 5'2, and if she lost 20 pounds she would lose probably 3 or 4 pants sizes! I think it's all relative. We have our bodies, and no matter how much we complain (I'm not saying your complaining, but you know what I mean) about what makes it harder for us to lose or maintain, it won't change anything! So I've just accepted my body and how it works and I'm okay with it! Being healthy is MUCH more worth or to me.

Xoxo

This! ^ Well put!

I'm on the taller side and it's still hard to lose weight. When I'm sedentary I'll keep my calories under 1500-1600 and that sometimes is even just maintaining. I think more of it just has to do with a person's hormones and metabolism...

At the same time, you can gain 20 pounds and no difference, whereas I gain 5 and my pant size goes up

I sooooo wish I was taller, for many reasons.....

But as you said, being healthy is the gem; at any length or size.

Sorry but I totally disagree. My hubby eats around 3000 cal and I eat 1200 to maintain. If he ate 1250 he would starve to death......

I was trying to show that it's not height that's causing the discrepancy. If he is the exact same bmi as you, does the same amount of activity, and had the same muscle mass as you, then there's no way that he would be able to eat twice as much as you, no matter how much taller he is. It's the other things that are causing the differences. Also, if you're eating 1250 to maintain your body has probably slowed in metabolism significantly, which is another thing besides height to consider.

But if your cousin gained 20 pounds she would gain 3-4 pant sizes while you would only gain 1 pant size.

There is no reason why anyone should let their height dictate if they lose weight or not. Yes, a much taller person can weigh and eat more, but that's because they need more calories to be alive.

I liked the fact that less weight off me means a greater difference. My 6'3" fiance can literally gain or lose 20 pounds and I wouldn't notice it because he's so tall and it's evenly distributed. The only way I've ever known is that his clothes are a little baggy.

If you're 5'1" and 100 pounds then you're already at a healthy weight. You might benefit more from heavy weight training than trying to lose more weight.

People who have it easier than me:
- people who don't have chronic migraines
- people without arthritis in their hip
- people without stretchmarks
- people who can run (I'm just jealous...)

People who have it harder than me:
-difficult work schedules
-financial strain
- emotional relationship with food
-lack of love or understanding in a close relationship
-girls without cute booties (it's all I have! Lol)

Why do we lament about who has it harder? Will it suddenly affect your journey? Play up your advantages, as we all have them.

Thank you so much for posting this! I think everyone feels like they're at a disadvantage at some point, and your perspective is a good cure for that!