I'm wondering what other people are able to eat for their height and weight when they are losing weight and when they are maintaining???
my story:
I know 1200cal is supposed to be the minimum limit for staying alive, but I just don't see how people get skinny on that amount. Granted I do feel tired when I try less than 1200cal, but at lower levels of weight, the body weight won't budge without it.
I'm 5'9.
I originally lost 85lbs in just a year on a healthy vegan diet by constantly zigzagging calories between 1200-1600cal, always losing 1-2 lbs a week. I got down to 135lbs without too many plateaus. The lowest I ever managed to get was 132lbs, but I really had to push myself and I was eating closer to 1000-1200cal and I couldn't sustain that because I was ravenous and tired.
So I tried giving it a break and eating maintenance for awhile to see if that would help. Slowly, over 6 months I rose back to 150lbs and seem to be able to maintain that eating 1800-2000cal, which is most comfortable in terms of hunger, but doesn't help me stay at a lower weight.
I'm trying to work my way back down again, but the only proven method I have is the 1200cal zigzag method and then I'll probably get stuck again around 132-135lbs. Which is really irritating because 120-125lbs is probably where I need to be to get the last bit of fat off. I'm tall and small-boned like the models, but I have a huge ring of fat wrapped around my torso since I'm apple-shaped and carry most of my weight around my middle. At 132lbs, it was a lot better and I think it would have only taken a loss of 10lbs more to make my stomach flat for the first time ever.
I slowly increased my calories while moving into maintenance and I wasn't worried if I gained a few lbs back due to water-weight and coming off a diet. But several inches on my waist definitely came back too. I was trying to find the most comfortable eating spot where I'm not hungry so it can be maintained long-term without calorie-counting and 1800-2000cal was that sweet spot on a VEGAN diet only. If I ate meat/dairy/sweets, I'd end up overeating because those don't fill you up as well volume-wise.
150lbs
Chest 35.5
Waist 30-36.1
Hips 37.7
132lbs (my lowest weight ever achieved)
Chest 34
Waist 26-32.7
Hips 35
You can see just how quickly I gain in the waist compared to the rest of my body.
The first Waist number (30) is the place where the waist is naturally measured at its narrowest point.
The second Waist number (36.1) is measured at the bellybutton, which is my widest point and where I carry the most extra fat.
As I get heavier, my waist width grows to match hip width and chest protrusion, and I end up looking like a log instead of a woman with a natural difference between waist, hips, and chest.
At my lowest Waist, (26) looked pretty good, but (32.7) was still bad. It would probably be about (30) if the flab around the bellybutton would go away. And with the way I was losing inches, 120-125lb goal most likely would have given me that last 2-3 inch decrease. Any magic tricks for being able to eat 1800cal, but only weigh 130lbs? lol