ALL LADIES 4'11 to 5'5 what do you maintain on? SPEND 2 MINUTES TO SHARE!!!

I am currently trying to maintain my weight and I am really short, 4'11 and petite, I was wondering what the typical maintenance range is for individuals who are roughly my height . I want to maintain maintain by eating the recommended 2000 calories for women. Is this actually possible? I think it is, for some, but I want to know who...lol

thanks for sharing and the information will be used for the best! I really want to set realistic goals and not delude myself into thinking a certain exercise regimen will allow me to eat 2000 calories when the only people who maintain at that level are 6'0 and run marathons...lol. [okay, a bit drastic but you get my drift] i know i know...everyone is different, i just want real people with real experiences as a guide. So, being a petite person, what do you maintain on and what are your stats? Thanks!

Chrissy :)

well its definitely possible to maintain on 2000 at 4 foot 11, i am 5ft4 and i maintain on that amount. sometimes more and sometimes less. like when i am very active walking to and from college, doing yoga, skipping, and working out on my treadmill i eat over 3000. so i suggest adding a 100 carlories a day to your normal daily amount until you hit 2000 or until you get to at least 1800.

i am already at 2000, and haven't checked yet to see if i've gained. how much do you weigh and do you CC all the time, or is 2000 an estimate for you? also, how old are you?

I am 5'5" and weigh around 135-140 lbs.. I am eating anywhere between 1800 and 2400 calories a day, and seem to be maintaining my weight in that 5-lbs window. For what it's worth, I go to the gym 3x week, doing about 45 minutes of weight lifting and an additional 5 to 20 minutes of cardio (depending on whether I feel like HIIT or steady state or nothing at all). I also play ice hockey, sometimes once every other week and other weeks I play 3 or 4 nights in a row, so that varies.. but those are days/weeks that I eat more.

Ideally I've love to be down around 125 lbs again (I was there last year) but I think that was too thin for my body and I've been working on just being happy where I am right now, which is still healthy for my height (I'm female), according to BMI.

Granted, I'm a little taller/heavier, but I think if you are reasonably active- not even with sports but just with "doing things" throughout the day, you can maintain on close to 2000.

Hey there!

I am about 5 ‘ 5 and I maintain on 1800 - 2000 a day, some times more, some times a tad less .

I do Pilate’s 3 - 4 days week, body pump (60 min weights glass, about 400 calorie burn), and have started to do one strength session with heavier weight once a week.

So, resistance train twice a week, Pilate’s a few days a week (burns about 180 - 200 calories), as well as walking most days for up to an hour (burns about 250 calories).

You are doing so well Chrissy, you sound like you have the right intentions! Just be careful not to try to control your weight too much - as in, paying too much attention to calories you eat and your weight. Just try to use common sense - don’t let yourself feel hungry in order to maintain your current weight - eat more if you are more hungry, and accept a tad of weight gain if it is needed!

Another thing to think about - people who have restricted food often permanently lose their appetite and hunger signals! This has happened to me - I do not feel physical hunger, so I cannot simply let my body dictate when to eat!

So, using a little guidance , such as making sure you eat at least over a certain amount is a good idea!

I try to make sure I eat over at least 1750 calories, so I know I have satisfied my hunger as my body is bad at telling me if it is hungry.

well thank you for the reply PERSONALTRAINER87 you always have really good advice and i appreciate it!! it sounds like you have a very healthy relationship with food and exercise and i envy that. keep it up! where do you do pilates? at the gym or by video??

**bump** i know there are more of us than this!!

Hey! I'm curious about this too...I recently hit my goal weight from gaining (!!), and am a little confused about this...Right now I seem to be maintaining on a range of etween 1500 and maybe 1800 but I'm not entirely sure. I'm 5'3, about 105, by the way. I haven't weighed myself, but I feel the same..I'm curious to see what others have to say.

(P.S. chrissy-I've read some of your posts about you reaching your goal weight- that's awesome, congrats! Keep up the hard work, and don't let any of the naysayers tell you you could do better!)

i seem to be maintaining on 2000 4 days a week and 2100 on the other 3 days. maybe less than a half pound gain, i can't really tell because this past weigh in week i fluctuated .6 pounds between the actual date and the day after. so on friday i was .6 pounds heavier but it didn't feel right, so the next day i weighed again .6 pounds lighter...hmm. we'll see this friday.

You eat about the same as me at times, usually more, and you are shorter so I are definitely eating a good amount of calories Chrissy!

Even if you are not at your 100% ideal range, at only 4’11 and eating 2000 calories, you would not be far off!

Frankly, I do not think that once you reach a BMI of about 19, that there is always a need to keep eating significantly large amounts unless there is a lot of evidence that suggests your body is not naturally around that weight.

Just be aware that certain person on this site push for higher BMI’S and would think that given you are recovering, you need a BMI of 20 and should therefore eat 2500 calories to get there!

Keep up the good work, 2000 calories maintaining your current weight sounds like a fun, tasty life you get to enjoy, no deprivation there!

hey...not actively "recovering" anymore. a little gain wouldn't kill me but it's no longer my mission. i do eat 2100 on 3 days out of the week. i think i will decrease it a bit so that i can reduce my activity level as well. i enjoy it but i don't want to push myself too much. :)

I'm 5' 3.5" and maintain around 2000 calories give or take some.  I lift 3x a week and do cardio 3 a week.

by the look of those abs, 2000 calories might only be good for someone who trains really hard, at my size i think it might be wise to tone it down a notch. i have another "weigh in" tomorrow. every friday. so if i've gained i think i'll do 2000 2 days a week, and 1900 on the other 5. this will bring my total to around 700 less per week, which is about 1/5 of a pound...so as long as the scale hasn't jumped up like a pound, i am in a good range. if it's more than 1/2 pound i think i will scale it back to about 1800 5 days a week, and 2000 2 days a week. Which would put me at 1200 less than i've been eating, so about 1/3 of a pound. i don't want to assume that whatever i've gained is "actual weight" so i'm not trying to match it perfectly. If the scale reads .75 greater than last week, i'll assume at least half of it is not "real weight" since it is highly unlikely that i've over eaten by that much...it would require an extra 375 calories per day and i doubt that 1600-1700 is my range with my activity level being taken into account. So, i will count it as half that, which is overeating by roughly 150 per day, which would put me at 1850 5 days a week and 1950 2 days per week. since i want to keep the numbers whole, i would do the 1800 and 2000. does this sound like a good plan?

I think maybe you're worrying about this too much... Keep going at 2000 and see what happens would be my advice!

By the way: I've been maintaining at 1800-2200 and I'm 5'2. I weight train three times a week and walk for at least 30mins each day. I'm supposed to be gaining though so will be increasing my calories.

i think it's good to be in tune with your body and the changes that occurring and try to gauge what does and doesn't work...i don't think i'm "worrying about it too much" i've been at a 2000/2100 calorie range for over 2 weeks in maintenance to see what happened so i think it's fine to make adjustments if that isn't the range for me. you're 5'2 and have been maintaining at 1800-2200, none of my days are below 2000 so, i don't see why you'd make such recommendations based on your own intake. i'm not trying to be snappy but i just don't really understand when someone tells a fellow poster to essentially not care...that's how things can become out of control. i'm not talking drastic changes, just responding to my body. :)

Thanks very much for posting this question. I don't normally use this site (I'm a Daily Plate user) but I signed up just to say thanks! I'm 5'0" and 8 months ago, I decided to lose some weight, slowly and in a healthy manner (occasional running and different eating habits). I actually accomplished my goal earlier this week, and now, after 8 months of eating in the 1300 calorie range, it's been difficult for me to figure out how much to eat to maintain. I don't want to keep losing so I am going to try what you're doing (trial and error?). If you figure out what works for you, please post!

Original Post by stephanie_2:

Thanks very much for posting this question. I don't normally use this site (I'm a Daily Plate user) but I signed up just to say thanks! I'm 5'0" and 8 months ago, I decided to lose some weight, slowly and in a healthy manner (occasional running and different eating habits). I actually accomplished my goal earlier this week, and now, after 8 months of eating in the 1300 calorie range, it's been difficult for me to figure out how much to eat to maintain. I don't want to keep losing so I am going to try what you're doing (trial and error?). If you figure out what works for you, please post!

hi stephanie, so what is your current weight?? maybe i can help you out? also, what is your exercise routine like?

I started out at 135 lbs, I now weigh 105 lbs. Lately, keeping up with an exercise routine has been tough (I work full time and I'm a full time student at UCSB). If I have time, I run 2-4 miles about 4 days a week. This isn't new, I've been a runner since high school. It's always been a big stress relief, then it helped me with my weight loss goals. I also do strength training, 30-60 minutes, mainly on weekends. The 1300 calories are net calories. I use a Polar heart rate monitor to track how much I burn with running.

I know this is off topic, but now that I've lost all the weight, I was really proud of myself, but people at work and my own family are making negative comments about how I don't "look good," or that I'm "too thin" now. Some people ask me if I'm starving myself. No I am not, but I've received so much negative feedback, it's so discouraging!

Original Post by stephanie_2:

I started out at 135 lbs, I now weigh 105 lbs. Lately, keeping up with an exercise routine has been tough (I work full time and I'm a full time student at UCSB). If I have time, I run 2-4 miles about 4 days a week. This isn't new, I've been a runner since high school. It's always been a big stress relief, then it helped me with my weight loss goals. I also do strength training, 30-60 minutes, mainly on weekends. The 1300 calories are net calories. I use a Polar heart rate monitor to track how much I burn with running.

I know this is off topic, but now that I've lost all the weight, I was really proud of myself, but people at work and my own family are making negative comments about how I don't "look good," or that I'm "too thin" now. Some people ask me if I'm starving myself. No I am not, but I've received so much negative feedback, it's so discouraging!

well losing 30 pounds on a small frame is a ton!! i can understand why they might think you did something unhealthy, that would be a net loss of almost 4 pounds a month and being that you were only 135 pounds, that's pretty extreme. you also have to understand that they weren't around all the time to see it as a gradual process so when they see you it seems really sudden and potentially unhealthy. so when you say 1300 net calories, how many does that end up actually being as far as intake...how many calories do you burn per workout??

Original Post by chrissy1988:

well losing 30 pounds on a small frame is a ton!! i can understand why they might think you did something unhealthy, that would be a net loss of almost 4 pounds a month and being that you were only 135 pounds, that's pretty extreme. you also have to understand that they weren't around all the time to see it as a gradual process so when they see you it seems really sudden and potentially unhealthy. so when you say 1300 net calories, how many does that end up actually being as far as intake...how many calories do you burn per workout??

On my 2-4 mile runs, I burn between ~175-300 calories so I eat ~1500-1600. For the strength training, I'm not really sure because there's not very much cardio involved, so I usually go up to around 1400. I haven't gone on my runs in about 3 weeks though, because of finals. :| I'm thinking I should increase the amount I eat slowly? I also think that once I have time to run again, I will probably stick with 2 mile runs.

Original Post by stephanie_2:

Original Post by chrissy1988:

well losing 30 pounds on a small frame is a ton!! i can understand why they might think you did something unhealthy, that would be a net loss of almost 4 pounds a month and being that you were only 135 pounds, that's pretty extreme. you also have to understand that they weren't around all the time to see it as a gradual process so when they see you it seems really sudden and potentially unhealthy. so when you say 1300 net calories, how many does that end up actually being as far as intake...how many calories do you burn per workout??

On my 2-4 mile runs, I burn between ~175-300 calories so I eat ~1500-1600. For the strength training, I'm not really sure because there's not very much cardio involved, so I usually go up to around 1400. I haven't gone on my runs in about 3 weeks though, because of finals. :| I'm thinking I should increase the amount I eat slowly? I also think that once I have time to run again, I will probably stick with 2 mile runs.

honestly you should make 1500 your minimum, regardless of workouts and maybe eat around 1700 minimum on workout days. this might result in a minor weight gain, 1-2 pounds tops i'd assume. and if it levels out quickly then maybe one more increase to around 1700-1900 consistently. that's about what i maintain on...a bit more..i eat about 1900 to maintain and i'm 4'11 so that should be a bit comforting for you to hear :)