5'2" and maintaining: how many calories?

Title is pretty self explanatory I think :) I'm wondering if anyone else out there is 5'2" (or thereabouts) and maintaining, how much do you weigh and how many calories do you eat to maintain? Also how active are you?

Yes it's hard. It's still hard for me, but I've gotten to the point where I don't feel guilty that 10% of the time.

I'm working on it.  After eating every meal healthy and no indulgences other than a few glasses of wine all week, hopefully I can not feel guilty about the Indian or Ethiopian I'm headed out for tonight with the boy.  Yep, portion sizes (fortunately, the Indian place serves pretty tiny ones, as I'm gearing up to try to win a free beer for him by eating the "so spicy we dare you to finish it" dish), but there's only so little I can eat and feel like I've actually eaten.

dm84  One thing I have learned is to not make absolute statements about what is "the right way" when it comes to strategy. It would be naive of me to say there is only one right way.  I am a firm believer in calorie counting... you know what, a friend of mine lost 45 pounds in 25 weeks, and never counted a single calorie... and has maintained that for a year. It underscored to me that my way is the best way for me, but may not be the best way for someone else.

Further, you are a 20-something year-old guy... 2500 calories a day, for 160 pounds, right? I wrote it down one time (I asked for stats once, you responded). You need 15.6 calories per pound, to my 12 calories per pound... almost 1000 calories a day more than I can eat.  I have to make my 1500-1600 calories count nutritionally... including 3 milk servings.  Metabolically, you have a lot more room to play with than a 51 year old lady.  It is amazing how quickly I can regain weight when I stop paying attention.  It is not enough for me to eat just healthy foods, most of the time I have to choose the low-cal versions.  And I do want the most nutrition for the least calories, because by doing  that I can pack in more nutrition... if I eat fat-free cottage cheese, then I can also have a piece of fruit.  And if I decide I'm going to have 1/4 cup of walnuts,  I do want to be sure I have 200 calories of room for it in my day.

I know a guy about your height and weight, who told me he doesn't count calories. When the scale drops he knows he can pig out, when it is up he eats less and goes to bed hungry.  I want to manage my weight well enough that I don't have to go to bed hungry.... or ever again feel like I have to play catch up.

I think there is a middle ground, where you don't log the calories for every squirt of catsup. My food diary is pretty messy and sparse. I write it down because I have a poor memory, especially if I am distracted/upset, can lose sight of what I have eaten for the day. I don't sit down for three squares... I graze between breakfast and supper.  I showed my food diary to a women once and she was confused because I had written down only items, that day no numbers... I didn't because I knew what my notes meant.  Most days I have 15 or so entries... mostly abbrieviated code.

To me this is about as OCD as making myself a shopping list of 15 items.  I suppose with some practice, I could just keep it in my head and generally know what I am supposed to buy. But I don't happen to find it inconvenient to write out a shopping list.

When I was first married, my husband I wrote down each and every little thing we spent money on. We did this for two months. We learned from that, and changed some habits. As with calories, a dollar here and there wasted, matters.  We have always been careful spenders, and financially comfortable enough that we never had to worry about making ends meet, so after those months, we never did that again.  But I would never dream of telling someone who lived pay check to pay check, whose income is a fraction of mine,  that for them to track their spending for life, was OCD.  If that's what they have to do to make ends meet... so they can feel confident they'll have enough money to get by...  it's a good and healthy thing.

For quite some time I was eating 1,200 calories a day without counting. I didn't even know I was eating so little until I came to this site and logged it. So I know how hard it is to eat 1,500 a day.

You 'graze'? That could be why you have so much difficulty. I eat a snack between breakfast and a snack between lunch (and one after dinner, only out of necessity to hit my target for the day). Those two snacks are extremely small. The snack between breakfast and lunch is just a scoop and a half of whey protein powder mixed in water. Grazing made me fat; I will not allow myself to do that ever again. 

This person you mentioned who is similar in height and weight to me is playing an unhealthy game. It may be fine for him, but that's not ideal.

For better or worse, the norm is for people to not count calories for the rest of their life, both because it can turn into an obsession, and simply because there are situations where it can't be done reliably.

It's very easy to track money. A dollar is always worth a dollar, and you always know how much you spent. When you go out to a restaurant, you oftentimes don't really know how many calories you ate. Big difference.

My point is I am not having difficulty. I am effortlessly maintaining because I continue to do my system. I regain weight when I don't.  Whenever I have stopped counting calories, that's when I had difficulty. When I go to a restaurant, I estimate the calories... it works pretty well. Usually this calculation takes like five seconds... I do suppers at home the same way.  It is the same thing you do, a visual judgment... except that I attach a number. It works well enough, most days I maintain within a half pound of my target weight... week to week, the average is startlingly close. I write it down because I don't have a head for numbers.

If I was eating exactly three meals and two snacks every day, then it would be easier to keep track... just eat the same size meals every day.  I just prefer not to be limited... I prefer to spread out my calories. In theory grazing would speed your metabolism... I don't buy that, I just think all that matters is how many calories you eat in a day.  So whether or not I graze, doesn't make me gain weight, as long as I keep track of how much I eat.

For some people, cleaning the house becomes an obsession. Nevertheless I intend to keep cleaning my house.

That most people stop counting calories, doesn't mean it is the right approach. Most people regain the weight they lost. 

You and I should agree to disagree on this one. We're on the same team.  We've reached out goals, so participating in this forum is more about our desire to share. A more constructive discussion you and I could have is WHY do so few people succeed to keep weight off for life? How come there is a fraction of posts on the maintaining site, as compared the the weight loss site? If you want to do that one, start a new thread. Okay?

hi, i am a 5'2 120 pound 30 year old female. i lost 80 pounds in 9 and and a half months and have been maintaining for the last 2 months. i usually eat anywhere from 2300 to 2700 calories a day. i do 30 minutes of step aerobics 6 times a week, strength train 3 times a week and walk 4 miles 4 times a week.

i was losing  2 pounds a week on 1500 calories a day just doing step aerobics 6 times a week for 30 minutes and strength 3 times a week. now that i am maintaining and actually doing more physical activity, i figure that i can get away with 3000 calories a day, since i was losing 2 pounds a week on 1500 calories a day doing less activity.

so far so good.

i haven't reached maintenance stage yet, but my opinion is find out what works for you and do it. You're not going to gain all the weight back in a week so for maybe the first month of maintaining you could try a different method each week, weigh yourself once a week, and see what works for you

Right now i log every food, every condiment, every little thing that i consume- but once i reack my goal weight i plan to keep a general food log of meals and portion sizes and a rough estimate of calories. I'll weigh myself once a week to make sure i'm staying on track.  I think eventually i will come to know my body well enough, and know the calorie/nutrition content of the foods i eat, that i won't need to log my calories every day.

Can you please pull your head in dm84 and stop telling others what is the right way to do things when it is working perfectly well for them.

Possibly the only difference between us and you is that you have a better memory and head for figures and you do it all in your head while we use very easy tools (the site I use on calorieking.com.au is a very easy thing as everything is put in the diary automatically).

I'm almost that tall. I eat around 1500, and mostly I am sereditary.

hey! i am 5'2" and since november, i've come down from 142 lbs to 100.4 lbs!!!!!! i also am findin a way to maintain because I CANNOT afford to lose aymore weight.!!!!!! I am probably underweight now and I dont mind puttin on a few pounds! but but.. thats easy to do so i'd rather oncentrate on maintaining!

I still continue to burn 400-500 cals a day on the treadmill. I am still calorie counting and eat between 1200-1500 cals MAX a day most of which is fruits and veggies! I am unable to make myself put onweight.! :(.. everytime i put on even one pound i lose it back because i work out a little more or something. It makes me guilty! 

 Could anyone help me with this?!

What does a typical day's menu look like for you?

as soon as im up

 Coffee - strong, with half a spoon on non dairy creamer and no sugar

 breakfast:

30g of wheatflakes/special K

1 fruit - usually an apple

 lunch:

a bowl of boiled veggies with soy sauce/salt and pepper

a fruit

half a cup yogurt

evening:

an apple

dinner:

a bowl of veggies

1 slice of bread

a fruit

in between - 2 candies (small)

 

and a glass of skimmed milk with 2 spoonsful of horlicks

Freak, that is seriously a big concern.

You are headed towards an eating disorder, and it starts with an "a". You aren't eating too little to endanger your life, but you aren't eating really any protein so your body will use its own muscles as a source of protein.  The food you are describing was far lower than what I ate to lose weight (I went from 80kg to 55kg, which is about 120 pounds).  I am 44 years old and 5 foot 3 and I eat 2400 calories a day now and I think I'm still losing weight (a little).

So you need to speak to someone in real life about this, not just us.

hey guys! Ive been struggling to maintain ever since the summer started. I told myself that once summer started and i was at my goal weight i'd stop going to the gym religously and stop being so anal with my calorie counting, but for some reason i just cant LET GO!

I usually eat anywhere from 1000-1800 calories a day, depending on my mood and when i wake up and if cake is avaliable to me. But i still count calories, because i dont want to gain back what i worked so hard to lose for the past 2 years! And i still go to the gym because i have an extreme fear that if i dont i'm gonna blow up back. Its a bit OCD-ish but i think its become a lifestyle, going to the gym makes me feel good, eating healthy does too. Counting calories allows me to stay sane.

Keep up the good work everyone!

I'm 5'4", started at 210 and down to 185, 65 years old, which means my metabolism is very slow, and I'm sedentary due to health, at times nearly bedridden.  yet I am LOSING on 1400 calories, at a rate of 1.5 pounds a week.  If I go up to 1800, which I did from last October until this summer, I maintain and don't gain until I go to 2000.

So I think that the list of weight and calories is really off.

I've found that eating too little stalls weight loss and makes me feel tired.  Good nutrition is everything and you can't get adequate vitamins and other nutrients on 1200 calories a day, regardless of your height.

 Firstly, you need to pick your goal weight. Whatever that numbers is ' x ' amount of lbs. All right, once you've reach that x amount. I found that by counting I was still losing weight, which I couldn't afford. I'm 5'2 small frame currently maintaining 103 - 105lbs.  It has to be a goal weight that allows you leverage. Meaning a range of a couple pounds up and down. So if you want 115lbs, you should arim at 113lbs. That way you can boggle up and down a couple pounds, but you won't exceed your goal weight.

I suggest weighing yourself nightly, right before you go to sleep. Watch that 'x' number and if you see it upping past a certain range. The next day you should eat one less snack. Otherwise, if you continue to maintain focus on the number of calories that you intake. It could spiral into an eating disorder.

If I weighed myself nightly or even every morning, the figure would totally stuff up my thinking.  Firstly the figure that showed up would be the result of what my hormones are doing at the time, and what sodium and sugar content I've eaten the day before.  Secondly, I don't want to be thinking about what weight I am.

I'd rather focus on getting the behaviours right - the eating and the exercising, rather than the end result.

You COULD say that weighing yourself every day is obsessive behaviour too.  I wouldn't as I say each to their own.  But there are those who say that watching your calories is obsessive.  Let us do what works for us and without judgement of our tools or techniques. 

I so agree with what nads said.  We need to remember that while we are here for each other, we need to support, not criticize.  Most of us have had enough outside "help".  What we need now is to be supported and uplifted in our attempts to acheive a happier and healthier life.

Each of us has a different goal weight, each of us has a different way of using the tools supplied by CC.  And each of us need to do what works best for us, even if it isn't what works for others.

Sure, we should share what we are doing that is helping us, but lets try to keep it positive, and offer suggestions, not criticisms!

I'm between 5'2" and 5'3" and have pretty much reached my goal weight of 115. Was eating around 1400 calories a day, give or take 100 each way. I'm going to start with an increase to 1600 a day and see how it goes. Thanks to shiptona and dm84 for both points of view regarding logging and counting.