I need some advice for a friend...Would anyone care to help?

I know the 1200 calorie a day rule that all women must have at least 1200 calories a day to keep their body fueled. I have a very dear friend who is only 4ft.9in. she weights just in at 90lbs. Her question to me the other day was something that got me thinking.

She asked me if it is ok for her to only eat 900 calories a day because if you go by a standard rule that some people do. I weigh in just under 150 so to maintain my weight I should be eating about 1500 calories a day so for her being 90lbs. she should be eating 900 calories a day. It makes sense to me but I was always told to never go below the 1200 rule.

Could this be possibly true with such small people? Say a 100lb person should only eat 1000 calories a day but a 120lb. person should be actually eating the 1200 cals a day and on up with how much you weigh.

I need input please tell me I am completely wrong or that I am right so that I may give her advice correctly so that she is not undereating if this is the case.

The 1200 calorie rule is based on a 5'1" tall 100 lb woman, it's the BMR for a woman of those stats (it's actually closer to 1235 calories). It's a huge generalization. 99% of people need to eat more than 1200 calories to be healthy. One should always eat no less than their BMR (the amount of calories it takes to "run" your body efficiently and healthfully). Your friend should never go under whatever her BMR is -- which according to the stats you listed is 1170, pretty much 1200.

That being said, that's still a tiny amount of calories, she will most likely lose weight on that amount. I am 5'1" 102lbs and the weight pours off me if I eat 1200 calories.

However, I am surprised to hear you maintain only on 1500 calories being taller and heavier than your friend??? Again, with my stats I most assuredly lose on 1500 calories without doing much exercise at all. Are you sure *your* calculations for yourself are accurate?? Are you extremely sedentary (bedridden) or have medical issues which would interfere with your weightloss?

I put in your friend's stats (assuming she is female) into the Burn Meter and for Sedentary, she would need 1400 calories.  She would need 1600 calories at light activity.

I have heard that if you are dieting and want to weigh 90lbs you should eat 900 calories or if you want to be 150lbs you need to eat 1500 calories. I think this is the formula that they use on the biggest looser challenge.

 I did a quick calculation on http://www.bcm.edu/cnrc/caloriesneed.htm to see how many calories are needed to support metabolism etc of a smaller person (I am only 4'8" tall myself). Here is what the baylor college of medicine site recommends:

If a 4'9" tall person weighing 90lbs is rarely active they need: 1787 calories to maintain. By comparison, if that same 4'9" 90lb person is active more than 1 hour per day they need 2432 calories to maintain their current weight.

From this, I would say if your friend is trying to loose weight (as we all know you need to reduce calorie intake by about 700 calories a day to loose 1 pound per week) that would put her calorie count (if she is rarely active) at around 1000 to loose weight. However, to maintain her weight she really needs to eat a bit more than 900 calories/day. Also, it is very difficult to get enough nutrients from 900 calories worth of food so having only 900 cal/day may have some adverse long-term effects.  

Sorry let me clarify, I am trying to lose weight and I am eating 1250 a day on sedentary days. I was just thinking outloud hypothetically that once I reach my goal weight I may need right around 1500 calories to maintain my weight.

 The calculations I am coming up with for the weight ratio to the expenditure is based purely on hearsay from other people that have told me in order to keep your current weight you eat that amount of calories per day.

I will definatly let her know what she should be eating in a day to maintain her weight based on your calculations and what is reccomended on this site. Thank you for your help.

Original Post by larienkoci:

From this, I would say if your friend is trying to loose weight (as we all know you need to reduce calorie intake by about 700 calories a day to loose 1 pound per week) that would put her calorie count (if she is rarely active) at around 1000 to loose weight. However, to maintain her weight she really needs to eat a bit more than 900 calories/day. Also, it is very difficult to get enough nutrients from 900 calories worth of food so having only 900 cal/day may have some adverse long-term effects.

 You only need to reduce your intake by 500 calories per day, not 700. Also, this is 500 calories total meaning you should add back in whatever calories you burned through exercise and etc. I hope your 90 lb friend isn't trying to lose weight though! :D

Hello skinnyogi and thank for responding. She isn't trying to lose weight. She wants to maintain what she is at, in recent years she has struggled with health problems and just recently became healthy again. She really doesnt know how to maintain her weight because she has very little knowledge of the process. I myself included need some guidence and help with this regaurd. I am still learning and following advice from people who have been here before.

I just want her to be happy and healthy but do it the correct way that is why I made this thread in the first place. I have already contacted her about the advice given to me on this thread and made sure I checked her calculations and put them on a print out so that she could see for herself. Other than that I have nothing else to give her and im sure she will try and follow what the guidelines should be for her height to weight ratio.

That is very thoughtful of you chix123. 

Does your friend have internet access?  You could always introduce her to CC.  :)

I grabbed this from the Maintenance Forum *sticky*:

BMI Index - BMI Index Analysis - Now that you have reached Maintenance, the first thing to assess is your BMI.  Make sure that you fall within a healthy range.  By WHO standards, a healthy BMI range is 18.5 - 24.99. 

Expenditure - Calculate Daily Calories Burned - After you have determined that you are within a healthy weight range, calculate your Calories Burned at your new healthy weight.  The Daily Caloric Expenditure will tell you a rough estimate of how many calories you burn.  Be sure to set your activity level accordingly though. 


Here are some great articles to check out:

Weight Maintenance:  Keeping the weight off permanently
Weight management
Successful Weight Management

Original Post by larienkoci:

I have heard that if you are dieting and want to weigh 90lbs you should eat 900 calories or if you want to be 150lbs you need to eat 1500 calories. I think this is the formula that they use on the biggest looser challenge.

Have you ever seen someone on the biggest loser at 90 lbs or 150 lbs? The formulas are completely different as you change weight categories. If you are just on the high end of normal or slightly overweight, a 500 calorie deficit seems to work best. If you're in one of the obese categories, 1,000 calories seems to work well. If you're heavier than that you have probably consulted with a doctor or nutritionist to work out the best plan for your body.

From this, I would say if your friend is trying to loose weight (as we all know you need to reduce calorie intake by about 700 calories a day to loose 1 pound per week) that would put her calorie count (if she is rarely active) at around 1000 to loose weight. However, to maintain her weight she really needs to eat a bit more than 900 calories/day. Also, it is very difficult to get enough nutrients from 900 calories worth of food so having only 900 cal/day may have some adverse long-term effects.

 

A 500 calorie deficit per day equates to about 1 lb per week in weight loss. A 700 calorie deficit, assuming that you don't have any health issues, would come out to about 1.5 lbs per week.

thank you to everyone who has pointed out that you only need to restrict calories by 500 per day to loose weight. I had heard that an average of 1-2 pounds of weight per week was healthy weight loss. So, I did an average and to loose 1.5 lbs week you need to restrict 700 calories per day. Looks like I was sadly mistaken by all the posts correcting my original view. thanks again for info.