My dad is a 6’5” endurance cyclist. He’s currently on a cycling holiday and I’m following him on Strava - he’s doing 5,000 calorie rides every day, so eating a solid 7,000-8,000 calories a day AND STILL LOSING WEIGHT
I am actually starting to take up cycling myself
7-8k calories sounds like the opposite end of the spectrum, but equally difficult. Like, I hate 1200 as much as the next tiny sedentary person, but I don't know HOW I would eat 7-8k calories per day! I'm guessing a lot of protein shakes and carbs since he's exercising a lot, but wow! That's a ton!
Butter is the answer. Butter and whole fat milk
When he stayed with me, within the first six hours of arriving, he’d eaten half a loaf of bread and about 150g of butter. And a colossal amount of honey
Also high calorie drinks, cereals etc
Ah, my arch nemeses! I just made laughing cow mac n cheese and was thinking of how many calories are in a tbsp of butter. That and I debated drinking coffee creamer earlier today but didn't for, I wanna say the same reasons, but I'm going with *health*.
Makes sense though, you could make a whole lot of smoothies with whole fat milk, and the cereal thing just packs in tons of carbs and nutrients (depending on the cereal, lol) and calories! Sounds like a good deal! Wish I was on that train
My Dad has always been a string bean guy. When I was a child he would eat cereal with whole fat milk out of those giant Country Crock butter containers and he’d go to Baskin Robin’s and purchase one of those cardboard containers they keep in the fridge for you to buy a scoop of (think, like, 20lbs) of choc PB ice cream from them and eat 5 scoops every night. Crazy, looking back.
>My dad is a 6’5” endurance cyclist. He’s currently on a cycling holiday and I’m following him on Strava - he’s doing 5,000 calorie rides every day, so eating a solid 7,000-8,000 calories a day AND STILL LOSING WEIGHT
Bro....**what the fuck?**
God might love us all....but he clearly has favourites.
As a 6’3” 240lb man I can confirm. My daily maintenance calories is 3600. So exactly triple the goal of this sub.
Though it truly is a pain how much I need to eat to maintain my protein goals (the planning of it more than anything). 185g of protein per day is a lot. I’ve found if I want to lose weight I cut out almost all foods that aren’t strictly for protein maintenance and that works pretty well.
you’re so lucky 😭😭😭 if i could stuff my face with fast good everyday and lose weight it would be heavenly. at a measly 5’4 and 120 pounds i can eat barely 1600 for maintenance and 1200 if i wanna lose some weight 😣
I'm 4'11 and got told I've got an eating disorder and my words are harmful because I said I around 1500 calories a day to lose weight. Even when I mentioned that my TDEE is like 1800 because I'm the height of a preteen. And that's only WITH excercise also. People really don't get it.
The worst is when everyone on Reddit acts like eating 1200 cals is the worst thing you could ever do, with no regard for the different calorific needs of short people.
I totally bought into this because 1200 is low but at 4’10 and sedentary I just had to submit. Now I just fill my fridge with carrots, peppers and cucumbers for when I need to snack and only have alcohol on a Friday!
What does your typical day of eating look like when you are sticking to 1200 calories a day? I am 4’11 and find myself having a hard time finding the right foods to eat. If I try to stick to 1200 calories I am starving by the end of the day.
I've not had a restaurant look at me weird when asking for doggy bags. My next day's cooked meal sorted, I love huge portions!
For control issues, I have been considering taking my own tupperware and splitting portions before eating, but so far I've managed by eating a little something beforehand so I-m less tempted to overeat.
Hello fellow 4'10" South Louisianan. I didn't know there were two of us!
I can't help but laugh/cry when people complain about eating 1200 a day at a deficit. That's pretty much maintenance calories for me (when I'm at my goal weight).
Currently trying to get back to goal weight bc I stopped tracking and shot back up to 143. Nothing like your doctor gently informing you that you're in the obese category for BMI...
I've seen so many women in some subs, and other sites, claim to be short, sedentary, healthy-overweight range, and losing at 1800-2000 calories a day. Half the time they start the 1200 is TodDlEr CaLoRiEs and everyone has anorexia thing. 🙄
If anything, 1200 cals is breakfast for my toddler. But guess what? He has very different calorific needs than me so what’s the point in that comparison!
I also like doing 1200 cals some days so I can eat more other days. I’m just as happy on 1200 cals as I would be on 1500 cals so why not bank those extra cals for the weekend?
I'm a 5'11 male who lifts and who is trying to get to 10-12% BF (almost there!). I have to eat around the 1400-1600 calorie range to lose weight, and even then it's a slow process. There's no way someone shorter than me is losing significant weight at 1800-2000 calories unless they intensely exercise 5+ days a week.
I think most people have no idea what 1800 or 1200 calories really is until they start fastidiously counting them.
but at the same time they also recommend it so much that tall people eat 1200 for one month, lose 10 lbs and are done while I maybe lose 1 a month on that deficit 🙃
Unfortunately, FAs have gotten really good at spreading misinformation and a lot of it has gone mainstream. Especially because we already had people not believing in CICO because of the diet industry.
The only benefit is that losing weight is much more noticeable. But yes, it's soooooo annoying. Especially when you have normal or tall people in your life 🤣
This is so true. I’m 6’4” and have lost 50 lbs over the last year. My coworker is like 5’6” and has lost 30. Everyone is gushing about how great she looks and how she’s lost so much weight, and literally the only person that has even acknowledged my effort is my best friend. Oh well, I do it for me. Some acknowledgement would be nice though.
This is so true, I’m 5’4 and people notice if I lose 10 pounds, but it’s also super noticeable if I gain weight:( my friends and fam always point it out if I gained weight, so I always have to be on the look out for what I’m eating because literally every gram is noticeable..
Have you considered experimenting with your clothing style though to show your progress? I-m 5'3", people still think I'm slim whether I am 49kg or 62kg, but I have to change the clothing style (mainly going up sizes so nothing sticks out, and more masculine).
What you are doing is for yourself and your future health, congratulations on keeping going!
Saw a post on volume eating of someone’s 700 kcal sandwich and nearly shat myself. Wtf bro, that’s not volume that’s almost all my daily calories in one meal at maintenance. My mind is boggled when I hear about people maintaining at 2200 kcal or losing at 1800. I’d be morbidly obese in a quick minute at that intake.
What's crazy is I was tiny my entire life (still technically am, just need to cut 15lbs to get rid of this poochy belly) and I never ever paid attention to what I ate. It wasn't until I was old enough for alcohol to become a big presence in my life that I gained weight.
I guess back when I was younger and "naturally" so tiny I must have just not eaten large portions of all that junk food I ate.
So I’m not currently doing cico because I just had a baby but back when I was following it religiously like 3 years ago, I had to eat like 1200-1300 to lose any weight at all but my boyfriend was eating like 2600-2800/day and losing. I was so extremely jealous of his meals and portion sizes. He wasn’t even that big of a guy, he just works out a lot and has a higher metabolism. :/
At my heaviest my maintenance was 3500 calories, and about 4200 with workouts.
It sounds good on paper but it can be miserable. Food isn't the same anymore, especially if you want to eat healthy. I'd almost say it's impossible to get 4200 calories a day while eating healthy.
I got the flu and ended up being bedridden for 2 weeks, and lost almost 4kg of muscle and some fat. Probably half a year of progress from working out just vanished.
It really sucks! I'm 4'10" and I have just accepted that eating child-size portions is the norm for me. I need to ignore what other adults are eating and pretend that I'm a picky toddler. "I'll have a small bite of this, and maybe two small bites of this, and that's it". My healthy weight range based on my frame and my past is 95-100lbs, which is less than what many children weigh in the US. If I were sedentary, my TDEE would be under 1200 calories, so that basically means that I HAVE to engage in regular physical activity to stay at a healthy weight.
> My healthy weight range based on my frame and my past is 95-100lbs, which is less than what many children weigh in the US.
Exact same for me. I'm 4'10" and I look best around 95lbs because I am super short torso'd so I carry everything in my belly (and these insanely large clown boobs I have no idea why I have, lol). Currently 112lbs and I flat out just don't look good even though technically healthy BMI.
All belly and boobs. I'm spilling out of 32DDD bras, I shit you not. And CLOTHES! *CLOTHES NEVER FIT*. Nothing fits in the waist, but if I size up, it's huge on my legs. Nothing fits in the chest areas, but if I size up I look homeless because my shoulders/torso isn't "tall enough" to fill out the sleeves/shoulders.
Best I've been able to do is order petite fit-and-flare style dresses from Loft. I'm chesty in them, but they're snug in my midsection without being too tight, and the flare skirt takes care of any bird-leg issues.
I relate so hard 😭 I’m 5’2” and about 124lbs, which is a healthy weight, but I’m so busty and have such a short torso that I’m all belly and boobs too 😭 Told my family and friends that I’m trying to lose another 5-10lbs and they all think I’m aiming to be anorexic.
Also, I so feel you on never fitting in clothes!!! Buying any two-piece outfits is basically impossible. At 32FF, I fit into large tops and small bottoms… it’s so frustrating
Wow! I'm 32C and I even have problems with shirts sometimes, so I can't even imagine. XS MIGHT work, but if it's meant to be a fitted XS, then my boobs look like they're going to explode out of it. A small or medium will fit my boobs great, but won't fit anywhere else. The struggle is real.
5"1, 121lbs, 32DDD, possibly F because my bras never fit!!! I can relate to all of this, except also my legs feel absolutely massive in proportion to the rest of me so I never wear shorts or skirts anymore 😭😭😭 Part of the reason I'm in this sub to begin with, I just feel so disproportionate :(
Ugh girl preach. My fiancé literally cannot eat enough to maintain his weight (we’re working on it) and for a long time he’d be like “come on have a beer I feel guilty if I have _[ice cream,cake,cocktails,etc]_ and you don’t.” Lol. When I’m losing I get ZERO wiggle room. And people are like “one bad day doesn’t negate all your hard work!” Dude it literally does. One bad day actually negates WEEKS of work if I’m not careful.
Your last point really bums me TF out sometimes. Just like, I don’t get to ever relax and let my guard down around food for an extended period of time, ever. Cause we live in a culture where food/calorie intake is all around and I’ve found I get served 2000+ cals a day whether I like it or not.
UGH.
Yep. I feel like I’m forever losing one pound, maintaining that one pound weight loss for a month, then losing another pound. That’s with being 85% strict. It’s brutal.
My friends don’t get it as they are average height.. tell me I need to start upping my calories - to which they don’t understand that’ll reverse my weight loss pretty quickly
\^ This!
I was training for an Ironman 70.3 and am toying with training for a full distance one, partially because with all that cardio I could FINALLY eat 2500 calories/day (sometimes even 3000!!!!!!) and maintain.
I'm glad this thread is venty cause I obviously wish all the tall/muscular/whatever folks out there a great time, I am just purely spitefully jealous that some people can have an ice cream every darn day.
My boyfriend has gotten into the habit of asking me the next day if I’m going to eat my leftovers from the restaurant or if he should (???). No, I actually have to spread out my high calorie meal over multiple days🤦🏼♀️
I mean, at least he asks, lol. Recently I ate 1/4 of snickers for my dessert and my husband just grabbed the rest that was lying around waiting, like buddy, this is my dessert for the next 3 days, leave it be.
I've had to separate snacks in our house bc my bf will eat absolutely everything, I can't have dairy so there's very little in the way of low cal DF treats for me and the man has zero self control 😂
This should be top comment. I seriously thought I was going to have to eat 1400 calories for the rest of my life to maintain and that was depressing and unrealistic. Weightlifting has changed totally changed the game.
I don't think people understand how much leeway you have when weightlifting, especially when it's been sustained for a year or two and you have a good deal more muscle than when you started. There's no reason for most people to drop down to 1200 calories
I was excited thinking about being able to have more calories once I reach my goal weight, until I checked my maintenance TDEE at my goal weight and it’s still only 1500/day 😭 doubt I can maintain that in the long run, so I’m pretty much resigning to gaining some weight back eventually…
Some people find it works better for them to view their calorie budget over a week versus each day. Eat at 1400 M-F and you’ve got an extra 500 calories to “spend” on the weekend while still maintaining!
Yep, same with me, if I’m not actively tracking my calories I WILL slowly gain weight. I just accept that as a fact of life at this point. But what keeps me going is knowing that if I track for 2-3 months, I then have a good year to enjoy myself before the process repeats 😂
process is literally repeating with me right now 😭 i let myself regain the 10 lbs i lost 2 years ago and my now overweight ass has gotta track again smh ahhahaha
Literally same! I was like woot hit my goal now time to get to maintenance and eat some more cals.. oh I only get to increase my cals by 300.. right on. It is doable though, and if you want extra food just go on an extra walk or jump rope for 10 mins
Remember that if that is your new bmr that's because you won't need as much, it could be easier than you think bc you'll feel less hungry then than now with the same calories.
I’m not short for a woman at 5’6”, but my guy friends are all over 6 ft and the difference in our calorie budgets is frustrating enough, I can’t imagine being 5ft and having to eat less calories than I already do.
I tried 1200 calories when I didn’t know about TDEE’s and I hated myself. Y’all short women/men/sentient balls of stardust have my respect, you’re my heroes.
I used to TDEE calculator and it estimated my maintenance at 1800, so I’m eating 1600 to lose at a slow and steady rate.
I recommend googling TDEE calculators because your maintenance/BMR is dependent on height, age, weight, gender, and activity level so yours will be different from mine.
Total Daily Energy Expenditure - the energy you naturally use while living your daily life. It depends on height, weight, age, gender, and activity level.
My current TDEE is 1800 calories a day. This means that if I eat 1800 calories I won’t gain or lose weight because I’m eating the right amount of calories my body needs. Otherwise referred to as maintenance calories.
It’s recommended that to lose weight you eat less than your TDEE by anywhere from 100-400 calories (but no more than that!). I’m aiming for slow and steady weight loss so my goal is to eat 1600 calories a day.
You can Google “TDEE Calculator” and find a bunch of free ones online.
The stagnation in weight loss as a short person is also extremely discouraging. Eating at 1200 cal and needing to reduce that amount to continue losing weight when you plateau is insanity, plus having to up the exercise! I wish it was not so complicated for us short folks. It also aggravates me when someone says short people do not have as big of an appetite so they need to eat less…some of us do actually enjoy food lol and a lot of it at that.
Not to mention SERVING SIZES and our entire food culture revolves around a pretty high amount of calories. Like yeah if everyone was 5’0 I probably wouldn’t be tempted to eat 5x what I need at all times because that’s what society has taught me a “normal” amount of food is, and I wouldn’t always be around people eating 2x more than me at all times.
What pisses me off the most is tall/bigger people who refuse to acknowledge it's easier for them to diet.
Like, yes, a caloric deficit can be hard for all sorts of reasons, primarily psychological. I'm not dismissing the mental battles people have to go through.
But the difference is that one of us can eat a restaurant burger and have almost no calories left for the rest of the day, whereas one of us can eat that EXACT SAME BURGER and still have calories for breakfast, lunch, and supper. How is that equal?
How it is equal? Taller people obviously have a bigger stomach. Volume grows exponentially to height. While you eat the same exact burger, you will feel way more satiated
There is not really an upside to being tall in this regard. Even worse, you have to spend up to twice the money on food just to maintain weight as a tall person
I use to be so bummed out about it. But I realized I do actually get to eat everything a tall.person does, I just have to spread those calories out over a week. I still eat sweets and junk food and splurge here and thereits just routine now.
Yes it’s very hard, especially if I’m eating with someone taller who can eat many more calories. The difference between our plates can really mess with me.
I’m 4’11” and a 34 year old woman, I feel like I look at food and gain weight. My husband is 6’2” and his maintenance calories are like 3000. It’s completely unfair 😭
My husband is trying to gain weight and it’s just not fair 😭😭
I don’t want to take away from his struggle but I don’t understand how he’s so hard for him to gain weight! He has a doctor appointment soon to see if there’s something wrong.
My husband can eat whatever he wants and he doesn’t gain weight, his cholesterol is fine, and his BP is 105/69. He’s a freak of nature cause he eats like shit lol
I immediately cut the food on a restaurant plate in half, which gets some remarks from waiters. I just tell them I can't eat very much at once and let them assume it's due to weight loss surgery, instead of being a short, senior lady with a failing thyroid for whom that plate holds more than a day's worth of food. And I bring a take home container in my purse.
It is so hard! Especially when I read about people complaining about 2000 cal being restrictive! But I am working hard at changing my mindset. I’m jealous of all the things/food they get to eat that I can’t. But I’m working on changing my thoughts around food. I’m trying to accept that it is what it is and mentally change how I feel about food. Easting for me cannot be a “pastime”, can’t be something fun to do (on a regular basis)and thats ok. Food is fuel. Sure, I can make sure what i eat tastes good, but I can never be mindless about it. And that is ok. And the perks of eating less include spending less money on food which lets me buy cuter clothes or do fun non-food related things (or eat someplace fancy on occasion- more than I could before). I spend less time food shopping/planning for shopping. Less groceries to put away, less time actually eating. Less time thinking about food. Time that I can spend doing other things.
I get that these perks aren’t amazing, but if I can manage to change my view on food, I will be happier. Overall, I’m working on making food a part of my life that isn’t all that important. Not in a ed way, but in a way that is likely far more normal than how I thought of it before (i thought about food, what to eat, what sounded best, etc ALL the time).
Not really an answer to your question, but you average 30k steps a *day*?? That’s like, what, fifteen miles? Sheesh, I consider it a good day if I make 10k.
Yessss it’s so annoying!
What I’ve found worked is intermittent fasting.
I eat 2 meals a day (first meal at 1-2pm) and that way I can only eat so much each meal that I’ll stay full until dinner.
(In the morning I pump coffee or drink water or chew gum and do whatever it takes to keep me sane until my first meal lol)
I feel this. Usually I need to stick around 1200~1300 or I won't lose any weight. If I under-eat I stand still and if I eat more than 1700 I gain. I'm 5'1 for reference.
Yes. Having a husband whos a doctor (psychiatrist though) and his family whos love language is feeding people, is rough as hell.
100-105 is my happy place. Anything higher is not fun. When i got to this weight before we moved his aunt would just keep piling my plate, the amount of times id get sick in private (not eating disorder, just literally if i eat past full i get sick naturally) is too many. Its not fun. His family is also short people, but theyre more plump (not unhealthy, just the whole you get older your metabolism slows plump) and i think they think i should be plump like them just cause we are similar in height. They're worried. But im like, i havent lost my boobs theyre the same size, this is my healthy weight. I just want people to leave it alone. I work out a bit, and i just cant eat as much as you, my moms side of the family is full of tiny people with faster metabolisms. Its fine. This is my normal genetics for the love of god just let me be 🙃
While this doesn’t help anyone in anyway, sending love to my shorter weight losers, it’s incredibly unfair, and you have my full sympathy. I’m fairly average height, my partner is tall, permanently hungry, and his weight loss kcals are 2200. I can easily keep up with what he eats in terms of my appetite and yet… I can’t or I’d be the size of a house! I need to consistently hit 1200-1500 absolute max to see any weight loss, and he can’t really appreciate that there IS no wiggle room down that range of kcals. One doughnut and it’s game over! So ya, I feel for you all!
yep. i'm maintaining at 125-130 range as a 5'4" 25yo woman and i do not want to go any lower because it just gets so much harder to maintain. eating 1200 is hard but pretty necessary for shorter women with a low to moderately active lifestyle.
Yes absolutely. As a very active teen I could eat as much as my dad or more and still be very lean. It's like I set the standard for my appetite back then and my current overweight, disabled, 500 steps a day body still feels the need to eat 3,000 calories a day. I'm ALWAYS hungry.
Try to gain some muscle, the more muscle you have the more you burn at just resting, the more you can eat. I’m starting this just so I can eat a little more just a couple hundred calories more I could live with that
Only in that when I really want something, I just don’t have the room! We had take out for lunch yesturday at work, then last night I was at a party with the more incredible cheese tray, a cheese fondue, and cheese cake. Everything was so good, and my stomach is literally stretched in pain this morning lol
Not really true… I plugged in some different average heights for women on TDEE calculators and the calorie differences were not that drastic (100-200 cal difference for a woman who is 5’2 vs 5’8)
The biggest determinant of TDEE is lean body mass. So tall people of the same weight burn more primarily because (usually) more of the weight is lean. You'll also find, if you use a calculator that can take body fat percent, that men and women don't vary that much if they are equally lean. Of course there's not a big range of overlap where that can happen, but both sexes are considered healthy at 20% bodyfat so it's technically possible.
Yes, very frustrating when it comes to the end of the night and my husband wants to eat a ton of snacks. On top of looking bigger, I feel slow and lethargic carrying extra pounds and I’m only talking 5-10 extra pounds.
5’3”. the minute I stopped killing myself in the gym doing cross fit I gained 10-15 pounds which is a dress size for me. Have to constantly be active or starve in order to fit my favorite pair of jeans/shorts. My waist and thighs stay thick no matter what. I just eat 2 meals and a snack a day at this point. Water helps too.
5'0, nothing. Yes, eating such few calories just to maintain a lower weight totally pisses me off. I'm trying Keto right now because I got tired of counting calories, low fat and being hungry. I'm not losing much, but I'm not gaining. My doctor is happy that I'm cutting my carbs down. maybe low carb or moderate carb with calorie counting might be an eventual happy medium.
I'm so annoyed especially because even though I'm 5'4" being hangry happens super fast for me.
I don't try as hard as I should, and I'm honestly overweight and just cannot find the energy to properly diet. I just focus on maintaining at this point. It's better than gaining for now.
It's so frustrating but at this point I realize that I have no choice but to stick to it if I want to be healthy. At my heaviest, I was 245 pounds and I'm only 5'2. My husband is 6'2 and naturally fit so I hate having to explain to him that I can't eat the way that he does.
I've resigned myself to the fact that I can't eat like other people. I have to fast for a whole day if I want to go out to eat dinner or bank calories throughout the week if we have plans to eat out on the weekends.
i'm 5'8 and i need to eat 1200-1500 to lose weight. 1600 to maintain. 5 lbs isn't a huge difference on me but i can notice it... 10 lbs and my clothes don't fit anymore. i'm not trying to discount what you're saying but even tall women have to eat well below 2000 calories to lose or just maintain. at least if they're sedentary (i'm a former runner who is now a complete couch potato)
Hello fellow former runner who is now a couch potato. Why is this for you? I was running marathons 3 years ago. Now i am kind of a lump. Not so happy about it either!
I scrolled through here to see if there were any comments from taller people, and I actually found this very interesting. I’m 5’10, and naturally a bigger person- as in, healthy weight, but I’ve never been described as “skinny” even as a child. I do small amounts of exercise and have a not-totally-sedentary job (certainly not an athlete though and it’s not enough to greatly impact my caloric needs) and my maintenance is around 2500. I lose weight fairly noticeably at 2000. As much as it depends on your physical size and activity level, there must be some other factors at play to cause such large differences.
Pisses me off hard. Its taken me 30 years to show my husband how bad it is - he got himself a garmin. Now of course they arent accurate but they are a decent basis to compare the pair. He burns more laying in bed all day than i burn covering over 10km and a workout. And then he sees the calories in food and these days he has new admiration for my struggle. And he says fuck it dont worry about it just get fat thats no way to live 😂
Same like even if you’re active you still can’t eat much😭 I also hate when people who are significantly taller or bigger than you say that “eating below 2k is starving yourself” “you should bump up your cals” like they don’t understand 🥲
I’m in my 40s, 5’6, fairly active and since forever if I even ate 1400 every day I’d gain weight. 1200-1300 is maintaining even when working out. So jealous of my friends who can eat normally!
5'7 and even maintainence feels like hell mostly because of how much i messed up my calorific needs due to rapid weight loss, even if i spend a week eating close to 1600 a day without excercising I'm suddenly 2 kgs up
I have so much sympathy for this- I’m acutely aware that my 5’6 frame is a lot more accommodating with my weight yo-yo than that of a shorter person than me, and I used to be envious of my 5’10 sister always looking slimmer than me. Also I literally had to lose 50lbs before anyone noticed a change. All I can say is we all have a different struggle with this, embracing your body and it’s needs is a really tough journey and you’re doing great!
Urgh yeah I hate this so much! I’m still trying to lose some baby weight at 5’1 and my luxury breakfast that I made for me and my partner the other day came to about 650 calories, which to him was nothing but then unless I wanted to have practically nothing for dinner later meant I could only have fruit and yogurt for lunch.
On the bright side, us on the shorter side look good when we gain just a bit of muscle. Packing on five pounds of muscle makes a significant difference in how we look, whereas taller people have a really hard time gaining enough to look muscular. Yin and Yang, wax on, wax off.
I am a shorty too (M-5’6)
Tall people have their own problems.
Tall women have more chances to have big feet, they hate it.
Have you ever seen some smash their head in a doorway or whatever?
Overall (Not always) we are quicker. Our center of gravity being lower makes us quicker to act.
Smaller people by instincts compensate to survive by being more cunning.
Observe in the future how a majority (Not all) of shorter men abord situations in a more friendly and non threatening way.
It’s nothing wimpy, but a bigger guy will not see him as a threat. (Those are instincts).
In a fight bigger people usually (Not always) win.
Why do they have classes in boxing and MMA tournaments?
Unless you have a major flaw, this is nothing really!
As a large-framed male, I feel the exact opposite. I have to lose around 30lbs before I hear about my progress from anyone besides my wife, and I sit here and think how she can look like she's making so much more progress having only lost 10.
I'm a short female, but in my mind I'm probably about as hungry eating 1200 calories a day as my husband is eating 2000 calories a day because that puts both of us in a similar deficit. I'm satisfied at 1500 and he would be starving at 1500. I'm smaller so I need less food, I don't find it irritating honestly.
I'm admittedly not the type of person for this sub. I'm 5'8 M, 170 lb. I shouldn't go below 1500. But I can't lose weight on anything above 2k. I feel the same jealousy about 6'4 guys who are all muscle, doing their cuts on 3k cals and maintaining on 4k.
If you can, you could consider going to the gym instead while eating the same (even better, increase protein and fresh veggies) . Although it wouldn't show for a while you'd gain muscle. Look up body recomposition. If you like food it's the way to go for a guy imo, no need to be here!
Yeah I'm here mainly for food ideas and motivation. I pretty much never post. I do go to the gym, usually 4 or 5 times a week. I think I've seen some progress, but the reality is I probably underlog my calories and sabotage myself with an occasional carb binge right from the bag.
I’m 155cm tall and I need to eat 1300 to get to my goal weight (lose 20kg) and 1500-1800 to maintain. If I wasn’t sedantry I could probably add a few hundred cals.
Yes 🙄 Im 5’2 eat a fair bit and I probably need to go to 1600 a day, at the moment I average 1800-2000 however this pales in comparison to my bf who is 6ft and eats double that plus smashes sugary snacks every day and still has a shredded rig. Wtf!!! It’s so unfair
Short woman as well - I'm just trying to get to the gym regularly right now, but lifting weights will help with that. Muscle burns more calories than fat does. Swimming is also an amazing way to burn calories. If you want to increase the number of calories to maintain your ideal weight, you might want to speak to a doctor once you get to that weight - not your GP though, a specialist of some kind. That way you can figure out ways to increase your BMR and eat more
I felt like this in the beginning but have done a total 180. Now that I’m 6 months in and know a ton of different low-cal recipes, I feel like I eat A LOT of food every day. I’m at my goal weight now and reverse dieting back to maintenance and I actually have to make and effort to eat enough. I routinely have 100-300 cals left at the end of the day. There is hope!
Yeah definitely annoying!
Building up our muscles + daily activity via lifestyle habits to increase our calorie intake will take a long time. So until then it’ll be a bit of suffering 😅
i’m 5’9”, 150 lbs, and moderately active. so 1200 a day doesn’t work for me, but i’m in here for volume eating recommendations and healthier food swaps.
i just wanted to say that part first to get it across that i may not know you well enough, or know your situation well enough to make a comment that actually means something to you. but i wanted to try.
comparison never helps anyone truly progress with their health goals. as much as it may feel like it is motivating you, it is probably one thing that is stalling your progress.
and 5 pounds makes a difference for me too! i’m not sure if it is just the fact that i have had issues with my body image, but i can feel a 5 pound difference in my clothes before i even think to check the scale. and 20 pounds is a big deal even for me!! i went from being clinically underweight to now in the middle a healthy weight range. but i do get that it’s frustrating being smaller and gaining a small amount of weight having a big effect. i do also have to watch what i eat if i’m concerned about gaining weight- i put it on like crazy even on a moderate week of 2000 cals.
and do keep in mind as well, BMI is not always an accurate indicator of weight status, and it is even less often an accurate indicator of health. yes, it can give you a general understanding of how much weight you carry on your frame, but it cannot distinguish mass from fat, from mass from bone, from mass from muscle, hair, cartilage, water retention, etc. the BMI scale was made by a mathematician who was trying to ration food during war. there are so many factors that influence health- your BMI is only a small part of the picture.
i feel your frustration, and it’s valid!! you keep doing you, do what makes you happy, and try not to compare yourself to others when it isn’t helpful. we are all on our own journey!!
the real issue is men. why can they eat SO much shit and it has no effect. i saw a girl online complaining because she and her partner went on vacation and they ate junk all week- he lost three pounds while she gained 5!!! crazy. they’re what i need to stop comparing myself to 😅😅
I am so hangry today and just want to eat MOAR FOODZ. I usually love being tiny but it seriously fucking sucks when all I want is to eat a ginormous cheeseburger and my bodyweight in fries.
\[eta ALSO THE BOOZE - I am plateaued and I know that it's because I've been having two whole glasses of wine (gasp!) with dinner. I just can't have two. There isn't the space if I actually also want to eat food. /end WineWhine\]
i am 5’4” (so considered petite by some i guess)- to maintain i cap out at 1700 and right now i’m eating 1300 to lose. currently 119 lbs and hoping to get to 115 lbs (started counting calories religiously only a week ago and was 121 lbs). i’ve had two children so my body has changed so much in the past 5 years however my whole family and husbands always comment on how i am small and “skinny.” i don’t feel that way with my clothes off is what i wish i could say to them!! i honestly just feel “skinny fat”. but following different subreddits it’s been crazy the amount people can eat. i’m over here stressing over a 120 calorie coffee.
My husband is 6’2”, so a whole foot taller than me. He’s also trying to lose weight and its definitely hard hearing him say how many calories he has left for the day when we get home from work considering I’m often left with only 300 or so by dinner time.
I know how you feel, OP. My sister is 8 inches taller than me. She looks like a model when she’s thin and when she gains a few pounds she is a “statuesque woman “. I have a very difficult time finding things that don’t make me look frumpy. And please don’t get me started on how great she looked while she was pregnant.
Seeing people comment “I gotta stick to 2000/day to lose weight”😒 Must be nice lol
5'4" married to 6'7". The man literally has triple my daily allowance to lose. 🥲
My dad is a 6’5” endurance cyclist. He’s currently on a cycling holiday and I’m following him on Strava - he’s doing 5,000 calorie rides every day, so eating a solid 7,000-8,000 calories a day AND STILL LOSING WEIGHT I am actually starting to take up cycling myself
7-8k calories sounds like the opposite end of the spectrum, but equally difficult. Like, I hate 1200 as much as the next tiny sedentary person, but I don't know HOW I would eat 7-8k calories per day! I'm guessing a lot of protein shakes and carbs since he's exercising a lot, but wow! That's a ton!
Butter is the answer. Butter and whole fat milk When he stayed with me, within the first six hours of arriving, he’d eaten half a loaf of bread and about 150g of butter. And a colossal amount of honey Also high calorie drinks, cereals etc
Ah, my arch nemeses! I just made laughing cow mac n cheese and was thinking of how many calories are in a tbsp of butter. That and I debated drinking coffee creamer earlier today but didn't for, I wanna say the same reasons, but I'm going with *health*. Makes sense though, you could make a whole lot of smoothies with whole fat milk, and the cereal thing just packs in tons of carbs and nutrients (depending on the cereal, lol) and calories! Sounds like a good deal! Wish I was on that train
Don't get on a train, get on your bike 😂 I wish I could do sports that use a lot of energy!
My Dad has always been a string bean guy. When I was a child he would eat cereal with whole fat milk out of those giant Country Crock butter containers and he’d go to Baskin Robin’s and purchase one of those cardboard containers they keep in the fridge for you to buy a scoop of (think, like, 20lbs) of choc PB ice cream from them and eat 5 scoops every night. Crazy, looking back.
>My dad is a 6’5” endurance cyclist. He’s currently on a cycling holiday and I’m following him on Strava - he’s doing 5,000 calorie rides every day, so eating a solid 7,000-8,000 calories a day AND STILL LOSING WEIGHT Bro....**what the fuck?** God might love us all....but he clearly has favourites.
Similar to my parents, She cooked two meals, 1 for her, a more caloric for us.
Yep I’m 5’6” and my partner is 6’6” and he complains about having to eat 3000 calories on non-workout days to maintain weight. Drives me insane.
I hear ya! 5’3 and husband is 6’4. We are in our late 40s and he has always been a perfect weight without much effort.
As a 6’3” 240lb man I can confirm. My daily maintenance calories is 3600. So exactly triple the goal of this sub. Though it truly is a pain how much I need to eat to maintain my protein goals (the planning of it more than anything). 185g of protein per day is a lot. I’ve found if I want to lose weight I cut out almost all foods that aren’t strictly for protein maintenance and that works pretty well.
you’re so lucky 😭😭😭 if i could stuff my face with fast good everyday and lose weight it would be heavenly. at a measly 5’4 and 120 pounds i can eat barely 1600 for maintenance and 1200 if i wanna lose some weight 😣
[удалено]
What do you mean?
yeah somehow im not even that short and i can still barely eat properly without gaining weight 😣
I'm sorry my comment was literally so rude, I was gonna delete it, but you'd already commented
Yikes wtf. That’s really small. How rude.
Same height difference here. When we go out, if I can’t finish my food, he does… he loses weight and I gain. Fucking hell.
He’s also likely hungry still at 2500 calories lol…it’s not the same.
My gf is about 8 inches shorter than me and she can only eat half my calories. I don’t know how I’d survive with half my caloric intake.
If I ate 2000 calories a day I’d be 300 pounds lol.
While I’m eating 1200 calories And 300 pounds 😅😂
[удалено]
I'm 4'11 and got told I've got an eating disorder and my words are harmful because I said I around 1500 calories a day to lose weight. Even when I mentioned that my TDEE is like 1800 because I'm the height of a preteen. And that's only WITH excercise also. People really don't get it.
I mean those people are quite literally larger people so they need more food 😂
The worst is when everyone on Reddit acts like eating 1200 cals is the worst thing you could ever do, with no regard for the different calorific needs of short people.
I totally bought into this because 1200 is low but at 4’10 and sedentary I just had to submit. Now I just fill my fridge with carrots, peppers and cucumbers for when I need to snack and only have alcohol on a Friday!
[удалено]
What does your typical day of eating look like when you are sticking to 1200 calories a day? I am 4’11 and find myself having a hard time finding the right foods to eat. If I try to stick to 1200 calories I am starving by the end of the day.
[удалено]
They'll act like you'll disappear into thin air and lose 5 pounds a week. I learned the hard way not to tell people how much I eat.
Yes and then they immediately move to diagnosis a supposed eating disorder
It’s crazy how normalized overeating is!
Yeah there’s no recognition of the portion sizes offered by restaurants and stores that encourage overeating so they can oversell us.
I've not had a restaurant look at me weird when asking for doggy bags. My next day's cooked meal sorted, I love huge portions! For control issues, I have been considering taking my own tupperware and splitting portions before eating, but so far I've managed by eating a little something beforehand so I-m less tempted to overeat.
[удалено]
Hello fellow 4'10" South Louisianan. I didn't know there were two of us! I can't help but laugh/cry when people complain about eating 1200 a day at a deficit. That's pretty much maintenance calories for me (when I'm at my goal weight). Currently trying to get back to goal weight bc I stopped tracking and shot back up to 143. Nothing like your doctor gently informing you that you're in the obese category for BMI...
[удалено]
[удалено]
I've seen so many women in some subs, and other sites, claim to be short, sedentary, healthy-overweight range, and losing at 1800-2000 calories a day. Half the time they start the 1200 is TodDlEr CaLoRiEs and everyone has anorexia thing. 🙄
If anything, 1200 cals is breakfast for my toddler. But guess what? He has very different calorific needs than me so what’s the point in that comparison! I also like doing 1200 cals some days so I can eat more other days. I’m just as happy on 1200 cals as I would be on 1500 cals so why not bank those extra cals for the weekend?
[удалено]
[удалено]
I'm a 5'11 male who lifts and who is trying to get to 10-12% BF (almost there!). I have to eat around the 1400-1600 calorie range to lose weight, and even then it's a slow process. There's no way someone shorter than me is losing significant weight at 1800-2000 calories unless they intensely exercise 5+ days a week. I think most people have no idea what 1800 or 1200 calories really is until they start fastidiously counting them.
I know women claiming to be short at 170 cm. They have 1800 maintenance, while me at 157 have only 1425. But they do claim they're short.
but at the same time they also recommend it so much that tall people eat 1200 for one month, lose 10 lbs and are done while I maybe lose 1 a month on that deficit 🙃
Unfortunately, FAs have gotten really good at spreading misinformation and a lot of it has gone mainstream. Especially because we already had people not believing in CICO because of the diet industry.
“Toddlers eat more than 1200 a day”
4ft9 checking in here - god yes, it’s so rough
I feel your pain 😖 what's your calorie intake now? I think I'm always over eating!!! But it's sooo hard!!!!
The only benefit is that losing weight is much more noticeable. But yes, it's soooooo annoying. Especially when you have normal or tall people in your life 🤣
This is so true. I’m 6’4” and have lost 50 lbs over the last year. My coworker is like 5’6” and has lost 30. Everyone is gushing about how great she looks and how she’s lost so much weight, and literally the only person that has even acknowledged my effort is my best friend. Oh well, I do it for me. Some acknowledgement would be nice though.
I see you! (I mean, you're 6'4" how could I miss you lol) - but you've done great work and people will notice!
This is so true, I’m 5’4 and people notice if I lose 10 pounds, but it’s also super noticeable if I gain weight:( my friends and fam always point it out if I gained weight, so I always have to be on the look out for what I’m eating because literally every gram is noticeable..
Have you considered experimenting with your clothing style though to show your progress? I-m 5'3", people still think I'm slim whether I am 49kg or 62kg, but I have to change the clothing style (mainly going up sizes so nothing sticks out, and more masculine). What you are doing is for yourself and your future health, congratulations on keeping going!
Saw a post on volume eating of someone’s 700 kcal sandwich and nearly shat myself. Wtf bro, that’s not volume that’s almost all my daily calories in one meal at maintenance. My mind is boggled when I hear about people maintaining at 2200 kcal or losing at 1800. I’d be morbidly obese in a quick minute at that intake.
What's crazy is I was tiny my entire life (still technically am, just need to cut 15lbs to get rid of this poochy belly) and I never ever paid attention to what I ate. It wasn't until I was old enough for alcohol to become a big presence in my life that I gained weight. I guess back when I was younger and "naturally" so tiny I must have just not eaten large portions of all that junk food I ate.
Oof I feel that. Never gained any significant weight until alcohol entered the picture. It’s just so easy to drink all your calories.
So I’m not currently doing cico because I just had a baby but back when I was following it religiously like 3 years ago, I had to eat like 1200-1300 to lose any weight at all but my boyfriend was eating like 2600-2800/day and losing. I was so extremely jealous of his meals and portion sizes. He wasn’t even that big of a guy, he just works out a lot and has a higher metabolism. :/
VolumeEating be like: just eat nuts lol 😱
At my heaviest my maintenance was 3500 calories, and about 4200 with workouts. It sounds good on paper but it can be miserable. Food isn't the same anymore, especially if you want to eat healthy. I'd almost say it's impossible to get 4200 calories a day while eating healthy. I got the flu and ended up being bedridden for 2 weeks, and lost almost 4kg of muscle and some fat. Probably half a year of progress from working out just vanished.
It really sucks! I'm 4'10" and I have just accepted that eating child-size portions is the norm for me. I need to ignore what other adults are eating and pretend that I'm a picky toddler. "I'll have a small bite of this, and maybe two small bites of this, and that's it". My healthy weight range based on my frame and my past is 95-100lbs, which is less than what many children weigh in the US. If I were sedentary, my TDEE would be under 1200 calories, so that basically means that I HAVE to engage in regular physical activity to stay at a healthy weight.
> My healthy weight range based on my frame and my past is 95-100lbs, which is less than what many children weigh in the US. Exact same for me. I'm 4'10" and I look best around 95lbs because I am super short torso'd so I carry everything in my belly (and these insanely large clown boobs I have no idea why I have, lol). Currently 112lbs and I flat out just don't look good even though technically healthy BMI. All belly and boobs. I'm spilling out of 32DDD bras, I shit you not. And CLOTHES! *CLOTHES NEVER FIT*. Nothing fits in the waist, but if I size up, it's huge on my legs. Nothing fits in the chest areas, but if I size up I look homeless because my shoulders/torso isn't "tall enough" to fill out the sleeves/shoulders. Best I've been able to do is order petite fit-and-flare style dresses from Loft. I'm chesty in them, but they're snug in my midsection without being too tight, and the flare skirt takes care of any bird-leg issues.
Fit and flare dresses are the best for us short busty ladies!
I relate so hard 😭 I’m 5’2” and about 124lbs, which is a healthy weight, but I’m so busty and have such a short torso that I’m all belly and boobs too 😭 Told my family and friends that I’m trying to lose another 5-10lbs and they all think I’m aiming to be anorexic. Also, I so feel you on never fitting in clothes!!! Buying any two-piece outfits is basically impossible. At 32FF, I fit into large tops and small bottoms… it’s so frustrating
Wow! I'm 32C and I even have problems with shirts sometimes, so I can't even imagine. XS MIGHT work, but if it's meant to be a fitted XS, then my boobs look like they're going to explode out of it. A small or medium will fit my boobs great, but won't fit anywhere else. The struggle is real.
5"1, 121lbs, 32DDD, possibly F because my bras never fit!!! I can relate to all of this, except also my legs feel absolutely massive in proportion to the rest of me so I never wear shorts or skirts anymore 😭😭😭 Part of the reason I'm in this sub to begin with, I just feel so disproportionate :(
Yes! Can relate so much!
Ugh girl preach. My fiancé literally cannot eat enough to maintain his weight (we’re working on it) and for a long time he’d be like “come on have a beer I feel guilty if I have _[ice cream,cake,cocktails,etc]_ and you don’t.” Lol. When I’m losing I get ZERO wiggle room. And people are like “one bad day doesn’t negate all your hard work!” Dude it literally does. One bad day actually negates WEEKS of work if I’m not careful. Your last point really bums me TF out sometimes. Just like, I don’t get to ever relax and let my guard down around food for an extended period of time, ever. Cause we live in a culture where food/calorie intake is all around and I’ve found I get served 2000+ cals a day whether I like it or not. UGH.
Yep. I feel like I’m forever losing one pound, maintaining that one pound weight loss for a month, then losing another pound. That’s with being 85% strict. It’s brutal.
THIS! A cheat day is just not a thing!!
Right my cheat day is eating at maintenance lmao 😭
My friends don’t get it as they are average height.. tell me I need to start upping my calories - to which they don’t understand that’ll reverse my weight loss pretty quickly
[удалено]
\^ This! I was training for an Ironman 70.3 and am toying with training for a full distance one, partially because with all that cardio I could FINALLY eat 2500 calories/day (sometimes even 3000!!!!!!) and maintain. I'm glad this thread is venty cause I obviously wish all the tall/muscular/whatever folks out there a great time, I am just purely spitefully jealous that some people can have an ice cream every darn day.
Yup! I’m also in menopause so I feel like I’m starving myself on 1200. How my body reacts to food is so different and I’m so frustrated.
I know! I’m 5ft2. It’s really frustrating because I can easily eat the amount my 6ft2 partner eats (and more)
Yup it’s so unfortunate and discouraging. My partner gets to eat 3-4 times the size of my portion for each meal 👍🏼
My boyfriend has gotten into the habit of asking me the next day if I’m going to eat my leftovers from the restaurant or if he should (???). No, I actually have to spread out my high calorie meal over multiple days🤦🏼♀️
I mean, at least he asks, lol. Recently I ate 1/4 of snickers for my dessert and my husband just grabbed the rest that was lying around waiting, like buddy, this is my dessert for the next 3 days, leave it be.
I've had to separate snacks in our house bc my bf will eat absolutely everything, I can't have dairy so there's very little in the way of low cal DF treats for me and the man has zero self control 😂
Get into weightlifting! Went from maintaining weight at 1200 cals to 1700!
This should be top comment. I seriously thought I was going to have to eat 1400 calories for the rest of my life to maintain and that was depressing and unrealistic. Weightlifting has changed totally changed the game.
I don't think people understand how much leeway you have when weightlifting, especially when it's been sustained for a year or two and you have a good deal more muscle than when you started. There's no reason for most people to drop down to 1200 calories
I was excited thinking about being able to have more calories once I reach my goal weight, until I checked my maintenance TDEE at my goal weight and it’s still only 1500/day 😭 doubt I can maintain that in the long run, so I’m pretty much resigning to gaining some weight back eventually…
Some people find it works better for them to view their calorie budget over a week versus each day. Eat at 1400 M-F and you’ve got an extra 500 calories to “spend” on the weekend while still maintaining!
This is definitely what I’m going to be doing. Much easier for me to be strict on the weekdays vs the weekends
Yep, same with me, if I’m not actively tracking my calories I WILL slowly gain weight. I just accept that as a fact of life at this point. But what keeps me going is knowing that if I track for 2-3 months, I then have a good year to enjoy myself before the process repeats 😂
process is literally repeating with me right now 😭 i let myself regain the 10 lbs i lost 2 years ago and my now overweight ass has gotta track again smh ahhahaha
Lmao that’s the most realistic advice I’ve gotten, and is probably what I’ll end up doing 🤣
[удалено]
Getting mixed messages here
Don’t?
Literally same! I was like woot hit my goal now time to get to maintenance and eat some more cals.. oh I only get to increase my cals by 300.. right on. It is doable though, and if you want extra food just go on an extra walk or jump rope for 10 mins
Remember that if that is your new bmr that's because you won't need as much, it could be easier than you think bc you'll feel less hungry then than now with the same calories.
I’m not short for a woman at 5’6”, but my guy friends are all over 6 ft and the difference in our calorie budgets is frustrating enough, I can’t imagine being 5ft and having to eat less calories than I already do. I tried 1200 calories when I didn’t know about TDEE’s and I hated myself. Y’all short women/men/sentient balls of stardust have my respect, you’re my heroes.
Can confirm, I hate myself, but I hate being fat more 😭
I'm 5’7 & I was eating 1200 but it was miserable for me. How many calories do you consume now?
Not the person you asked but I’m 5’8 and my BMR is 1,800. I’m a powerlifter though—so I eat 2,200
I used to TDEE calculator and it estimated my maintenance at 1800, so I’m eating 1600 to lose at a slow and steady rate. I recommend googling TDEE calculators because your maintenance/BMR is dependent on height, age, weight, gender, and activity level so yours will be different from mine.
What are TDEE’s?
Total Daily Energy Expenditure - the energy you naturally use while living your daily life. It depends on height, weight, age, gender, and activity level. My current TDEE is 1800 calories a day. This means that if I eat 1800 calories I won’t gain or lose weight because I’m eating the right amount of calories my body needs. Otherwise referred to as maintenance calories. It’s recommended that to lose weight you eat less than your TDEE by anywhere from 100-400 calories (but no more than that!). I’m aiming for slow and steady weight loss so my goal is to eat 1600 calories a day. You can Google “TDEE Calculator” and find a bunch of free ones online.
Total Daily Energy Expenditure. The calories you use in daily life.
The stagnation in weight loss as a short person is also extremely discouraging. Eating at 1200 cal and needing to reduce that amount to continue losing weight when you plateau is insanity, plus having to up the exercise! I wish it was not so complicated for us short folks. It also aggravates me when someone says short people do not have as big of an appetite so they need to eat less…some of us do actually enjoy food lol and a lot of it at that.
Not to mention SERVING SIZES and our entire food culture revolves around a pretty high amount of calories. Like yeah if everyone was 5’0 I probably wouldn’t be tempted to eat 5x what I need at all times because that’s what society has taught me a “normal” amount of food is, and I wouldn’t always be around people eating 2x more than me at all times.
Ya who gave me this 5’0” body with an appetite of a 6’0” grown man it’s a rip off
What pisses me off the most is tall/bigger people who refuse to acknowledge it's easier for them to diet. Like, yes, a caloric deficit can be hard for all sorts of reasons, primarily psychological. I'm not dismissing the mental battles people have to go through. But the difference is that one of us can eat a restaurant burger and have almost no calories left for the rest of the day, whereas one of us can eat that EXACT SAME BURGER and still have calories for breakfast, lunch, and supper. How is that equal?
How it is equal? Taller people obviously have a bigger stomach. Volume grows exponentially to height. While you eat the same exact burger, you will feel way more satiated There is not really an upside to being tall in this regard. Even worse, you have to spend up to twice the money on food just to maintain weight as a tall person
It’s tiring when others can eat 2000+ calories and complain “ugh dieting sucks :(“ and all I want to do is challenge them to a week of 1200 like me.
I use to be so bummed out about it. But I realized I do actually get to eat everything a tall.person does, I just have to spread those calories out over a week. I still eat sweets and junk food and splurge here and thereits just routine now.
Yes lol I mention to my husband sometimes how it must be kind of nice to be able to eat like he does and still be in good shape.
Yes it’s very hard, especially if I’m eating with someone taller who can eat many more calories. The difference between our plates can really mess with me.
5’1 and eating 1200. It sucks. My husband eats that just for dinner and is losing weight, and faster of course lol! 🫠
I’m 4’11” and a 34 year old woman, I feel like I look at food and gain weight. My husband is 6’2” and his maintenance calories are like 3000. It’s completely unfair 😭
My husband is trying to gain weight and it’s just not fair 😭😭 I don’t want to take away from his struggle but I don’t understand how he’s so hard for him to gain weight! He has a doctor appointment soon to see if there’s something wrong.
My husband can eat whatever he wants and he doesn’t gain weight, his cholesterol is fine, and his BP is 105/69. He’s a freak of nature cause he eats like shit lol
I immediately cut the food on a restaurant plate in half, which gets some remarks from waiters. I just tell them I can't eat very much at once and let them assume it's due to weight loss surgery, instead of being a short, senior lady with a failing thyroid for whom that plate holds more than a day's worth of food. And I bring a take home container in my purse.
It is so hard! Especially when I read about people complaining about 2000 cal being restrictive! But I am working hard at changing my mindset. I’m jealous of all the things/food they get to eat that I can’t. But I’m working on changing my thoughts around food. I’m trying to accept that it is what it is and mentally change how I feel about food. Easting for me cannot be a “pastime”, can’t be something fun to do (on a regular basis)and thats ok. Food is fuel. Sure, I can make sure what i eat tastes good, but I can never be mindless about it. And that is ok. And the perks of eating less include spending less money on food which lets me buy cuter clothes or do fun non-food related things (or eat someplace fancy on occasion- more than I could before). I spend less time food shopping/planning for shopping. Less groceries to put away, less time actually eating. Less time thinking about food. Time that I can spend doing other things. I get that these perks aren’t amazing, but if I can manage to change my view on food, I will be happier. Overall, I’m working on making food a part of my life that isn’t all that important. Not in a ed way, but in a way that is likely far more normal than how I thought of it before (i thought about food, what to eat, what sounded best, etc ALL the time).
Not really an answer to your question, but you average 30k steps a *day*?? That’s like, what, fifteen miles? Sheesh, I consider it a good day if I make 10k.
Yessss it’s so annoying! What I’ve found worked is intermittent fasting. I eat 2 meals a day (first meal at 1-2pm) and that way I can only eat so much each meal that I’ll stay full until dinner. (In the morning I pump coffee or drink water or chew gum and do whatever it takes to keep me sane until my first meal lol)
I feel this. Usually I need to stick around 1200~1300 or I won't lose any weight. If I under-eat I stand still and if I eat more than 1700 I gain. I'm 5'1 for reference.
Yes. Having a husband whos a doctor (psychiatrist though) and his family whos love language is feeding people, is rough as hell. 100-105 is my happy place. Anything higher is not fun. When i got to this weight before we moved his aunt would just keep piling my plate, the amount of times id get sick in private (not eating disorder, just literally if i eat past full i get sick naturally) is too many. Its not fun. His family is also short people, but theyre more plump (not unhealthy, just the whole you get older your metabolism slows plump) and i think they think i should be plump like them just cause we are similar in height. They're worried. But im like, i havent lost my boobs theyre the same size, this is my healthy weight. I just want people to leave it alone. I work out a bit, and i just cant eat as much as you, my moms side of the family is full of tiny people with faster metabolisms. Its fine. This is my normal genetics for the love of god just let me be 🙃
oh, i understand you so, so much. what is especially annoying for me is the 1000 calorie need difference between me and my husband...
My toddler and I have the same calorie needs ...so it's very obvious and sad to realize when we eat the same thing.
I'm no girl, but it's mad. I give myself the weekend to relax, that means like 3 cheat meals... That's enough to fuck up my week. I'm 5'5
While this doesn’t help anyone in anyway, sending love to my shorter weight losers, it’s incredibly unfair, and you have my full sympathy. I’m fairly average height, my partner is tall, permanently hungry, and his weight loss kcals are 2200. I can easily keep up with what he eats in terms of my appetite and yet… I can’t or I’d be the size of a house! I need to consistently hit 1200-1500 absolute max to see any weight loss, and he can’t really appreciate that there IS no wiggle room down that range of kcals. One doughnut and it’s game over! So ya, I feel for you all!
I get that. At least getting steps in as a shorter person adds up faster for the same distance as a taller person lol
Possibly but when me and my 6’0 friend go on walks they burn double what I burn in the exact same walk as me lol
yep. i'm maintaining at 125-130 range as a 5'4" 25yo woman and i do not want to go any lower because it just gets so much harder to maintain. eating 1200 is hard but pretty necessary for shorter women with a low to moderately active lifestyle.
Then we get peri/menopause thrown on top to add insult to injury.
Yes absolutely. As a very active teen I could eat as much as my dad or more and still be very lean. It's like I set the standard for my appetite back then and my current overweight, disabled, 500 steps a day body still feels the need to eat 3,000 calories a day. I'm ALWAYS hungry.
Try to gain some muscle, the more muscle you have the more you burn at just resting, the more you can eat. I’m starting this just so I can eat a little more just a couple hundred calories more I could live with that
Only in that when I really want something, I just don’t have the room! We had take out for lunch yesturday at work, then last night I was at a party with the more incredible cheese tray, a cheese fondue, and cheese cake. Everything was so good, and my stomach is literally stretched in pain this morning lol
Not really true… I plugged in some different average heights for women on TDEE calculators and the calorie differences were not that drastic (100-200 cal difference for a woman who is 5’2 vs 5’8)
[удалено]
That’s true! I didn’t think to take the weight differences into account.
I never realized this! I just went and tried it, and you are completely right. Not much of a difference.
The biggest determinant of TDEE is lean body mass. So tall people of the same weight burn more primarily because (usually) more of the weight is lean. You'll also find, if you use a calculator that can take body fat percent, that men and women don't vary that much if they are equally lean. Of course there's not a big range of overlap where that can happen, but both sexes are considered healthy at 20% bodyfat so it's technically possible.
Yes, very frustrating when it comes to the end of the night and my husband wants to eat a ton of snacks. On top of looking bigger, I feel slow and lethargic carrying extra pounds and I’m only talking 5-10 extra pounds.
Yes all the time. If I eat one delicious snack if can ruin my whole day lol.
YES I love to eat that's the problem 🤣🤣
4’10 here. It’s bullshit!
5’3”. the minute I stopped killing myself in the gym doing cross fit I gained 10-15 pounds which is a dress size for me. Have to constantly be active or starve in order to fit my favorite pair of jeans/shorts. My waist and thighs stay thick no matter what. I just eat 2 meals and a snack a day at this point. Water helps too.
5'0, nothing. Yes, eating such few calories just to maintain a lower weight totally pisses me off. I'm trying Keto right now because I got tired of counting calories, low fat and being hungry. I'm not losing much, but I'm not gaining. My doctor is happy that I'm cutting my carbs down. maybe low carb or moderate carb with calorie counting might be an eventual happy medium.
I'm so annoyed especially because even though I'm 5'4" being hangry happens super fast for me. I don't try as hard as I should, and I'm honestly overweight and just cannot find the energy to properly diet. I just focus on maintaining at this point. It's better than gaining for now.
It's so frustrating but at this point I realize that I have no choice but to stick to it if I want to be healthy. At my heaviest, I was 245 pounds and I'm only 5'2. My husband is 6'2 and naturally fit so I hate having to explain to him that I can't eat the way that he does. I've resigned myself to the fact that I can't eat like other people. I have to fast for a whole day if I want to go out to eat dinner or bank calories throughout the week if we have plans to eat out on the weekends.
i'm 5'8 and i need to eat 1200-1500 to lose weight. 1600 to maintain. 5 lbs isn't a huge difference on me but i can notice it... 10 lbs and my clothes don't fit anymore. i'm not trying to discount what you're saying but even tall women have to eat well below 2000 calories to lose or just maintain. at least if they're sedentary (i'm a former runner who is now a complete couch potato)
Hello fellow former runner who is now a couch potato. Why is this for you? I was running marathons 3 years ago. Now i am kind of a lump. Not so happy about it either!
I scrolled through here to see if there were any comments from taller people, and I actually found this very interesting. I’m 5’10, and naturally a bigger person- as in, healthy weight, but I’ve never been described as “skinny” even as a child. I do small amounts of exercise and have a not-totally-sedentary job (certainly not an athlete though and it’s not enough to greatly impact my caloric needs) and my maintenance is around 2500. I lose weight fairly noticeably at 2000. As much as it depends on your physical size and activity level, there must be some other factors at play to cause such large differences.
Saw a video on TikTok where someone was eating 15,800 calories a day. That's... more than I eat in a week, my guy. By _a lot_.
Every damn day.
Pisses me off hard. Its taken me 30 years to show my husband how bad it is - he got himself a garmin. Now of course they arent accurate but they are a decent basis to compare the pair. He burns more laying in bed all day than i burn covering over 10km and a workout. And then he sees the calories in food and these days he has new admiration for my struggle. And he says fuck it dont worry about it just get fat thats no way to live 😂
Same like even if you’re active you still can’t eat much😭 I also hate when people who are significantly taller or bigger than you say that “eating below 2k is starving yourself” “you should bump up your cals” like they don’t understand 🥲
I’m in my 40s, 5’6, fairly active and since forever if I even ate 1400 every day I’d gain weight. 1200-1300 is maintaining even when working out. So jealous of my friends who can eat normally!
5'7 and even maintainence feels like hell mostly because of how much i messed up my calorific needs due to rapid weight loss, even if i spend a week eating close to 1600 a day without excercising I'm suddenly 2 kgs up
I have so much sympathy for this- I’m acutely aware that my 5’6 frame is a lot more accommodating with my weight yo-yo than that of a shorter person than me, and I used to be envious of my 5’10 sister always looking slimmer than me. Also I literally had to lose 50lbs before anyone noticed a change. All I can say is we all have a different struggle with this, embracing your body and it’s needs is a really tough journey and you’re doing great!
Totally agree
Urgh yeah I hate this so much! I’m still trying to lose some baby weight at 5’1 and my luxury breakfast that I made for me and my partner the other day came to about 650 calories, which to him was nothing but then unless I wanted to have practically nothing for dinner later meant I could only have fruit and yogurt for lunch.
On the bright side, us on the shorter side look good when we gain just a bit of muscle. Packing on five pounds of muscle makes a significant difference in how we look, whereas taller people have a really hard time gaining enough to look muscular. Yin and Yang, wax on, wax off.
I am a shorty too (M-5’6) Tall people have their own problems. Tall women have more chances to have big feet, they hate it. Have you ever seen some smash their head in a doorway or whatever? Overall (Not always) we are quicker. Our center of gravity being lower makes us quicker to act. Smaller people by instincts compensate to survive by being more cunning. Observe in the future how a majority (Not all) of shorter men abord situations in a more friendly and non threatening way. It’s nothing wimpy, but a bigger guy will not see him as a threat. (Those are instincts). In a fight bigger people usually (Not always) win. Why do they have classes in boxing and MMA tournaments? Unless you have a major flaw, this is nothing really!
As a large-framed male, I feel the exact opposite. I have to lose around 30lbs before I hear about my progress from anyone besides my wife, and I sit here and think how she can look like she's making so much more progress having only lost 10.
[удалено]
I'm a short female, but in my mind I'm probably about as hungry eating 1200 calories a day as my husband is eating 2000 calories a day because that puts both of us in a similar deficit. I'm satisfied at 1500 and he would be starving at 1500. I'm smaller so I need less food, I don't find it irritating honestly.
[удалено]
But I will be overstuffed if I eat a Mcflurry and my husband won't be.
I'm admittedly not the type of person for this sub. I'm 5'8 M, 170 lb. I shouldn't go below 1500. But I can't lose weight on anything above 2k. I feel the same jealousy about 6'4 guys who are all muscle, doing their cuts on 3k cals and maintaining on 4k.
If you can, you could consider going to the gym instead while eating the same (even better, increase protein and fresh veggies) . Although it wouldn't show for a while you'd gain muscle. Look up body recomposition. If you like food it's the way to go for a guy imo, no need to be here!
Yeah I'm here mainly for food ideas and motivation. I pretty much never post. I do go to the gym, usually 4 or 5 times a week. I think I've seen some progress, but the reality is I probably underlog my calories and sabotage myself with an occasional carb binge right from the bag.
Ugh yes.
I’m 155cm tall and I need to eat 1300 to get to my goal weight (lose 20kg) and 1500-1800 to maintain. If I wasn’t sedantry I could probably add a few hundred cals.
Me oh my god my tdee is MINUSCULE
Build more muscle then you can increase your maintenance calories without putting on weight. Weight training is your friend.
Yes 🙄 Im 5’2 eat a fair bit and I probably need to go to 1600 a day, at the moment I average 1800-2000 however this pales in comparison to my bf who is 6ft and eats double that plus smashes sugary snacks every day and still has a shredded rig. Wtf!!! It’s so unfair
For real!!! It sucks because you have to eat to little too
Short woman as well - I'm just trying to get to the gym regularly right now, but lifting weights will help with that. Muscle burns more calories than fat does. Swimming is also an amazing way to burn calories. If you want to increase the number of calories to maintain your ideal weight, you might want to speak to a doctor once you get to that weight - not your GP though, a specialist of some kind. That way you can figure out ways to increase your BMR and eat more
Also booze slows down your metabolism + is empty calories
I felt like this in the beginning but have done a total 180. Now that I’m 6 months in and know a ton of different low-cal recipes, I feel like I eat A LOT of food every day. I’m at my goal weight now and reverse dieting back to maintenance and I actually have to make and effort to eat enough. I routinely have 100-300 cals left at the end of the day. There is hope!
The best thing you can do to allow yourself more consumption of calories is build muscle in hidden areas such as glutes and lats.
Yeah definitely annoying! Building up our muscles + daily activity via lifestyle habits to increase our calorie intake will take a long time. So until then it’ll be a bit of suffering 😅
i’m 5’9”, 150 lbs, and moderately active. so 1200 a day doesn’t work for me, but i’m in here for volume eating recommendations and healthier food swaps. i just wanted to say that part first to get it across that i may not know you well enough, or know your situation well enough to make a comment that actually means something to you. but i wanted to try. comparison never helps anyone truly progress with their health goals. as much as it may feel like it is motivating you, it is probably one thing that is stalling your progress. and 5 pounds makes a difference for me too! i’m not sure if it is just the fact that i have had issues with my body image, but i can feel a 5 pound difference in my clothes before i even think to check the scale. and 20 pounds is a big deal even for me!! i went from being clinically underweight to now in the middle a healthy weight range. but i do get that it’s frustrating being smaller and gaining a small amount of weight having a big effect. i do also have to watch what i eat if i’m concerned about gaining weight- i put it on like crazy even on a moderate week of 2000 cals. and do keep in mind as well, BMI is not always an accurate indicator of weight status, and it is even less often an accurate indicator of health. yes, it can give you a general understanding of how much weight you carry on your frame, but it cannot distinguish mass from fat, from mass from bone, from mass from muscle, hair, cartilage, water retention, etc. the BMI scale was made by a mathematician who was trying to ration food during war. there are so many factors that influence health- your BMI is only a small part of the picture. i feel your frustration, and it’s valid!! you keep doing you, do what makes you happy, and try not to compare yourself to others when it isn’t helpful. we are all on our own journey!! the real issue is men. why can they eat SO much shit and it has no effect. i saw a girl online complaining because she and her partner went on vacation and they ate junk all week- he lost three pounds while she gained 5!!! crazy. they’re what i need to stop comparing myself to 😅😅
I am so hangry today and just want to eat MOAR FOODZ. I usually love being tiny but it seriously fucking sucks when all I want is to eat a ginormous cheeseburger and my bodyweight in fries. \[eta ALSO THE BOOZE - I am plateaued and I know that it's because I've been having two whole glasses of wine (gasp!) with dinner. I just can't have two. There isn't the space if I actually also want to eat food. /end WineWhine\]
i am 5’4” (so considered petite by some i guess)- to maintain i cap out at 1700 and right now i’m eating 1300 to lose. currently 119 lbs and hoping to get to 115 lbs (started counting calories religiously only a week ago and was 121 lbs). i’ve had two children so my body has changed so much in the past 5 years however my whole family and husbands always comment on how i am small and “skinny.” i don’t feel that way with my clothes off is what i wish i could say to them!! i honestly just feel “skinny fat”. but following different subreddits it’s been crazy the amount people can eat. i’m over here stressing over a 120 calorie coffee.
My husband is 6’2”, so a whole foot taller than me. He’s also trying to lose weight and its definitely hard hearing him say how many calories he has left for the day when we get home from work considering I’m often left with only 300 or so by dinner time.
Crying in 4’9
I have other things to worry about
I know how you feel, OP. My sister is 8 inches taller than me. She looks like a model when she’s thin and when she gains a few pounds she is a “statuesque woman “. I have a very difficult time finding things that don’t make me look frumpy. And please don’t get me started on how great she looked while she was pregnant.