To feel annoyed that I can never really indulge in food? I'm short!

[MidwifeyForLifey]

Somewhat lighthearted

I'm quite short, so my personal calorie allowance is very low if I don't want to put on weight!

What an absolute pile of tosh. I'm 11 pounds overweight, I was 13 pounds overweight recently. I've lost weighted easily by going by the calculated amount of calories I should be having, and sticking to those.

I log everything in Fitness Pal. It's fairly easy in theory. But bores me to tears.

Being short means I can't ever be slim unless I eat like a bird.

Anyone else?

And how does this relate to AIBU?

I don't think exercise does barely anything
It can do. I've just calculated the number of calories I burn in an average day through specific exercise (walking and swimming), it comes to 900-1000 calories. That's covers a lot of pigging out. Not that I overeat by that many calories anyway - who'd really want to on a daily basis?
I've lost 7kgs since September, haven't altered my diet or really gone without anything. I just started swimming 5 times a week instead of 3, and my daughter started a new habit of going for a walk (usually 2-3 miles) every night. I have to go with her because I'm her carer.

Ugh me too! 5ft 2 with a huge appetite (how is that fair?!) since having my last baby it’s been nigh on impossible to shift the weight like I used to...the only thing I’ve found is starting to melt the pounds is 5:2 - literal starvation twice a week!

5ft 2. I cope by not striving to be “slim”, as long as my BMI is within the healthy weight range for my height (I’m currently 23.2) I’m happy. I’m hypothyroid so unrealistic for me to be skinny anyway.

I'm fairly short (5.4), DH is tall. The bigger portions he has are fair enough, but it always seems very unfair he can have loads of cake and biscuit snacks and I can't have anything, not unless I want to put on weight. Being able to eat all the cake was definitely the best bit of breastfeeding in the early months!

Yes another shorty here - 5 foot and a sedentary job. About 10 lbs overweight and it shows. I'm also awaiting a hip replacement so yah boo to those who just say exercise but I can't wait till I can again! I miss riding my horse so much. Anyway...
Also laughing about appetite being less if your short. I'm greedy - like lots of food and cake / chocolate. So I eat lots of grilled chicken, veg and salad and no blooming cake or chocolate and just maintain. Sigh. Would love to bury my face in a pile of carrot cake. Instead, hello carrot sticks. Yup it sucks.

@flutternotoshy have you tried low carb to control your diabetes? Insulin is a fat promoting hormone so it can be difficult to lose weight if you are using it. If you can manage to control it this way, it would be useful for your job if you don’t need to use insulin

I’m T2 and find low carb helps me control it. I need to lose half a stone at the moment so will be trying to keep an eye on the calories too for the next few weeks. Fingers crossed the weight will come off

Of course exercise helps, it won't help if you get back from the gym/run/walk whatever and every time eat a slice of cake cos you burned it off... it's true you can't exercise a bad diet but to say exercise won't help is rubbish.

I'm a size 12 and only 5ft 5. i eat well about 80% but I do eat meals out and drink wine or vodka one or two days a week. I am of the opinion life is too short not to enjoy. However If I don't exercise my clothes do become tighter quickly. I have smaller portions and try to eat healthy with lots of water. If I crave toast or garlic bread for example I'll have some I dont deprive but I don't weigh myself. But because I exercise I can maintain my size. If I ate crap all the time and didn't move I'd be a 16 easy.

Everyone should be exercising in some forms it's so good for us. Both physical and mental health. I did nothing ten years ago. I've built up over the years and I love it. I'm hitting 40 this year and am stronger and healthier now, when I stop exercising aches and pains come back. Yoga has sorted my back and knee pain from 20+ years of working with kids. I'm not a gym bunny I do everything at home.

I'm 5'5" so not really short but since having DD my metabolism has halted it seems. I used to be able to eat literally whatever I wanted, several cakes a day and loads of cheesy pasta or pizza, with a pretty sedentary lifestyle and never gain an ounce, always had visible abs. I now, despite cutting out treats and eating much healthier, weigh one stone less than when I was pregnant and full term, so about two stone over my ideal. I wouldn't mind so much but barely any of my clothes fit, and a lot of them were quite pricey and bought to stand the test of time, I just didn't factor in ballooning in size. It's depressing living in jeggings and jumpers all the time.

Quality is so much more important than Quantity, anyway.

That said, I swam 2km this morning. Which probably burnt thru 400 kcal I get to indulge now :). I'll cycle about 50 minutes later today... another 200 kcal of indulgence coming up.

I'm short and fat. But I really do overeat most days and have a very sedentary job. When I was younger I stayed veyr slim for decades. I did this by eating nothing and then pigging out. I used to eat like a snake. Almost nothing for days then whatever I wanted. But I only fasted because I wasn;t hungry. As I got older I lost thta knack of forgetting to eat!

@lijkk - 2km is a long way. I swim but get so so bored by about 800m-1km I get out of the pool. I'm slow though. It takes forever. How do you keep going so long?

I hate structured exercising (like at the gym). I’m 5’4 and have lost 2 st 1lb so far, by using MFP and sticking to my calorie allowance and just moving more (still have another 3 stone to go) my calorie allowance is 1,710 though so I’m really not depriving myself and losing well (it was lower, but although I lost weight I was struggling so much with the less intake).

I Don’t have the time or inclination to join the gym, I’m just about to start the Gillian michaels 30 day shred tonight, but again, it’s quite structured so will see how it goes. Meant to be really hard as Well!

I’m 4”10 so imagine my pain! Luckily I only weigh about 6 stone and seem to weigh that regardless of what I eat. I think that’s because I eat what ever I fancy but tend to get full much quicker than others do.

The effects of exercise are cumulative, you don’t see results all at once. you start sleeping better. Your muscle tone improves and you can go faster. Everyday tasks become easier and you have more energy. Then your mindset starts to change—instead of thinking “I can have that chai latte because I’ve done 5k” you think “I’m not going to waste my 5k on a stupid chai latte

Yep. This is true. But still doesn’t mean exercise is effective for weight loss. I exercise for mental health reasons, more effective than antidepressants for me.

Why indeed? I just can’t imagine. I tend to find a small shaving of a chocolate chip does the job perfectly well. Or simply wafting a chocolate bar under my nose

🤣😂 Why are you even eating it? I find just imagining the taste of a chocolate bar just as good as eating it!

You can eat what you like (within reason) if you exercise a lot. While you can't outrun a bad diet, you can certainly have the odd outrageously decadent dessert without feeling guilty about it.

I find this so mundane. Spending the rest of my life 'feeling guilty' for a bit of good cake. I just want to eat whatever (I know, I know. I can't).

It's nice to know others are going through the same hellishness - and I'm not alone.

Has anyone tried the 5:2? Does it work? Some days I forget to eat anyway so I don't think it would be too hard for me.

I second the exercise. I am short too but very active as I hate driving so walk everywhere! Yesterday I ran 10k before work, then over the course of the day worked a further 6 miles between meetings and appointments.

@MidwiferForLifey I've been doing intermittent fasting for over 2 years, which is very similar to 5:2 but every single day. I simply don't eat anything at all from around 10pm at night until 3-4pm the next day, only consume water/black coffee until then and then have a lovely snack and a lovely meal and that's me done for the day. The weight melted off and now I don't need to make an "effort" because it's so normal to me, and whenever I want a pizza and a burger, I can have one knowing that I won't put on weight. I'd recommend doing some research, it's fantastic :)

im 5 3
calorie count 1100-1200 per day
i exercise 4 times a week (currently training for marathon)
wanna know how much i lost since 1st jan
NOTHING (i wanna lose 10lb - at moment i classed as overweight as BMI is over 25 )
PCOS
so to those people who say just exercise PAH!!
i wish......

OP lots of us would love to eat what we want and not put weight on but it's not gonna happen.

Don't diet just eat properly, move more and eat the junk stuff ocassionally. Chocolate/cake etc tastes even better when is not as often. And because it's not as often you don't feel guilty. I don't anyway...

If I fancy something I have it but if it's sugary/fatty etc I know it's not good for me in the long run.I eat crap food less but enjoy it more and don't crave it.

It's not mundane it's just an outlook change, in my case all for the better without a doubt.

The average height for women in the UK is 5 ft 3, so I don't understand all the 5 ft 3 and 5 ft 4 posters saying that they are short. Also a previous poster said that shorter people have smaller appetites. They don't.

I don't think it has anything to do with height OP. I am 5ft 8 and still have to carefully monitor what I eat

I joke that I have my mum's build with dad's appetite my DM is only 5'1" and under 8st, she stays that weight by having fruit for breakfast, salad for lunch and then what she wants for dinner apart from a fast day once a week. I wish I had her discipline!
I'm 5'3"/9st 7 and married to a veg-dodger a foot taller who disproves the outrunning your fork theory (he does run 50 miles a week, fast, as his commute). Been a stone heavier than that for ages but breastfeeding and pushing a double buggy everywhere is shifting it, need to get into some good habits to stop it piling on when I go back to work!

I hear ya! 5' 3", I cycle 8 miles to/from work every day (with a heavy toddler on board!), and if I don't want to gain weight, I have to eat under 1400 calories a day. I WANT CAKE. I'm down to 10 stone from 12 2 years ago, but I'm still at the higher end of the BMI threshold. I can't begin to imagine how much more restrictive I'd have to be in order to get to 9 stone.